ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE  MORMONITES

THERE are few persons, probably, who have not, at one time or another, heard of the existence of a sect called the "Mormonites," or "Latter Day Saints," and of the crowds of deluded fanatics, who, under those names, have, from time to time, quitted the shores of this country, on their way to a new land of promise in the Far West. But among those under whose notice this one among the many religious phenomena of the present day has occasignally fallen, there are few, we apprehend, who have ever troubled themeslves to inquire into the origin or peculiar tenets of the new sect,-few who have any conception of its numerical extent, -- still fewer who have viewed it in its more important aspect as one of the "signs of the times." It is hard to say, how long this indifference of the more enlightened portion of the Christian public to the proceedings of the followers of Mormon might have continued, but for an attempt recently macie to constrain a clergyman of our Church to desecrate the Burial Service at the grave of one of the members of the sect. While it appeared simply as one of the extravagant phases of American religionism, it was not likely to excite any very lively interest in this country; but the case is altogether different when we find that the pestilence is spreading extensively in our parishes, as we fear it is, especially in the manufacturing districts; and that the spirit of ribaldry towards the Church, by which it has been characterized from thee first, is changed into a:spirit of persecution, endeavoring to expose her sacred offices to irreverent, and, if the profanation were acquiesced in, not altogether unmerited scorn.

With this view we hare collected together a vast mass of documentary evidence, which we shall endeavor to present to our readers in a condensed and digested form. In doing so, we hold ourselves wholly absolved from the necessity of dealing with the errors, the absurdities, and blasphemies of the sect, in the way of controversy. The imposture is too palpable, the heresy too manifest, to.call for serious argument The most efficiebt way to expose the imposture is to state the facts as we find them set forth both by the Mormonite leadersthemselves, and by certain parties who have broken off their former connection with them -- the most powerful confutation of the heresy, to exhibit their doctrine as it is propounded by themselves, both originally in their doctrinal documents, and subsequently in their apologetic writings.

We shall begin our account by putting the Mormonite prophet himself into the witness box. A History of the different American Sects -- altogether forty-three in number -- published at Philadelphia in the year 1844, contains, (pp. 404-410,) on the Mormonites, an article from the pen of Joseph Smith, under the title "Latter Day Saints, by Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois." The writer begins by stating that

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was founded upon direct revelation, as the true Church of God has ever been, according to the Scriptures (Amos iii. 7, and Acts i. 2): and through the will and blessings of God, I have been an instrument in his hands, thus far, to move forward the cause of Zion."

He then proceds to give a sketch of his own life. He was born, according to his own account, on the 23rd of December, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor County, in the State of Vermont, whence his parents removed when he was about ten years old, to Palmyra, in the State of New Youk, and after an interval of four years, to Manchester, in the same State, which was the scene of the first supernatural events in his life. At the age of fourteen, he states, he was much troubled in mind by observing the contradictions of the different religious denominations around him, and in his anxiety to be driven from the confusion of mind thence ensuing, he was in fervent prayer for illumination from above. While thus engaged in a secret recess of a grove, he had a vision:

"I was enwrapt in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious personages, who exactly resembled

each other in features and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light, which eclipsed the sun at noonday. They told me that all the religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his Church and kingdom. And I was expressly commanded to 'go not after them,' at the same time receiving a promise that the fullness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me."

The promise was fulfilled about three years after, when, on the 21st September, 1823, being then near eighteen years old, he had in a room, three times repeated the same night, a vision of an angel who declared to him:

"That the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence; that the time was at hand for the gospel in all its fullness to be preached in power, unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the millennial reign. I was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God to bring about some of his purposes in this glorious dispensation."

At the same time the Angel gave him a "brief sketch" of the origen and early history of the aboriginal inhabitants of America, and informed him that certain "plates of records," containing the details of which the Angel gave the epitome, were deposited in a certain place specified by the heavenly messenger. This was followed by many subsequent visits of Angels, till at last, on the morning of the 22nd of September, 1827, the Angel of the Lors delivered the records themselves into Joseph's hands.

"These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold; each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters and bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instrument which the ancients called 'Urim and Thummim,' which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift, and power of God." *

The translation, so made, is the celebrated Book of Mormon, of which a brief abstract is inserted in the narrative. The prophet then proceeds to relate the origin of his Church:

"On the 6th of April, 1830, the 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,' was first organized in the town of Manchester, Ontario county, State of New York. Some few were called and ordained by the spirit of revelation, and prophesy, and began to preach as the spirit gave them utterance, and though weak, yet were they strengthened by the power of God, and many were brought to repentance, were immersed in the water, and were filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. They saw visions and prophesied, devils were cast out and the sick healed by the laying on of hands. From that time the work rolled forth with astonishing rapidity..."

Next follows an enumeration of the various settlements successively effected by his followers, in Jackson County, in Clay County, and in Caldwell and Davies Counties, in the State of Missouri, from all which they were ejected, from the latter in 1838, when they were, according to Smith's account, from 12,000 to 15,000 in number. On their expulsion from Caldwell and Davies Counties,

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* It is worth while to compare this with the account which Joseph Smith gave to one of his comrads, at the time when he first started the imposture, and before he had any idea himself of the extent to which the business might grow. An affidavit of Peter Ingersoll, one of Joseph Smith's acquaintances in early life, after gave a general account of the character of Smith, and of his occupations and practices as a money-digger, thus proceeds: --

"One day he came, and greeted me with a joyful countenance. -- Upon asking the cause of his unusual happiness, he replied in the following language: -- 'As I was passing, yesterday, across the woods, after a heavy shower of rain, I found, in a hollow, some beautiful white sand, that had been washed up by the water. I took off my frock, and tied up several quarts of it, and then went home. On my entering the house, I found the family at the table eating dinner. They were all anxious to know the contents of my frock. At that moment, I happened to think of what I had heard about a history found in Canada, called the golden Bible; so I very gravely told them it was the golden Bible. To my surprise, they were credulous enough to believe what I said. Accordingly I told them that I had received a commandment to let no one see it, for, says I, no man can see it with the naked eye and live. However, I offered to take out the book and show it to them, but they refuse to see it, and left the room. Now,' said Jo, 'I have got the d___d fools fixed, and will carry out the fun.' Notwithstanding, he told me he had no such book, and believed there never was any such book, yet, he told me that he actually went to Willard Chase, to get him to make a chest, in which he might deposit his golden Bible. But, as Chase would not do it, he made a box himself, of clap-boards, and put it into a pillow-case, and allowed people only to lift it, and feel of it through the case." -- Bennett's History of the Saints, pp. 63, 64.

they migrated to Hancock County in the State of Illinois, where, in the "fall" of 1839, they commenced a city, which, in December 1840, obtained an Act o Incorporation from the Legislature of Illinois, and received from its founder the name of "Nauvoo," signifying "beautiful." The city is described at the date of the account as containing 1500 houses, and upwards of 15,000 inhabitants. It was graced by an "University," and defended by a military body raised from the inhabitants themselves, called the "Nauvoo Legion," commanded by a "Lieutenant-General" (a Mormonite), but subject to the superior authority of the Governor of the State; and of the President of the United States. An eminence in this city was chosen for the site of the great Mormon temple, the building of which, at the date of the account, was still in progress: --

"The temple of God, now in the course of erection, being already raised one story, and which is 120 feet by 80 feet;of stone with polished pilasters, of an entire new order of architecture, will be a splendid house, for the worship of God, as well as an unique wonder for the world, it being built by the direct revelation of Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the living and the dead."

From this temple and city as its centre, Mormonism spread itself far and wide, not only through the United States, but beyond the Atlantic into Europe, and into other parts of the world.

So far the account given by Joseph Smith through the medium of "He Pasa Ecclesia." We now turn to the history of the alleged revelations given to Joseph Smith from time to time, and recorded in the second of the Mormonite Standard Books. `The first of these books is the Book of Mormon, already referred to, which, containing what are alleged to be certain ancient records, answers in a manner to the Old Testament of the sacred volume, while the place of the New Testament is filled by " The Book of Doctrines and Covenants." This volume, which was printed and published separately, consists of two parts; viz. Seven "Lectures on Faith," or an abstract of Mormonite Doctrine in a homiletic form; and a collection of "Covenants and Commandments," given by by revelation from time to time, divided into 111 Sections. They do not in the collection follow in the order in which they are alleged to have been received; but as the date is generally attached to them, we shall be able to follow the history of the prophet as traced out by himself in this "canonical" book. The earliest of the revelations contained in it have reference to the translation of the "golden plates," and in particular to an untoward accident which happened at the very commencement of the work. Joseph Smith was employing an amanuensis, named Martin Harris, a farmer of some substance, and of an excitable temperament and unstable religious views, who from a Quaker had successively turned Methodist, Universalist, Baptist, and Presbyterian, and having tired of this last profession also, was at this time open to any religious novelty which might come in his way, On him Joseph Smith succeeded in palming off the story of the golden plates, and having embarked in the enterprise, for which Harris was to find the money, he dictated to him from behind a curtain, from time to time, portions of what professed to be a translation of the golden Bible. While the work was thus progressing, Harris having taken home with him the first 116 pages of it, they were abstracted by an unfriendly hand, seemingly with the intention of embarrassing the prophet, and confuting him by the publication of them. if he should be unwary enough to attempt to reproduce them. The work of translation was thus suspended, in the hope, no doubt, that the lost manuscript might be recovered; but all endeavors to procure its restitution (Harris's wife was the thief) having proven fruitless, another revelation was given in May, 1829.

"Now, behold, I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them; and you also lost your gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened; nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again, therefore see that you are faithful and continue on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work of translation as you have begun: do not run faster, or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end; pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan, that do uphold his work. Behold, they have sought to destroy you; yea, even the man in whom you have trusted, has sought to destroy you. And for this cause I said, that he is a wicked man, for he has sought to take away the things wherewith you have been entrusted; and he has also sought to destroy your gift, and because you have delivered the writings into his hands, behold, wicked men have taken them from you; therefore, you have delivered them up; yea, that which was sacred unto wickedness.

And, behold, Satan has put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands; and, behold, I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written; and on this wise the devil has sought to lay a cunning plan, that he may destroy this work; for he has put it into their hearts to do this, that by lying they may say they have caught you in the words which you have pretended to translate.

"Verily I say unto you, that I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing, for, behold, he has put it into their hearts to get thee to tempt the Lord thy God, in asking to translate it over again; and then, behold, they say and think in their hearts, we will see if God has given him power to translate, if so, He will also give him power again; and if God giveth him power again, or if he translate again, or in other words, if he bringeth forth the same words, behold, we have the same with us, and we have altered them; therefore, they will not agree, and we will say that he has lied in his words, and that he has no gift, and that he has no power; therefore, we will destroy him, and also the work, and we will do this that we may not be ashamed in the end, and that we may get glory of the world. * * *

"Now, behold, they have altered those words, because Satan saith unto them, He hath deceived you; and thus he flattereth them away to do iniquity, to get thee to tempt the Lord thy God.

"Behold, I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands; for, behold, they shall not accomplish their evil designs in lying against those words. For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied; that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself; and, behold, they will publish this, and Satan will harden the hearts of the people to stir them up to anger against you, that they will not believe my words. * * *

"And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, are engraven upon the plates of Nephi; yea, and you remember, it was said in those writings, that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi.

"And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi, is more particular concerning the things which in my wisdom I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account, therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of King Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained; and, behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi, and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. Behold, they have only got a part, or an abridgment of the account of Nephi. Behold, there are many things engraven on the plates of Nephi, which do throw greater views upon my gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in me, that you should translate this first part of the engravings of Nephi, and send forth in this work. And, behold, all the remainder of this work, does contain all those parts of my gospel which my holy prophets, yea, and also my disciples, desired in their prayers, should come forth unto this people. And I said unto them, that it should be granted unto them according to their faith in their prayers; yea, and this was their faith, that my gospel which I gave unto them, that they might preach in their days, might come unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and also, all that had become Lamanites, because of their dissensions." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xxxvi, § § 2, 2, 5-10.

The history of this contre-temps, which seriously perplexed the prophet for a time, is recounted with still greater plainness in the Preface to the first American edition of the Book of Mormon, published in 1830; but in the second American, and in both the European editions of the book, that preface has been suppressed. The passage in question is curious:

"As many false reports have been circulated respecting the following work, and also many unlawful measures taken by the evil designing persons to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon; which said account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to recover it again and being commanded of the Lord that I should not translate the same over again, for Satan had put it into their hearts to tempt the Lord their God, by altering the words, that they did read contrary from that which I translated and caused to be written; and if I should bring forth the same words again, or, in other words, if I should translate the same over again, they would publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work: but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing: therefore thou shalt translate from the plates of Nephi, until ye come to that which ye have translated, which ye have retained; and behold ye shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will shew unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. Wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, I have, through his grace and mercy, accomplished that which he hath commanded me respecting this thing. I would also inform you that the plates of which hath been spoken, were found in the township of Manchester, Ontario County, New York."

From the tone in which Harris the scribe -- "the wicked man" -- is spoken of in the above revelation, it would appear that the prophet was not without suspicion of his fidelity; and Harris, on his part, seems to have been uncomfortably pressing for a sight of the golden plates from which the prophet was translating, or "pretending to translate." The curiosity of the scribe was accordingly repressed, and his fears and his "faith" wrought upon him to make him an eye-witness of what he had not seen, by "revelation," in the manner following:

"Behold, I say unto you, that as my servant Martin Harris has desired a witness at my hand, that you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., have got the plates of which you have testified and borne record that you have received of me; and now, behold, this shall you say unto him: He who spake unto you said unto you, I, the Lord, am God, and have given these things unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., and have commanded you that you should stand as a witness of these things, and I have caused you that you should enter into a covenant with me, that you should not show them except to those persons to whom I command you; and you have no power over them except I grant it unto you. And you have a gift to translate the plates, and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you, and I have commanded that you should PRETEND to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished.

"Verily, I say unto you, that wo shall come unto the inhabitants of the earth if they will not hearken unto my words; for hereafter you shall be ordained and go forth and deliver my words unto the children of men. Behold, if they will not believe my words, they would not believe you, my servant Joseph, if it were possible that you could show them all these things which I have committed unto you. O! this unbelieving and stiff-necked generation, mine anger is kindled against them....

"And now again I speak unto you, my servant Joseph, concerning the man that desires the witness: Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see. And then he shall say unto the people of this generation, Behold, I have seen the things which the Lord has shown unto Joseph Smith, Jr., and I know of a surety that they are true, for I have seen them; for they have been shown unto me by the power of God and not of man. And I, the Lord, command him, my servant Martin Harris, that he shall say no more unto them concerning these things, except he shall say, I have seen them, and they have been shown unto me by the power of God, and these are the words which he shall say; but, if he deny this he will break the covenant which he has before covenanted with me, and behold he is condemned. And now, except he humble himself and acknowledge unto me the things that he has done which are wrong, and covenant with me that he will keep my commandments, and exercise faith in me, behold, I say unto him, he shall have no such views; for I will grant unto him no views of the things of which I have spoken. And if this be the case, I command you, my servant Joseph, that you shall say unto him, that he shall do no more, nor trouble me any more concerning this matter. -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xxxii.

While this revelation, given in March, 1820, in the interval between the suspension of the work in July, 1828, and its resumption in May, 1829, was working in the mind of Martin Harris, another instrument was in training in the person of one Oliver Cowdery, a school-teacher and Baptist [sic] preacher in the neighborhood; to whom, in April, 1829, divers "revelations" were given through Joseph Smith. from which the following are extracts.

"Behold, thou hast a gift, and blessed art thou because of thy gift. Remember it is sacred and cometh from above: and if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore, thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, convince them of the error of their ways. Make not thy gift known unto any, save it be those who are of thy faith. Trifle not with sacred things. If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation....

"Therefore be diligent, stand by my servant Joseph faithfully in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be, for the word's sake. Admonish him in his faults and also receive admonition of him. Be patient; be sober; be temperate: have patience, faith, hope, and charity.

Behold, thou art Oliver, and I have spoken unto thee because of thy desires; therefore, treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love.

"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto my own and my own received me not. I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. viii. §§ 5-14.

The hope of becoming himself a translator, which the preceding "revelations" had raised, is dashed to the ground by another "revelation," still in April, 1829, which reduces him to the simple condition of amanuensis.

"Behold, I say unto you, my son, that because

Behold, I say unto you, my son, that because you did not translate according to that which you desired of me, and did commence again to write for my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., even so I would that you should continue until you have finished this record, which I have intrusted unto him; and then, behold, other records have I, that I will give unto you power that you may assist to translate.

"Be patient, my son, for it is wisdom in me, and it is not expedient that you should translate at this present time. Behold, the work which you are called to do is to write for my servant Joseph; and, behold, it is because that you did not continue as you commenced, when you began to translate, that I have taken away this privilege from you. Do not murmur, my son, for it is wisdom in me that I have dealt with you after this manner.

"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought, save it was to ask me; but, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right, I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right; but if it be not right, you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought, that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you can not write that which is sacred, save it be given you from me.

"Now, if you had known this, you could have translated; nevertheless, it is not expedient that you should translate now. Behold, it was expedient when you commenced, but you feared, and the time is past, and it is not expedient now; for, do you not behold that I have given unto my servant Joseph sufficient strength, whereby it is made up, and neither of you have I condemned."

The work is now resumed, Harris and Cowdery acting as assistants; and in the mean time "revelations" were given to various other parties, several of whom appear afterwards among the first founders and leaders of the sect. They are much of the same character, partly almost in the same words, consisting of announcements of the "great and marvelous work" about to come forth, and promises of spiritual endowments to the persons addressed, if they have a desire to assist in "bringing forth and establishing" it, and faith to believe in the word of the Lord by his prophet. Revelations were also given to "David Whitmer," who, with Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery, was chosen to fill up the number of three witnesses mentioned in Section xxxii., above quoted.

Shortly after, in the same month of June, 1829, the minds of the three witnesses were judged to be ripe for the operation of attesting their sight of that which they had not seen, and a "revelation" was given to the three conjointly.

"Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do, with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the Brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea; and it is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old.

"And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes, you shall testify of them, by the power of God; and this you shall do that my servant Joseph Smith, jun., may not be destroyed, that I may bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men, in this work. And ye shall testify that ye have seen them, EVEN AS MY SERVANT JOSEPH SMITH, JUN., HAS SEEN THEM, for it is by my power that he has seen them, and it is because he had faith; and he has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth, it is true.

"Wherefore you have received the same power, and the same faith, and the same gift like unto him; and if you do these last commandments of mine, which I have given you, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; for my grace is sufficient for you; and you shall be lifted up at the last day. And I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it unto you, that I might bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men. Amen." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xlii.

Upon the strength of this "revelation," the prophet obtained, as an endorsement of his work, the following "Testimony of three Witnesses," which is appended or prefixed to all the editions of the Book of Mormon.

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of god the father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken; and we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice (i. e. through Joseph Smith,) hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety, that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shewn unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true; and it is marvelous in our eyes, nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded

us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we now that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

               "Oliver Cowdery,
                David Whitmer,
                Martin Harris.

To this testimony that of eight other witnesses is added, who profess to have handled the plates, and seen the engravings thereon; but their declaration is brought in without any account of the circumstances under which they were admitted to the sight of a treasure so long and so mysteriously guarded, and they were one and all intimately connected with Joseph Smith, and embarked in his scheme, which they hoped would have been a lucrative one. Besides, though their names continue to appear in the successive editions of the Book of Mormon, of the eleven witnesses, six apostatized from the faith in Joseph's lifetime; while of the other five, three died before him, and two were his own brothers. No weight whatever, therefore, can attach to the attestation of the existence of the golden plates; on the contrary, it makes rather against the authority of the prophet, since, in his "revelations," the number of persons who should be permitted to see the plates is expressly limited to three. As regards the value of Harris's testimony, in particular, the following anecdote is conclusive: --

"On one occasion, a sensible and religious gentleman in Palmyra, put the following question to Harris: 'Did you see those plates?' Harris replied that he did. 'But did you see the plates and the engravings on them with your bodily eyes?' Harris replied, 'Yes, I saw them with my eyes; they were shown unto me by the power of God and not of man.' 'But did you see them with your natural, your bodily eyes, just as you see this pencil-case in my hand? Now say no or yes to this.' Harris replied, 'I did not see them as I do that pencil-case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see any thing around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth.'"

It appears, indeed, pretty plain that Harris was all along suspended between "faith" and doubt, for it was not without difficulty that he was prevailed upon, when the translation was completed, to supply the necessary funds for defraying the printing expenses. To stimulate his flagging zeal, he was favored, in March, 1830, with an alarming "revelation," which throws a singular light upon the footing on which Harris, the prophet, and, it would seem, the prophet's wife, were with each other at the time. We give the more important passages: --

"Behold, the mystery of Godliness, how great is it? for, behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for endless is my name; wherefore--

Eternal punishment is God's punishment.
Endless punishment is God's punishment.

Wherefore, I command you to repent, and keep the commandments which you have received by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith, jun., in my name; and it is by my almighty power that you have received them; therefore I command you to repent -- repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore -- how sore you know not! how exquisite you know not! yea, how hard to bear you know not! * * *

"And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife; nor seek thy neighbor's life. And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God, which is my word to the Gentiles, that soon it may go to the Jew, of whom the Lamanites are a remnant, that they may believe the gospel, and look not for a Messiah to come who has already come. * * *

"Behold, this is a great, and the last commandment which I shall give unto you concerning this matter; for this shall suffice for thy daily walk even unto the end of thy life. And misery thou shalt receive, if thou wilt slight these counsels; yea, even the destruction of thyself and property. Impart a portion of thy property; yea, even part of thy lands, and all save the support of thy family. Pay the debt thou hast contracted with the printer. Release thyself from bondage. Leave thy house and home, except when thou shalt desire to see thy family; and speak freely to all; yea, preach, exhort, declare the truth, even with a loud voice; with a sound of rejoicing, cry Hosanna! hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Lord God!" -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xliv. §§ 2, 3, 5.

This admonition produced the desired effect. Harris became both paymaster and witness for the Book of Mormon, and an elder of the Church. This, however, was only a beginning of what awaited him; for in August 1831, when the settlement in Missouri had been determined on, and community of goods was made the law of the "Church," we have the following revelation concerning him: --

"It is wisdom in me that my servant Martin Harris should be an example unto the Church, in

laying his moneys before the bishop of the Church. And also, this is a law unto every man that cometh unto this land, to receive an inheritance, and he shall do with his moneys according as the law directs. And it is wisdom, also, that there should be lands purchased in Independence, for the place of the storehouse, and also for the house of the printing.

"And other directions, concerning my servant Martin Harris, shall be given him of the Spirit, that he may receive his inheritance as seemeth him good. And let him repent of his sins, for he seeketh the praise of the world." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xviii. § § 7, 8.

So great was the ascendancy which Joseph possessed over the mind of Harris, that in spite of all his misgivings, and of all his losses and disappointments, he continued with him until the year 1837, when the failure of the "Safety Society Bank," established by the prophet at Kirtland in Ohio, having swallowed up the remainder of his property, he returned in great disgust to Palmyra, and openly denounced Joseph as "a complete wretch." But we must not anticipate.

Before we proceed with our history, it will be proper here to give a short account of the contents of the book which has made so much noise in the world, and of its probable origin. As regards its contents, it professes to be the history of the descendants of one Lehi, of the tribe of Joseph, who emigrated from Jerusalem in the days of Zedekiah, with his four sons, one of whom, Nephi, was a great prophet. After many perils by land and by sea, they reached the continent of America, where they divided into two great families, the Nephites, or white men, and the Lamanites, or red men. Besides the history of these tribes of the ancient stock of Israel, -- including an alleged descent of Christ upon the American Continent, after his ascension from Mount Olivet, -- the book contains a variety of prophetical matter. Nephi foretells with astonishing minuteness, not only the coming of the Messiah, but the history of the Christian Church during the first four centuries. Another great prophet, Mormon by name, nearly a thousand years after Nephi, and four hundred years after Christ, acts the part of Ezra, by collecting the plates on which the records and documents of his race are engraved, and completing the golden Bible; which is deposited after his death by his son Moroni under the hill, where, 1427 years after, by direction of the Angel, it is found by Joseph Smith, in fulfillment of the Scripture prophecy, that "truth shall spring out of the earth." *

With regard to the real origin of this book, we cannot do better than transcribe from the "Boston Weekly Messenger" of May 1st 1839, the following document, which, with remarkable simplicity and manifest truthfulness, tells its own tale: --

ORIGIN OF THE "BOOK OF MORMON," OR
"GOLDEN BIBLE."

"As this book has excited much attention and has been put by a certain new sect, in the place of the sacred Scriptures, I deem it a duty which I owe to the public, to state what I know touching its origin. That its claims to a Divine origin are wholly unfounded, needs no proof to a mind unperverted by the grossest delusions. That any sane person should rank it higher than any other merely human composition, is a matter of the greatest astonishment; yet it is received as divine by some who dwell in enlightened New England, and even by those who have sustained the character of devoted Christians. Learning recently, that Mormonism had found its way into a church in Massachusetts, and has impregnated some of its members with its gross delusions, so that excommunication has become necessary, I am determined to delay no longer doing what I can to strip the mask from this monster of sin, and to lay open this pit of abominations.

"Rev. Solomon Spaulding, to whom I was united in marriage in early life, was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and was distinguished for a lively imagination and a great fondness for history. At the time of our marriage, he resided in Cherry Valley, N. Y. From this place we removed to New Salem, Ashtabula county, Ohio; sometimes called Conneaut, as it is situated upon Conneaut Creek. Shortly after our removal to this place, his health sunk, and he was laid aside from active labors. In the town of New Salem, there are numerous mounds and forts, supposed by many to be the dilapidated dwellings and fortifications of a race now extinct. These ancient relics arrest the attention of the new settlers, and become objects of research for the curious. Numerous implements were found and other articles evincing great skill in the arts. Mr. Spaulding being an educated man and passionately fond of history, took a lively interest in these developments of antiquity; and in order to beguile the hours of retirement and furnish employment for his lively imagination, he conceived the idea of giving an historical sketch of this long lost race. Their extreme antiquity of course would lead him to write in the most ancient style, and as the Old Testament is the most ancient book in the world, he imitated its style as nearly as possible. His sole object in writing this historical romance was to amuse himself and his neighbors. This was about the year 1812. Hull's surrender at Detroit, occurred near the same time, and I recollect the date well from that circumstance. As he progressed

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* For fuller particulars we refer our readers to Caswall's Prophet of the Nineteenth century, which in an "Appendix," contains a copious epitome of the Book of Mormon.

The story told Mrs. Davison has since been the subject of careful investigation by other parties interested in unmasking the Mormonite imposture, and has not only been found correct, but has been confirmed by many circumstantial details which those of our readers who may feel curious on the subject, will find briefly recorded in the second chapter of Mr. Caswell's "Prophet of the Nineteenth Century." For our present purpose it suffices to have authenticated the quarter from which Joseph Smith derived the materials of a work, which he was by no means qualified by his education to compose. Nor can there be much doubt left as to the medium through which the book found its way out of the printing-office at Pittsburgh into the hands of Joseph Smith. There is a name mentioned in Mrs. Davison's narrative, which figures conspicuously, as we shall presently see, in the history of Mormonism; and the fact that the party in question, Sidney Rigdon, did not himself advance the forgery, but employed for this purpose Joseph Smith, a loose vagabond, whom his habits and occupation

as a money-digger pointed out as a proper person for so audacious an attempt to impose upon the public only proves the deep cunning with which the scheme was contrived. The pretended translation from behind the curtain, of which Martin Harris was made the dupe, was nothing more than a dictation of Spaulding's romance, with such alterations and embellishments as would suit the particular purpose which the two confederates -- for such Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith doubtless were at this early period -- had in view. The fact that the prediction of the discovery of the "golden plates," by a prophet in the latter days occurs in the "books of Nephi," substituted for the 116 pages which had been abstracted is a critical circumstance. Joseph having interlarded Spaulding's manuscript with his predictions of himself in the character of a great prophet, could not venture to reproduce the same matter, as the least discrepancy between his first and second "translation" would have proved fatal to his whole device. Hence the delay of ten months, during which, in all probability, Smith was not only engaged in endeavoring to recover the lost manuscript, but in secret communication with Rigdon, as to the best way of extricating himself from the dilemma in which he found himself so unexpectedly placed.

The prophecy, itself, which points to Joseph Smith, jun., the son of Joseph Smith, sen., the head of the Mormonite Sect, is to be found in the 2d chapter of the 2d Book of Nephi, and consists of a prediction said to have been uttered by Joseph, the son of Israel, and recounted by Nephi to his youngest son, whose name was also Joseph. It runs thus:

Joseph truly testified, saying: A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers. And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work. And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel. And Moses will I raise up, to deliver thy people out of the land of Egypt. But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins--and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them. Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise; And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation. Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed forever. And the Lord hath said: I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him. And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it. And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith. And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words. Because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers."

The latter part of this "prophecy" seems to point to Sidney Rigdon, the position assigned to him in it tallying exactly with that which he occupied afterwards by "revelation" in the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Further

on, in the eleventh chapter of the same book, another prophecy is introduced, which bears directly upon the discovery and translation of the "Golden Bible," by the prophet Joseph: --

"But behold, I prophesy unto you concerning the last days; concerning the days when the Lord God shall bring these things forth unto the children of men. After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten; for those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust. For thus saith the Lord God: They shall write the things which shall be done among them, and they shall be written and sealed up in a book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God: wherefore, as those who have been destroyed have been destroyed speedily; and the multitude of their terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away. Yea, thus saith the Lord God: It shall be at an instant, suddenly."

The people upon whom this destruction fell were the builders of the ancient cities, the ruins of which put the first idea of the old romance into the head of Spaulding; they are the "Nephites" of the fiction, whose records are upon the golden plates. After a sally against all the sects of Christendom, (among which the Church is of course not forgotten,) the "prophecy" thus proceeds: --

"And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof. Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the book shall be kept from them. But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another; but the words which are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof. And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed shall be read upon the house tops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ; and all things shall be revealed unto the children of men which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the end of the earth. Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein. And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for the Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead. Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word; and wo be unto him that rejecteth the word of God!

A similar prophecy is placed on record by Moroni, the son of Mormon, in the fourth chapter of that portion of the whole collection called the "Book of Mormon." to which the title "The Book of Mormon," specially belongs.

"I am the son of Mormon, and my father was a descendant of Nephi; and I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them to get gain; but the record thereof is of great worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord bless. For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God; for God wills that it shall be done with an eye single to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord. And blessed be he that shall bring this thing to light; for it shall be brought out of darkness unto light, according to the word of God; yea, it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God; and if there be faults they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things; therefore, he that condemneth, let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of hell-fire. And he that saith: Show unto me, or ye shall be smitten, let him beware lest he commandeth that which is forbidden of the Lord."

To these "prophecies" we shall add one more extract from the twelfth chapter of the

second book of Nephi, which defines the position assigned to the "Book of Mormon" relative to the Holy Scriptures.

"But behold, there shall be many--at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel; And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel; And because my words shall hiss forth--many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?

"O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written. For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.

"And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.

"And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. * And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever."

We now resume the thread of our history. The translation from the "Golden Plates," or the "Book of Mormon," being at last completed, and printed at the expense of Martin Harris, the prophet deemed that the time was now come for organizing a "Church," As far back as June, 1829, a "revelation" had been "given to Joseph Smith, jun., Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer," directing them to look out twelve men fit to be chosen as apostles, and announcing other measures preparatory to the "building up the Church of Christ, according to the fullness of the gospel." Another "revelation," to the same purpose, followed in April of the following year:

"The rise of the church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and established agreeably to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April; which commandments were given to Joseph Smith, Jr., who was called of God and ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church; and to Oliver Cowdery, who was also called of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the second elder of this church, and ordained under his hand: and this according to the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory both now and forever. Amen."

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* In like manner Christ is made to say, in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, "The Book of Mormon and the Holy Scriptures are given of me for your instruction." -- Sect. iv. § 8.

"After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world; but after repenting, and humbling himself, sincerely, through faith, God ministered unto him by an holy angel whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all other whiteness, and gave unto him commandments which inspired him, and gave him power from on high, by the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon, which contains a record of a fallen people, and the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, and to the Jews also, which was given by inspiration, and is confirmed to others by the ministering of angels, and is declared unto the world by them, proving to the world that the Holy Scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old, thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, to-day, and forever. Amen.

"Therefore, having so great witnesses, by them shall the world be judged, even as many as shall hereafter come to a knowledge of this work; and those who receive it in faith and work righteousness, shall receive a crown of eternal life; but those who harden their hearts in unbelief and reject it, it shall turn to their own condemnation, for the Lord God has spoken it; and we, the elders of the church, have heard and bear witness to the words of the glorious Majesty on high, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. ii. §§ 1-3.

Then follows a short account, after Joseph's own manner, of the creation, the fall, the Old Testament, the coming of Christ, and the Christian dispensation, ending with the appointment of baptism, as the means of entrance into the Mormon "Church." After this, we have an outline of the constitution of the "Church," of the functions of her several ministers and members, and of the sacraments and ordinances. Baptism is to be ministered by immersion, but only to those who have reached the age of "accountability," which is fixed at eight years, * A difficulty having arisen from the wish of some persons to join the Church, who were, nevertheless, unwilling to be rebaptized, the question was settled by a special "revelation," which declared that.

"Although a man should be baptized a hundred times, it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the straight gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works,"

and commanded them to --

"Enter in at the gate, as I have commanded and seek not to counsel your God." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. i. § 1.

A special form is given for the administration of the Lord's supper, but this is subsequently modified by a "revelation" which declares the use of the proper elements of the sacrament to me immaterial:

"Behold, I say unto you, that it mattereth not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, when ye partake of the sacrament, if it so be that ye do it with an eye single to my glory; remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you, and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins; wherefore a commandment I give unto you, that you shall not purchase wine, neither strong drink of your enemies; wherefore ye shall partake of none, except it is made new among you; yea, in this my Father's kingdom which shall be built up on the earth." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. i. § 1.

The Church being constituted -- at Manchester, State of New York -- the prophet next had a "revelation," appointing himself to the prophetic office, and providing for his own ordination by one of the three witnesses:

"Behold, there shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ; being inspired of the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up unto the most holy faith; which church was organized and established, in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month, which is called April.

"Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words, and commandments, which he shall give unto you, as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; for his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith; for by doing these things, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory. For thus saith the Lord God, him have I inspired to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good; and his diligence I know, and his prayers I have heard: yea, his weeping for Zion I have seen, and I will cause that he shall mourn for her no longer, for his days of rejoicing are come unto the remission of his sins, and the manifestations of my blessings upon his works.

"For, behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard, with a mighty blessing, and they shall believe on his words, which are given him through me by the Comforter, which manifesteth that Jesus was crucified by sinful men for the sins of the world; yea, for the remission of sins unto the contrite heart. Wherefore, it behooveth me, that he

should be ordained by you, Oliver Cowdery, mine apostle; this being an ordinance unto you, that you are an elder under his hand, he being the first unto you, that you might be an elder unto this church of Christ, bearing my name; and the first preacher of this church, unto the church, and before the world; yea, before the Gentiles; yea, and thus saith the Lord God, lo, lo! to the Jews, also. Amen." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xlvi.


Another "revelation" shortly after made provision for the temporal necessities of the prophet, while confirming his alleged inspiration: --

"Magnify thine office; and after thou hast sowed thy fields and secured them, go speedily unto the church which is in Colesville, Fayette, and Manchester, and they shall support thee; and I will bless them both spiritually and temporally; but if they receive thee not, I will send upon them a cursing instead of a blessing.

"And thou shalt continue in calling upon God in my name, and writing the things which shall be given thee by the Comforter, and expounding all scriptures unto the church, and it shall be given thee, in the very moment, what thou shalt speak and write; and they shall hear it, or I will send unto them a cursing instead of a blessing." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. ix. § 2, 3.


And in September of the same year 1830 a special "revelation" became necessary to repress rival claims to prophetic gifts. One Hiram Page, one of the eight witnesses, was instructed that "those things which he had written from that stone," were not of God, but that "Satan" was deceiving him;" and to apostle Oliver himself, the wide distinction between himself and the prophet had to be pointed out: --

"Behold, verily, verily I say unto thee, no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses; and thou shalt be obedient unto the things which I shall give unto him, even as Aaron, to declare faithfully the commandments and revelations, with power and authority unto the church. And if thou art led at any time by the Comforter to speak or teach, or at all times by the way of commandment unto the church, thou mayest do it. But thou shalt not write by way of commandment, but by wisdom; and thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church, for I have given him the keys of the mysteries and the revelations, which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. li. § 2.


It would be an endless task to adduce the various "revelations" which now succeeded each other, all having for their object to enforce the prophet's behests in the Church, to consolidate his authority, to repress the claims of his accomplices in the fraud to a share of his power, and to dispose of intractable Church-officers by sending them forth on missionary excursions. While the "Church" continued in Manchester and its vicinity, under the sole control of Joseph, he contrived to maintain his authority tolerably well. But a mighty change took place when, at the end of 1830, Sidney Rigdon's joint authority was brought to play. His introduction to the Church was most skillfully managed by means of a mission to Kirtland, Ohio, where Rigdon was presiding over a congregation of Campbellite Baptists. On the new doctrine of the Book of Mormon being preached to them, a number of the Campbellites, and among them Rigdon himself, were converted, and received baptism at the hands of Joseph's emissaries. This was followed by a visit from Rigdon to the "Church" at Manchester, when this "revelation" was "given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon," in December, 1830: --

"Behold, verily, verily I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers and prepared thee for a greater work. Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold, thou wast sent forth even as John, to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah which should come, and thou knew it not. Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance, but they received not the Holy Ghost; but now I give unto thee a commandment, that thou shalt baptize by water, and they shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, even as the apostles of old." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xi. § 2.

Soon after this, at the beginning of the year 1831, the head-quarters of the "Church" were removed to Kirtland, and from this time forward the "revelations" assume a fuller and more ambitious character, which evidently bespeaks the influence of a thorough man of business, more highly educated, and more deeply versed in the Scriptures than Joseph. One Edward Partridge, a creature of Rigdon's, who had come with him from Kirtland to Manchester, and returned thither, was by "revelation" appointed "Bishop;" an office which had regard rather to the ecclesiastical government of the "Church," and the management of her temporalities, than to spiritual oversight, and which rendered him at times very obnoxious to Smith, as several of the "revelations"

testify. With Rigdon, too, there appears to have been sharp conflicts, which were composed on one occasion by a "revelation," dividing the blame between them. * Rigdon, however, soon attended to an equality of power with the prophet, and one of the visions, which sets forth the three states, the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial, runs in their joint names. † At one time Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon saw fit to send away all the elders from the "Church," on different missions, "two and two," that they should "teach the principles of the gospel, which are in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fullness of the gospel," with a special injunction to "observe the covenants and church articles to do them." And all this they are bidden to

"Observe to do as I have commanded concerning your teaching, until the fullness of my scriptures are (sic!) given." ‡

The expression, the "fullness of my scriptures," has reference to a new translation of the Bible which had been taken in hand, probably as the suggestion of Rigdon, but the execution of which, except the publication of a few fragments, was apparently prevented by subsequent occurrences and by the want of funds.

On the 17th of February, 1834, the "Church" which had been going on increasing was finally "organized by revelation," when Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and F. G. Williams were acknowledged presidents. A council was appointed to assist them in the administration of its affairs, and a regular staff of resident and traveling officers, whose respective duties and relative positions were accurately defined. § A costly temple was erected, as well as private residences for Smith and Rigdon, who having possessed themselves of the surplus wealth of their converts, launched out into a multiplicity of enterprises, and among others established a "Safety Society Bank," which proved eventually the ruin of the Mormon cause in the State of Ohio. Of these transactions few traces are to be found in the "revelations" given at this period; the history of them is chiefly derived from the opponents of the Mormons; and as it lies out of the way of our more immediate object, we shall refer our readers once more to Mr. Caswall's book for information. **

Long, however, before the removal of the "Saints" from Kirtland became a matter of necessity, in consequence of the failure of the bank, under circumstances of great disgrace, a scheme had been formed for the establishment of a much larger settlement than any this sect had as yet had, farther West. As early as June, 1831, a "revelation" was given, pointing to certain land in Missouri, as land "to be consecrated to the Lord's people."

"If ye are faithful, ye shall assemble yourselves together to rejoice upon the land of Missouri, which is the land of your inheritance, which is near the land of your enemies. But, behold, I the Lord will hasten the city in its time, and will crown the faithful with joy and with rejoicings." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. lxvi. § 9.

An assembly of elders was convened, on the ground which it was intended hereafter to occupy, and which was now declared to be the proper location for the city of Zion, and the great temple that should be built. ††

"Behold, this is the will of the Lord your God concerning his Saints, that they should assemble themselves together unto the land of Zion, not in haste, lest there should be confusion, which bringeth pestilence. Behold, the Land of Zion, I, the Lord, holdeth it in mine own hands; nevertheless, I, the Lord, rendereth unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's: wherefore, I, the Lord, willeth, that you should purchase the lands, that you may have advantage of the world, that you may have claim on the world, that they may not be stirred up unto anger; for Satan putteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding of blood; wherefore the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase, or by blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you. And if by purchase, behold, you are blessed; and if by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xx. § 8.

In the following year, 1832, a formal promise of the restoration of Zion, the erection of the New Jerusalem in Missouri, was given by "revelation:" --

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* Covenants and Commandments, Sect. lxxxiii. §§ 7, 8.

† Ibid. Sect xcii. § 3.

‡ Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xiii. § 2, 5.

§ Ibid. Sect v.

** Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, chap. vii., viii.

†† Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xxvii. § 1.

"A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith, jun. and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high; yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people as He has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon mount Zion, which shall be the city New Jerusalem; which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the state of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, jr. and others, with whom the Lord was well pleased.

"Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation; for verily, this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be ever the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. iv. § 1, 2.

And in the month of December, 1833, a commandment went forth for a general gathering in all the churches in every part of the world, in order to collect funds for "the redemption of Zion." *

How far the investments in Missouri may have helped to embarrass the finances of the "Church" at Kirtland, it is impossible to say. The probability, however, is, that they had no small share in the catastrophe which eventually accelerated the transfer of the centre of Mormonism to the spot prophetically pointed out as the place in which the New Jerusalem should be erected. And certain it is that the most stringent measures were taken to levy contributions upon the members of the Church, by a system of enforced donations, which had much more the character of confiscation than of taxation. The principle of complete surrender of private property was laid down broadly, soon after the removal to Kirtland, in the first instance under the guise of securing support for the poor, but in reality for enriching the Church, and placing all the property of the members at the disposal of the leaders.

"If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments. And, behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support, that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken; and inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me, and it shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counsellors, two of the elders, or high priests, such as he shall or has appointed and set apart for that purpose.

"And it shall come to pass that after they are laid before the bishop of my church, and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the consecration of the properties of my church, that they cannot be taken from the church, agreeable to my commandments; every man shall be made accountable unto me a steward over his own property, or that which he has received by consecration, inasmuch as is sufficient for himself and family.

"And again, if there shall be properties in the hands of the church, or any individuals of it, more than is necessary for their support, after this first consecration, which is a residue, to be consecrated unto the bishop, it shall be kept to administer unto those who have not, from time to time, that every man who has need may be amply supplied, and receive according to his wants. Therefore, the residue shall be kept in my store-house, to administer to the poor and the needy, as shall be appointed by the high council of the church, and the bishop and his council, and for the purpose of purchasing lands for the public benefit of the church, and building houses of worship, and building up of the New Jerusalem which is hereafter to be revealed, that my covenant people may be gathered in one, in that day when I shall come to my temple. And this I do for the salvation of my people.

"And it shall come to pass that he that sinneth and repenteth not, shall be cast out of the church, and shall not receive again that which he has consecrated unto the poor and the needy of my church, or, in other words, unto me; for inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me; for it shall come to pass that which I spake by the mouths of my prophets shall be fulfilled; for I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel, among the Gentiles, unto the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel..." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xiii. 8-11.

However unpalatable this system might prove, and undoubtedly did prove, to many of the members, and especially the new comers, it was constantly enforced by "revelations," and carried out with greater rigor than ever, after the removal from Kirtland, as appears from a "revelation" given at Far West, Missouri, July 8, 1838, in answer to the question, "O Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing." The answer is as follows: --

"Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion, for the building of mine house, and for the laying the foundation of Zion, and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the presidency of my church; and this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people; and after that, those who have thus been tithed, shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually, and

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* Covenants and Commandments, Sect. xcv. §§ 9, 10.

this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.

"Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass, that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you And I say unto you, if my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes and my judgments may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy; behold, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you; and this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion. Even so. Amen." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. cii.

The settlement of Zion, however, notwithstanding the most confident predictions, and the most positive and explicit "revelations," proved an utter failure. One short year was sufficient to provoke the Missourians to a war of extermination against the sect, which ended in its expulsion from the State, * and its removal to the State of Illinois, where, on the banks of the Mississippi, the foundations of the famous city of Nauvoo were laid in 1839. To avoid the confession of failure, the prophet boldly asserted, that notwithstanding all that had passed, Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, was the place where Zion should be built; but in the mean time, Nauvoo, "the beautiful city," was to be their principal "stake, until "the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled." No one could suspect the straits to which the sect had been reduced, the sufferings which its members had undergone, or the damage which the character of the prophet had sustained, from the tone of gratulalion and of triumph, and of arrogated supremacy over all the nations and kingdoms of the earth, which pervades the "revelation" given at Nauvoo in January, 1841:

"I say unto you, that you are now called immediately to make a solemn proclamation of my gospel, and of this stake which I have planted to be a corner-stone of Zion, which shall be polished with that refinement which is after the similitude of a palace. This proclamation shall be made to all the kings of the world -- to the four corners thereof -- to the honorable president elect, and the high-minded governors of the nation in which you live, and to all the nations of the earth, scattered abroad. Let it be written in the spirit of meekness, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be in you at the time of the writing of the same; for it shall be given you by the Holy Ghost to know my will concerning those kings and authorities, even what shall befall them in a time to come. For, behold, I am about to call upon them to give heed to the light and glory of Zion, for the set time has come to favor her." -- Covenants and Commandments, Sect. ciii. § 1.

At Nauvoo the wickedness of the Mormon system reached its climax, Flushed by his success, after the most fearful reversed, the prophet now overleapt all the bonds of self-restraint, and in more than one sense carried himself as the Mahomet of the West. A full, and to all appearance authentic, account of the state of affairs at Nauvoo, * and of the private as well as public conduct of Joseph Smith at this period, is given by one whose testimony it is hardly possible for a follower of the prophet to repudiate, considering the reception which was given him, the estimation in which he was for a long time held by the prophet, and the position which he occupied at Nauvoo, where he continued to live as a Mormonite, for the space of eighteen months, holding during the greater part of that time, a high station in the sect, which gave him admission to all its mysteries, and a knowledge of all its secrets; -- we allude to General J. [C.] Bennet, whose "Expose of Joe Smith and of Mormonism" is quoted (No. 3) at the head of this article. According to J. A. [sic, C.] Bennet's own account, he never was a believer in Mormonism, but having reason to suspect the Mormon leader of "a daring and colossal scheme of rebellion and usurpation through-out the Northwestern States," having in fact documents to show a scheme for conquering Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, and creating a despotic military and religious empire, with Joe Smith at the head, he determined to spy out the land, and for this purpose feigned himself a convert to Mormonism. However questionable the morality of this proceeding may be, † certain it is that the inspiration of Joseph did not serve him to discern the traitor in the camp. So far from discovering Bennet's real intentions, Joseph

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* See also Caswall's City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo in 1842.

† Bennet himself offers a kind of apology for it. "Persons unacquainted," he says, "with the subject, can scarcely imagine the baseness and turpitude of Mormon principles, or the horrid practices to which these principles gave rise. When they learn how habitually the Mormons sacrifice to their brutal propensities the virtue and happiness of young and innocent females; how they cruelly persecute those who refuse to join them, and how they murder those who attempt to expose them; they will look with indulgence upon almost any means employed to thwart their villainous designs, and detect and disclose their infamy."

distinguished him by "revelation" as a valuable accession to the staff of the Church..

"Let my servant James A. Bennet, help you in your labor in sending my word to the kings of the people of the earth, and stand by you, even you my servant Joseph Smith, in the hour of affliction, and his reward shall not fail if he receive counsel; and for his love he shall be great, for he shall be mine if he do this, saith the Lord. I have seen the work which he hath done, which I accept, if he continue, and will crown him with blessings and great glory." Covenants and Commandments, Sect. ciii. § 6.

Such a "revelation" in the standard book of the sect, the record of the prophet's "inspired" utterance, bestowed upon a man who himself openly declares that he never was anything but a spy and a traitor among the "saints," is the most conclusive evidence, if any were needed, that Joseph Smith has no pretensions whatever to be accounted a prophet. The mistake which he made in pronouncing Mr. Caswall's manuscript of the Greek Testament a dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics, * is a mere trifle compared with the moral mistake of his reposing, and that professedly while under the influence of inspiration, the greatest confidence in an individual who was in fact at that very moment planning his destruction. Nor was this want of discernment confined to the one instance of the "revelation" quoted above; Bennet had not been much more than six months in Nauvoo, where Smith was then omnipotent, before he combined in his person the offices of Mayor of the City, Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion, and First President of the Church of the Latter Day Saints; and it is worthy of remark, that when he determined to leave Nauvoo, he withdrew with the full knowledge and consent of Joseph, and received a vote of thanks from the City Council. All these circumstances, as well as his standing in society, which is attested by a number of testimonials of the first respectability, impart a degree of credibility, and an air of authenticity, to the report of General Bennet, to which few of the other opponents of Mormonism can lay claim.

Having, then, made our readers acquainted with the history and character of our witness, we now proceed briefly to sum up the most important points of his evidence. According to General Bennet's statement, the whole community at Nauvoo was nothing more than a huge organization for the gratification of the rapacity, the lust, and lawless ambition of Joseph Smith and his associates. While these were accommodated with comfortable quarters at the public expense, and lived in ease and comparative luxury, their deluded followers were exposed to every species of privation. This Bennet states, both upon his own authority, and upon that of others whose evidence he quotes; and, in illustration of the spirit in which the prophet acted, he adduces the following anecdote:

"At the very time that the elders of this Church, and indeed the poorer class were suffering from the want of the common necessaries of life, Smith demanded at the hands of the people 1200 dollars per year, in order to aggrandize himself and enable him to live in luxury. And when some complained that this would be a violation of the rules of the Church, he remarked that if he could not obtain his demand, his people might go to hell, and he would go to the Rocky Mountains." -- Bennet's History of the Saints, p. 60.

While the general multitude of believers in Mormonism were thus left to toil and to starve, being deprived of their property by "revelations," under the plea of its being devoted to the service of the Most High, there was an extensive organization, under the name of the Order Lodge, to which those who were thought worthy of it, were initiated, by the most ridiculous, profane, and indecent mysteries. † Among the ceremonies which took place at these secret rites, was a blasphemous personation of the Holy Trinity, in which, in General Bennet's time, God the Father was represented by Joseph, God the Son by his brother Hyrum Smith, and God the Holy Ghost by on George Miller. One of the most horrible features of this secret organization was the Spiritual seraglio, formed for the gratification of the profligate propensities of the prophet, and of the other leaders of that sect. We cannot pollute our pages with any of the details given by General Bennet; suffice it to say, that a course of initiation took place, of both married and unmarried females, through three degrees, or orders, that of the "Cyprian Saints," or the "Saints of the White Veil," -- that of the "Chambered

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* Caswall's History of the Mormons, pp. 35-37.

† The account given by Bennet of this Order Lodge is confirmed by a curious Tract, republished by Arthur Hall (London), entitled, "Sketch of the Rise, Progress, and Dispersion of the Mormons. By John Thomas, M.D., Author of "Elpin Israel," Virginia, U. S. of America; to which is added, An Account of the Nauvoo Temple Mysteries, and other Abominations, practised by the Mormons previous to their Emigration for California. By Increase M'Gee Van Dusen, formerly one of the Initiated."

Sisters of Charity," or "Saints of the Green Veil," -- and, lastly, that of "Cloistered Saints." "Consecratees of the Cloister" or "Saints of the Black Veil; the adepts of the last and highest degree in this ascending scale of corruption being exempted from any restraint, and living in the indulgence of the grossest debauchery with the leaders of the sect, and especially with the prophet himself, who in this select circle assumed the familiar sobriquet of the "Old White Hat."

Another and most frightful part of this secret organization was the body of desperadoes, incorporated originally at Zion, in Missouri under the mysterious name of the "Daughter of Zion," otherwise called "the Danites;" men who were solemnly bound under a fearful oath; and under the penalty of instant and certain death, to execute the decrees of the leaders, and especially of the prophet himself, whatever they might be: robbery, perjury, murder or whatever other crime it was desirable to commit, in furtherance of the interests of the ruling body, these "Danites" were ready to execute. At the time of. General Bennet's sojourn at Nauvoo, their number was 1200, and out of them the twelve most desperate characters were selected, and distinguished, by the appellation, the "destroying angels," or, less obviously to the uninitiated, the "flying angels." Most daring assassinations, at great distances, as well as at the Mormon city itself, were planned and carried. into effect; among them that of Governor Boggs of Missouri, whose violent death Smith had the audacity to predict, Bennet himself was in no small danger from these emissaries of death, after his separation from the sect; but being thoroughly aware of the system, he was on his guard and managed to escape:

"Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths of all the faithful," says General Bennet, " of the Mormon Church, regard Joe Smith as God's vice-gerent on earth, and obey him accordingly; and all the Danites of that Church (and, by-the-by, they compose no very inconsiderable proportion of their mighty hosts), are sworn to receive him as the supreme lord of the Church, and to obey him as the supreme God. If therefore, any state officer, in the administration of public justice, happens to give offense to his Holiness the Prophet, it becomes the will of God, as spoken by the mouth of his prophet, that that functionary should DIE and his followers, the faithful saints, immediately set about the work of assassination, in obedience, as they suppose, to their Divine master; and for which NOBLE DEED they expect to receive an excellent and superior glory in the celestial kingdom...."

"The standard of morality and Christian excellence with them is quite unstable. Joe Smith has but to give the word, and it becomes the LAW which they delight to obey! -- BECAUSE IT COMES FROM GOD!!! Acts therefore, which but yesterday were considered the most immoral, wicked, and devilish -- to-day are the most moral, righteous, and God-like; because God, who makes right, has so declared it by the mouth of his anointed prophet." -- Bennet's History of the Saints, pp. 148, 149.

Although, after all that has been stated respecting the character and career of the founder of Mormonism, it is impossible that he should be regarded in any other light than that of a during impostor, yet the following anecdotes are not without interest, as showing the tone of his mind.

"One day, Joe, the prophet, was gravely dictating to George Robinson a revelation which he had just received from the Lord. Robinson, according to custom, wrote down the very words the Lord spake to Joe, and in the exact order in which the latter heard them. He had written for some considerable time, when Smith's inspiration began to flag; and to gain breath, he requested Robinson to read over what he had written. He did so, until he came to a particular passage, when Smith interrupted him, and desired to have that read again. Robinson complied; and Smith, shaking his head, knitting his brows, and looking very much perplexed, said -- "That will never do! you must alter that, George." Robinson, though not a little surprised at 'the Lord's blunder,' did as he was directed, and changed the offensive passage into one more fit for the inspection of the Gentiles." -- Bennet's History of the Saints, p. 176.

Upon another occasion:--

" As General Bennet and Smith were walking together on the banks of the Mississippi, Smith suddenly said to him, in a peculiarly inquiring manner: 'General, Harris says that you have no faith, and that you do not believe that we shall ever obtain our inheritances in Jackson County, Missouri.' Though somewhat perplexed by the prophet's remark, and still more by his manner, Bennet coldly replied: 'What does Harris know about my belief, or the real state of my mind? I like to tease him now and then about it, as he is so firm in the faith, and takes it all in such good part.' 'Well,' said Joe, laughing heartily,' I guess you have got about as much faith as I have.' Ha! ha! ha!' 'I should judge about as much,' was Bennet's reply." -- Bennet's History of the Saints, p. 176.

It is no wonder that a community governed upon a system of such daring iniquity should have been torn by internal dissensions, and regarded with suspicion and hostility by

all around. Many of those whom the prophet associated with himself in the government of Nauvoo, separated from him; among them some of his early accomplices, and even Sidney Rigdon himself, the partner of his fraud from the beginning -- the feelings of the father overcoming every other consideration, on his making the discovery that Smith had attempted to add his daughter to the number of his "spiritual wives." The depredations of the Mormonites, and their lawless conduct, soon rendered them as obnoxious in Illinois as they had been in Missouri, and after another Mormon war, in the course of which Joseph himself, with his brother Hyrum, lost his life, being shot by an armed mob, in Carthage gaol, the remnant of the Nauvooans migrated still further west, and effected a settlement in California, where they cut a conspicuous figure, in that entertaining and instructive merk, recently published; Life in the Far West, by G. P. Ruxton.

But what is truly surprising, is that, notwithstanding all the reverses which the leaders of the sect suffered, their dissensions among one another, and the exposure of the fraud and imposture of the prophet himself, thousands should still be found who regard Joseph in the light of a martyr; who receive the "Book of Mormon" and the "Doctrine and Covenants" As inspired writings; and who look for the fulfillment of the promises given to the "Latter Day Saints" by the vilest religious impostor which the world has seen since the days of Mahomet. At this present moment we have reason to believe that the number of Mormonites in England is not much under 30,000, In London and the suburbs alone they have near upon twenty different meeting-houses, though all of very moderate dimensions. With fanatical expectations of worldly prosperity and temporal glory, the professors of Mormonism combine the most bitter hostility against every existing religious system, and especially against the true Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose commission they deny, and whose ordinances they revile in the grossest and most offensive terms. Their creed is a tissue of ignorance and profaneness, founded upon the most palpable perversions of Holy Scripture, and characterized by the most carnal conceptions of things spiritual. We had intended to have given an outline of the doctrines of the sect as they are set forth at the present time by the preachers of Mormonism in Europe and in America; but we have already so far exceeded our limits, that we must adjourn this part of our proposed labors to a future opportunity, if, indeed we shall ever be able to afford leisure and space to revert to a subject which would be altogether unworthy of serious attention, but for the extensive spread among our benighted populations of so fearful a spiritual pestilence.

THE  YANKEE  MAHOMET.

To the Editor of the American Review:

I HAVE thought that at a time when public attention is so generally turned towards the different elements which are mingling to form the population of the western limits of our country, and the influence which that population must, at no very distant period, exert upon our national destiny, the following sketch of Mormon history might not be uninteresting to a portion of the readers of your Review.

In treating of Mormonism, I propose to state the origin of the system; to explain its structure; to represent the causes of its past and present rapid dissemination, and to give a sketch of its history from the Establishinent of the "stake" at Kirtland to the present time.

And, first, it will be necessary to relate a few events connected with the origill of the "Book of Mormon," a work which bears to the remainder of the sacred writings of the Mormon Church, a relation similar to that I of the four Gospels and Acts to the more elaborate and didactical Epistles of the New Testament.

Those who were acquainted with the early life of the founder of Mormonism, with his ignorance and character for stupidity, wondered much at the publication of so invention-displaying and elaborate a work, of which he claimed to be sole author and proprietor; and as the prophet daily lived down his own boasts of superior virtue and wisdom, the wonder grew into a suspicion of the genuineness of his claims of exclusive authorship. A short time served to give this suspicion basis and confirmation, and a number of affidavits filed almost simultaneously in different parts of New-York and Pennsylvania, and by witnesses between whom there was no opportunity of collusion, showed clearly the sources of the pretended inspiration.

Of these affidavits I shall only give the substance of one of the most important, which embodies nearly all the information possessed by the world on the subject. I quote from the information given by John Spaulding, the brother of the subject of the testimony

"Solomon Spaulding was born in Ashford, Conn., A. D. 1761. He graduated at Dartmouth College, and was afterwards regularly ordained a minister. After preaching three or four years, he gave up his profession, and commenced mercantile business, in partnership with his brother Josiah, in Cherry Valley, N. Y., where he soon failed. In 1809 he removed to Conneaut, Ohio, where he engaged himself in building an iron forge; but in this business also he soon failed.

"Casting about him for some method of retrieving his losses, he conceived the design of writing a historical romance upon a subject then much mooted in the scientific world, the origin of the Indian tribes. This design he carried into exe- cution between 1809 and 1812, and the produce of his labors was a novel entitled the 'Manuscript Found.' In this work lie mentioned that the American continent was colonized by Lehi, the son of Japheth, who sailed from Chaldea soon after the great dispersion, and landed near the isthmus of Darien. Lehi's descendants, who were styled Jaredites, spread gradually to the north, bearing with them the remains of antediluvian science, and building those cities the ruins of which we see in Central America, and the fortifications which are scattered along the Cordilleras.

"Long after this, Nephi, of the tribe of Joseph, emigrated to America with a large portion of the ten tribes whom Shalmanezer led away from Palestine, and scattered among the Midian cities. This remnant of Joseph was soon after its arrival divided into two nations, the Nephites and the Lamanites. These nations made war constantly against each other, and in the year A. D. 420, a great battle was fought in western New-York, which terminated in the destruction of the armies of both the belligerent parties, and the annihilation of their power. One man only was left; Mo[r]oni, the son of Mormon, who hid the records of the Nephites near Conneaut, Ohio, previously at his death."


In 1812 Mr. Spaulding went to Pittsburg to negotiate for the publication of this work. He presented it at the office of Patterson & Lambden, but his proposals were made without success. It seems, however, that the firm did not give him a decided refusal, since the manuscript was left at their office. In 1814 Mr. Spaulding moved from Pittsburg, where he had settled, to Washington county, Penn., where in 1816 he died.

From the above facts, which might be substantiated by a vast amount of confirmative testimony, did our limits permit, we are forced to the conclusion that, previously to his publication of the Book of Mormon, which consists of the historical matter above condensed, and of various prophecies concerning himself, together with a large amount of religious matter, Smith had obtained access to the "Manuscript Found."

How he gained this access it is impossible, with any degree of certainty, to say. We know the Manuscript Found to have been left with Patterson & Lambden in 1812, but all subsequent inquiries as to its fate have been ineffectual. One member of the firm rarely engaged in business, and has forgotten the affair altogether; the other is dead.

We know, however, that Sidney Rigdon, who was next to Smith the most important man in the Church, was an intimate acquaintance of Lambden, and that during the three or four years previous to the publication of the Book of Mormon, he prepared the minds of over a thousand people for sudden conversion to the Mormon faith, by preaching the main doctrines of the system.

Many maintain that it was Rigdon who obtained the manuscript of Spaulding, modified it, chose Smith as his tool and cats-paw wherewith to feel of public opinion, and afterwards joined the sect which he himself had in fact created.

The following testimony, however, although not actually proving any thing to the purpose, would seem to indicate Smith as the originator as'well as prosecutor of the scheme, although I am inclined to think that there did exist an understanding between him and Rigdon long before 1 830, the time of the publication of the sacred writings.

I make an extract from the testimony of Mrs. Spaulding, widow of the author --

"In 1817, the year subsequent to my husband's death, I removed to Onondaga county, in New-York, and from thence to Hartwick, Otsego county, in the same State, having with me a truuk containing his writings. At time latter place I married again; and soon after went to Massachusetts. From 1817 to 1820 the trunk remained at Onondaga Hollow. After my marriage in 1820, it was removed to Hartwick, where it remained until 1832. A man of the name of Smith was, between 1823 and 1827, frequently seen prowling round the house without any ostensible object, so suspicious were his manceuvres, that he was once or twice arrested as a common vagabond, and only escaped the penalties of the law by running away."

Mrs. Spaulding, at the time of giving this testimony, was old, and family misfortunes had impaired her memory, so as to destroy her recollection of the smaller circumstances attendant upon the removal of the trunk. She remembers, however, that the above-mentioned trunk contained quite a number of writings, at the time when she left it at Onondaga hollow; and although no one was known to have visited it between 1817 and 1832, it was found, by examination in the latter year, to contain but one manuscript, and that unimportant.

The fact that Smith was near this vicinity and engaged in questionable business at the time, during which his revelations were in course of preeparation, seems therefore, in connection with the others above mentioned, to show that he himself purloined the manuscript, one copy of which had been left with Patterson & Lambden. Spaulding was then the innocent author of the Book of Mormon, and Smith the plagiarist and impostor who gave it to the world as inspiration.

But to understand thoroughly any system, we must seek in the early life of its founder for those ultimate causes which have given it its peculiar nature and distinguishing characteristics. I think that we may find the elements of Mormonism in the early life of Smith.

Joseph Smith was born on the 23d of December, 1805, in the town of Sharon, Vt., of poor and vicious parents, whose influence was, in his early years, constantly exerted to suppress the development of any of the higher qualities of the humnan soul to the exercise of which his disposition might incline him.

When he was about ten years old, his family removed to Palmyra, N. Y., in the vicinity of which they resided about eleven years. His childhood was spent in following the occupation of a money-digger, one in which the ignorance and credulity of his parents constantly promapted them to engage themselves and family, to the great detriment of all industrial pursuits. The mounds and sepulchrcs of the extinct races of our Iand, holding out as they did promises of treasure to the ignorant, gave, the country over, strong motives to the idle and avaricious

to search into their depths and endeavor to reap advantage from the examination of their contents. Accordingly, we find Smith, in early youth, following his father, pickaxe on shoulder, digging eagerly into whatever might seeni an Indian tomb; encouraged by stories of boundless wealth hidden in the earth beneath him, which only waited the touch of his skilful hand, or the presence of the divining-rod, to reveal itself to the world; and subsisting by the plunder of hen- roosts, or upou whatever else fortune might throw in his way.

The effects of such a course of life upon him who follows it may readily be imagined. Constantly revelling amid the wildest fictions which the avarice-stimulated imagination of his parents could fabricate, his fancy and love of the marvellous were cultivated to a surprising degree. Constantly striving for gold, and obtaining little by his efforts, he prized it above all other things, and became one of the most avaricious of men. Hope of future acquisition sustained him in his labors ; and as he was seldom reduced to want, but generally, either directly, by obtaining articles of value as a reward of his researches, or indirectly, by cheating those who joined him in speculations of the kind, made his expeditions support him, a strong and buoyant feeling of self-confidence was created and fostered. Permanent feelings of this kind are only companions of those who have learned to depend upon themselves, and they are generally found in conjunction with decision, with pride, and often with vanity; all of which qualities Smith possessed in a very high degree, as is indicated by his conduct in after life, lie could, when he had risen to power, frame legends to reanimate the desponding spirits of his devotees, and could hope on, even when his Church was most persecuted and scattered, for final exaltation and boundless dominion.

Such was his cupidity, that he announced revelation after revelation to his saints, commanding them to bring him moneys and necessaries when his treasury was full; and such his vanity, that it required all the faith of his followers to ohviate the ridiculous effects of his boasts. He was firm even to obstinacy, as his unyielding- determination to occupy western Missouri testifies; and proud, regarding all men as fit subjects of a delusion in which he did not himself believe.

Yet he possessed a trait of character seldom joined with pride, a low cunning which could stoop to the adoption of any means for the attainment of a desired object, and which often defeated the best pre-concerted projects of his enemies.

In foresight, and power of estimating the probabilities of the future from the as- pect of the present, he was far from deficient, as the organization of his Church, adapted to all countries and all times, testifies; but we often find him overlooking affairs of minor importance, with a neglect which, in one occupying his position, seems surprising. He would, for instance, jest over his own infallibility and inspiration; would provoke wantonly the most powerful and trustworthy of his dependants; and would openly proclaim projects the concealment of which policy plainly dictated.

His intellect was of no ordinary kind. Great powers of reasoning were his natural gift; and as his reasonings were rather of an analogical than an analytical cast, there existed (as is always the case with minds thus constituted) a deep vein of humor that ran through all he said and did. An imperfect education had left him deficient in knowledge of the structure of language; and hence his oratory and writings are characterized by most ridiculous grammatical blundcers. He possessed, however, a rough kind of eloquence which won upon the hearts of those too ignorant to see the glaring absurdities of his doctrines.

Add to these qualities a retentive memory; a correct knowledge of human nature, so far as he had opportunities of observing it; ambition that knew no scruple, and licentiousnes that scorned all bounds; a Herculean frame and a commanding appearance; and we have the Mahomet of America, and the most dangerous religious impostor that has appeared for centuries.

The knowledge of his early life which has been given to the world is limited; for all that seems to have been desired by those who made researches or gave testimony concerning him, was either to establish the bad character of the Smith family, or to show the real origin of the Book of Mormon.

We find him at the age of 17 going out among the neighbors to do work by the job. The following anecdote is related of him, showing the effect which his previous training in the gold-seeking department had at

this time produced in exciting a love for the marvellous and mysterious. It is in itself trifling, and only derives importance from its connection with his after life.

As he was engaged one day (1822) in digging a well in company with a neighbor, a very curious stone was discovered, which he desired leave to examine. This being granted, he put it into his hat and asked Chase, the friend whom he was helping, to lend it to him. Chase did so, telling him at the same time not to lose it, as it was something of a curiosity. Soon after this, Joe began to aver that with this stone he could discover treasure, and see all things both above and beneath the earth. Chase then called upon him, and required it of him; but Smith could never be prevailed upon to give it up. It was afterwards used in the translation of the Book of Mormon, and styled the mysterious Urim and Thummim.

His employment between this time and 1826 is not known, saving some few expeditions in search of gold and silver. One of his neighbors gives us an account of the ceremonies employed by the Smith family upon the occasion of such an expedition. These consisted in the use of the divining-rod; the sacrifice of a black sheep, previous to the commencement of the incantations the formation of a circle of stones, and others of a like nature; from an observation of which said witness sagely concludes, that the business brought them more mutton than gold.

Occasionally he was heard advancing contradictory statements concerning a discovery made by himself of certain gold plates, and declaring the existence of a connection between himself and the spirit-world. These various stories gradually assumed form, and in after times, the story told to those who asked concerning his inspiration and published in the same writings, was as follows: --

When he was about seventeen years of age, a revival of religion occurred in the village where he lived, by which many young people of his acquaintance were converted. His own mind was much troubled by a sense of the sinfulness of his conduct, and by doubts which of the various religious sects was most worthy of his support. One day, as he retired to a grove for purposes of prayer and meditation, an angel from heaven appeared, comforting him, and prophesying that he should be the founder of a sect destined to be greater than all others, and to embrace all mankind as its members.

He was direeted to search on the summit of the hill Camora, in Manchester, Ontario county, N. Y., for a volume which should contain the institutions of this sect, and which had been buried there for upwards of fourteen hundred years. He searched, found, and was about to obtain possession of it, when a voice from heaven forbade him, and enjoined upon him a certain course of conduct for the ensuing four years. He was to be married to a woman described to him, and whom he should know as soon as they might meet; and was to prepare himself for the labor of translation by diligent study of the Coptic. In 1827 he might return and claim the book.

He obeyed the Divine command; was married in 1826; obtained a complete mastery over the difficulties of the Coptic,* and returned, to obtain the fulfilment of the Lord's promise.

The spot being indicated to him by the recollection of his former adventure, he removed the earth; and, saw, after opening a stone box, a large number of gold plates, each about eight inches long and seven wide, and of the thickness of sheet tin. Upon taking up the precious record, he looked down into the cavity occasioned by its removal, and saw a toad, which immediately leaped out and assumed the form of the Prince of the infernal world. His majesty, glancing at Smith for an instant, rushed upon him, dealt him a tremendous blow, and wrenched from him the sacred plates.

Nothing daunted, and animated by supernatural aid, the daring intruder grappled with his opponent, and after a hard contest succeeded in regaining his treasure, with which he commenced an immediate retreat. The baffled fiend followed close, and planted upon the rear of the retreating prophet a kick which raised him four feet into the air; then, disappointed, vanished. But, unluckily for his credit, Smith had made a partial exposure of himself to a

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With regard to this profound knowledge. of the Coptic, there is some reason for doubt, as he has assured those asking him the meaning of Greek passages, that they were in the ancient Egyptian, and could be translated by no person save himself.

neighbor, Peter Ingersol; and this throws some little light upon the pretended discovery. The conversation had turned upon the golden Bible, and Joseph had admitted it to be a mere speculating affair; when, Ingersol desiring to know something about his first proceedings, he answered: "Early in the fall of 1827, as I was passing along in the woods, I saw some beautiful white sand. I gathered several quarts of it, tied it up in my frock, and carried it home. On entering the house, I found the family at dinner. They were all anxious to know the nature of the contents of my frock; so I gravely told them that I had the golden Bible, which I had previously mentioned; and, to my surprise, they all believed me. I added that no man could see it and live, but still offered to take it out and show it to them, upon which they left the room in alarm. Now, says I, I have got the damned fools fixed, and will carry out my fun."

Such passages as this, occurring often in our hero's life, serve to show that, whatever else he was, he was no fanatic.

I have mentioned the marriage of Smith. In 1826, he paid his addresses to a young lady named Hale, whose father soon forbade him his house, and removed to Pennsylvania. Joe, nothing daunted, went to a credulous neighbor named Lawrence, and told him that he had discovered a silver mine near a river which ran by the place where Miss Hale resided, and that some of the silver might easily be put into boats, and floated down to a good market. Lawrence carried Smith, who was moneyless, whither he desired, gave him upon his request a recommendation to Mr. Hale, and was then left to go home, empty-handed as he came. The money-seeker then eloped with his chosen, and, by promises concerning a gold mine, persuaded a good old Dutchman, named Stowell, to move all his furniture to a place of residence which he had prepared.

The necessity of increased expense probably made him cast about him for means. Accordingly we see him, in 1827, in Palmyra, New-York, enteting into negotiations with Martin Harris, for the publication of the Book of Mormon. To use his own words to Ingersol, "I went to that d--d fool, Martin Harris, and told him that a revelation from heaven had informed me that he should give me fifty dollars towards the publication of the Golden Bible." This Harris, at once knave and fool, partly believing in Smith's inspiration, and partly engaging in the plan for the sake of profit, was the best tool that Smith could have found. He followed Joe to the town of Harmony, Pa., where together, Harris acting as secretary, they prepared the Book of Mormon for the press.

Smith, seated on one side of a suspended blanket, diligently used the above-mentioned Urim and Thummim in the pretended inspection of the golden plates, (which his disciple was not permitted to see, lest their brightness should slay him,) while Harris transcribed his words. When the anxiety of the scribe to see the sacred volume became intense, as it frequently did, a revelation would be announced, telling him to wait patiently; and thus, restraining him from undue meddling, and encouraging him by flattery, his master prevailed upon him to advance all the funds necessary for the publication of the work, which took place in 1830.

From the above facts it must appear that money-making was primarily Smith's object, and that it was success which enabled him to make his high pretensions to sanctity and miraculous power.

Besides Martin Harris, Smith had gained over to his interests Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, whom he occasionally employed as secretaries; and when the Book of Mormon was issued from the press, a Church was formed, consisting of Smith, his father, his brother Hyram, and these three worthy coadjutors. The doctrines of this Church were contained in the newly issued volume; but as there were in the Book of Mormon only meagre explanations upon disputed theological points, the summary of faith was soon after enlarged by the Book of Covenants, published in small portions and at intervals. This last was, no doubt, partly written by Sidney Rigdon, during the sojourn of the Church in Ohio.

The Mormon theological behief thus ushered into the world, is in many respects worthy of attention; and although we may see in it much that is ridiculous, it nevertheless appears to be the result of the endeavors of a sound mind, though of one sadly misinformed, to clear up the mysteries with which modern speculation has darkened the Scriptures; the principle of absolute

human supremacy in Church affairs being constantly kept in view.

The minds of the members of a sect which is to be governed in religious belief by one individual, must be deeply imbued with faith, lest an inquiring spirit should overthrow their confidence in the claims of him who governs them. Faith, therefore, is most treated of in the Mormon system; and so far do Mormons carry their adiniration of this quality of the soul, as to maintain that it is the power by which God created the world. In this view they sustain themselves by an ambiguity in Hebrews xi. 3, which has been suffered to remain in our translation.

Good works are less made a theme of injunction; and although obedience to the will of the Prophet is sternly insisted upon, many indulgences are granted to the saints in other respects, and many restorations made of the doctrines of the various sects that have allowed their members liberty of action, and regarded belief as the only requisite to salvation. The Prophet, for instance, very generously allowed his chief supporters polygamy, provided the additional wives received the term spiritual, and the marriage ceremony was performed by himself. This privilege was of course unmentioned in any of the sacred writings, and extended at Smith's good pleasure.

Three offenses Mormons are enjoined to forgive, but the fourth, they are emphatically told, God shall revenge for them and the interpretation of this has ever been, that they may revenge themselves.

On the subject of the Trinity, Smith agrees with what is termed the Orthodox belief, as nearly as he understands it; but was often heard during his life to declare himself far superior to our Saviour.

The Bible is said to be, after the Book of Mormon, the great canon of faith; and claims are made by the Prophet of having rectified many mistranslations, and restored many parts suppressed by the Catholics, who are denounced in no measured terms. Mormons regard it in the same light in which Christians regard the Old Testament, and its prophecies are to be literally fulfilled.

There are now many differences in the Church, upon theological points; and were, even during the life of Smith. Elder Parley Pratt wrote a book, entitled the "Voice of Warning," in explanation of the subjects of disputation, which is almost regarded as canonical.

In this work, the Mormon belief concerning the fulfilment of the predictions of the Apocalypse is thus explained

"The New Jerusalem mentioned is to be built up in America, at Independence, Mo., and at the same time the old shall be rebuilt in Palestine. The two cities shall flourish until the great and last change, when both shall be caught up to heaven, to be near the Lord and his eternal habitations."

The Book of Mormon declares that the "saints of the Church shall in after ages be equal to our Saviour, and, like him, engage in the creation and salvation of worlds." and adds, "that there are four future states or conditions of the soul, the Celestial, the Telestial, the Terrestrial, and the Infernal;" so that the distinction between the Mormon and other sects can be as well preserved hereafter as here.

The creed of the Mormon Church would little differ, excepting on the points above enumerated, from that of any Christian denomination; but from what has been mentioned, it will be seen that in its main features it bears considerable resemblance to that propagated by Mahomet. Both recognize the principle of arbitrary power, and both that of forcible dissemination. There are, too, in both, indulgences for the faithful and sensual paradises reserved for the elect.

It might not be unprofitable, did limits permit, to continue the parallel, and show how the minds of the great impostors of different ages are the same, and how the systems resulting from them distinguish, invariably, false teachers from THE TRUE.

Smith's system was, however, produced in an age different from that of Mahomet, and could not, from the nature of things, be immediately promulgated by the sword. Care, circumspection, and an organization which should spread itself over the whole country, were necessary before forcible measures could quicken his onward march to power; and this organization he supplied with a skill which, considering his educational advantages and his opportunities of investigating governmental machinery, is truly wonderful.

He was head of the Church, and, according to his own account, in constant communication with the Deity, whose commands he

imparted to others. The Church is therefore commanded to listen reverently to what he says, and to obey him in all affairs, spiritual and temporal.

He only exercised this power, however, as head of a body which could live and grow without him. He was but the leading member of the First Presidency, which consisted of three individuals, and exercised supreme authority in all Church affairs. The other two members were, during his life, his brother Hyram and Sidney Rigdon.

Each Mormon church is called a stake, and is ruled by a subordinate presidency, consisting of three high priests, who in religious affairs are subject to the central authority. There is in each stake an ultimate court of appeal in civil, and in some cases in religious affairs, which is composed of twelve high priests, and called the "High Council."

An inferior court also exists in each stake, subordinate to the High Council, which acts only in civil affairs.

Connected with the First Presidency is a "Travelling High Council," which acts immediately under its authority, and consists of twelve high priests, called the "Twelve Apostles," who preach the gospel in different parts of the world, and govern unorganized stakes. These 'Twelve Apostles have under their authority first, second, and third Seventies, which assist them in the administration of the affairs of new churches, and also preach.

All the above officers are elected by the peop,le, and hold their offices during life, competency, and good behavior. There is thus a central authority in spiritual affairs, which binds the churches together, and an independence of the separate churches, which enables them to live under whatever civil laws they please. Every feeble and unorganized stake is amply provided for, and. the bond of union is strengthened by the communication of the minor authorities with the superior power, and by the constant exertions of travelling apostles.

There are two classes of priesthood, the Melehizedec and the Aaronic. To the former belongs the First Presidency, with its High Council, together with each of the subordinate presidencies, with its High Council; to the latter the lesser courts, the "Seventies," and generally all elders and deacous of the Church who preach, whether they are travelling or stationary. The ministerial is no preventive to other occupations. Funds are occasionally provided for the ministers by the Church; but they are generally left to obtain their subsistence without extraneous aid, provided those around them can contribute nothing, and the funds of the Church are low.

The Mormon elder is not, like too many of our Christian ministers, secluded from the haunts of life, and dependent upon a few parochial visits and upon weekly sermons as his means of reviving and sustaining religion. He wields the axe with the pioneer, climbs the mast with the sailor, drives the plough with the farmer; and thus, mingling in all the various avocations of mankind, appealing to familiar things, and using an influence which nothing but acquaintance with men and their actuating motives can give, is almost universally successful in obtaining some fruits of labor.

Moreover, as Mormons live under a democratical form of Church government, and each man stands a chance of being a high priest or elder, all feel themselves bound to gain a thorough knowledge of their Scriptures; and thus a power of argument is gained, which gives the most ignorant the advantage in dialectical contests with the learned.

This organization, and these facts, account, I think, for the vast influence which Mormonism exerts among the poorer classes; and when we consider such a constitution, we cannot wonder at the rapid increase of the new Church, and the astonishing power which it obtained in so short a space of time.

Having then these foundations on which to build, it will not be difficult to construct, uninterruptedly and understandingly, the edifice of Mormon History.

The first Mormon church was organized April 6th, 1830, at Manchester, N. Y., and was composed of six members, three of whom were, as has been remarked, members of the Smith family. Between April and October about forty were admitted as members in the surrounding villages. In October, four missionaries, among whom was Oliver Cowdery, started for the West, to preach to the Indians, whom Mormons have always looked upon with great favor, since they are taught by Smith to believe them the descendants of the ten lost tribes.

In the course of their journey, they preached at various places, and at Kirtland, Ohio, baptized one hundred and thirty disciples in less than four weeks. Before the next spring, the church at Kirtland had increased to about one thousand members. The reason of this enormous increase in so short a time is explained by Professor Turner in something the following manner.

In the year 1827, Alexander Campbell, Sidney Rigdon, and William Scott left the regular Baptist Church, and founded a new sect, styled the "Reformed Baptists." S. Rigdon was distinguished from his colleagues by doctrines which soon entirely severed him from them, and made him the leader of a separate congregation. He maintained that the prophecies of the Scriptures would be literally fulfilled, and the Israelites actually restored, together with several other doctrines coinciding with those of Smith. His eloquence and persuasive powers were irresistible, his imagination luxurious, and his emotion while addressing an audience so overpowering as to induce many to believe him acting under the influence of inspiration.

Some maintain the existence of a previous agreement between him and Smith, and the supposition is not improbable, although it cannot be verified. At any rate, as soon as the Book of Mormon was published, he started for Smith's place of residence, immediately returned after a short interview with the Prophet, and announced to his congregation his conversion to the Mormon faith. So great was his influence, that almost all of his flock followed his example, and occasioned, by entering the pale of the Church, this sudden augmentation.

Soon after the conversion of Rigdon, Smith announced a regulation, which designated Kirtland, Ohio, as the place where, until another should be provided, the Church should take up its head-quarters. He gave it the Hebrew name of Shinahar, and adopted the practice of giving Hebrew names to the places where Mormon churches were established.

When winter arrived, between one and two thousand Mormons had settled at Kirtland, and the Chureh seemed fairly begun. As the season progressed, many of the elders and members, excited by the revelations of Smith and the eloquence of Rigdon, fancied themselves possessed of miraculous power, and laid claim to the gift of tongues. Some ran franticly through the woods day and night, uttering unintelligible sounds; some went into convulsions, and lost their reason through overpowering religious emotion; while the country around seemed as the plains of Boeotia must have seemed during the high festivals of Bacehus.

Smith, seeing that if each member of his church could with impunity lay claim to intercourse with heaven, his own power must fall, pronounced these farcical inspirations the work of the devil, and declared that all the commands which God would impose upon the Mormons would be first given to himself. The confusion soon after ceased.

The year 1831 opened with bright auspices to the cause. smith announced a revelation commanding Church members to bring a large proportion of their possessions to the common treasury; and the command was obeyed. The elders made many converts throughout the country, and Smith's correspondents in the West gave him such glowing accoimts of the country lying along the Missouri frontier, that he determined to make it in future time the head-quarters of the Church. He had at first selected a portion of Geauga county, Ohio, as the promised land; but his character benig well known in those parts, and fifty gentlemen of high standing in community having made affirmation as to his rascality, he relinquished his project. In the month of June he called together the priesthood, to give what he termed the "endowment," which consisted in the imposition of hands and the impartment of the Holy Spirit; and after the performance of this ceremony, dispatched them to the West to preach the faith, commanding them to meet at Independence, Mo. Thither he and Rigdon soon went and pointed out a place for the erection of a temple, giving to Independence the name Mount Zion. After uttering various prophecies concerning the future greatness of the place, they returned to Kirtland.

The Church at Mount Zion soon numbered twelve hundred members; but as its history is separate from that of the Mother Church at Kirtland, I shall treat only of the latter until 1838, and then review Missouri affairs.

In the year 1832, a firm was established at Kirtland, With Smith for its head, the business of which was to take care of all consecrated property. During the commencement

of the next year, the gift of tongues again made its appearance. At first Smith declared it another Satanic manifestation; but soon afterwards, so great was the impression which it made upon the minds of his followers, he sanctioned it as the result of Divine influence. Judge Higbee, who soon after joined him at Kirtland, thus explains it: "Every sound that can be uttered is a word in some language. The person has only to open his mouth and utter sounds, leaving it to God to make them expressive of some train of thought. The translator must yield himself to the influence of the Spirit, and he will utter the substance of what is said."

In June, the firm formed in the preceding year received a revelation from Smith, which commanded that the town should be laid out into lots, the proceeds resulting from the sale of which should be applied to the building of a temple. In carrying out this command, large debts were contracted, as the edifice to be erected was very expensive,

In 1834, the firm was divided into two separate and independent arms, the one located in Missouri, the other at Kirtland

In 1835, Smith and Rigdon purchased goods in Buffalo and Cleveland, and established a mercantile firm, the profits obtained by which were to be applied to the building of the temple. This establishment was soon involved in debt, and the leaders attempted to gain money by issuing their notes, payable at periods after date; but this expedient soon failed. During this year three or four hundred elders assembled at Kirtland, to pursue their studies in the department of Hebrew literature, under the direction of Mr. Seixas, a celebrated Hebrew scholar, whose services Smith had secured.

In 1836 another endowment meeting was held at Kirtland, which is described as having been the most confused of earthly assemblages. Smith gave ardent spirits in great quantities, assuring the elders that the liquor was consecrated, and would not intoxicate. The meeting, soon feeling the effect, and thinking that a second day of Pentecost had arrived, indulged in outrageous extravagances, and spent the day in invoking curses upon the heads of the "Missouri Mob." Such meetings were afterwards discontinued.

In 1837 the. Kirtland Bank was established. It had no charter, and subscribers might pay for their stock in town lots, rated at almost any value. The notes were at first current in the vicinity, and all old debts were paid off with them; but no one in the East would take them. Elders were sent off to barter away Kirtland money, but the institution, having no basis, soon fell through, and Smith, with Rigdon and several other inspired compeers, started for Missouri in the spring of 1838, hard followed by a sheriff, whose pursuit was, however, vain.

During the six years of which I have been speaking, the sect had increased with great rapidity. Its bishops and elders had travelled over the greater part of the Union, and made converts in almost all the States. It is impossible to compute the exact number of Mormons in 1838, but probably fifty thousand does not come far from a correct estimate.

The chief theatre of Mormon increase had not, however, been the country around Kirtland, where the Prophet's influence was most directly exercised, but Western Missouri.

In the summer of 1831, a portion of the sect settled, according to the direction of Smith, at Mount Zion. Here, under the able direction of Bishop Partridge, a little church of twelve hundred members was built up within two years. But that zealous spirit which, in a Church admitting the principle of forcible conversion, will not let members rest unless a rapid proselytizing is going forward, was at work. Mormons were now next-door neighbors of their friends the Indians, whose affection was rapidly conciliated by that respectful treatment which Mormonism inculcates with regard to the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel. No very great number of conversions were made west of the frontier; but so close were the bonds of intimacy with the tribes drawn, that the elders began to fancy that their power was sufficient to enable them to dictate to the citizens of surrounding counties.

Along the northern border of Missouri was the as yet unhumbled tribe of Sauks and Foxes, whose dominions extended from the Missouri river to the Illinois; while within the most a few hours' ride to the westward lay the hunting-grounds of the Pottowotamies, the Kickapoos, the Kanzas, the Delawares, and the Shawnees.

Confiding partly in these allies, in the event of emergency, partly in their own

numbers, and more in the predictions of universal empire made by their sacred writings, the Mormons became exceedingly insolent, made dark and frequent predictions of the extermination of the Gentiles, and pronounced, in a way that left no doubt what would be the nature of their future conduct, that the "earth and all therein are the Lord's and the inheritance of his saints."

Such conduct excited, of course, exasperation; and when we reflect that the saints were thievish in their habits, (as the records of Missouri courts will testify,) and justified, by appeals to their books, "milking the Gentiles," as they termed it, we cannot wonder at, although we may be unable fully to justify, what followed.

On the 20th of July, 1833, a meeting of the citizens of Jackson county was held, for the purpose of considering the best method of effecting the expulsion of the Mormons from the neighborhood.

It was represented at this meeting that the sect, being composed of persons of bad character, who constantly prophesied the expulsion of their neighbors, and -- being already numerous, would be a fruitful source of dissension in the community. Resolutions were therefore passed, among which were the following: --

"No Mormon shall, in future, be allowed to settle in the neighborhood."

"Those already settled shall be required to move away."

"The office of the Mormon Star shall be closed."

The Mormon elders shall be requested to co-operate with the elders in carrying out these measures."

"Finally, those who refuse to comply with these resolutions shall be referred to such of their friends as possess the power of prophecy for information with respect to the fate which awaits them."

While this assembly was yet deliberating, an appointed committee of twelve waited upon Partridge, to notify him of these demands.

He required time for consideration and consultation with his friends in Ohio. The committee reported this reply to the meeting, which instantly adjourned, proceeded to demolish the printing-office of the Star, to tar and feather Partridge himself, and to extort a pledge from the Mormons that they would leave the country before the spring of 1834.

That these violent measures are reprehensible, cannot be doubted; but that this expulsion has been beneficial to Missouri, is also indisputable. Whether the citizens were justifiable in taking some means of ridding themselves of neighbors who, it was evident, aimed at their own forcible expulsion at no very distant time, I will not pretend to determine. I leave it with such affairs as the removal of Mr. Clay's press from Lexington, to be settled in different ways, according as different canons of moral conduct are adopted.

The Mormons, considering the agreement which they, had made invalid, petitioned Governor Dunklin for redress. He referred them to the civil law; but from this they received little or no assistance. The citizens meanly availed themselves of such means of molestation as pulling down houses, whipping and tarring and feathering individuals, until on the 4th of November a conflict took place, in which three or four were killed, and which occasioned so great an excitement that the Mormons thought it prudent to leave the county, and in a few weeks all had removed. The inhabitants of Clay county received them kindly, and gave them protection and subsistence throughout the winter.

The loss of property occasioned by these disturbances and this hasty removal was estimated by the Mormons at $120,000. In the spring of 1834, Governor Dunklin endeavored to bring the parties to justice; but so great was the excitement on both sides, that he relinquished the attempt, hoping that quiet would be restored, and seeing that impartial decisions could not be obtained before the proper tribunals. When Smith, at Kirtland, heard of these proceedings, he issued a prodamation, reproving the Church in Missouri for its dissensions, and declaring that it had suffered punishment by the Lord's will. He also commanded his expelled disciples to return to Independence, and take possession of their property, since it was there that the Lord's temple should be established. Not contented with words, however, he mustered a number of emigrants who desired to join the Church at Independence, arid started for that place with two hundred and fifty armed men.

The expedition arrived about the beginning of June at the Mormon settlement in Clay county, prepared, as its members thought, for conquest. Previously to their departure, the society had voted itself the name of the "Church of Latter-day Saints," being persuaded that the time had come when wickedness should, by miraculous means, be finally removed from the earth, preparatory to the coming of the Lord's kingdom.

On the 18th June, committees from both parties met at Liberty, Clay county, to endeavor to arrange affairs. The Mormons insisted on their right of returning to Mount Zion, and the Missourians persisted in their determination to repel all attempts at resettlement. No business of any importance was transacted, and the exasperated parties soon separated. A large portion of the Missouri committee entered a boat, apparently sound, for the purpose of crossing the Missouri river; but when they reached the middle of the stream their vessel suddenly filled and sank, thereby drowning several of them. There can be little doubt that this tragedy was planned by Smith, who had opportunities of tampering with the boat while it was tied to the bank. So fiercely, therefore, did public resentment burn against him, that the Prophet saw that with his present force he could do nothing; and although the relinquishment of his project of making Mount Zion the seat of his empire was no part of his nature, he deferred carrying it out until an increase of Mormon population should give him sufficient force.

I have perhaps exceeded the proper limits of a communication, and must defer until some other time an account of the Missouri disturbances.

Providence, April 17th.

MORMONISM  IN  ILLINOIS.

NO. II.

THE Mormons in the full tide of prosperity, rejoicing in their political triumph, vaunting themselves on the completeness of their organization, and the vigorous and efficient rule of their chief, failed to profit by the severe lessons of adversity which they had but lately experienced. Regardless of the waning popularity of their leader, and the rumblings of dissatisfaction and hostility which were continually borne to their ears from the surrounding neighborhood, they still persisted in their wayward and exceptional policy, and still further aroused the prejudice and hatred of their enemies by their arrogant and absurd pretensions. They laughed at the high-toned denunciations of their enemies, and treated with hardy contempt the numerous gatherings and consultations of the Gentiles. The Prophet declared that when divine interposition should become necessary, the Lord would commission his destroying angels to scatter and destroy the boasted strength of the Anti-Mormons, in the same manner as the Assyrian host had been annihilated by the supernatural visitation of the destroyer, ages before, for the vindication and protection of the Jews. Smith was too dignified, and withal too powerful, to concede any thing to allay the prejudices of his neighbors. He had forgotten that only a few years since, those who now denounced him so heartily had provided for his necessities, and sympathized with his alleged wrongs, with sincere and unostentatious generosity. He would concede nothing to the outraged feelings of those who had but lately been his benefactors, but, on the contrary, with base ingratitude, and trusting in his increasing strength, when admonished of the irritation and excitement occasioned by the impolicy of his course, he scornfully pointed them to the superior discipline of his military, the completeness of their equipments, and the strength of their unwavering devotion to his person and his cause.

In the mean time, the Missourians had not yet abandoned their quarrel with the Mormons; nor had they forgotten that their vengeance had been baffled by the escape of Smith, whilst an indictment was pending against him for treason. They were determined that he should yet be arrested and compelled to answer for his numerous crimes. To this end a requisition was granted under the seal of the State of Missouri, requiring the executive of Illinois to deliver up to a commission appointed for that purpose the body of Joseph Smith, a fugitive from justice. Upon the service of this requisition, the Governor of Illinois, in obedience to its requirements, issued a warrant for the arrest of Smith, and placed it in the hands of an officer for execution. It is hardly probable that any officer would have possessed sufficient hardihood to have attempted the arrest of the Prophet in his own city. It would have been impracticable, even if no resistance should be made; as a thousand cunning expedients would have been resorted to by the Mormons to conceal the Prophet and defeat the ends of justice.

Fortunately, however, it was discovered that Smith was absent from Nauvoo on a mission of love in the northern portion of the State. The officer charged with the execution of the writ having ascertained Smiths absence from Nauvoo, proceeded in pursuit of him, and, without difficulty or opposition of any kind, secured his arrest at a small village on Rock river. Being in this manner deprived of the support of his friends, the Prophet had no choice left him but submission. He accordingly prepared to accompany the officer with the utmost apparent cheerfulness, and the most jovial good feeling towards his captors, not, however, until he had contrived secretly to send an embassy with intelligence of his arrest to his friends at Nauvoo. This embassy traveled with the greatest possible speed; whilst the Missourians, having in custody the captured

Prophet, seeing no possible chance for his escape or rescue, proceeded at a more leisurely pace in the same direction. They did not, however, think it prudent to risk the prisoner among his friends in Nauvoo; as sufficient was known of the character of the Mormons for cunning and duplicity to render the escape of Smith absolutely certain. They accordingly determined to cross the Mississippi river at Fort Madison, ten miles shove Nauvoo. Whilst the Missourians were quietly progressing across the State, well satisfied with themselves and the result of their expedition, with chivalrous generosil;y endeavoring to cultivate the acquaintance of their prisoner, and tendering to him their good offices, the Mormon emissary which Smith had dispatched with the intelligence of his arrest, arrived at Nauvoo and communicated to the High Council the perilous situation of the Prophet. On the reception of this intelligence, the Mormons lost no time in fruitless lamentations. To allow the Missourians to take the Prophet into their own State would be in fact signing his death-warrant, or consenting to his murder, as all the fierce and relentless and undying hate of which human nature is susceptible had been aroused in the breast of the Missourian in his recent contest with the Prophet. Even should he have been acquitted by the court in which his cause was impending, the determination was general that the fanatic impostor escaping from legal justice should die by the hands of violence.

It was uncertain to the Mormons what route would be taken by the captors of the Prophet; and to make assurance doubly sure -- to guard against the possibility of escape, a steamboat owned by the Mormons was called into requisition, and was immediately dispatched by way of the Mississippi to Beardstown on the Illinois, whence they had reason to believe the Missourians would proceed by steamboat to St. Louis. At the same time they dispatched a strong detachment of the Nauvoo Legion north on the direct route to the point where Smith had been arrested. This last expedition had traveled about thirty miles when they fell in with the Missourians, and immediately surrounded them. The odds in numbers and equipments was so manifestly in favor of the Mormons, that resistance was out of the question. The Missourians vainly urged that they acted under legal authority and by the warrant of the Governor; that by virtue of this unquestioned authority they had made the arrest, and that duty required that they should make legal return of their prisoner to the proper authority, of Missouri. The Prophet admitted the unquestioned validity of their process; nor had he any disposition to resist an authority which all good citizens were bound to respect; nor would he suffer his people -- who, notwithstanding the contrary opinions expressed of them by their enemies, were distinguished for their orderly submission to the law -- to rescue him from their custody, which, if illegal and wrongful, could be redressed without any appeal to violence. But, whiist he submitted implicitly to the supremacy of the law, he claimed, in common with every American citizen, its protection. Whilst he respected the authority under which be had been arrested, he claimed the right, under a writ of habeas corpus, to inquire into the legality of his detention. And should it be found, upon a full, impartial, and satisfactory investigation, that there was sufficient cause to restrain him of his liberty, trusting in the purity of his past life and the righteousness of his past actions, he would cheerfully accompany them and confront his accusers in their own courts, where he hoped triumphantly to vindicate his innocence. To avail himself of his legal remedy, it was necessary for them to visit Nauvoo, where he assured the Missourians a hospitable reception awaited them, and where the grievance of which he complained could be inquired into by the municipal court of that city, which had full authority to try writs of habeas corpus; and he hoped there would be no doubt entertained of its impartiality.

However much the Missourians may have doubted the pledge of hospitality given by the Prophet, or whatever faith they may have placed in the impartiality of the tribunal to which the Prophet intended to appeal, prudence influenced them to accept the proposition made to them, and visit Nauvoo.

Immediately after their arrival, the Pro- phet procured the issuing of his writ of habeas corpus from the municipal court of Nauvoo. This judiciary had been organized under the provisions of the charter, and surrounded with circumstances of great dignify. It consisted

of a presiding judge and eight associates. Smith himself had been chosen Chief Justice, and now his case was to be determined by his eight associates, whom he claimed to be impartial, even when their chief was a party.

At this time the congressional election was pending, and the candidates were then engaged canvassing the district with the most commendable zeal and industry. The Whig candidate, a lawyer of great experience and some eminence in his profession, was at Nauvoo, engaged in the laudable enterprise of making his election sure, when Smith and the Missourians returned to Nauvoo. It was thought by the Prophet that the presence of this gentleman on the trial of his habeas corpus would be of the utmost service to him, in attaching weight and dignity to the decision of his court. Should this tribunal be afterwards charged with stretehing its jurisdiction beyond its statutory limits, he could refer to Cyrus Walker, the most thorough of jurists, who advised and insisted on the very decision to which the objection was raised. And if the learned, astute, and practical lawyer, of forty years experience, honestly erred in his opinion, was it not possible that the men who constituted the court, unacquainted with legal principles or the complicated forms of the law, might commit the same error, without being amenable to the charge of corruption? Walker hailed the misfortune of the Prophet, and the necessity of his presence as his counsel, as the brightest omen of the success of his somewhat doubtful political campaign. This congressional district, prior to the emigration of the Mormons, was about equally balanced between the political parties; and the Mormon vote at this time invariably decided the contest by its influence and number. The candidate very plausibly argued, that if he, by his professional learning, should give dignity and respectability to the Mormon tribunal, it was due to him that the Mormons should reciprocate his kindness and remunerate his labors, by granting to him their undivided support at the approaching election.

After the preliminary arrangements were made, Smith, without further delay, was brought before the court over which he ordinarily presided. The only question which appeared necessary to decide was one of jurisdiction. It was contended by the Missourians that the Legislature never intended to grant to the municipality of Nauvoo any authority to issue writs of habeas corpus, excepting in cases where the cause of detention originated under the laws or ordinances passed by the city council; that in the case under advisement, the cause of detention arose under State and national laws, and could not be investigated by the tribunal before which it was pending. This view of the case was combated by Mr. Walker with admirable adroitness and plausibility, he had the confidence and sympathy of the court; and it was not wonderful that it should decide with the most harmonious unanimity in favor of its own jurisdiction. It would hardly be supposed that this preliminary decision would have disposed of the merits of the case. That because the court had jurisdiction of the matter in question, that therefore the prisoner should be discharged, without any inquiry into the legality of his detention, would scarcely be considered a legitimate conclusion by any court in America. Yet such was the decision of the Mormon tribunal in the present case. The court, without any reference to the Governors warrant under which the defendants justified, declared their opinion to be, that General Joseph Smith be, and is hereby, legally and honorably discharged.

To procure the discharge of his client under such circumstances, reflected but little credit on the professional skill of the counsel. But the Missourians were resolved not to be baffled by the chicanery of the Mormons, and still determined to bring their fanatical leader to justice. For the accomplishment of this purpose, they immediately departed to Springfield, the seat of government, to procure, if possible, another warrant from the executive for the arrest of the Prophet. It now depended on Walker to counteract any statement made by the Missourians, and, if possible, prevent the Governor from granting any further process in the case. For this purpose he was sent to Springfield by Smith. In this mission Walker was completely successful. The Governor, on his representations, refused to grant a new warrant, and the Missourians, wearied and disappointed by the superior address and cunning of the Mormons, returned home from their fruitless expedition. This was an important triumph for the Prophet. He had thwarted the vengeance of his enemies without any appeal

to violence, lie had achieved his discharge from arrest by due course of law. To render his triumph more complete, he obtained his discharge from imprisonment under the operation of a law passed by his own city council, and his freedom was pronounced by a court under his own control. In his contest with the people of Missouri, he had fought against the legally constituted authority of the State, and was denounced as the leader of a revolutionary and disorganizing mob; but now, by a masterly stroke of statesmanship, he had changed his policy, and, by submission to the laws, had become the founder of the law and order party of the county of Hancock. In his Missouri War, where force opposed force, the Prophet had been sadly the loser. But in his late contest, where cunning and chicanery were the weapons of his warfare, the most complete success was the result of his policy. Through the influence and operation of the late decision of the Nauvoo court, assuming jurisdiction of writs of habeas corpus, the city became a place of refuge for every fugitive from justice. The outlawed felon, escaping from the vengeance of the law, hurried to the City of the Saints, and found a safe asylum and ample protection from the Prophet, who received him with kindness, and granted to him his countenance and support.

The Prophet had read and admired the history of David, the founder of the Jewish dynasty, who, prior to his elevation to the throne, when banished by the jealous displeasure of the reigning sovereign, collected around him in the wilderness every one who who was oppressed with debt, and every one who was dissatisfied with the existing rule of his nation, until a formidable and desperate army acknowledged his leadership.

He had, perhaps, heard that the barbarian founder of imperial Rome, which afterwards civilized the world, and controlled its destinies, had clustered around him a band of outlawed felons, who had been driven from society on account of the fercocity of their nature and the desperateness of their crimes. He had heard, too, that from this robber band had descended a race of soldiers that conquered the world. And if fierce outlaws were valuable, because of their desperate qualities, to David and the old Roman, who founded each of them a brilliant and powerful dynasty, why should they not be useful to him for the same reason? Why should they not infuse vitality and energy into the villanous compound of fanaticism and wickedness over which he presided at Nauvoo? Viewing these accessions to his strength in this favorable light, the Prophet extended the hand of fellowship to the most vile and abandoned who sought his protection, and welcomed them with the utmost consideration and courtesy into the society of the saints.

Protected by the operation of their judiciary, the Mormons still further extended their authority, and became still more daring in their usurpations. The common council of the city, in its legislative capacity, emulated the judicial in its innovations. Paper money was voted a nuisance by this saintly assemblage of lawgivers, and the culprit who dared to circulate the interdicted commodity, subjected himself to heavy penalties in punishment of his temerity. The Prophet and his confederate council hated a paper currency with as much intensity and malignity as did the dignified conscript father from Missouri; and persecuted bank-bills of the denomination of one dollar, with the same settled and determined hostility which characterized the warfare of the distinguished senator against the monster bank; and, like that astute politician, the Prophet contemplated supplying his adherents with a hard money currency in exchange for the bank paper, which he had driven as a corrupt thing out of the precincts of the holy city. In this design he was more successful than the great Missourian; for, although gold and silver did not flow up the Mississippi to supply the vacuum, yet copper, tin, Britannia and German silver did; and out of these comparatively valueless materials a compound was ingeniously manufactured, out of which was struck, with wonderful facility, Mexican and American coin, by the aid of an extempore mint, termed, by Western science, a Bogus press. This spurious currency, thanks to the skill and experience of the proselytes, who had lately sheltered themselves under the Prophets wing, was well executed, and circulated in a thousand channels over a wide extent of country. So well did this ingenious fraud succeed, and so large was the return of the profits on the investment, that numbers of the saints embarked at once in the enterprise of coining,

with the most religious enthusiasm and zeal. And it is said that the Prophet, with all his wisdom, was meek enough to submit to the teachings of his hopeful converts, and learn of them the process of transmuting the most common metal into the similitude of gold. The fact of the manufacture, and the criminal vending of this spurious coin by the Mormons, is well established by conclusive testimony. After the saints, by the force of public opinion, were compelled to dispose of their property in every quarter of the city, ingenious contrivances were found in secret cellars, which had been invented and used for the production of counterfeit coin. Although efforts were made by the malicious and dissatisfied Gentiles to bring the offenders to justice, Mormon duplicity and deception were generally sufficient to baffle the exertions of the most vigilant officers; and if an arrest were made in despite of the exertions used to prevent it, the culprit, if he chose, could appeal to the court over which his Prophet presided, and secure his discharge. Should he, on the contrary, waive his privilege of discharge under a writ of habeas corpus, and permit a jury empanelled by a Gentile court to determine his guilt or innocence, he could safely count upon any number of his brethren to establish his innocence by the most heaven-daring perjury. It was a part of Smiths theology, that he had a moral and religious right to do evil that good might come. He repeatedly expressed the opinion, that it was a Christian duty to lie Mid to swear to it, for the protection of the saints against the malice of the Gentiles; and, like the arch-enemy of the human race, he could quote Scripture in support of this absurd and wicked position. He contended, if the Lord once placed a lying spirit in the mouth of an ancient prophet, he might and would do the same thing by a modern one; that when it became his duty to lie, he would do so in the name of the Lord; and it must be observed that this part of his religious duty Smith observed with most scrupulous fidelity.

Religious impostors generally find it necessary to enforce their teachings by a hypocritical adherence to the strict forms of morality. In addition to a life of sanctity and pretended devotion, the impostor endeavors to conciliate the progressive spirit of the age by some new development of the law of love. But Smith manifested no such amiable weakness. He sighed for the return of that iron age in which physical force organized society, and hewed out man's destiny; when intellect slumbered, and passion ruled with despotic sway. He wished for a period when vengeance should be undisguised and unmitigated; when a man could rise upon his enemy and slay him; when the captive should be slain by the edge of the sword, or hewn to pieces at the bidding of his captor. He emulated more the vengeance tolerated and suffered to exist by divine wisdom in the Jewish polity, than the meekness, humility, and benevolence, incul- cated by the Saviour of the world. He imitated more the sensuality encouraged by the teachings of the Moslem prophet, than the self-denial and temperance enjoined upon his followers by him who taught as never man taught. The Prophet understood that David, whom he considered in sort a typical shadow of what he was to be, practised polygamy; that he even had resorted to base and murderous plots, to increase the number of his wives and grace his court with beauty. Solomon, the Augustus of the Jews, distinguished for the unexampled prosperity and matchless splendor of his reign, and famed amongst his barbarian neighbors for the excellence of his wisdom, boasted a harem as large and well-selected as that of the Grand Turk of modern times. Smith determined to emulate the example of these illustrious orientals in their vices only. Their great virtues were kept out of view in the picture which Smith drew of their characters. Although the restriction of the penal code for a time prevented the publicity of this new and startling vice, yet strange whispers be- gan to be breathed over the country, charging the prophet with an attempt to establish, under a new guise, a system of polygamy in defiance of reason, morals, and law, and enforce it as a religious observance amongst his infatuated followers. It was as impossible to reach this as other crimes practised by the obnoxious sect; and even from the pulpit this odious practice, which Christianity centuries ago abolished, and which the civilized world has uniformly discarded and punished, was publicly advocated by Smith, who claimed for its practice the sanction of revelation. The Scriptures of divine truth were misrepresented and tortured to establish the truth of this demoralizing

tenet of the new faith, and enforce the obedience of the refractory to its requirements.

Notwithstanding the great influence of the Prophet, and the superstitious veneration with which his teachings were generally received, yet were they not all sufficiently infatuated to violate the sanctity of their marriage vows. Many of them began to fancy that the light of the divine countenance had been withdrawn from their leader; that his heart, like that of Solomon, whose example he professed to follow, had become estranged from God; and that his pretended revelation was nothing more than an emanation from a corrupt and brutalized nature.

Mormonism, until now, although fiercely opposed and persecuted by the surrounding Gentiles, enjoyed quietness, peace, and unity amongst its own devotees; but now it was its bad fortune to be assaulted by some of its first adherents and most successful advocates. John C. Bennett, the cherished friend of the Prophet, the superior general of his legion, the accomplished tutor in his college, now disavowed his allegiance to the Prophet, and launched his thunders at his head, with all his energy and his eloquence; he labored to stir up a spirit of seditious hostility to the pretensions of Smith, amongst the saints in Nauvoo; but he was soon compelled to abandon this enterprise as hopeless, and to fly from the city, pursued by the hearty curses of all true friends of the Prophet. Driven from the city, he continued an incessant clamor against the Mormons, and denounced without stint their fallen, degraded, and sensual leader, who had failed to keep his garments white and unspotted from the world.

At the same time that Bennett was laboring to arouse the people of the adjacent country by his startling disclosures of the enormities of Mormonism, a conspiracy was formed at Nauvoo for the purpose of leading away all the saints who adhered to the first platform of the Prophet, and refused to lend their influence to the adulterous project which had lately been developed. This schism was led by one Hinkle, a man of but little influence or talent. His object was to establish a colony in the unsettled portion of Iowa, over which he intended to preside in the prophetic character; for he, as well as Smith, held communication with the world of spirits. But few of the saints, however, could be induced to acknowledge his leadership, and his enterprise consequently proved a failure. A few of his friends deserted Nauvoo under his direction, but his influence was not sufficient to concentrate this slight force, and Hinkleism has perished from the face of the earth.

    R. W. M. Nauvoo, Ill.  

MORMONISM  IN  ILLINOIS.

NO. III.

THE year eighteen hundred and forty-four was an eventful one in the history of Mormonism. Early in that year, the Prophet announced himself a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. However ridiculous and presuming the impostor may have appeared, in the eyes of sensible people, in arrogating to himself a position of so much dignity, yet his course was not wholly devoid of policy. His assumption of a position at once elevated and commanding tended to dazzle and captivate the minds of the ignorant and vulgar populace who acknowledged his leadership. It was admirably calculated to give color and consistency to the lofty pretensions claimed for Smith by his emissaries engaged in the propagation of Mormonism abroad. In every country of Christendom, Smith had established his missions; and the apostles of the new faith had even visited the most distant portions of Asia. They had propagated their wild and absurd vagaries in the land where the Jewish prophets communicated their visions of hope to the world, on the soil consecrated by the example and teachings of the Saviour of mankind. These missionaries of fanaticism endeavored to inculcate the principles of their faith by fanciful and exaggerated descriptions of the growth of Mormonism, its political importance, and the brilliant destiny which awaited it. In confirmation of the elevated position they claimed for their Prophet, they called attention to the fact that he was, even now, an aspirant to the highest office in the gift of the American people. To create a political party, and announce himself as a candidate for the Presidency, was a bold stroke of policy on the part of the Prophet, which, if not attended by any immediate or practical results, gave importance to his propagandism abroad, and secured its success. Smith had accomplished much in his short life, in the face of the most serious opposition, and his head was now .well nigh turned with the success of his enterprises. He had been trained in a school of severe adversity; his very name had been a by-word of scorn. In his eccentric career, he had been compelled to endure every personal indignity. He had been driven from New-York, where he first divulged his mysterious communications with the world of spirits, by a prosecution for vagrancy, in Ohio, much against his will, he was compelled to wear a coat of tar and feathers, imposed upon him by the ungracious hands of an excited mob. In Missouri, he had been immured in the walls of a dungeon, where he awaited a traitor's doom, to be pronounced upon him by a jury of bitter and vengeful enemies. In Illinois, he had been reduced to the condition of a wandering vagabond, subsisting on the benevolence of strangers. He suffered these outrages on his person and on his liberty with the constancy and heroism of a martyr. Unwavering and decided amid his most trying reverses, he never for a moment entertained the thought of the abandonment of his startling and revolutionary theories; but, during the infliction of wrong and persecution, he hopefully pointed with the finger of prophecy to a brilliant epoch which would yet grace his history, when the last enemy should be subdued; when the empire of the world should be given to the saints for an inheritance, and the millennium, with all its Apocalyptic glories, should be ushered in. In contemplation of his almost uninterrupted prosperity, and his advancement in power, Smith began to fancy that the dreams of his ambition might all be realized. He was yet young, just approaching the meridian of life. During fourteen years only had he propagated his doctrines; and, amid perplexities which no one else would have labored to surmount, with indefatigable zeal he still persevered, until he now counted his proselytes by hundreds of thousands. The Moslem prophet, whose brilliant and almost superhuman achievements startled

the world, and have continued in all subsequent time to excite wonder and admiration, toiled, and fasted, and prayed for twenty years in the solitary desert, before his creed was acknowledged, before his star of empire sparkled in the orient, or his crescent banner was given to the winds.

Smith had accomplished much in his short mission besides fasting and prayer. lie had agitated and excited the public mind, lie had acquired notoriety; and he lived in a country where notoriety was more highly appreciated, and more frequently rewarded, than exalted talent. He had seen obscure and unprincipled politicians thrown to the surface by the waves of popular excitement, who were drifted into places of power and influence by the mere force of the current; and why should not the burly fanatic impostor, by the interposition of some fortunate wave, ride safely into the goal of his ambition?

The Prophet, although much interested in the success of his political movement, was in no way neglectful of the immediate interests of his colony. Nauvoo continued the most prosperous of western cities. The rude cottages which first sheltered its inhabitants were gradually disappearing, and the march of improvement was manifest in the respectable and commodious dwellings which succeeded them. An association under the direction of the Prophet laid the foundation of a first-class hotel, the estimated cost of which was three hundred thousand dollars. A suite of rooms were to be reserved for the use of the Prophet, which were to be furnished in a style of surpassing magnificence, and were to descend to his lineal representatives for ever. The building of the temple was progressing, under the direction of a superior architect from Liverpool, with a rapidity which promised its early completion. The singular design of the architecture of this vast building already made it an object of interest to the curious and observing tourist, who, on account of this and many other attractions, was always induced to take the city of Joseph in his route. The city was becoming a resort of the fashionable class engaged in the laudable enterprise of killing time. Parties of pleasure arrived daily by the steamboats, and were received by the Prophet with punctilious courtesy, and entertained by him with generous hospitality. Social amusements were concerted by the saints, and the surrounding gentiles were invited to participate with them in the pleasures of the social circle, in the fascinations of the ball-room, and in the more exciting amusement of the card-table. The Prophet was prosperous; he began to fancy he was secure. Fortune of late had smiled on his policy. The citizens of the county had arrayed themselves against him, and by the superiority of his diplomacy he had vanquished them. Hinkle had raised the standard of insubordination in the encampment of the saints, and by the divine power of the priesthood he had delivered him over to Satan, and his rebellion had been crushed, and his spirit withered by the potency of the curse. Bennett had lectured on the vices and wickedness of the Prophet, until he was compelled to desist from the disgusting recital for want of auditors.

But the spirit of mistrust and disaffection had not perished with the departure of Hinkle and Bennett. The former bad not sufficient capacity to give vigor and efficiency to an opposition to the unbounded popularity of the Prophet, and the latter was too notorious for his vices to inspire confidence in any pretensions he might make to reform. The material, however, still slumbered there, which, if once aroused and rightly directed, might have well caused the Prophet to tremble for the security of his power, and the safety of his person, despite of the devotion of the masses to his will.

The necessary leadership for a spirited and vigorous opposition to the despotism of Smith was found in the persons of William and Wilson Law, two brothers, who, notwithstanding their Mormonism, were respected by the Anti-Mormons for their moral worth and the correctness of their general deportment. These brothers had become alarmed at the sensuality of the Prophet, and the open encouragement which he gave to a system of polygamy, which threatened to invade the sanctity of the marriage contract in every family in Nauvoo. Suspicious husbands and fathers found it necessary to arm themselves, for the purpose of guarding their wives and daughters from the seductive arts of the Prophet and his twelve apostles. Fears of the invasion of their own domestic felicity, by a licentiousness established by revelation, and

which appealed to the sanction of religion for its observance, impelled the Laws to excite and give system and tone to a vigorous opposition to Smith. Neither they nor their partisans renounced Mormonism in their contest with its leader. And it may well be observed that, so strange is the infatuation of this singular people, a complete renunciation of their religion has perhaps never yet taken place. We have seen the devotee of Mormonism, ruined in property, blighted in character, haggard with famine, with no prospect but starvation before him, with his nerves steeled with hopeless despair; we have heard him denounce Mormonism as the cause of all his distress and degradation, with a bitterness and energy sufficient to make the blood run cold; yet challenge his opinion to the truth of the new system, and he would still claim that Smith was a prophet, with the seal of divinity impressed upon his mission.

The Laws contended that, although Smith had been invested with the prophetic character, and for years exercised it to the edification of the saints, yet, from the grossness of his passions, the spiritual existences, offended with his depravity, had refused any longer to use him as a medium of their communications; that his pretended revelation having reference to the doctrine of spiritual wives, (for so was his system of concubinage denominated,) was the offspring of corruption, or an emanation from hell. They contended that it was necessary to remove the Prophet from the exalted position which he had so shamelessly desecrated, lest the light of prophecy should be finally extinguished in their midst. There were many among the saints who were not wholly lost to morality and the decencies of life. These the Laws labored to rally against Smith; but their effort was only partially successful. The administration of the Prophet was vigilant, as well as corrupt and oppressive. Devoted and indefatigable spies, in the pay of Smith, dogged the heels of every suspected person, whether citizen or stranger. To render as vigorous and efficient as possible his system of police, the city authorities organized the "Danite Band," so conspicuous in Mormon history for reckless villainy and lawless desperation. Never, perhaps, in the annals of high-handed wickedness, not even among the mountain passes of southern Europe, was ever collected together a body of outlaws more determined and unrestrained than this same Danite Band. These villains were to look after the interests, personal and political, of the Prophet, and to act as a guard on the suspected. They were bound to their chief by the strongest possible ties. The most of them were fugitives from justice, who, after having forfeited the protection of the law, were kindly received into the "Holy City," where the influence of Smith effectually shielded them from the danger of pursuit. In addition to the debt of gratitude which they owed the generosity of their protector, the Prophet held out the still stronger inducement to their loyalty, that any moment he chose he could hand them over to justice; and as this might be considered an insufficient guarantee to their fidelity, it is said that the most horrible oaths were exacted from them, by which they bound themselves to observe the commands of the Prophet, and do his bidding, regardless of the consequences resulting from their acts. It was not surprising that, with such a police as this, bound to the Prophet by so many ties and such horrible pledges, continually dogging their heels and watching their movements, the disaffected, however much they may have sympathized with the Laws in their effort for reform, fearful of midnight assassination, or some terrible injury inflicted by the machinations of Smith, should prudently keep silence, and by every artifice labor to conceal their hostility to the Prophet.

The Laws were bold men; and notwithstanding the desertion of the timid and prudent from their ranks, they were still resolved to overthrow the despotism established by Smith, and, if possible, restore purity to the Church. Not content with exposing and denouncing the corruptions which had crept into the Church through the instrumentality of the Prophet, the Laws determined to issue a weekly paper in the city, which should boldly speak out the views of its proprietors, regardless of the influences of the corrupt and intriguing policy which would be brought to bear against them. In this enterprise they were aided by the means of one Dr. Foster, a broken-down speculator, who had united with the Mormons for the purpose of fleecing them. This man, by means of the Mormon vote, had been elected to the office of school commissioner,

in the exercise of which he squandered or embezzled the funds, and failed without being able to make restitution. Foster could have forgiven any amount of moral turpitude in Smith, but it was not in human nature to forgive the wrongs he had himself perpetrated on the Prophets followers; and it was not strange that he should unite with the more virtuous Laws to persecute those whom his villainy had beggared.

This junto of conspirators was enabled to procure a printing-press early, in the summer, and one number of their journal was issued and circulated. Smith expected to be abused, but the boldness of his enemies and the graveness of the charges which they preferred against him took him by surprise. He had never imagined that a set of men could be found in the midst of his dominions -- in his own city, at his very door -- who should possess moral courage sufficient to assail him with so much license through the public press. To think of tolerating a journal which at once threatened and defied him was out of the question; but how to rid himself of the nuisance was a matter of the greatest perplexity. To call out his military, destroy the press, and hang every person concerned in the publication of the paper, would scarcely have been a proceeding sufficiently summary to satisfy the vengeance of the incensed Prophet. Had he acted from the first impulses of his murderous inclinations, the Laws would have atoned for their temerity with their lives. But Smith was too politic to adopt illegal measures, whilst there was any hope that the matter could be satisfactorily accomplished under the authority of the law. Smith was determined to head the law-and-order party, and throw upon his adversaries the odious imputation of mobbers. In this dilemma he took counsel of one Style, a Mormon lawyer, who advised him that the obnoxious paper was, without question, a nuisance, and as such should without delay be abated; that the Municipal Court of the city of Nauvoo had jurisdiction of all such offenses; that the character of the journal should be immediately brought before the court for the grave deliberation of its judges, who had an undoubted right on a proper investigation to make an order requiring the city Marshal to cause its abatement.

This counsel was adopted and acted upon. A petition was filed charging that a certain weekly newspaper, called the Nauvoo Expositor, had advocated seditious and disorganizing doctrines, derogatory to the peace and good order of society at the city of Nauvoo, and praying that an order might be made in the premises declaring the same a nuisance, and requiring its destruction. The judges acted on the petition, and gravely declared the press a nuisance, and made the necessary order for its abatement. This decree was immediately carried into execution. The Marshal summoned to his assistance a cohort of the Legion, numbering two hundred men, with which he proceeded to the office of the Expositor, and carried away the press, type, paper, and all the fixtures of the establishment, beyond the corporation limits, where he completely destroyed the whole apparatus according to due form of law. No resistance was made by the parties interested to this wanton destruction of the press, but there was a settled determination on the part of the Laws to bring Smith and his associates to justice. A writ was taken out for him and the principal persons concerned with him in the late transaction, before a Justice of the Peace at Carthage, and a special officer appointed for its execution. This officer, without any delay, visited Nauvoo for the purpose of arresting Smith. With this intention he called on him, exhibited to him his authority, which the Prophet unequivocally refused to obey, alleging that the Laws and their abettors had fomented an excitement against him in the country, particularly at Carthage, which would be dangerous for him to encounter; that he had no protection but what was guaranteed to him by the true hearts and the truer steel of the Nauvoo Legion; and until his own military refused to give him their support, he never would surrender himself to his enemies, who had sworn to take vengeance upon him whenever he should be placed in their power.

The officer, unsupported by any assistance, was compelled to return to Carthage without any prisoners. A large and excited meeting was soon collected at the court-house, to which the officer reported his failure, and the determination of Smith to resist his authority. This report tended to inflame the passions of the already excited

masses beyond all control. There were those who advocated the policy of instantly arming the masses, marching to Nauvoo, and driving the insubordinate Mormons from the State. Others no less determined, but more prudent and rational, recommended that the warrant which Smith had refused to obey should be placed in the hands of the sheriff; that he should summon to his aid the power of the county; that, at the same time, a delegation should be appointed whose duty it should be to visit Springfield, and make a full statement of the facts to the Governor, and invoke the aid of the State in support of the law. This moderate counsel prevailed. The delegation to confer with the Governor was appointed, and departed for Springfield.

In the mean time the sheriff issued his proclamation to the people of the county, and never was a proclamation received with more delight or obeyed with more alacrity. The farmer abandoned his field, the mechanic his shop, the merchant his counting-room, and the professional man his books, and all hastened to vindicate the outraged law. and restore the reign of order and justice. All sorts of arms were called into requisition old fire-locks half eaten with rust, fowling-pieces guiltless of the blood of bird or beast, pistols and bowie-knives, were all pressed into the patriotic service, and burnished for the day of battle. Squadrons of horse and detachments of infantry were organized, officered, and equipped with wonderful facility in every part of the county, and marched into Carthage, where the Sheriff had established his head-quarters.

Nor was the delegation to the capital less successful, and on the receipt of the intelligence of the insubordination of the Mormons, the Governor immediately departed [for] Carthage. As he proceeded on his route, he collected, as occasion offered, a volunteer force, which, on his arrival, numbered five or six hundred men. The forces now assembled at Carthage under the command of the Governor were, in all, about one thousand men, which was less than one half the numerical strength of the Nauvoo Legion, with which they were to contend. Notwithstanding Smith was aware of the inferiority of the Governors troops, he exerted all his vigilance to guard against surprise. All his forces were marshalled and placed under arms. The note of preparation for the approaching battle was heard in every quarter of the city. A night-watch patrolled the streets; pickets were stationed on the outskirts, and bands of horsemen by day and night scoured the adjacent forests and prairies. The Prophet, refusing to surrender himself to justice, had placed himself under the ban of proscription; he was in open war with the executive of the State to which he owed allegiance, and with lofty resolution he determined to bravely fight it through. The position of Nauvoo is naturally a strong one. The Mississippi river, by the curve which it makes at that point, protects three fourths of its boundaries from invasion. It is accessible to an enemy only on the east and north-east by the Carthage and La Harpe roads. One of these, the Carthage road, was flanked on each side with deep ravines sufficient to protect a large army from the raking fire of artillery. Also skirts of forest, interspersed with dense undergrowth, overhung this road, and afforded an impenetrable cover to the saintly forces, who, concealed by this covering, could, unperceived, pour a destructive fire on the approaching enemy. Under such circumstances, the Prophet fancied he could hold out successfully against any force which Governor Ford could bring against him.

The Governor, on his arrival, immediately dispatched a small detachment of troops to Nauvoo, sending by them a letter to Smith, in which he informed him of the danger which he would incur from the excited masses in case he continued to resist, and threatening him with the concentrated power of the State if he still refused to surrender himself. Smith still determined to resist. To obey the authority of the State would seal his doom. The excited countrymen who had been pouring into Carthage were impelled by an uncontrollable desire for vengeance, which nothing would satiate but his blood. On this refusal of the Prophet to accompany them, the troops, with the exception of one of their number, returned to Carthage and reported the fact to the Governor, with the representation that Yates, the person who remained behind, was compromising the dearest interests of the county to the Mormons.

Upon the receipt of this intelligence, a troop of horse, under the command of Captain Dunn, was dispatched to Nauvoo, with a requisition for all the arms furnished by

the State to the Nauvoo Legion. This expedition had advanced less than half the distance, when it was met by Smith and his brother Hyrum, and several other distinguished Mormons, who were included in the writ for riot. Through the representations made by Yates to Smith, he had concluded to surrender himself to justice. His fears had been aroused by the bustle of preparation which was heard in every part of the county, and which was rapidly extending throughout the State. He justly feared that, although he might readily vanquish the force now assembled at Carthage, the authority of the State would eventually triumph, and the scenes of violence from which they had just escaped in Missouri would be reenacted in Illinois, and the faithful would be again driven in hopeless exile from their homes.

Under this impression, the Prophet and his friends surrendered themselves. When they arrived at Carthage, they were great objects of curiosity to the Governor's troops, many of whom resided at a distance from Nauvoo, and never had caught a glimpse of a genuine prophet of the latter days. To gratify this natural and laudable curiosity, the Governor requested the Sheriff to parade the troops and introduce to their notice Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, who, by the way, was second in the Church, and very frequently assumed the prophetic character, to the great edification of the saints. This request of the Governor was strictly complied with by the Sheriff; the troops were placed on parade, and the Prophet was introduced as General Joseph Smith to the army. But as he and his suite rode along the extended lines, bowing with the most respectful courtesy to the citizen soldiery, no response of welcome or approbation greeted his overtures for friendship; no kindly sympathy sparkled in the eyes of the sullen Anti-Mormons; no shout of applause burst from the embattled host! All was cold, grave, silent, and threatening; and as the proscribed impostors passed, every countryman in the ranks, nerved with intense hate, convulsively grasped his weapon, his respect for the law and the fear of its penalties only preventing summary vengeance from being taken at that moment. The troops muttered their disapprobation of the conduct of the Sheriff in presenting to them an impostor and vagabond under a militia by title which they had been taught to respect. It was impossible to conciliate the wrath of the troops against their prisoner. They were determined in their hatred to the Mormon character; and no overtures made by Smith or his friends, amongst whom they began to regard the Governor, could ever induce them to look upon him with any degree of allowance. The vindictive troops were dismissed from parade, and immediately afterwards, Smith and his fellow-prisoners were brought before the justice of the peace who had issued the warrant, to be examined on a charge of riot for the destruction of the printing-press. It was claimed by the prosecution that they were not ready for trial; that, owing to the resistance which the prisoners had made, and the probability that they would still continue to resist, no effort had been made to procure the necessary testimony in the case. The surrender of themselves as prisoners had taken the prosecution by surprise, and found them without witnesses; it was therefore asked that the case should stand over until the 27th of June, which was only three days, but would be sufficient time for them to procure the testimony; and during which time it was asked that the prisoners should be committed to the common jail at Carthage, to await their examination. The course proposed by the prosecution was adopted by the justice; the continuance was granted, and the prisoners were remanded to jail. But whilst the justice was preparing the commitment, they demanded their right to enter bail for their appearance at the examination, and thus discharge themselves from arrest. This was their unquestioned right, and the bail proposed being unexceptionable, the justice was compelled to accede to this request; but, before time necessary bonds could be prepared, and the bail formally accepted and approved, another process was issued and served upon the Prophet, Hyrum Smith, Willard Richards, and John Taylor, charging them with treason against the State, in resisting the authority of government, in levying troops and fortifying time city, with time avowed purpose of giving battle to the Governor and the State troops. This grave charge was, of course, not bailable. The prisoners were now compelled either to procure their discharge on examination, which

was doubtful, or be confined like common felons in the county jail. The prosecution urged the same reasons in this as in the former case for a continuance, which was granted; and the Prophet and his associates were fully committed to await their examination, which was to take place three days afterwards.

Shortly after the imprisonment of Smith and his associates, Captain Dunn, who had been dispatched to Nauvoo to demand of the Mormon authorities a surrender of the State arms, returned, bringing with him four pieces of artillery, with a large quantity of musketry and other small arms, which had been delivered up to him as the full quota which had been furnished them by the State. Whether the Mormons acted honestly in this transaction, we have no means of ascertaining. It was charged by the Anti-Mormons, at the time, that the Mormons concealed the most valuable part of the arms; but of this there is no very satisfactory proof. The Mormons unquestionably carried with them, on their migration from the State, some fine pieces of artillery and large quantities of small arms of every variety. It has, however, never been conclusively shown (though repeatedly alleged) that any portion of these was the property of the State. In anticipation of their emigration westward, the Mormons, as opportunity afforded, negotiated for arms, until their legion had become the best armed military in America. But whether the Mormons acted in good faith or otherwise, the Governor was fully satisfied that all that could be attained at this time, in disarming them, had been accomplished by Captain Dunn, and no further effort for that purpose was made.

Governor Ford now concluded that the ends of justice were fully attained. The factious Prophet had surrendered, and was in prison; the public arms had been delivered; the riotous spirit of the Mormons had been quelled, and the necessity for the armed occupation of Hancock had ceased. It was consequently determined to disband the military; but every precaution was taken to guard against outrage. Separate pledges were exacted of every person enrolled in the service, to exert his influence to preserve the peace, and make every effort to protect the prisoners. A volunteer company, the Carthage Grays, was retained for the purpose of guarding the jail against any attempts which might be made by the Mormons to rescue the prisoners, as well as to protect them against the assaults of their enemies. This company was placed on duty, and all the residue of the troops were disbanded, and were earnestly advised by the Governor to quietly return to their homes, and, by an orderly example, assist him in the preservation of the peace. This advice was only partially acted upon by the dissatisfied troops. There were many who, even then, regarded it their imperative duty to drive the Mormons out of the State. This violent procedure they regarded as the only possible measure to restore peace and tranquillity to their distracted community. As long as the obnoxious sect remained, the same jealous antipathies would continue to agitate the public mind, and tend to disorganize society. They believed that the time was rapidly approaching when a grand rally to rid themselves of the Mormons would become an absolute necessity, whether the movement should be sanctioned by the executive or otherwise; and they believed that this object could now be accomplished with less peril than at any subsequent period. Dissatisfied as they were, however, there was no open mutiny. A large majority, immediately after their discharge from service, retired to their homes; others, more reckless and excitable, and who cared but little for the maintenance of social order, remained sauntering through the streets or collected in threatening groups, where they discussed the policy of the Governor, and muttered deep curses against the Prophet and his allies.

It must be observed that the order to disband the troops had taken effect before all who had been required to rendezvous under the command of the Governor had reached their destination. Colonel Levi Williams, who commanded a regiment of the Hancock militia in the south-west of the county, had been required to organize and equip his command, and march it to Point Golden, which is a skirt of timber projecting into the prairie five miles below Nauvoo, and near the Mississippi river. The Colonel, who was an ultra Anti-Mormon, and extremely violent in his prejudices, exerted all his influence and authority to rally his men. In a short time he had them on the march, every heart animated with the hope

of a fight with the Prophet. They had marched less than half the distance to their point of destination, when a dispatch was received from the Governor, countermanding their order to march to Point Golden, and requiring them to instantly disband. This course of the Governor both surprised and disappointed them. Inflammatory and denunciatory speeches were made, arraigning the character of the Governor, and charging him with being confederate with the Mormons.

In the meantime, Governor Ford, gratified with the happy termination of his labors, thought it prudent and advisable to visit Nauvoo, and, by a candid statement of facts, and a fair promise of protection to his prisoners, win back the Mormons to their allegiance to the State. The Mormons received him with the respect due his station. Their interest in the fate of their Prophet was so general, so lively and intense, that no difficulty was found in collecting the whole population in one vast assemblage, in the open commons, where the Governor, in default of a rostrum, mounted a log cabin, from the roof of which he addressed the multitude for two hours or more, during which time the Mormons listened with the most anxious and profound attention. He admonished them against suffering any influence or policy to divert them from a due and implicit obedience to the law; threatened them with the power of the State if any attempts were made at insubordination, and guaranteed the public faith for the protection of the prisoners at Carthage. The Governor was earnest and sincere in the whole tenor of his remarks, and was greeted with frequent and enthusiastic bursts of applause from the assembled multitude, won over by his candor and apparent impartiality. The anxious suspense of the Mormons was measurably removed by the definiteness of the Governors pledges. Addresses were made by the leading men of the city, in which assurances were given of the loyalty of the Mormons and their disposition to sustain the law. That lien. Smith had only hesitated to surrender himself a prisoner, on account of the excitement and unjust prejudice of the public mind occasioned by the misrepresentations and falsehoods of the renegade Laws, who were plotting for the death of the Lords Prophet and the destruction of the Church. That in future, assured as they now were by positive pledges from the executive, the officers of the law would have no further cause of complaint against them. The meeting dispersed in good order, cheering the Governor for his liberality, and rejoicing in the pledges of his protection. They pressed upon him the hospitality of their city, which was declined, owing to pressing engagements at Carthage. The Governor accordingly left Nauvoo about sundown, well satisfied that the wrathful storm was quelled, angry passions were allayed, and peace, with its manifold blessings, was restored to Hancock.

But, to return to Carthage, notwithstanding the absence of the Governor and their disaffection to his policy, there was no actual outbreak amongst the disbanded troops. The angry groups which were collected in the streets, indulging in surly comment on the Governors conduct, were gradually talking away their wrath, and were silently dropping off to their homes. The little village of Carthage, which for a week past had been a scene of bustle, animation, and excitement rarely witnessed, was resuming its usually quiet, dull air. The only feature which marked that anything extraordinary was transpiring, was the guard on duty around the jail. The unsuspecting citizens rejoiced at the quiet of their streets, and congratulated themselves on the restoration of order in their midst.

Their joy, however, was of hut brief endurance. Near sunset, and at the very moment when the Governor was pledging the public faith on behalf of the Mormon prisoners, an armed mob, numbering about one hundred men, was seen advancing stealthily, in single file, from the Nauvoo road, in the direction of the jail. On their arrival at the place of their destination, several shots were fired, and a scuffle ensued with the guard. The successful mob forced their way to the front door of the jail, burst into the lower room, which was instantly filled by the excited and determined crowd. There was no hesitation; they instantly poured in one dark and threatening mass up the stairway which led to the room where the prisoners were confined. Arriving at the head of the stairs, a volley was fired through the door into the prisoners apartment. One of these random shots

passed through the panel with sufficient force to inflict a wound on Hyrum Smith, from which he instantly expired. The door was now forced, and the excited mob precipitated themselves in the very centre of the room, shouting and firing volley after volley. The contest was too fierce to continue long. The prisoners vainly attempted to parry the guns of their assailants. Taylor was severely, and at the time it was thought mortally, wounded. The Prophet was armed with a six-barrelled pistol, with which he defended himself with a bravery inspired by desperation. Three times did he discharge his weapon, and every shot was effectual, wounding one of his assailants mortally and two others slightly. Having been already severely wounded, and having fired all the barrels of his pistol which could be discharged, the Prophet turned to an open window with the intention of precipitating himself below. But the terrible appearance of the wrathful and determined mob without caused him to abandon his purpose. He was now exhausted from the loss of blood flowing from numerous wounds, yet he labored with the energy of despair to recover himself, lie clutched the window sill to which he was suspended, and cast a wild and imploring look at the angry faces below. A volley was fired by the unrelenting mob, and the Prophet fell lifeless to the ground.

Thus fell a martyr to licentiousness and ambition the most corrupt, successful, and wicked impostor of modern times. Far from being animated by a desire to reform and purify the spirit of religion, he took a retrograde march from enlightened virtue, and introduced into the sanctuary, dedicated to the solemnity of Christian worship, vices which out-distanced the obscene rites of paganism. Mahomet, to whom the Mormon Prophet has been frequently compared, was a reformer. Amid the corruptions of paganism, surrounded by the temples of polytheism, he declared to his countrymen his sublime creed, there is no God but God. However crude may have been his conceptions of the Divine character, however much the worship lie established may have been blended with superstition and error, yet the noble principle of the unity of Deity -- the base of his splendid superstructure -- was in itself a mighty triumph over the corrupt mysteries of pantheism, which it demolished and succeeded. In an age when Christianity had but little of the purity, and shed but little of the radiance which distinguished it when it first dawned upon the world; when its light struggled feebly with the clouds of monkish superstitions and ignorance; when its spirit was crushed by corruptions within and corruptions without; it was not singular that the Moslem Prophet failed to discover the just attributes of Deity, and entirely misconceived his character. But, in an age when Christianity shone with full lustre, Joe Smith propagated the notion of a material God endowed with the same gross and debasing passions as himself; a Deity pleased with licentiousness, and delighted with the commission of crime. In Mahomets time polygamy was recognized and sanctioned by the observance of a long series of ages. True, he suffered it to remain, not however as a distinguishing feature of his theology. Smith, on the contrary, in an age and amongst a people where time doctrine and practice were alike repudiated, outraged virtue and decency by its revival and its practice.

In the mean time, whilst Carthage was thrown into consternation by the murder of the Smiths, the Governor was quietly jogging on his way from Nauvoo to Carthage. He had not proceeded far when he was met by a messenger, spurring in hot haste, who informed him that the jail had been invaded by an armed mob; that the guard had been overcome, the prison stormed, and its inmates murdered. This news effectually paralyzed him. The causes of a catastrophe so dire and so unexpected were to him entirely unaccountable. For days he had labored by the most accomplished diplomacy to restore peace to the turbulent factions. He had succeeded. He had quelled the waves of agitation and restored the supremacy of law; and, in the moment of his triumph, all his plans were defeated, and the reign of anarchy introduced. So sudden was the intelligence communicated, that he had neither the power nor the inclination to analyze the causes which produced this strange revulsion in the affairs of Hancock. He thought only of his personal safety. He directed his course towards Quincy, turning his back on the storm of passion which his wisdom was insufficient to control.

But, to return to the perpetrators of this tragedy, it is only necessary to state that so soon as the bloody deed was consummated they fled in the wildest confusion, impelled by vague fear of immediate danger, spreading in their flight the news of the catastrophe.

When the citizens of Carthage saw the mob investing the jail, it was supposed to be a party of Mormons endeavoring to effect the rescue of the prisoners. After they became aware of the true nature of the riot, and learned the murder of the Smiths, an immediate rising of the Mormons was anticipated for the purpose of avenging the death of their leader and Prophet. They reasonably expected that their first rush would be to Carthage, which would fall a sacrifice to their blind and avenging fury. Under this fearful impression the village was entirely deserted; men, women and children, panic-stricken, all fled in the wildest disorder and confusion. Mr. Hamilton, the proprietor of the Carthage Hotel, with his family, were the only persons who had sufficient presence of mind to remain. To this hotel the remains of the Smiths were removed from the place where they had been abandoned by the mob in their blood. As the news of the death of the Smiths extended, the same panic which was manifested at Carthage communicated itself all over the county. Every one confidently believed that the desolating march of the Nauvoo Legion would bring terror and death to every home.

The news of the violent death of their Prophet was received by the Mormons with mingled emotions of surprise, horror, and rage. Their first impulse was to collect their forces and revenge themselves by the desolation of the county; but their desire for vengeance was instantly smothered by their cool and politic leaders, who at once saw the impropriety of permitting the infuriated multitude to take vengeance in their own hands. A delegation composed of the least obnoxious of their number was sent to receive and bring to Nauvoo the mutilated bodies of their Prophet and Patriarch. The Legion was paraded, placed under aims, and marched on to the prairie to escort the remains into the city. The bodies of the deceased were received with the greatest ceremony and solemnity. The whole populace was assembled to take their last look of affection on those wham, in life, they had venerated and loved. Never was mourning more general or sincere. With all his vices, the impostor had been true to his people. In all their reverses, amid all their persecutions, he never thought of deserting them. They had listened to his teachings as the voice of God, and now the light which in all peril had shone on their pathway was for ever extinguished. The funeral of the deceased was attended by an immense concourse of people. The city authorities, the Nauvoo Legion, the Masonic lodges, the agitated and sorrowful populace, and the curious inquisitive strangers whose love of novelty had induced them to visit the city, all fell into the procession and followed the remains to their last resting place.

The perpetrators of this murder were never clearly identified. The Mormons, at the time of its commission, alleged that it was accomplished by their old enemies in Missouri, who had taken advantage of the existing disturbances in Illinois to satiate their malice and revenge. A letter was written by Elder Richards, who was confined with the Smiths at the time they were murdered, exculpating the people of Carthage from any connection with the riotous proceedings, and charging the Missourians with the murder. That Elder Richards was right in exonerating the citizens of Carthage from all participation in the transaction, there can he no shadow of doubt; that he was mistaken or willfully lied in seeking to attach the guilt of the murder to the Missourians, there can be just as little doubt. In fact, the notion that the Missourians had any thing to do with the matter was almost immediately abandoned by all the Mormons, who now labored with much zeal and plausibility to fasten guilt on a part of Col. Williams' regiment, which we have seen was disbanded on its march to Point Golden. But their very exertions to bring the murderers to justice were so mixed up with cunning expedients and unequivocal malice, that they manifested a disposition rather to secure victims to gratify their revenge than to procure a correct and impartial administration of justice. The witness by whom they sought to fasten guilt on the expedition under Col. Williams, was a fellow by the name of Daniels, without character or common decency, who had

lately by sudden, and as he claimed supernatural means, become a zealous convert to Mormonism. This Daniels admitted that he himself was in the conspiracy, and assisted in the murder of the Smiths. To give color and consistency to his story, he published a narrative purporting to be a statement of the facts connected with the Carthage murder. In this narrative, he in substance states that he marched with Col. Williams' regiment from Warsaw to the point where the troops were disbanded. That on the dismissal of the troops, an inflammatory speech was made by the editor of the Signal, an Anti-Mormon journal published at Warsaw, in which he boldly proposed to march to Carthage, and murder the prisoners in jail. This proposition, he informs us, was rejected with disgust by a large number of the company, who were indignant at a proposition to murder men in the confinement of a prison, whatever guilt they may have incurred. That a portion of the company, less scrupulous, of which number he himself made one, organized themselves and marched to a point within four miles of Carthage, where they communicated with the prison guard, who entered heartily into the conspiracy. That they then immediately marched to Carthage and consummated the murder, without any hindrance from the guard. That the rencontre of the mob was only a sham to keep up appearances, and that the shots which were fired by the guard were blank cartridges.

On the testimony of this witness nine persons, all of whom belonged to the regiment referred to, including Col. Williams, were duly indicted for the murder. This indictment came on to be heard at a special term of the Hancock Circuit Court, in June, 1845, about a year subsequent to the commission of the crime. Every effort was made to procure an impartial jury. A number of days were consumed in challenges. A jury was finally procured which has never yet been arraigned by public opinion, but has uniformly received the credit of having discharged their duty fearlessly and impartially. The Attorney-General of the State prosecuted with a vigor and ability rarely equaled. Yet the testimony of Daniels, who was his principal witness, was so inconsistent and contradictory, that he frankly admitted to the jury that the witness was wholly unworthy of credit, and that no attention should be given his testimony in the formation of their verdict. The prisoners were consequently, without any hesitation, found not guilty by the jury, and were accordingly discharged.

MORMONISM  IN  ILLINOIS.

NO. IV.

THE Anti-Mormons had supposed that all difficulty with their adversaries would necessarily cease with the death of their prophet and dictator. They believed that Smith was the soul of their organization, and that after he should perish the fanatics would be compelled to disband their forces, and find a refuge in some locality where their religion would be viewed with less suspicion, and where they would be less annoyed with persecution. In this conclusion the Anti-Mormons were altogether mistaken. True, there was a short and rather fierce struggle between the various factions in Nauvoo, headed by Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon, in which, however, the brutal energy of Brigham triumphed over the more acute and intellectual resources of Rigdon, who was compelled to fly from the city of the saints to avoid the vengeance of his triumphant rival.

Brigham coolly seated himself on the throne of the prophet, and by his vigorous rule crushed all disaffections; for a year the voice of discord was hushed, and all inquiry into the official acts of the dictator was stifled. At the end of that period, in the autumn of 1845, a blow was struck at Mormonism in Illinois more disastrous and terrible than any which had previously been inflicted, and which involved in its consequences the final and complete banishment of fanaticism from the State. The Mormons had established in the surrounding country a number of flourishing settlements. These were attacked by the Anti-Mormons; houses were burned and farms desolated. So sudden were the movements of the insurgents, that near one hundred houses were destroyed before resistance could be organized. The sheriff of the county, a zealous friend of the Mormons, eventually marched a strong Mormon force from Nauvoo into the infected district, and dispersed the rioters. He discharged his duty with the most unjustifiable violence. Several lives were lost in his conflicts with the Anti-Mormons, who, in their turn, appealed to the Governor for protection. Upon their application a force was raised under the proclamation of the Executive, numbering near one thousand men, which was placed under the command of General Hardin, who subsequently perished so gloriously at Buena Vista. This force was immediately marched to Nauvoo. Through the mediation and influence of General Hardin, the belligerent parties were brought to terms of accommodation; a treaty was agreed upon, by which the Mormons obligated themselves to remove from the State of Illinois early the following spring. It was agreed by the Anti-Mormons that they should cease from their hostile movements, and in all lawful ways assist the Mormons in the sale of their property. This agreement was ratified by the whole Mormon population, assembled "en masse" for that purpose, who resolved that the Church should march into the wilds of California, beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States.

The year of "forty-six" witnessed a scene at Nauvoo as novel and curious as has ever been exhibited in modern times. It witnessed the desertion of home, of civilization, and the protection of the law, by the Mormons, for the peaceful enjoyment of a false and licentious creed. Early in the spring of that year, they commenced in good earnest their preparations for their long and toilsome march to the far West. The bulk of their real estate had already been bartered away to the huckstering gentiles, in exchange for cattle and wagons, which were to carry them to the land of promise. The residue of their lands and houses which were yet unsold were still in the market at reduced prices, and their owners, intent on emigration,

were leaving no expedient untried to effect an exchange for an available outfit for the wilderness. The public houses of the city were crowded with a multitude of visitors from all portions of the West, attracted to the spot by the cheapness of the property now offered for sale. The sharp and wary dealer in real estate, weighing well his chances before he made an investment in Mormon lots; the dealer in dry goods, with a meagre and unsalable collection of the fragments of what had once no doubt been a respectable stock in trade; the professional gambler, with his pack of marked cards his only capital, awaiting with commendable patience his opportunity to pluck some unguarded countrymen, were all congregated together in some close bar-room, insufferable from the fumes of whiskey and tobacco, or were bustling through the streets, striving for the attainment of the various objects of their pursuit.

The Mormon authorities had already shifted the scene of their impostures to the wilderness west of Iowa. There the impostor Brigham had planted his standard, around which had already clustered more than five thousand tried and true friends, who with him had escaped from the fiery persecution of the vindictive gentiles, to breathe the free air of the wild prairie, and enjoy without restraint the unlicensed indulgence of their debasing faith. There on the silent bosom of the wilderness, which had not yet submitted to the conquering march of American enterprise and civilization, did the fanatic pause in his endless journey,

It was indeed necessary that every effort should be made to hasten their departure from Nauvoo. The Anti-Mormons had construed their treaty to read that the Mormons were bound by their contract to leave the State by the first of May at all hazards, and that unless the whole of them should be removed against that time, they should be removed by force of arms. Although the Mormons objected strenuously to this construction of their contract, they abated none of their effort to make good their retreat beyond the reach of their enemies.

The first of May was now approaching; and the Governor, under the belief that the Mormons were quietly carrying out the stipulations of their treaty, and that the Anti-Mormons, well satisfied with their efforts, had no disposition to create any further disturbances, caused the withdrawal and disbanding of the volunteer company stationed at Nauvoo. The Anti-Mormons, however, were far from being satisfied. They had been so often deceived by the false representations and pretenses of the proscribed sect, and had so long looked upon all their acts with suspicion and mistrust, that it was impossible now to satisfy their jealous watchfulness. If it were true, as they were informed from time to time, that the Mormons were leaving Nauvoo in such vast numbers, they were apt to inquire why it was that the population was so little reduced. They were led to believe that the intention of the Mormons to emigrate was not so general as had been represented. Brigham had informed the masses, in the name of the Lord, that the saints should never again have seed-time or harvest in the land of the gentiles; yet despite of this prophetic mandate, and amid all the hurry of preparation and departure, the Anti-Mormons were able to perceive that quite a number of the Mormons were engaged in planting crops which would not mature until long after the stipulated time for their departure. Another phase of deception now developed itself amongst the Mormons. Many of those who had emigrated to Nauvoo and purchased property apparently in good faith, on inquiry were ascertained to be Mormons, and were equally obnoxious with the original residents to the wary and ever vigilant Anti-Mormons. In fact, they began to conclude that a large part of the population which had purchased in Nauvoo were the followers of the prophet in disguise, and that a new population of Mormons was to be forced upon them in spite of all their caution.

The Governor, immediately after the Quincy Riflemen were disbanded, authorized Major Warren to retain ten men, not so much however to quell the insurrectionary movements in the country, as to act as a committee of vigilance, and report through the newspapers the progress the Mormons were making in effecting their removal. These reports were made from time to time, and apparently produced a pacific effect. It gave many in the surrounding country confidence in the good faith of the Mormons, in consequence of which emigration commenced flowing into Nauvoo, and every thing tended to a state of permanent peace.

In the mean time, about the first of June, a general mass meeting of the Anti-Mormons was called at Carthage, for the purpose of making arrangements for the celebration of the ensuing fourth of July. In this meeting it was urged that they could not consistently celebrate a day which presupposed their independence as long as the Mormons remained as a foil on their liberty; that the preliminary step to be taken was to expel the Mormons, whose strength, now much reduced by emigration, would readily yield to a comparatively small force. This idea was caught up with avidity; and a few days witnessed the assemblage of au army, regularly appointed and officered, at Golden's Point, in the neighborhood of Nauvoo. The more reckless of the Anti-Mormons, anxious for the conflict, poured into the encampment with such arms and equipments s they could readily lay their hands upon. The Mormons were well informed of these hostile demonstrations. Many of them hastened their preparation for their departure; others precipitately abandoned their homes without preparation -- destitute of provisions and all the necessary comforts of a long and perilous journey. Others, less terrified and more determined, resolved to defend themselves. The new citizens who had settled in Nauvoo, by the invitation of Mormons and Anti-Mormons, regarded themselves as no party to their quarrels. Their true policy was to remain neutral by a refusal to participate in these lawless proceedings, the merits of which it was impossible for them to understand. This policy the Mormons determined they should not adopt, and to change their resolution, representations were made to them that the crusade against Mormonism was nothing less than a destructive blow aimed at Nauvoo; that the intention of the Anti-Mormons was to desolate the city. The massive Temple, which was now completed, and which was reared by such a vast expenditure of labor and money -- an original model of a new and magnificent order of architecture -- the only ornament and attraction of the city, was to be undermined and blown to atoms by the Goths and Vandals now assembled in force. The city itself, which had changed hands and was now the property of the new citizens, was to be reduced to ashes by the incendiary band of mobbers.

The new settlers, believing these representations to be true, were scarcely less alarmed than the Mormons, and many of them were equally resolved to resist the contemplated invasion of their property. But, notwithstanding their prejudices had been excited by the Mormons against the expedition which was now encamped at Point Golden, they thought it prudent to consult with the Anti- Mormons themselves, relative to their intentions with regard to Nauvoo. Accordingly, at a general mass meeting, which was composed exclusively of new citizens, or rather which was intended to be so, a delegation was appointed to confer with the hostile force, and, if possible, by peaceful measures adjust their increasing difficulties. But in the selection of the delegation, they were as usual imposed upon by the specious cunning of the Mormons; at least two of the delegation of five were at the time Mormons. One of them, William Picket, who had lately removed from Alabama, a broken-down lawyer, who had found it unsafe to remain longer in the South, had united his destiny with Mormonism, and pursued its opponents with the blind and revengeful fury characteristic of the North American savage. Although baptized in the faith, he had not openly acknowledged his connection with it. No one of the new citizens had even the slightest intimation of his religious faith, and in fact it was on account of his supposed opposition to the fanatics that he was appointed a delegate. Israel Clap, the other Mormon delegate, had recently removed from Iowa, and his Mormonism was a secret to all but the faithful.

These delegates immediately after their appointment visited the Anti-Mormon force encamped at Point Golden. They found. this army, to the number of three or four hundred, safely lying in a thicket, through which a sluggish and filthy stream struggled in vain to find an outlet for its stagnant waters. This stream had never before been used for any purpose of practical utility, unless by the swine of the neighborhood which had occasionally regaled themselves with a refreshing wallow in its turbid waters. The patriotic army had taken possession of this stream and the slashes around it, and placed their sentinels and planted their cannon to guard against surprise. The encampment was surrounded on all sides by a thicket of undergrowth so dense and impenetrable, that their whole force was rendered invisible to the eyes of their vigilant enemies.

The Nauvoo delegates were courteously received by the Anti-Mormon Generals, Colonels and Majors, (the whole force appeared to possess exalted rank,) and as new citizens opposed to Mormonism were welcomed to their head-quarters. There was necessarily no difficulty between the Anti-Mormon encampment and the new citizen delegates. It was the interest of both parties that the Mormons should remove. The delegates however believed and represented that the fanatics, now reduced to a mere fragment of their original force, had ceased to be formidable; that the few who remained did so from their inability to procure the necessary outfit for their journey; that in spite of their destitution they were leaving Nauvoo as fast as the ferry boats could carry them away; that hundreds had already left without means, and their families were now encamped in the open prairies, without a common tent cloth for a covering, awaiting their opportunity to exchange their real estate for available funds for their journey. This was thought by the delegates to be sufficient to satisfy the most zealous and uncompromising Anti-Mormon. The Anti-Mormons expressed their willingness to disband their forces if they could have a satisfactory assurance that the Mormons would still continue their preparation for their departure; and to fully assure themselves that such was the fact, they proposed that one of their number should be stationed at Nauvoo, who should be protected by the new citizens, and who should daily report the movements of the Mormons their preparations and the number of the departures and arrivals. To this the new citizen delegates made no objection. There was a disposition on the part of each of the contracting powers to avoid any rupture, and if possible by mutual concessions to form a friendly alliance. In this spirit speeches were made by the representatives of each, expressive of a desire to harmonize whatever causes of disagreement might exist between them. The parties manifested the utmost, good feeling towards each other, and separated with mutual pledges of fidelity.

In the mean time the utmost terror and excitement reigned in Nauvoo. The citizens had contrived to inform themselves of the designs, the force and equipments of the Anti-Mormon encampment, by means of spies who daily and almost hourly visited it The Mormons were now without a leader to direct their movements in the threatening crisis. The twelve apostles, their high council, and every person high in authority, were now clustered around the standard of Brigham, and the saints were left like sheep without a shepherd. They were destitute of a leader. No one could be found on whom the consecrating hands of the deceased prophet had been laid, or who had been set apart to lead the hosts of Israel to battle. And when was fanaticism like theirs ever decided, unwavering, or successful, unless its devotees were controlled by the authoritative dictation of some master-spirit, to whom the blind submissive masses had conceded the unquestioned right to command. Destitute as they were of such a leader, deprived of the supernatural endowments of an inspired priesthood, in which they so implicitly and blindly trusted, indecision and fearful apprehension marked all their councils. A general panic communicated itself to all classes. The wretched, spiritless and terrified Mormons abandoned homes and property, and fled in confusion from the doomed city, without subsistence for a single day. But fortunately, on the very day on which the new citizens had dispatched their delegates to confer with their enemies, Sheriff Backenstos, the tried friend, the sworn clansman of the fanatics, arrived at the city of the saints. His presence at once dissipated their despondency, and fired their hearts with hope and courage.

The first act of this official was to issue an authoritative and pompous proclamation, commanding every able-bodied man to rally under his law-and-order banner, and denouncing the Anti-Mormons as lawless banditti, assembled for the purpose of plundering the weak and defenseless. This proclamation was without any delay widely circulated; and wherever it was read it diffused enthusiasm and courage among the Mormons. The retreating fugitives, who in the hour of panic had precipitately fled the State, no sooner learned that Backenstos had arrived than they recrossed the river, to march under his leadership to attack the enemy. The streets were crowded by the Mormons, who were preparing their arms for the anticipated battle.

All hesitation and every indication of cowardice had vanished from the wavering fanatics. When the delegates returned from Point Golden, the streets were enlivened by

crowds of armed men hastening to some point in the city, where their enthusiasm was to be still further aroused by the stirring eloquence of the martial sheriff and the no less martial priesthood. All ages and classes appeared animated and infuriated by an unappeased desire for vengeance. There might be seen the aged saint of threescore years and ten, with tottering and decrepit footsteps, hastening to the point of concentration, his eye grown dim with age now flashing with the fires of intense malignity, his lips compressed with determined resolution to die for his religion, and his feeble and attenuated body trembling under the weight of arms and years. By his side might be seen the white-haired urchin, the mere child, with all his boyish enthusiasm aroused by the stirring occasion, mingling with his excited seniors with as lofty a heroism as the bravest. And there too might have been seen a true knight of the new temple, mounted, its true, on a rather jaded and indifferent war-horse, which had been taken from the plough-tail for the occasion; but badly as he may have been mounted, he was none the less a hero and knight. He bore about his person arms and equipments enough to have well nigh furnished a company of the military with approved weapons. A heavy sword dangled conspicuously on his, left side. On his other side was suspended a huge bowie knife which would have wearied Hercules to wield. His waist was encircled by a belt crowded with revolvers, and two enormous rifle-barrelled pistols protruded from his holsters. The fatal rifle was strapped across the hero's shoulders. As he surveys his manifold weapons, in the pride of his exultation he applies the spur to the flank of his worn and jaded charger, and shouts the battle cry of all the saints. The startling cry was taken up by his comrades and communicated to all the stragglers in the streets, until one wild universal shout of maddening fury arose from every part of the city. The fierce knight, still more excited by the answering shouts of his partisans, urged his war-horse into something like a half gallop, and disappeared in the direction of the field of Mars.

The place to which the Mormons were hastening was a large plat of unimproved ground, in front of a little rough stone building, designated by the saints as the arsenal. This same little building has been degraded by the more peacefully inclined gentiles into a blacksmith shop, in which humble capacity it has done good service for the last three years. A promiscuous assemblage of near a thousand persons was collected in the open space; some on horseback others on foot, all armed to the teeth and highly excited. The whole crowd appeared to rave with insane fury. Shout after shout arose from the multitude, and was re-echoed by the distant hills. Prayers for divine vengeance were invoked by the fanatical priesthood on the heads of their enemies, and their devotions were mingled with threats, imprecations, oaths and blasphemies.

After the saints had shouted, prayed, and cursed until they grew hoarse, it was announced that the Bull of Bashan would address the saints then present. It must not, however, be supposed that a genuine bona fide Durham was to claim the attention of the saintly auditory. On the contrary, the worthy introduced under the singular and somewhat startling title was a Mormon priest of high standing, and still claiming affinity with humanity. It must be understood that the Mormons applied to each other, and particularly to their superiors, mystic appellations significant of the virtues and mental qualities for which they were distinguished. One, who had been unusually successful in the propagation of their religion, was designated the "Fruitful Vine." One, whose course had been peaceful and conciliatory amid their persecutions, was known as the "Olive Branch;" and another, an impulsive, reckless genius, and withal refractory to the authority of his immediate superior, rejoiced in the cognomen of the "Wild Ram of the Mountain." The orator of the evening was so called for his supposed fierce courage and savage brutality, The Rev. Bull of Bashan stood before his auditory confessedly the very counterpart of an enraged and noisy bull. He was over six feet high, heavily proportioned, and inclined to corpulency, so much as to induce the belief that he had been stall-fed. The lower part of the Rev. Mr. Bashan's countenance was ornamented with a heavy growth of red beard, which, from its tangled and disorderly appearance, had never been visited by combs or razors. But despite of the coarse and vulgar appearance of this high priest of the latter days, there was an energy about his fierce denunciation of the gentiles, which amounted to sublimity, and

called forth loud shouts of applause from the assembled saints. To have heard the oaths and threats made against the Anti-Mormon encampment, one would naturally have been inclined to the belief that their enemies would have been cut to pieces before morning; but nothing of the kind appeared seriously contemplated. After shouting themselves hoarse, the saints dispersed for their homes, and, no doubt, many of them slept soundly from exhaustion.

In the mean time, the new citizens, startled and terrified by the warlike demonstrations of the Mormons, but still determined to make another effort to conciliate the parties and prevent a hostile conflict, in which they must severely suffer, met in general meeting, to hear the report of the delegates who had returned from Point Golden. This meeting was held in the lower part of the city, known as the Seventy's Hall. It was intended to be strictly a meeting of the new citizens, in which the Mormons should not be allowed to participate. But, contrary to the expectations of every one, the fanatics were present in much larger numbers than the friends of peace, and were zealously laboring to excite discord amongst the new citizens, and, if possible, induce them to become a party to their quarrel. The delegates reported the arrangement which the Anti- Mormons were willing to make. There is no doubt that the new citizens were willing to make any reasonable concession to the Anti-Mormons for the sake of peace. But the measures proposed, especially the one providing for the maintenance of what they were pleased to term a spy in their midst, to report their progress in their contemplated removal, aroused the indignation of the Mormons to the most extravagant height. The same scenes of violence, the same insane fury which had characterized the Mormon meeting just dispersed, burst forth in the same noisy and exciting demonstration. Captain Picket, who was one of the delegates, and who was actually a Mormon, made a genuine blood and thunder speech, in which he charged the assemblage of Anti-Mormons with a desire to enrich themselves by the plunder of the holy city. He advised immediate attack on the encampment, and indiscriminate and merciless slaughter of all their enemies. This speech, the more sanguinary portions of it especially, were received with wild shouts of applause. It was in vain for the peacefully disposed to stem this torrent of passion. A mild policy was advised by the prudent; but the advocates of peace had their voices drowned in hisses, shouts, and execrations, which burst from the uncontrollable Mormons. Only such as were known to be in the interest of the fanatics were suffered to give any expression of their views. The contract which had been agreed to between the Anti-Mormons and the delegates of the new citizens was proposed in the meeting for ratification, and rejected by an overwhelming majority. It was then proposed by the Mormons that the city be immediately put in a state of defense, to meet the invasion of the gentle rabble which was menacing it. This proposition was received by deafening thunders of applause. The meeting adjourned about midnight; but even then, so great was the excitement, no one took any thought of repose. The streets were still crowded with the bustling, excited, and vindictive Mormons. Shout after shout arose upon the night air. Guns were continually fired at all hours of the night, and it was considered treasonable to be without arms to defend the city.

In the mean time the Anti-Mormon encampment received intelligence of the return of the sheriff, and of the courage and enthusiasm inspired by his presence. In taking up their position at Point Golden, they had mistaken the force of the enemy and their own. They had supposed their call for reinforcements would be promptly answered by the nine counties confederate with Hancock for the removal of the Mormons; and that a force could be immediately collected, sufficiently powerful to capture Nauvoo, and expel the Mormons without striking a blow. In this, however, they were mistaken. Although deputations had visited all the various counties, soliciting material aid, they were received coldly and with but little approbation. Scarcely a man could be found who was willing to abandon the cultivation of his crops for the sake of active intervention against the Mormons. The consequence was, that instead of two thousand well-armed and appointed troops, which had been pledged to them by the neighboring counties, whenever it should be signified that their presence was needed, they had only some three or four hundred collected out of their own county

and they in a great measure destitute of arms and ammunition. From the best information which they could procure, the number of the Mormons exceeded them two to one, were well armed, and had abundant supplies of ammunition. It was therefore considered highly impolitic to think of making a stand against them. The expedition was accordingly disbanded; and whilst the Mormons were concocting their plans of vengeance, and shouting in their desperation, the soldiers of Camp Golden, under the cover of night, were making the best of their way homeward, satisfied that but little glory was to be won at present on the tented field.

The assemblage at Point Golden unquestionably proved highly disastrous to both parties. By its sudden and unexpected termination, the Mormons were induced to believe that their enemies could never raise a sufficient force to dislodge them from Nauvoo. A great portion of them, who had always looked with but little enthusiasm on their Western pilgrimage, now expressed their determination to remain at Nauvoo, regardless of any attempts which might be made for their removal. They now ridiculed the pretensions of the Anti-Mormons to soldiership. Their newspaper published at Nauvoo manifested the highest exultation over the result of the campaign. High encomiums were pronounced on the character of the meetings which had been held at Nauvoo. All of the warlike demonstrations, the general arming for the battle, were attributed to the new citizens, who were represented by the Mormon organ as altogether hostile to the Anti-Mormons, and friendly to the persecuted sectaries. The Anti-Mormons, deeply mortified by the result of their expedition, were highly incensed by the insolent bravado and sneers of the Mormons. They began to view the new citizens with a great deal of mistrust. The Nauvoo paper represented them as wholly devoted to Mormon interests; and they had already found that many of them were secret professors of Mormonism. Notwithstanding various causes of complaint were continually arising between the belligerents, there was now a period of several weeks of comparative quiet. The Anti-Mormons were engaged in harvesting their crops; and although mutterings of discontent and threats of invasion were continually borne to Nauvoo, they were treated with contempt by the Mormons, who fancied that their gentile neighbors were effectually discouraged by their untimely retreat from Point Golden.

In the latter part of July, a Mormon residing in Nauvoo, who owned a large farm eight miles north, in a strong Anti-Mormon neighborhood, found it necessary to employ and send to his farm eight laborers, all of whom, with a single exception, were Mormons. To guard themselves against attack, these laborers all armed themselves with rifles, which was a source of no inconsiderable annoyance and alarm to their neighbors, none of whom could look with any degree of favor on the intruders. Nor did these laborers conduct themselves with strict propriety. Instead of attending to their labors as directed, it is alleged that they spent their time scouring the country, shouting, firing their guns, and denouncing and cursing as mobbers every person who might happen to cross their path. Several days passed without any hostility between the parties. The Mormon laborers formed the conclusion that there was no danger of an encounter with their enemies. It was, therefore, with surprise as well as alarm, that they witnessed an Anti-Mormon party, numbering at least ten times their force, well armed and mounted, advancing towards them, evidently with the most hostile intention. This threatening party rode to an adjacent skirt of timber, where they dismounted, and held a consultation in low and hurried tones, relative to their course of procedure. Their conclusions were soon formed; and no sooner were their deliberations ended than they surrounded the astonished and terrified Mormons, took possession of their arms, and marched them into the skirt of timber where they had just consulted together. Arriving at that point, they deliberately cut from the impending boughs a large number of heavy goads, and peremptorily ordered their prisoners to lie down on their faces, and receive at their hands the punishment which they merited, and which, in solemn council, they had resolved upon inflicting. Against this violent course of procedure the Mormons ventured to remonstrate, insisting that if they had in any way disturbed the peace of the neighborhood, they were liable to be prosecuted and punished in a legal way; and pledging their honor, that if suffered to escape, they would hasten to Nauvoo, and not again disturb the Anti-Mormons by their

presence. This reasonable proposition was received by the indignant Anti-Mormons with contemptuous indifference. The only response it elicited was a still more decided command to prostrate themselves, accompanied by a dangerous menace of fire-arms, and sullen threats of the most fatal vengeance. Resistance was absolutely out of the question; and the Mormons submitted to their fate, receiving at the hands of their enemies a most severe and inhuman lynching. As we have already intimated, one of the company which received this lawless flagellation was not a member of the Mormon fraternity. When it came to his turn to receive his portion of the penalty prescribed by his self-constituted judges, he informed his executioners that he had no connection with the fanatics, that he had but lately removed to Nauvoo, and, as he supposed that the castigation about to be inflicted was intended solely for the benefit of the Mormons, he therefore politely begged leave to decline the unmerited honor. In reply, he was with some show of courtesy informed, that as he had chosen to associate with Mormons, he was entitled to the same treatment and equal honors with them. He was further informed, that his judges, after a careful reference and examination of the precedents in such cases, had come to the conclusion that the one relating to poor Tray was precisely in point; and if in future he wished to avoid catching thunder, he must avoid entirely the society of Mormons. He was, accordingly, out of compliment to his superior merits and Anti-Mormon pretensions, treated to double the number of lashes which had been administered to his Mormon colleagues. After the flagellation had been duly administered, to the very great satisfaction of the grim disciples of Judge Lynch, and much to the chagrin and mortification of those receiving it, the Mormons were ordered to take themselves off to the holy city, and advised never again to make their appearance out of the corporation limits, unless they wished to incur the most deadly vengeance. Their arms were restored to them, with the exception of one gun, which was claimed to be the property of Samuel McBratney, who had perished by Mormon violence a year before. This gun was retained by the Anti-Mormons as a kind of relic of one who had suffered martyrdom in their cause, as well as an evidence of the thieving propensities of their enemies.

In the mean time the Mormons, with their undressed wounds open, and bleeding profusely, hastened back to Nauvoo, and related the story of their wrongs, without omitting any circumstance which might in any way tend to inflame the public mind. As might have been expected, the relation of an outrage so cruel, and inflicted on such small cause of provocation, created the most unbounded and passionate excitement. A public meeting was instantly called, in which, as usual, small demagogues, who lived by stirring and irritating the passions of the people, harangued in bold terms about the enormity of the crimes which had been perpetrated. It was resolved by the assembled Mormons, that they would take ample vengeance on their enemies; but as they had always been more successful by a resort to cunning than force, it was determined to prostrate justice and the law to the purpose of gratifying their revenge. It was consequently determined to take out writs for the persons implicated, charging them with an unlawful assault and riot. One serious difficulty, however, occurred in taking out the writs. The persons on whom the outrage had been perpetrated, and who were about to subscribe the necessary affidavits, were unacquainted with the names of the persons Implicated, with the exception of one McAuley, a justice of the peace in that neighborhood, who, they averred, was the leader of the rioters. The affidavit was accordingly drawn, distinctly charging John McAuley with the offense, after which succeeded a long blank, in which it was intended to insert the names of all persons who might hereafter be implicated in the transaction. The warrant was drawn in the same loose irregular manner. A special officer was selected and sworn in, charged with its execution, who was instructed to insert the names of all persons who should hereafter be identified as being connected with the riots. This officer immediately proceeded to summon every man in Nauvoo, as a posse, to effect the arrest of all rioters, and persons disposed to break the peace. This summons was obeyed with the utmost alacrity on the part of the Mormons. Against nine o'clock of the same evening, he was ready to march with near a hundred men into the infected district. He immediately directed his course to McAuley's, who resided nine miles from Nauvoo. The

posse arrived at his residence about midnight, when they succeeded in effecting his arrest without resistance or opposition. The premises were searched, and an Anti-Mormon by the name of Brattle, a resident of Carthage, who had not in any way participated in the lynching of the Mormons, was taken into custody. The gun which had been taken from the Mormons was also found and secured. These prisoners were immediately brought to Nauvoo, where the officer and his posse arrived about sunrise.

The prisoners demanded an immediate trial, which undoubted right, on the most trivial pretexts, was denied them. Instead of being brought before a justice of the peace for a legal examination of the charges for which they had been restrained of their liberty, they were remanded into custody to await the convenience of their captors. To render escape impossible, they were placed in the third story of a large waste building known as the Masonic Hall, whilst a guard of malicious and uncompromising Mormons surrounded the building. All communication with their friends was prevented, and any interference in their behalf was rendered impracticable by the jealous vigilance of their jailers.

The Mormons were not yet satisfied with the glory of this achievement, nor was their vengeance fully gratified. Consequently another expedition was instantly planned; a renewed call for volunteers was made, the power of the county was again invoked, and a new and more formidable posse was organized, for the purpose of following up their success, and bringing to justice all persons in the la e lawless demonstration. This body was instantly called into active service. A new judicial officer, an avowed and most daring and reckless Mormon, known as Captain Anderson, was sworn in and received the warrants for execution. It was supposed that the great portion of the rioters resided in the village of Pontoosac, an unimportant place on the Mississippi river, twelve miles above Nauvoo. To this place the officer now directed his march. His force amounted to near one hundred men. They were all well mounted, and armed in a manner known only to Mormon troops. The Anti-Mormon rioters, after whom they were marching, were equal in numbers, and if their organization and equipments had been equal, a spirited conflict might have justly been anticipated on the meeting of the parties. This company of Mormons arrived in the neighborhood of Pontoosac late in the evening, where they selected a convenient place, and encamped until the following morning.

In the mean time the news of the arrival of this Mormon force was communicated throughout the neighborhood by the zealous Anti-Mormons, with so much secrecy and effect, that long before morning dawned, a force was collected equal in number to their adversaries, every man of which was resolved to resist any effort which might be made to secure any arrests of their numbers. This force, as soon as it was collected together, secretly marched to a hazel thicket, about eighty rods from Pontoosac, which on both sides flanked the Nauvoo road, and afforded a sufficient cover for a force much larger than theirs, where they concealed themselves with the intention of assailing their adversaries, should they attempt to march into Pontoosac. They had not long occupied this ambuscade, when the Mormon force was discovered on the march. Fate was apparently leading them without suspicion into the range of their deadly weapons. Every heart beat high in anticipation of victory. But whilst with exultation they beheld the Mormon column on its blind and fatal march to certain ruin, they were surprised to see it make a sudden halt before it came in direct range of their rifles. The Mormons were evidently acquainted with the existence and locality of the ambush. A short and hurried consultation took place in the column, upon the close of which the Mormons reined in their horses, and spurring them into the most furious speed, they precipitately charged into the densest part of the thicket. This sudden and unexpected movement of the Mormon cavalry took their adversaries completely by surprise; and a majority of them, without waiting to count numbers, or to make any defense, instantly retreated in the greatest confusion. Only about a dozen had sufficient presence of mind to remain. These were required to submit themselves to the authority of the process. This they peremptorily refused to do; upon which the Mormon constable, who was without question a man of the boldest courage, proceeded without any difficulty to disarm them.. When this was accomplished, their names

were inserted in the warrant, charging the commission of a riot, and the whole number were unceremoniously placed in a wagon, and without delay were borne in triumph to Nauvoo.

The success of this campaign was hailed by the Mormons with joyful acclamation. Captain Anderson was voted a hero of the first magnitude. A general shout of exultation arose from every part of the city. Loafers, boys and priests commingled together promiscuously, to gaze on the desponding and terrified prisoners, and exchange congratulations on the result of the victory which had crowned their arms. They had now in close custody fourteen of their most bitter enemies, and it was determined that their trial should be for the present postponed, and that they should remain in confinement under the eye of a vigilant and reliable guard, as hostages for the good behavior of their associates and friends, until the Anti-Mormons now under arms should disperse or cease their depredations.

The Anti-Mormons, however, never thought of the abandonment of any of their enterprises, from the fact that a part of their comrades had fallen into the hands of the Mormons. In their own language, war had again been declared in Hancock. They had no longer any compromises to make with Mormonism. They were resolved that the existing conflict should continue until the one party or the other should prove finally and completely triumphant. Should. they be defeated, they would surrender their homes and their county to the Mormons for ever. Should they prove triumphant, the Mormons should be driven from the State. If their friends had fallen into the hands of their enemies, it was the fortune of war, and like other prisoners of war, they must abide their misfortunes as became soldiers. They considered any effort which they might make for the rescue of their prisoners as entirely hopeless. Their wisest policy, they concluded, was retaliation; and for opportunity to test this policy they had not long to wait.

The very day on which Captain Anderson made due and lawful return of his prisoners, a small company of Mormons, numbering some five or six, found it necessary to reclaim their oxen which had strayed on the prairie. They followed what they supposed to be the trail of the missing cattle, until it led them to the neighborhood of Pontoosac, where they were surprised by a large party of Anti-Mormons, who suddenly emerged from an ambuscade, surrounded them, and marched them to their encampment. To prevent discovery and the danger of recapture, they were immediately hurried into a wild and secluded ravine, shaded by dense undergrowth, where they remained until night under a strong guard, when they were placed in a small boat furnished for the occasion, and ferried in silence to an island opposite in the Mississippi. The custody of these prisoners they believed would prove an ample guarantee against any violence which might be contemplated against their friends in Nauvoo.

In the mean time the Mormons were informed of the capture of their friends by the predatory gentile bands, and measures were instantly adopted to secure their rescue, Captain Anderson summoned his command. and without delay marched to the village of Pontoosac. In anticipation of the march of the Mormon force on this point, the village was almost entirely abandoned by its inhabitants. A few frightened women and children were all that remained. From signals which were discovered from the windows, it was inferred by Anderson that the enemy, with their prisoners, had retreated to the island opposite. How to effect a landing was a question which, with all his ingenuity, he was unable to solve. He had no boats at his command. He carefully searched the coast in vain efforts to discover some vessel to press in his service ; but the fugitives had taken the precaution to cut off this resource, and after two days spent in great perplexity, during which his command was compelled to levy contributions for their subsistence off the surrounding country, the brave captain was compelled to relinquish the invasion of the island, and return to Nauvoo to procure boats for the enterprise.

No sooner were the Anti-Mormons relieved of the presence of the Mormon force, than they recrossed to the mainland, and whilst Captain Anderson, deeply mortified with the result of his labors, was retiring to Nauvoo, the Anti-Mormons, well mounted, were making a forced march north, at the rate of six miles per hour, whilst the prisoners were compelled to march on foot in front at that sweeping pace. Should their energies appear to flag by their unusual exertion

they were stimulated by the application of goads, until nature refused to endure such exertion longer, and the prisoners in almost fainting condition were borne into a secluded spot, where they were suffered to recruit their strength until the following morning.

Before Captain Anderson could fit out his boats for his river fight, intelligence was received at Nauvoo that the Anti-Mormons were seen retreating north at furious speed, still having their prisoners in custody. Without any delay an opposing force, under the command of Picket, was dispatched in pursuit. He passed through Pontoosac, and from thence east to La Harpe; however, without falling in with them. The Anti-Mormons, through the instrumentality of their friends, contrived to be informed of all the movements of the Mormons, and although the pursuit was hot, and long continued, it was ineffectual, the Anti-Mormons invariably eluding the vigilant and untiring efforts of the Mormons.

This chase continued during two weeks, during which the prisoners were fatigued by incessant marching, until life had become a burden which could scarce be endured. The prisoners at Nauvoo, who still continued in close confinement, had become haggard by constant watching and fearful apprehensions from threatened violence. Both parties became wearied by their mutual lawless obstinacy. Finally, the Anti-Mormons procured for the benefit of their friends in confinement at Nauvoo, a writ of habeas corpus, which was served on their Mormon jailers, who surrendered them to the proper tribunal for examination, upon which on entering bail they were finally discharged from arrest. No sooner were they set at liberty than the Mormon prisoners, jaded and travel-worn, broken in health and spirit, from their unceasing exertions, were suffered to return to Nauvoo. They were received by their families as if they had risen from the dead. Their release had never been expected; they had already been enrolled on the list of martyrs who had attested their faith by a heroic death.

It should have been observed, that to avail themselves of the benefit of the writ of habeas which had been issued on their behalf, it was necessary for the Anti-Mormon prisoners to be taken to Quincy, where the judge issuing that process resided. On their discharge they immediately returned to Hancock county, but apprehending further annoyance and danger from the Mormons, who still continued to send out their predatory bands into the neighborhood of Pontoosac, they declined visiting their families; they determined to accept the hospitality of their Anti-Mormon friends in the southwest of the county, and remain in that section until a general and final rally should be made for the expulsion of the Mormons. It was resolved, if possible, to bring matters to an immediate crisis between the parties. To effect an object so much desired, they. determined to make an attempt to arrest the leaders of the Mormons concerned in their imprisonment and detention in Nauvoo, and if possible secure legal redress for the wrongs they had endured. To this end, writs were taken out before a justice of the peace, who resided in the centre of a hazel thicket in the southwest of the county. This justice was not selected so much on account of his legal acquirements, as the remoteness of the situation from Nauvoo. The justice resided on the outskirts of the Morley settlement, which had been desolated by Anti-Mormon vengeance only a year before, where the blackened and decaying ruins of the dwellings of the hapless fanatics still remained as monuments of Anti-Mormon hate, and where dreary barren wastes met the view where only a year before cultivated fields smiled in cheering beauty and abundance. They knew it would be a source of annoyance to the Mormons to pass through this desolate district, that it would bring fresh to their memories the frightful disasters which they had already sustained at the hands of the Anti-Mormons. It would impress upon the minds of the Mormons the reckless and unscrupulous character of the opposition which they might yet reasonably expect to encounter.

For various reasons it was considered unsafe and impolitic to place the warrants issued in the hands of an ordinary constable, who might possess but little or no influence over the great mass of the people. To give dignity, importance, and effect to their policy, one John Carlin, a gentle man very respectably connected, and possessing considerable wealth and no contemptible ability, who was generally known in Adams and Hancock counties as an uncompromising Anti- Mormon, and, from that fact, exerted a powerful influence over the masses, was sworn in

and charged with the execution of these writs. The persons against whom process was issued were James E. Furnace, William Clifford, and William Picket.

Carlin, immediately on his appointment, hastened to Nauvoo, and demanded the surrender of the persons charged in the writ. Clifford and Furnace, who were not actually Mormons, but only tools for them, after some hesitation and a consultation with their friends, concluded to submit. Picket, who was a Mormon, and consequently more exposed to the violence of the Anti-Mormons, declared that he had received intimations from some of his Anti-Mormon friends that if he surrendered himself a prisoner he would certainly be assassinated. Surrounded as he was by a host of long-tried and faithful friends, he defied the officer to take him. The officer was alone, and of course, unaided, could not secure his arrest. He accordingly left with his other prisoners without even making an attempt, which prudence taught him would be unsuccessful.

Arriving at the justice's office, they found it surrounded by an angry and excited multitude, all of whom had deadly weapons in their hands, and viewed the prisoners with unalloyed hate and disgust. The prisoners attempted a conciliatory policy, proffered their hands in token of friendship, but their overtures at first were all scornfully rejected; but eventually the cunning, diplomacy and chicanery of the prisoners triumphed over the morose and sullen hate of the Anti-Mormons. Mr. Furnace was the most cunning, and had heretofore been the most unwavering friend of the Mormons. He had sold himself to do their commands, however revolting to morality and decency. He was, however, now in the power of his enemies, who looked upon him with scornful disgust, Mr. Furnace believed that his life depended on conciliating their friendship, and not discouraged by the coldness, the unrelenting, and almost ferocious hate of the Anti-Mormons, he still continued his protestations of friendship to the Anti-Mormon cause; but he was coldly and haughtily reminded that his zeal must be manifested in their favor by far less equivocal acts than marching in Mormon companies, for the purpose of dragging Anti-Mormons from their beds at midnight, subjecting them to illegal duress, and by arming himself, and uniting with a Mormon guard to prevent their escape, as had been his previous policy. He must, in fact, before he could claim the respect of the Anti-Mormons, wipe out his former acts by a thorough reformation; he mast for ever abandon all alliances with Mormonism; he must labor to counteract its influence, and use all laudable efforts to aid their cause, until fanaticism, and its long train of blighting curses, should be removed from Hancock county. To any one more scrupulous than Mr. Furnace, who had heretofore manifested the strongest friendship for Mormonism, and had even shed tears of sympathy for its wrongs and persecutions, a proposition to renounce all his previous principles, and adopt a course of policy radically different from that previously acted upon, would have been rejected with indignation. But Mr. Furnace had espoused the cause of Mormonism from motives of self-interest alone; and now the same cold selfishness required the sacrifice of his principles; and Mr. Furnace, without any hesitation, pledged himself and all his friends in Nauvoo, to unite with the Anti-Mormons, for the purpose of expelling his former friends and allies. He proposed to his new friends to return to Nauvoo without delay, and call a meeting of the new citizens to organize an Anti-Mormon party in Nauvoo, and unite upon the terms of the proposed coalition.

The earnestness and zeal with which Mr. Furnace set about his work effectually won over the Anti-Mormons. The angry scowls of deadly hostility and revenge were chased away, and smiles of amity and friendly greetings were freely exchanged between the contracting parties. So highly gratified were the Anti-Mormons with the conversion of Mr. Furnace, and so much were they taken up in shaking hands in ratification of their coalition, that they quite forgot the causes of the visit of their new friend amongst them; and when reminded of the fact that Mr. Furnace was even now in legal custody, that he stood before them charged with riot, false imprisonment and robbery, Anti-Mormons rushed forward with commendable zeal and the greatest kindness, and volunteered to stand as his bondsmen. Thus discharged from arrest, congratulations were again exchanged between the parties, and Mr. Furnace went on his way rejoicing.

Arriving at Nauvoo, the proposed meeting, at his suggestion, was called. It was intended to be a meeting of those new

citizens averse to the longer continuance of the Mormons in Nauvoo. But, as usual at all public meetings called on such occasions, the Mormons, uninvited, poured themselves in the large temple hall in numbers sufficient to control all its deliberations. Mr. Furnace, by his late involuntary excursion amongst the Anti-Mormons, had been terrified into sincerity. Notwithstanding the presence of the Mormons, who had begun to view him with suspicion and mistrust, he boldly advocated a peaceful adjustment of their difficulties with the Anti-Mormon insurgents. This he regarded as their only policy. He had but recently encountered their angry scowl, and his courage had vanished. He had seen the hand-writing on the wall. He was satisfied that total destruction awaited them in the coming conflict. He advised the appointment of a delegation to confer with the Anti-Mormons, and if possible avert impending ruin, and restore order and quiet where anarchy had so long prevailed.

Mr. Furnace, as we have seen, was sincere, he was even eloquent; but the Mormons derisively laughed at his cowardice, and ridiculed his inconsistency. They compared him to a chicken furnished with two pair of legs, the one pair impelling him towards Mormonism and the other leading him in the opposite direction. The Mormons, on a direct vote, might have readily defeated the proposition for the appointment of the delegation; but their policy was never to meet any measure by direct and open opposition; they therefore, without discussion, acquiesced in the views of Furnace, and the delegation was appointed; but in the selection of proper persons to discharge the duties of this important mission, good care was taken that every delegate should be wholly Mormon in his predilections. The only exception to this rule, as the appointment of a gentleman who rejoiced in the cognomen of Major Bidamon, a stout, rugged, consequential Pennsylvania Dutchman, who, contrary to the instincts of his race, gloried in polished boots, fashionable hat, faultless linen, and superfine broadcloth. The gallant Major accepted the appointment with avidity. His vanity was as much excited as if his mission had been to negotiate the peace of Europe, or enforce the neutrality of Russia, in a conflict between Austria and her dependencies. Mynheer Bidamon was no less a personage of that day than Mynheer Kossuth is of the present. The Major lost no time; he borrowed a horse, and travelled with a rapidity known only to borrowed horses. He met the Anti-Mormons, and told them just what he thought of them; that in his opinion they were a scurvy rabble, a lawless mob, a banded conspiracy of savages and robbers, with whom it was humiliating to the refined feelings of a civilized gentleman to be compelled to hold converse. The valiant Major, who was too much of a swaggerer to be a successful diplomatist, told them all this, and was only laughed at for his pains. He was informed that the Anti-Mormons were re- solved on the banishment of the Mormons; that they would like to secure the cooperation of the Anti-Mormon new citizens at Nauvoo for that purpose; but if they refused to join their enterprise, they had made up their minds to do without their assistance; and finally the Major was roughly reminded that he might as well keep his mouth shut. Whereupon the testy Dutchman, without deigning any reply, mounted his borrowed horse, in a towering passion, and was off for Nauvoo like a whirlwind.

This was the last attempt at conciliation made by the parties. The Anti-Mormons now studied the most efficient mode of attack, and the Mormons of resistance. The new citizens still labored to maintain an honorable neutrality; but this peaceful policy had now become well nigh impossible. Many of them, by threats of violence, were driven into the Mormon ranks. Others, unacquainted with the odious vices of their Mormon neighbors, and believing that religious intolerance and persecution had again been revived in this boasted age of religious freedom, zealously marshalled themselves under the Mormon banner to resist Anti-Mormon bigotry and cruelty. Others, inflamed by a desire of revenge, excited by the dictatorial and menacing policy of The Mormons, or disgusted by their brutal and savage vices, escaped to the Anti-Mormon encampment, determined to make their influence felt by the persecuting fanatics, in the approaching conflict. Others, who had but lately emigrated, and who had invested all their means in Nauvoo lots, regardless of pecuniary interest, and indifferent to the destruction of their property, collected their children together, and, ruined and penniless, fled from a country where they had witnessed nothing during their short sojourn but scenes of wild

confusion, and frightful, uncontrolled, and lawless anarchy.

The Anti-Mormon party had thoroughly studied the peculiar tactics of the Mormons in all their previous difficulties. They discovered that the most obnoxious and objectionable of all the acts of the proscribed sect had been based on the assumption that they were the law-and-order party, and had been accomplished under the guise of legal process. By the abuse of judicial authority they had rescued every felon from the vengeance of the law, and by the same insidious policy, and under color of legal process, they had contrived to detain Anti-Mormons in close custody for weeks without trial. This false show of legal subordination on the part of the fanatics was the grand secret of their success. By assuming to be governed exclusively by the law, and invoking its protection against the violence of their enemies, whom they denounced as lawless mobbers and incendiaries, they had won over to the support of their interests the sympathy of the public and the press generally throughout the State. The Anti- Mormons were now determined to beat their antagonists with the same weapons of chicanery which had been used against themselves with such eminent success. They were resolved to employ to their own advantage a policy marked out to them by the daring and unscrupulous career of Mormonism. They justly considered that if they invoked the assistance of their friends in the adjoining counties, for the avowed purpose of lawlessly driving the Mormons from their homes, that their whole project would prove a complete failure; for in whatever light their friends might regard the Mormons, and however anxious they might be to rid the State of their influence, they would hesitate long before they would willingly encounter the perils and penalties incident to a lawless expedition.

At this period fortune favored the Anti-Mormons with a legal pretext to justify an invasion of the Mormon city, of which they determined to avail themselves. It will be recollected that recently Capt. Picket, for whom a process had been issued, surrounded by an armed mob, had openly braved a legal officer in the streets of Nauvoo, who sought to apprehend him by virtue of a warrant for his body. This same Picket, still relying on the protection extended to him by some five or six hundred Mormons with arms in their hands, continued to occupy the same attitude of defiance. It was now resolved, dead or alive, to take him. To secure this arrest, it was necessary to call upon a force sufficient to carry Nauvoo by storm, as no doubt was entertained that the Mormons would resist to the last. Accordingly John Carlin, the same officer who first attempted to serve the writ, now issued his proclamation, which, after reciting the failure of his previous attempt to secure the arrest of William Picket, and the resistance he encountered, commanded every able-bodied man in the county of Hancock to rendezvous at Carthage, on the twenty-fourth day of August then next following, armed and equipped, and furnished with two days provisions, for the purpose of aiding him in arresting William Picket. This proclamation was distributed through every neighborhood in the county. In many instances where there was reason to doubt the devotion of an individual to the Anti-Mormon cause, the proclamation was personally served upon him; and lest he might still prove refractory, he was cited to the provisions of the statute made in such cases, by which he was clearly shown that he incurred heavy penalties should he refuse obedience to the legal mandate.

However much the Mormons may have been surprised at this attempt of the Anti-Mormons to fight them with their own weapons, they had no sooner discovered their policy than they brought into active requisition all their wisdom and ingenuity to secure its defeat. To this end, writs were issued by a Mormon justice of the peace, charging the more distinguished and active of the Anti-Mormon leaders with riots and sundry other breaches of the peace. Precisely the same policy was adopted in all respects which the Anti-Mormons had previously devised, for the prosecution of their plans. Like their antagonists they procured the appointment of a special officer to execute these writs, and this officer likewise issued his proclamation, in which opprobrious terms were heaped without stint upon the Anti-Mormons, and the power of the county demanded to crush the lawless organization of mobbers, now being banded together for the most nefarious and barbarous designs. It will be seen that both parties were anxious to shelter themselves under the protection of the law. To win over the

approbation of the observing public, and to secure material aid in the approaching conflict, each party placed itself in a false position, and each based its quarrel on a false and deceptive issue. Under the ostensible design of taking in custody the body of William Picket, the Anti-Mormons were marshalling, organizing and drilling their forces for the actual purpose of storming the city of Nauvoo, and driving the Mormons, including the same person sought to be arrested, from the limits of the State. The Mormons, in summoning to their aid the power of the county for the avowed design of arresting Sharp, Williams, and others of notoriety in the Anti-Mormon camp, and to preserve the peace of their city and county, actually intended to make a stand against their enemies, and dispute with them every inch of ground, for the purpose of maintaining a supremacy which they had long labored permanently to establish in the State of Illinois. Not content with placing themselves under the leadership of a constable duly appointed, the Mormons were determined to invest their proceedings with a color of still higher authority. It was at present determined to invoke the sanction of the Governor to all their movements.

A special commissioner was accordingly appointed by the town council of Nauvoo, which, in addition to its ordinary powers of opening, establishing, and repairing the streets of the city, of making provisions for the support of paupers, and of punishing petty breaches of the peace, now by the occurrence of extraordinary events, the threatened invasion of their commonwealth, found it necessary to assume the most extraordinary powers -- of declaring war, of negotiating treaties, and voting supplies for the public defense. The object of this special embassy was to secure the assistance of Gov. Ford in putting the city in a state of defense, and maintaining it against the incursions of their enemies. It must be understood that for all practical purposes Nauvoo was an independent State, fighting its own wars and making its own treaties, and exercising the most important acts of sovereignty. We have seen that Gov. Ford collected a force in Hancock on one occasion, with the design of reducing the refractory fanatics to obedience; but being frightened off the ground by the tragical death of the prophet, had ever since suffered the ecclesiastical authorities of the revolted city to govern after their own fashion, doing that which was right in their own eyes. Since the termination of that unfortunate campaign, the Governor could never hear the name of Nauvoo mentioned without losing his temper, and indulging in the most undignified and profane language. And when he heard of the late gathering of the Anti-Mormons at Point Golden, he expressed his deep regret that the conflicting parties did not come into actual collision, and, like the Kilkenny cats of ferocious memory, devour each other bodily.

Major Bidamon was the person again selected to negotiate with Gov. Ford. Our impulsive friend lost no time in the discharge of his official duties. He hastened to Springfield, visited the Governor, laid before his Excellency the perilous position of the city which he represented, and requested his "active intervention" in their behalf. The Major signified that it was his belief that Nauvoo had sufficient force within its own limits to repel any invasion which could be organized by the Anti-Mormons; all they wished was the official sanction of the Executive, that they might be able to repel the imputation that the Nauvoo authorities were in open conflict with the people and the government of the State. This course of procedure was highly satisfactory to the Governor. He could give the required sanction to the Mormon policy, and extend the protection which was solicited, without incurring any personal exposure to danger, and without any extraordinary expenditure from the public treasury. The suggestion of Major Bidamon was accordingly acted upon. The Governor issued his special proclamation to one James Parker, a resident of Canton, who was a sturdy, and withal quite respectable blacksmith, and a major of militia, commanding him to accept the active services of ten volunteers, and with them repair immediately to Nauvoo, where he was directed to take the command of as many volunteers as were willing to enroll themselves free of charge to the State. Major Parker was instructed to supersede the service of all writs now in the hands of the officers appointed by both parties, and was further directed to demand and receive into his own hands all such processes, and with the aid of his ten men procure their execution. He was also instructed

to defend the city of Nauvoo against the excursions of the Anti-Mormons, should any attempt be made, on any pretext whatsoever, to invade the city; but was expressly prohibited from marching his forces out of the corporation limits.

Major Bidamon had no sooner received this proclamation and the accompanying instructions, than he hastened on his way to Canton, to place them in the hands of his friend Major Parker. He found that gallant warrior sweating over his forge, hammering a piece of wrought iron, little dreaming of the illustrious honors which Governor Ford and a beneficent Providence were about to shower in rich profusion on his head. He had long awaited a period in his life when his peaceful pursuits should be abandoned for the more stirring scenes of the tented field. He would have volunteered his services in the Mexican war, but he was well stricken in years. Like the knight of the hard-fought and chivalrous field of Shrewsbury, he was encumbered with a huge mountain of flesh. He had heard, too, that the Mexican climate was intensely warm, and that the vomito with wonderful fatality swept into the grave all fat heroes. It was late in the evening when Major Parker received his commission; but notwithstanding the unseasonableness of the hour, he immediately took off his leather apron, washed the coal-dust from his ears and whiskers, and marched into the street in quest of volunteers. He entered a grocery where he found two recruits, who, for the love of glory and auditors warrants, were willing to fight for the Mormons. A saddlery shop furnished another, and a tailor shop yet another; and before an hour had elapsed our modern Falstaff had pricked his tailors and tinkers until they roared again; and in another hour this formidable host was duly armed and equipped and was on the march to Nauvoo.

Major Parker resided about eighty miles from the seat of war; but by means of forced marches by night as well as in the daytime, and not being much encumbered with a baggage train, he succeeded in reaching the point of his destination in thirty hours after he received his marching orders.

He arrived at Nauvoo on the very day on which the Anti-Mormons commenced concentrating their forces at Carthage, in obedience to the proclamation of their special constable. Major Parker was received with the greatest deference by the obsequious Mormons. On his arrival a salute was fired by the Mormon forces then on parade on the temple green; and on reading his instructions to the Mormon battalion, the chief command was immediately tendered to him, whereupon the gallant Major made a speech which breathed a spirit of loyal subordination to law, and concluded by the application of harsh epithets to the Anti-Mormons, which caused him to be vociferously cheered by his Mormon allies, who expressed the unanimous opinion that the "Major was one of 'em."

Major Parker was one of those sanguine, impetuous spirits, who could never rest satisfied when anything was to be accomplished. Had he been. free to act from his own impulses, he would have marched his forces, now mustering three hundred effective men, right into Carthage, and routed Constable Carlin and scattered his forces to the winds; but situated as he was, fettered by arbitrary and as he thought unnecessary restrictions, which confined all his operations to the defense of the Mormon city, he determined to try the force of diplomacy on the swaggering constable and his lawless rabble, and if possible, by a sounding and verbose proclamation, drive him from the field before his forces should be sufficiently trained to bring successfully into actual combat. That this proclamation might be as terrible to the enemy as possible, one George Edmunds, a Mormon attorney, was summoned to the Major's headquarters to assist in its preparation. This document, among other things, informed Mr. Carlin and those under his command of his appointment to take the command of the Nauvoo forces, and use all laudable means to preserve the general peace; that the armed occupation of Carthage or any part of the county for the purpose of arresting criminals was wholly unnecessary, for he alone, under express instructions from the Executive, had lawful right to serve legal process within the county during the continuance of the riotous and lawless demonstrations now existing; and finally commanded the armed assemblage at Carthage to disperse forthwith, under the penalty of being treated as a mob and dispersed as such.

This proclamation was confided to the care of one of Major Parker's Canton volunteers,

who was immediately dispatched with it to Carthage. He was received by the Anti-Mormon force with unequivocal marks of disapprobation. They had sworn the most deadly hostility to the Mormons and their allies, and were determined that no obstacle, not even the authority of the Executive nor the menacing threats of his agents, should stand between them and their wrath, and thwart the full measure of their vengeance. Carlin read the proclamation without the slightest emotion, and then coolly threw it away, informing the messenger who brought it that he had collected and organized his force for the purpose of marching into Nauvoo, and to that place march he would, despite Governor Ford, Major Parker, and the devil; this was all the answer which he would condescend to deliver to such a Mormon tool as he knew Parker to be.

However, on more mature reflection, the Anti-Mormon constable concluded that it would be more officer-like and better policy to address a note to the Mormon commander, in which he informed that dignitary that he had assembled the force under his command, which he had chosen to denounce as a mob, for purposes which were strictly legal. He was a constable of Hancock county, and he fancied a constable was somebody as well as a Governor or major of militia; that a constable had certain rights, and was vested with certain and various power and authority, as well as the most dignified officer in the commonwealth; that however humble his official duties might he, they were well defined, and he was amply protected by the clearest legal enactments in their discharge. He had in his possession a warrant for the apprehension of William Picket, which charged that person with crime, and which he was fully authorized to execute; and that resistance having already been made by that person, and still further resistance having been threatened, he had found it necessary to summon to his assistance the large force now under his command; and he apprehended that neither Gov. Ford nor Major Parker, by a lawful exercise of any rightful authority, could prevent him from discharging a clear official duty. He had yet to learn how the executive or the military, or both combined, could legally resist a civil officer in the service of a judicial writ, without incurring the charge of unlawfully resisting an officer in the regular discharge of a very important and well-defined duty. He was compelled to regard the command of Major Parker a lawless assemblage, collected for the most illegal and revolutionary purposes, and that unless the same should quietly disperse, and as good and orderly citizens retire to their homes, he would be compelled to treat them as a mob, and disperse them as such.

While Constable Carlin was engaged in the preparation of his stately official missive, his soldiers had found the threatening proclamation of Major Parker, and for their amusement were thrusting their bayonets through it, in derision of the authority from which it emanated. They finally set it up as a target, and their most expert marksmen tested their skill by driving its centre, until the joint production of lawyer Edmunds and Major Parker was shot to tatters, and carried away by the winds.

However much Major Parker may have been enraged by the insulting message he received from Constable Carlin, and the gross indignities offered his official proclamation, he was compelled to forego his vengeance, his hands were fettered by his instructions. He had but one course which could be consistently adopted without transcending his authority: he could still thunder in a proclamation; he could shake the strongholds of the enemy by the fierceness of his denunciations. He therefore called upon his Mormon barrister, and Vulcan-like, the attorney seated himself and composed a fresh proclamation forged a new and more terrible bolt. The Major called up his trusted messenger, delivered his official thunder into his hands, and sent him in haste to Carthage, where he was received with a yell of defiance and rage. Terrified by threats and menaces, the messenger fled to Nauvoo, where he reported he had been startled and terrified by the wild shouts of the gentile host, and threatened by a bowie knife flashing in close proximity to his ears. He had escaped unhurt the frightful menace, but was unwilling encounter any further peril in behalf of this or any other cause. This ended all attempts at negotiation for the present. The Major's thunders only endangered his friends, whilst his enemies laughed at his impotent rage.

In the mean time the Anti-Mormons were zealously engaged in recruiting their numbers, in furnishing and equipping their men,

and in the introduction of discipline and subordination amongst their newly-raised troops. It was the best organized force ever raised in the State of Illinois. It consisted of two regiments of infantry, of as many companies of cavalry, and several detachments of artillery, which served six field pieces the most of which belonged to the State, and had been pressed into this patriotic service in a manner known only to the insurgents themselves. The command of this gallant body of troops, which as we have seen had been summoned as a posse comitatus, of course devolved on Constable Carlin; but that worthy gentleman was a civilian, and, however brave he may have been, had but little knowledge of military life, and no practical acquaintance with the stirring scenes of camp or field. Mr. Carlin very justly concluded that it was hardly possible for any one to become a great constable and a distinguished general at the same time.

He accordingly appointed Mr. Singleton, a young lawyer from an adjacent county, a brigadier general and commander-in-chief of all the Anti-Mormon troops. It is not a very usual occurrence to see a constable exercise the rather doubtful authority of appointing high military functionaries, but it is presumed that the necessary precedents were to be found in the higher law code, of which Mr. Carlin was the principal representative, and the most reliable exponent. Immediately after his appointment, General Singleton marched his army into a skirt of timber, five miles west of Carthage, where they occupied their time in learning the deadly science of war, punishing pale-faced whiskey, and by way of variety shaking with the ague.

Whilst these preparations were being made by the Anti Mormon force, the Mormons at Nauvoo manifested equal zeal and activity. They blustered in the streets, and shouted with the energy and savage fury of their red brethren, whose example they professed to emulate. They brandished swords and bowie knives, and fired off their guns to the imminent peril of all who might pass. They held public meetings in which the assistance of an overruling Providence was invoked, whilst religion and decency were outraged by shocking profanity and blasphemy. The numbers and equipments of the gentiles were much superior to theirs, but they were not disheartened. Their advantage of position counteracted the numerical strength of the enemy. They had no artillery, but their energy supplied this necessity with a most novel expedient. They fell upon the wreck of a steam engine, which abundantly supplied all their wants; with great labor and ingenuity they drilled the shafts, mounted them on cart wheels, and swore they were the best cannon in the universe. To supply the want of ball, they broke into small fragments the boilers and other portions of the same engine, with which they crammed to the muzzle their novel field pieces. Not satisfied with this and similar measures of defense, the Mormons excavated the ground over which it was anticipated their adversaries would be compelled to advance, and filled the cavities with kegs of gunpowder and deadly missiles, to which they designed to apply the match and blow to atoms the advancing column. These subterranean powder plots which were destined to vomit flame and smoke and death in the path of the invading gentile, were termed, in the pious and expressive language of the saints, hell acres, and were intended perhaps more to terrify the Anti-Mormons than to injure them.

Whilst the parties were making these deadly preparations, Captain Picket, in command of a small scouting company, was ranging the prairies after the manner of chivalrous knights of yore, in search of adventures. It would be impossible to recount in our limited space the gallant deeds of this chivalrous commander -- how with his small band of adventurers, on a dark rainy night, he encountered a strong party of Anti-Mormons; how his band recklessly and bravely fired on them, which induced the Anti-Mormons to scamper for dear life; and how one of their number, scorched by the fire from their muskets, rode away blazing like a comet in the darkness.

Whilst these events were transpiring, an under-current was silently at work amongst the new citizens, which promised a speedy and satisfactory adjustment of all the exciting topics which had so long been agitated, and which threatened to involve all parties in a destructive civil war. It was the desire of the new citizens to effect a final compromise between all the parties. Through their efforts, a final treaty of peace was mutually signed by the belligerents. This treaty specified that the Mormons should leave the State

within sixty days; that they should immediately surrender all their arms to persons indicated in the treaty, to be restored to the true owner as soon as it should be satisfactorily known that in good faith he had complied with the stipulations of the treaty by leaving the State. It was further provided that the Anti-Mormons should leave a permanent force of twenty-five men in the city, for the purpose of enforcing the terms of the treaty. This treaty was fully acceded to by the Mormons, who were becoming alarmed by the gathering strength of their adversaries. The new citizens, under the most discouraging circumstances, had labored for its adoption, and now hailed it as a harbinger of permanent peace. General Singleton was anxious for the peaceful arrangement of a difficulty which threatened the destruction of social order and the shedding of blood without legal warrant. He had enjoyed sufficient of the glory, and experienced sufficient of the hardships of the camp to satisfy his young ambition. He therefore gave the treaty his influence and ardent support. He assembled his troops, read the treaty for their approbation and adoption, and was deeply chagrined when it was rejected by a unanimous yell of indignation. The Anti-Mormons had assembled and organize d their troops with a great sacrifice of time and a large expenditure of money. Their force now, so far as the Mormons were concerned, was irresistible. It was to them the height of folly to abandon their enterprise when its object lay within their grasp. They had been repeatedly foiled by the superior adroitness of the fanatics, who had always managed to evade and nullify all their engagements, however clearly and positively expressed and solemnly ratified. They had now a sufficient force to remove them; it was therefore unnecessary to trust them to remove themselves; and trust them they would not under any circumstances, and there was an end of it.

General Singleton expressed the opinion that the Mormons had acceded to every thing that could be reasonably asked of them. To prosecute the war any further, under the circumstances, was unnecessary and treasonable to humanity; he therefore resolved to withdraw from the camp, and leave the consequences to those who chose to prosecute the war further.

The withdrawal of Gen. Singleton occasioned little if any inconvenience to the Anti-Mormon host. The encampment swarmed with illustrious Generals of approved bravery and high renown, who panted for the honor of leading the embattled host to victory. The citizen soldiery immediately elected Thomas Brockman as the successor of Gen. Singleton. Gen. Brockman, they were assured, would never surrender his sword or turn his back upon their enterprise. This new military chieftain had various and high qualifications for so important a command. He was a blacksmith, a house carpenter, a county commissioner, a preacher of the gospel, and served as groom to a celebrated horse, which had the most undisputed and aristocratic pretensions to a long line of Arabian ancestors. It was thought that a person who could so readily turn his hand and his head to such various and different pursuits with a tolerable share of success in each, could not fail to shine as a hero likewise. To be sure, one of the favorite pursuits of the old gentleman, in which he had spent the better part of a pretty long life, i. e., to proclaim peace on earth and good-will to men, appeared to be in decided antagonism with the death-dealing profession of which he was now a conspicuous member; but the villainous expression of a countenance which would have been a warrant of condemnation before a jury skilled in reading the passions from their outward manifestations, at once conclusively demonstrated that, so far as he was concerned, the gospel of peace which he had so long proclaimed was the greatest of humbugs. He had spent a long life in canting hypocrisy, and now, for the first time, he had unfurled his true colors. It cannot be pretended that the Rev. General was influenced by religious zeal or the love of Christian purity in his Quixotic campaign. He possessed none of the fire, The fervor or fanaticism which induced the enthusiastic Covenanters to gallantly and bravely throw their lives away at Bothwell Bridge. Nothing of the kind. Base and sordid selfishness was the spring of all his actions, the controlling motive of his life. His noblest aspiration was to win the votes of the Anti-Mormons, and through their influence fatten on the spoils of office. He had preached and prayed for office without success, and now he was resolved to descend from the altar, throw aside his clerical habiliments, and fight for it. He had grown gaunt as a greyhound with hunger

and long and anxious waiting. Despair and hard feeding had furrowed his cheeks and sprinkled his hair with gray. The Mormon war was to him a god-send ; it aroused his despairing energies, it resuscitated him with renewed life and activity. It mattered little to him how much blood should flow, how many of his comrades might perish, or how many of the enemy should be trampled under the hoofs of his avenging Arab charger, provided by such means he could secure the reward of his ambition and ride safely into office. General Brockman occupied a position entirely different from the men he commanded. They had suffered and endured every thing from the intrigue and violence of the Mormons. They had arisen in their own primitive right and majesty to remove a nuisance, for which the law had provided no adequate remedy. Such was not the case with Brockman; he lived in the county of Brown, near one hundred miles from these exciting scenes. He had no actual acquaintance with the Mormon character, and had never suffered from their depredations.

Gen. Brockman intended there should be no delay of his vengeance; there should be no compromise with Mormonism, save at the cannon's mouth. Gen. Singleton had wasted three weeks in fruitless negotiations on the prairie, but Gen. Brockman could brook no delay; he was determined to charge like a thunderbolt into the city, and stake his reputation on a coup d'etat. The Mormons heard the high resolve of this clerical Napoleon, and trembled for the consequences. Their courage had, in a great measure, evaporated. They had been commanded by their inspired prophets to follow the standard of the Church far into the wilderness; they had delayed their march, and the superstitious began to fancy that the frown of Omnipotence should continue to rest upon them as long as they remained in a land devoted to destruction by an offended Deity. Their prophets had forewarned them that Nauvoo and the adjacent country would be destroyed by a storm of divine wrath, which would sweep the wicked and blasphemous gentiles into eternity, and that if any portion of the saints should disobediently remain behind they would be visited by the same destroying vengeance, and miserably perish by the same omnipotent displeasure.

At the time Gen. Brockman assumed the command, the army was occupying the nook of timber to which they had been led by Gen. Singleton, about fifteen miles east of Nauvoo. Animated by the hopes of a brilliant victory, Gen. Brockman, two days after his appointment, placed himself at the head of his troops and gave them their final orders to march. The march was commenced early in the morning, and a halt was never called until the column was within cannon shot of the city. They brought with them their artillery, their military stores, and an amply supply of provisions to last them for weeks, should the campaign continue so long.

Long before the invading troops had completed half the distance to Nauvoo, they encountered the Mormon pickets, who dashed before them like the wind, to convey the intelligence to Nauvoo. On their arrival, signal guns were fired and the drums beat to quarters. The troops were instantly paraded and formed on the temple green, and marched in quick time to meet the gentiles. They took up their position about one mile east of the city, in the ravines which flanked the Carthage road. The contest to the Mormons was indeed a desperate one. By the desertion of the cowardly and superstitious, who had fled on the march of their enemy, their numbers were reduced to less than two hundred. These men, however, were nerved by despair, and were well provided with the most approved arms, and possessed the skill to use them with the most deadly effect. Their position too was formidable; it protected them from the fire of the enemy's artillery, and with the invincible courage and the stern determination of men resolved to die rather than yield, they would have been much superior to the overwhelming Anti-Mormon force. Besides their infantry and artillery, which were promptly placed in position to flank the road, Major Parker had under his command about thirty horsemen, which he immediately dispatched to make a reconnaissance of the enemy and report his movements. This detachment had proceeded but a short distance through a lane shaded on each side by luxuriant corn-fields, when they were suddenly startled by a fire of musketry from an ambuscade to their right. It would be supposed, from the position occupied by the enemy, that they had every facility to take the most deliberate and deadly aim; that every shot might have proved effective; but on the contrary, not one of the saintly

troopers received the slightest scratch. The whizzing of the balls terrified both men and horses, and drove them with lightning speed into the camp, where they reported the enemy were on the march to attack them. This report, which by the way was wholly false, induced the Mormon leaders to remove their whole force from the shelter of the ravines where they were posted, and place them in ambuscade in the same cornfields from which the enemy's fire had just been delivered, on a level with the Anti-Mormon batteries, which were in position only a half mile distant; a single shot from which might have raked with the direst effect the whole column, and put a summary termination to the Mormon war. The Anti-Mormons were aware of the advantage which had accrued to them by this foolish act of the enemy, and fired two or three shots in a very direct range, but on account of their want of skill were entirely too high to accomplish any thing beyond the terror which the demonstration inspired.

In the mean time, through the influence of the Mayor of Quincy, who had visited the belligerents with the intention of effecting an accommodation between the parties, and if possible prevent the barbarous scenes which were daily transpiring, General Brockman concluded to suspend hostilities until the following morning, and if possible induce the Mormons to capitulate. He accordingly, through Mr. Wood, the gentleman before alluded to, sent in a proposition to the Mormons granting them five days in which to abandon the city, provided they should cease from their hostilities and surrender their arms in his keeping. To this proposition the Mormons refused to accede, and both parties spent the night in perfecting their arrangements for renewed hostilities on the following morning.

Immediately after the firing had ceased, Major Parker turned the head of his war-horse from the enemy, and marched his men to their head-quarters at the temple; fatigued and worn down by his unusual exertions, and deeply disgusted with the scenes through which he had passed. In fact, the gallant hero began to lose confidence in himself his soldiers, and his preparations for defense. The cannon which the indefatigable Mormons had ingeniously manufactured would in no way compare with the highly-finished and effective brass pieces in possession of the enemy. The Anti-Mormons were confident of victory; they had brought fifteen hundred men into the field, and their force was daily augmented by new recruits to their standard, whilst his own force had dwindled to insignificance, and was every day growing beautifully less. Besides these discouragements, Major Parker did not like to come into collision with his clerical rival. They were both blacksmiths, and if their rivalry had consisted in making horse-shoes or burnishing plough-shares, Major Parker would have been the last man to have declined the contest. He delighted in the clear and musical ringing of the anvil; but the roar of hostile artillery grated harshly on his ear. His competitor was a lean, lank, wiry old fellow as you would desire to meet, whilst he was a huge mountain of flesh, and the weather was insufferably hot, and the wind dry and sultry. Whilst General Brockman was mounted on a spirited Arab courser, fleet as the wind, he was compelled to jog along on a jaded hackney, recently taken from the plough-tail, which boasted neither wind nor bottom, nor any more illustrious descent than that of a common scrub; and what kind of head could he be expected to make on his wheezing, jaded charger, when pursued with lightning speed by the avenging Arab? He might as well attempt to resist or fly from Death on a pale horse. These considerations induced the gallant Major to tender his resignation, in which he spoke of the disparity between the forces; and although it was confidently expected that the following morning would witness the general conflict between the parties, which would be decisive in its consequences, he promised to return to his home and raise a force of some six or seven hundred men, and return in the course of two or three weeks and turn the tide of victory. The Major's resignation was accepted, and he has ever since reposed on the laurels won in this trying campaign, and amuses himself and his neighbors by a rather highly colored relation of the exciting events which he witnessed.

By virtue of the authority which the Governor's commission vested in him, Major Parker, when he retired, handed over his authority to one Clifford, a kind of loafing. tool for the Mormons, and constituted him commander-in-chief of the Mormon forces. We shall not pause to inquire into the legality of this procedure, but suppose it could claim about as much legal sanction, and perhaps

a little more, than the creation of Anti-Mormon generals by a constable. However casuists might doubt, Major Clifford never questioned the legality of his appointment. Without a moments delay he addressed himself to the defense of the city. He had noticed with deep chagrin that the efficient force of the city was alarmingly reduced by the desertion of cowardly, skulking wretches, who had not sufficient courage to face the enemy in defense of their homes or their religion. He determined to adopt measures to effectually arrest the tide of emigration, which was carrying every one across the river. To accomplish a purpose so necessary, the instructions of the Governor to Parker, under which he was acting, gave him no powers. He had no authority to coerce any one into his ranks, or to restrain any one of his liberty of crossing and re-crossing the Mississippi river whenever his inclination might dictate. But powerful evils require powerful remedies; and Major Clifford considered that the emergency was such as made it absolutely necessary to make the military superior to the civil power; and to back him in this rather arbitrary notion, he had the opinion and example of General Jackson, the great founder of democratic absolutism in politics. With such an example before his eyes, Major Clifford did not hesitate to declare martial law. He brought two of his field pieces into the portico of the temple, charged them with powder as highly as they could bear, and fired them at midnight as a ratification of his high resolve, and as the annunciation of his purpose. He immediately detached a guard and forthwith sent them to the river, with instructions to fire upon every one, no matter who, that should attempt to cross the river without a pass from him.

During the night, whilst Major Glifford was firing his cannon and proclaiming his higher law doctrines, the Anti-Mormons were removing their encampment to the North or La Harpe road, by which they avoided the ravines which sheltered the enemy on the other route, and procured ground sufficiently level to use their artillery with effect on the Mormons. About noon of the following day, General Brockman made an attempt to enter the city by storm. The attack commenced by the Anti-Mormons cannonading some waste building on the northeast of Nauvoo, in which it was supposed the Mormon force was concealed. The Mormons returned their fire. Peal answered peal from the deep-mouthed cannon, and for hours, balls, grape-shot and other deadly missiles encountered each other, and fiercely whizzed through the air, with decidedly less effect than the buzzing of mosquitoes. After the parties had become thoroughly aroused by the thunder of the conflict, and enraged by the blood which they anticipated would soon spout in cataracts, they threw aside their ponderous and unwieldy weapons of death, and boldly rushed to the encounter and discharged their small arms right into each others faces, but fortunately, however, without impairing or damaging the beauty of any hero on that hard-fought field. One of the Mormon heroes, who had exhausted his stock of ammunition, turned to fly, and in the dastardly act received a spent ball in his heel, which alarming catastrophe however only seemed to add wings to his speed; another complained of the loss of a finger which he had contrived to shoot off by means of his own expertness in the science of gunnery. No sooner had blood begun to flow from this unfortunate wound, than a panic seized the consecrated host, and with wild confusion and shouts of terror they fled to the temple for protection.

General Brockman sat motionless on his white charger, viewing with calm philosophy the work of havoc and blood around him. With huge satisfaction he beheld the rout of the enemy; but he hesitated long before he would order his troops to charge their retreating footsteps. He had heard that subterranean powder plots gaped wide for his destruction. A danger so formidable and so different from the science of civilized warfare he feared to encounter. He therefore determined to follow the example of the saints, and accordingly gave the order to fall back on the encampment. At the same moment the casual observer might have seen both armies flying from each other, for dear life.

The hostile parties on the following night each slept on their arms, and both dreamed no doubt of swimming in pools of blood. On the following morning the Anti-Mormons arose with the determination of fighting their way into the city, despite of all opposing obstacles. The Mormons in the mean time, having in a great measure recovered from their absurd and cowardly panic, were busily engaged in the construction of temporary

breastworks on which to mount their cannon, as well as to shelter them from the fire of the enemy. They threw themselves behind these slight fortifications and behind the surrounding buildings, and awaited with no little anxiety the assaults of the enemy. The Anti-Mormons coolly planted their cannon, and about noon commenced firing on the fortifications and buildings, which protected the Mormons. The attack was kept up with decidedly more spirit, and the firing was much better directed and told with more destructive effect on the buildings, than that of the preceding day. A blacksmith shop, which sheltered a small company of the saints, was severely riddled by the incessant discharge of cannon. One of the party, a small boy, the son of Captain Anderson, was struck by a shot from the artillery which pierced the wall, and was shattered to atoms. A retreat from the building to a safer position was deemed advisable, in effecting which another of their number was struck down mortally wounded by the enemy's fire.

In the mean time, the street which they sought to enter being hotly contested, and several of their number being severely wounded by the fire from the Mormon breastwork, the Anti-Mormons marched south to a street which was wholly unguarded, with the intention of taking possession of that point, before the Mormons could be rallied for its support. This movement being discovered, Captain Anderson was dispatched with his company, consisting of about thirty men, all of whom were armed with fifteen shooting rifles and revolvers, to oppose the progress of the enemy at that point. Arriving at the point of destination, they commenced pouring a galling fire into the Anti-Mormon ranks, which instantly checked their progress. Col. Smith of Carthage, who commanded the Anti-Mormon column, hastily placed his cannon in position and blazed away at the Mormons, but without any effect. Anderson, the Mormon leader, at this crisis rushed forward in full view of the enemy, and called upon his men to charge on the enemy's battery; but at the very moment of giving the command he received a musket ball in his breast, from which he instantly expired.

At the very time that Anderson was urging his men to make a desperate charge, Col. Smith, who is a man of unquestioned bravery, and was the soul of the Anti-Mormon army, was urging his men forward for the purpose of surrounding the handful of Mormons, who were pouring a hail-storm of ball on his advancing column, when he was severely wounded in the neck, and was carried as dead from the field. Each party was thrown into confusion by the loss of its leader and to add to the embarrassment of the Anti-Mormons, it was discovered that their supply of ammunition was entirely exhausted. They were consequently compelled to fall back on their encampment, which was strongly fortified, and leave the enemy in possession of the field. In this contest the Anti-Mormons lost only one in killed and some seven or eight in wounded. The Mormons, as we have seen, lost in killed three persons, and in wounded two or three, but slightly. Of the heroic achievements of General Brockman and Major Clifford in this spirited engagement history has made no record, and we are constrained to pass them by without notice, until these worthies shall furnish the world with an accurate account of what they did and suffered in the conflict.

The Anti-Mormons without delay dispatched an embassy to procure ammunition, and more particularly cannon ball. They spent a great portion of the time in perfecting and strengthening the fortifications of their encampment, which they determined to occupy until the Mormons should be compelled to abandon the holy city.

Notwithstanding the Mormons had for the time checked the advance of the enemy, they were far from being encouraged by their success. Even the arbitrary and lawless regulations of Major Clifford could not prevent terrified fugitives from hourly crossing the river. The guard, which as we have seen had authority to murder all deserters, connived at their escape, and many of them were known to betray the confidence reposed in them, by the abandonment of their post, and retreating across the river.

In addition to the annoyance of continued desertions, the city was hard pressed by the horrors of famine. Their supply of bread-stuffs was totally exhausted. The army was compelled to subsist on fresh beef without any other aliment; nor did their families fare any better. Hunger and wretchedness stared every family in the face. Pale-faced and tearful women, haggard with hunger and terror, without protection, huddled their squalid, starving and naked children together

and hurried away, without means or provisions for a single day, to encounter the bleak winds of approaching autumn, and perish unpitied like famished wolves on the wild prairie.

To render the condition of the Mormons more desperately hopeless, their enemies had raised a force on the opposite side of the river, which had full control over the Iowa shore, and whose duty it was to prevent any provisions from being crossed over to relieve the starving Mormons. Resistance on their part was no longer possible. To raise the siege which so grievously oppressed them, it would be necessary to storm the formidable barriers of the enemies camp, and seize upon their provisions, of which they had an abundant supply, and appropriate them to their necessities; and to accomplish an enterprise of so much peril by a force diminished by desertion, and feeble from starvation, was altogether impracticable.

The want of ammunition on the part of the Anti-Mormons, and the weakness of their adversaries, caused a temporary cessation of active hostilities, which continued for several days. However, the dullness of the times was relieved by the action of hostile parties from each of the camps, who carried on a guerrilla warfare worthy of the most savage and depraved of the Mexicans. Although but little was accomplished by the various sallies of these irregular companies, no one being killed or seriously wounded, yet it kept up continued excitement and alarm, and kept alive the terrors which the situation naturally inspired.

In the mean time, the city of Quincy, which had exhibited a lively and humane interest in the struggle, and many of whose citizens had manifested the most commendable zeal in preventing the effusion of blood, now dispatched a committee of fifty persons who were instructed to use all their influence to bring the hostile parties to an accommodation. These gentlemen arrived during the suspension of active hostilities; and although the firing of the guerrilla parties, which was incessantly kept up, continually exposed them to imminent peril, yet they manfully and almost heroically persevered until they actually brought the enraged and now desperate factions to terms, and prevented that indiscriminate and brutal massacre which there was too much reason to apprehend would result from taking the city by storm.

By the terms of the accommodation effected, it was agreed on the part of the Mormons that the city should surrender; hostilities to immediately cease, and the Anti-Mormons to march in and take possession of Nauvoo the following day. The Mormons were to surrender their arms to the Quincy committee, and leave the State without delay; their arms to be returned to them in good faith, as soon as it could be ascertained that they had permanently removed, and manifested no intention of returning. Ten families, to be indicated by the Mormon trustees, were permitted to remain until the first of May following, for the purpose of adjusting and settling the accounts of the Church. From this arrangement, William Picket was expressly excluded. Instead of stipulating for the surrender of his body into the custody of Mr. Carlin, who had called upon the power of the county to effect his arrest, he was required forthwith to leave the State, which it must be conceded was a rather singular manner of terminating an enterprise set on foot for the avowed purpose of securing the custody of this same Picket.

In pursuance of the stipulations of the treaty, on the following day General Brockman paraded his troops preparatory to marching into the conquered city. He congratulated them on the successful termination of the expedition. He informed them that now, when the Mormons were within their power, when their struggle was fortunately terminated without material loss, they could well afford to be generous. He enjoined upon them the strict observance of the stipulations of the treaty, and exacted a separate pledge of every person in the camp to observe the rights of persons and property. The troops then marched into the city. Although they were unrestrained by any but moral and voluntary obligations, the most perfect order was observed, no outrage was committed, and the terms of the treaty remained inviolate. The troops, encountered no opposition in taking possession of the city; in fact, the streets were deserted, the doors of the dwellings were all closed, the shops gave no sounds indicative of industry or of animated existence; a universal silence, profound as that of the unoccupied desert, reigned throughout the city. Brockman immediately took possession of the temple, which had been deserted by the terrified

and flying Mormons, planted his batteries in the portico, charged his artillery with ball and grape-shot, distributed his sentinels with the utmost care and vigilance, and provided every possible means to guard against surprise and secure the general peace.

In the mean time the Mormons placed but little confidence in the most solemn pledges of their enemies. Judging from the course of policy which had uniformly been adopted by the saints, they had little right to anticipate an observance of faith on the part of the Anti-Mormons. Pledges solemnly made, and sacred oaths duly administered, the Mormons had always treated as farcical jokes, to be laughed at, and, when policy dictated, to be disregarded and trampled upon. Observing no faith with the gentiles, they believed that retribution was now to be visited on their false derelictions. They did not care to await the storm of destructive wrath which they believed was about to break on their devoted city and temple. Accordingly, in the greatest haste, they made their preparations for their departure, many of them abandoning their property in the precipitancy of their flight. Every boat which could do service was incessantly plying from shore to shore, bearing away the proscribed fugitives to the less hostile shores of Iowa. The sullen Mormon still manifested the unmitigated hate, the undying malignity which appears to form the basis of their character. Unlike the early Christian martyr, who invoked forgiveness on the heads of his murderers, the desperate saint of modern times, as he beheld for the last time the tall spire of the temple which he profoundly reverenced, muttered deep curses on the gentile bands who had conspired to drive him from his altars and his gods. They exulted in view of their speedy expatriation from a land doomed by their prophets to divine wrath and complete and fearful overthrow. They disavowed their allegiance to a government which had failed to recognize and protect their lawless villainies, their demoralizing vices, and acknowledged obedience to no authority save that which emanated from their ecclesiastical tribunal, to be established in the wilds of California.

The Anti-Mormons were relieved from the disagreeable necessity of removing any of the saints by violent measures. All that remained of the fanatics was a miserable remnant of sick and starving wretches, whose hopeless condition any one with the unpitying heart of a demon might have well commiserated. These were permitted to remain on pledges to leave the State as soon as their health should be sufficiently restored to permit their removal. Their destitution was supplied, and their present necessities relieved, by the generosity of their conquerors.

The new citizens, however, caused General Brockman more trouble. Many of them had ventured the opinion that a man of his sacred profession was rather out of place in commanding a force organized on very doubtful authority. Many of them very naturally considered it their duty to volunteer under the orders of the Governor, not for the purpose of vindicating the Mormons so much as to protect their homes and their property, which they feared were endangered by the hostile movements of the Anti-Mormon army. Many of them who feared to trust General Brockman fled with the Mormons at his approach. Others, placing more confidence in the broad pledges which he had given for the protection of persons and property, chose to remain at their own firesides, in their own dwellings, believing that a mans house was his castle at the present period as much as it was a thousand years ago, amid the darkness of feudalism. But these self-confident, hardy fellows soon found that they reckoned without their host. It was soon discovered that they knew not what manner of man this same Brockman was; for no sooner had the veteran discovered that there were certain persons who had ventured to remonstrate against his authority than files of soldiers were dispatched for their arrest; when this model soldier, fresh from the field of his glory, doffed his epaulettes, assumed the official robes of a judge, and passed sentence of banishment on every culprit who was brought before him by this summary process. These culprits, least of all persons, had any right to complain of the delays of the law; for they were immediately remanded into the custody of a trusty guard, when they were promptly trotted down to the brink of the river at the point of the bayonet, where they were guarded on the ferry until they reached the opposite shore. In this manner were many persons removed from their rightful homes; persons who had no connection

with Mormonism or sympathy for its doctrines; persons who had only dared to doubt the authority of a self-constituted, unlawful military tribunal, over which the Rev. Mr. Brockman presided as chief judge. Only a few days passed, and General Brockman, satisfied with the completeness and permanency of his triumph, disbanded his troops and retired from the tented field, retaining, however, a garrison of some twenty persons, to retain possession of the temple, and prevent the return of the Mormons. This guard remained in Nauvoo about one month, when they retreated before the Governor, who marched two hundred men into Nauvoo, for the purpose of finally restoring order and legal supremacy. Under his protection, the new citizens returned to their homes. Signs of life and activity were again manifested in the streets of the deserted city, and peace again smiled away the spirit of discordant strife.

Whilst these arbitrary and lawless scenes of violence were transpiring at Nauvoo, the citizens of Quincy, with a noble and humane benevolence, sent a steamboat freighted with provisions to feed the starving outcasts on the opposite shore. Notwithstanding their exposure to the inclemency of the weather, and the prevalence of the bilious diseases peculiar to the season and the western climate, but few if any of the Mormons perished in their flight from Nauvoo. A very few weeks passed away until the Mormons, recovering from their despair and consternation, were busily engaged in preparing to remove their quarters westward. Many of them equipped themselves for Council Bluffs, where Brigham Young had established his winter quarters. Others sought temporary homes in St. Louis and the neighboring towns of Iowa, where they could procure a meagre and precarious subsistence by their labor. In a few weeks more fanaticism had finally vanished from Illinois. The long line of white tents which stretched for miles along the Iowa shore disappeared, and the last remnant of the saints was on its march to the unoccupied and wilderness regions of the remote West, where, amid wild crags and inaccessible mountain passes, they determined to establish an independent empire of fanaticism, where the immoral tenets of their licentious faith, far removed from legal restraints, could be practised with impunity.

MORMONISM  AND  THE  MORMONS. *

BY  CHARLES  J.  PETERSON.
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Since the introduction of Christianity, the world has seen two great religious impostures -- remarkable for the absurdity of their pretensions, not less than for their astonishing success. The first was Mohamedanism. For twelve centuries this false religion has been the faith of millions; and though no more threatening to overrun the world, though no longer even increasing its votaries, it cannot be yet said to be sensibly declining. The second is Mormonism. Thirty years scarcely have elapsed since this imposture began; but already it has made converts of three hundred thousand souls -- has founded a comminwealth -- has sent forth missionaries to Moscow, to Rangoon, to the Isles of the Pacific. There are other points of resemblance between these two false faiths. Both recognize the books of Moses and the teachings of Christ. Both maintain that a new revelation had become necessary, and that their respective founders were prophets of God. Both appeal, with great art, to that love of the marvelous inherent in human nature; and to even worse qulaities -- to gross sensuality, to spiritual pride. But here the likeness ceases. Mohamedanism arose in a Pagan country, among a barbarous people, in a comparatively remote age of the world. Its tenets, though less pure than those of Christianity, were purer than the gross idolatry of Arabia. It was propagated chiefly by the sword. But Mormonism has sprung up in an age the most civilized and intellectual mankind has ever seen: in an age of railroads, magnetic telegraphs, ocean steamers, Bible societies, common schools. It has made no accessions by war. But, in spite of the vices of its founder, in spite of positive proof of its being an imposture, it has not only steadily increased, but increased faster than any Christian sect in the same period of time. The rise, the progress, the character, the probable destiny of such a development of human folly, is a stidy instructive to all men, but indispensible to Americans. 

In 1825, an illiterate family named Smith lived at Palmyra, in the State of New York. The father was idle, quarrelsome, a drunkard, and a liar. The sons were but little better. One of them, Joseph, was indeed far worse. To all the vices of his parent this man united sensual appetites and great hypocrisy. But he was shrewd and adventurous, and had a marvelous insight into character. He early resolved to live by his wits. He soon found that, if he wanted a dupe, he possessed an intuitive faculty of discovering one. At first, he tried digging for money, as his vagabond father had before him. He persuaded a simple beighbor that he knew of a silver mine on the Susquehannah; but the poor gull, on accompanying him thither, discovered that Smith's real aim was to reach Pennsylvania without expense, as a girl lived there whom he wished to marry. The marriage was knavish as the rest of his proceedings; for the parents being opposed to the match, Smith watched [for] an opportunity when they were absent, and then persuaded the daughter to elope with him. To find means for returning home, he bubbled a credulous Dutchman witha story of a bar of gold, which he pretended to have found in a cave in Jefferson County, New York; but when the greedy fool had paid the expenses of the young couple back, Smith evaded his promise, pretending that he could not leave his wife among comparative strangers. But shifts like these were not always possible. As he became known, dupes grew scarce. His circumstances began to be straitened, even beyond his careless endurance. At last he hit upon a scheme -- which, though originally intended only to relive his present necessities, events finally enlarged into the most audacious, the most absurd, yet one of the most successful impostures ever practiced on the credulity of mankind.

Smith, with all his vices, was not without religious sensibility. To use his own phrase, he had been converted; and though he had fallen away for a while, he had returned again to grace. Such men, uniting great religious susceptibility to a life of vice, are rare, but not impossible characters; and are frequently met with, as every lawyer can testify, on the criminal side of the courts. Smith was credulous himself respecting the supernatural, and this taught hime that others might be equally weak. He began accordingly to whisper about that he had seen visions -- that an angel of the Lord had appeared to him -- that he had been chosen as the instrument of a new revelation; and, finally, that the inspired book was
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* 1. -- Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah. By Howard Stansbury. Printed by order of the Senate of the United States. 1 vol.

2. -- The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints, in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. A History of their Rise and Progress, Peculiar Doctrines, Present Condition and Prospects, derived from personal observation during a residence among them. By Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison, of the Topographical Engineers. 1 vol. Philadelphia [1860 ed.]

3. -- The Mormons. A Discourse delivered before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. By Thomas L. Kane. 1 vol. Philadelphia, 1850.

4. -- The Book of Mormon. Translated by Joseph Smith, Jr. 1 col. Nauvoo.

5. -- History and Ideas of the Mormons. Article VII. Westminster Review. No. CXV. [Am. ed., Jan., 1853, pp. 102-120]

6. -- The History of the Saints. An Expose of Joe Smith and Morminism. By John C. Bennet. 1 vol. Boston 1842.

already in his possession, and would soon be laid before the world. Nothing is more conclusive of the deception than the pretended origin of the volume; because the story is marked by all that is characteristic and ignorant in Smith. he gave out that the Holy Books had been buried for fourteen hundred years -- that they were composed on plates of gold, and that the character they were written in was the old Egyptian. But, by virtue of his prophetic office and the aid of the Urim and Thummim, he professed to be able to translate the volumes. The Urim and Thummim was an instrument like a bow, with two transparent stones set in the two rims -- a rude conjuror's weapon, such as low jugglers mystify gaping crowds with at a show. It is almost incredible how any but the simplest of fools could have become victims of this imposture. If a new revelation was necessary in consequence of the vices of modern times, it was fatal to the claims of Smith that his pretended revelation, instead of being contemporary, dated back fourteen hundred years. The blunder of selecting the old Egyptian character as that in which to say the new Bible was written, was not less preposterous. Smith had yet to learn that the hierogluphics can be decyphered without the aid of inspiration -- without even the farce of a Urim and Thummim.

The impostor was so illiterate, indeed, that to write the Golden Book was beyond his capacity; and but for a fortunate incident, he would never have been the founder of a sect. The original idea of the Mormon Scriptures appears to have been derived from a manuscript, professing to be a history of the mound-builders on this continent, written by a Mr. Spaulding, at Conneautville [sic - Conneaut?], Ohio, where many of these mounds -- relics of a lost race -- exist. This manuscript had been passed from hand to hand, but never published; and had finally reached a printing-office in Pittsburgh, where it fell under the eye of one Sydney Rigdon, who secretly copied it. Rigdon was acquainted with Smith, and exhibited the narrative to him. The work was full of quaint phrases, imitated from Scripture, to give it an air of antiquity with popular readers.

Smith, though without education to write such a book, had the shrewdness to see that something could be made of it; and, accordingly, adding a few bombastic passages about religion, he resolved to publish it as a revelation from God. The design originally does not seem to have gone beyond the making of a snug sum by this impudent theft. The first dupe was Martin Harris, a credulous miser, who had been successively Quaker, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian. This man Smith accosted in the street; telling him that the Lord had a commandment that he should assist in translating the Golden Bible, and for that purpose should contribute fifty dollars. Harris, awed by this audacity, gave the money on the spot. This was in 1828, two years after Spaulding's manuscript came into Smith's hands, and one year after the impostor professed to have found the golden plates. Those facts do not depend for their authenticity on hearsay evidence, but have been established under oath in public court. In 1830, the Book of Mormon finally appeared. During the interval, the scheme of Smith had gradually assumed a more complete and ambitious shape in his mind; so that what had been begun as a mere financial speculation, now challenged attention as the foundation of a new church. 

The doctrines of this forged volume are such as might be expected from its origin. They are a strange jumble of orthodox theology, of absurd articles of faith, of adroit appeals to the weaknesses of human nature. The Mormon Bible affirms the Trinity, the Atonement, the Lord's Supper, Baptism, Repentance, Faith, the Gift of Prophecy, and the Laying on of Hands. It acknowledges the inspiration of the Christian Scriptures; but it claims that the days of miracles and revelation are not yet over; that it is itself a proof of the last; that other revelations may be expected, and are, indeed, continually occurring among the saints, its believers. Honesty, chastity, temperance, benevolence, and every ordinary virtue is inculcated; while vice of all kinds is emphatically denounced. But precepts like these are mixed up with all sorts of absurd tales, and with dogmatic assertions, which, as parts of a creed, are more absurd still. The Mormon is compelled, for example, to believe in the physical restoration of the ten tribes, in the thousand solar years of the Millenium, in the personal reign of Christ on earth with the saints in the latter days. But Mormonism teaches, or at least allows dogmas, which, in comparison with these trifles, are as the vices of a Byron to the crimes of a Borgia. It permits polygamy, under certain restrictions indeed, but nevertheless open, shameless, brutalizing polygamy. It even defends this abomination under the plea that the creation of souls, in marriage, is the most honorable and righteous act a man can perform. Three different styles are perceptible in this strange book. The most coherent is that of the narrative portion, which we have seen was the composition of Spaulding. The rest of the volume fluctuates between the drivel of Rigdon and ungrammatical declamation of Smith. Nowhere is there sublimity, rarely even point. But for the chapters written by Spaulding, and a few beautiful texts incorporated from Scripture, the work would be perfectly unreadable. To compare it with the Koran is an insult to the latter. The Koran is as much superior to the Golden Bible, as the Christian Bible, even in a literary aspect, if we may compare things sacred and things profane, is superior to the Koran; and the Koran, as all know, is more inferior to the Scriptures in this respect than Pollock to Milton, Phillips to Burke, Mrs. Radcliffe to Sir Walter Scott.

At first the church consisted of but six members, of whom five belonged to Smith's own family. But the imposture soon began to tell among the rude and ignorant, from the very audacity of its pretended marvelousness. At first only the highly credulous joined the society. Soon others, seeing these conversions,

wondered if there might not be something in the prophet's pretensions. Among such persons there was but one step from doubt to conversion. An excitement having once commenced, the fever of contagion rapidly spread, till hundreds of nervous women and weak visionaries became its dupes. Smith baptized, commisioned elders, sent forth missionaries to preach. It was on the 6th of April, 1830, that he organized his church, and by January, 1831, he already had a thousand members. The views of the impostor began now to enlarge. No longer satisfied with establishing a church, he aspired to found a theocratic community. A provisional settlement had been undertaken at Kirtland, Ohio. But desiring a wider scope for his authority, Smith pretended a revelation, commanding him that the elders should go forth, two and two, in imitation of the disciples whom Christ had sent out with staff and scrip; and that, at an appointed time, these elders should convene on the borders of Missouri, there to select a spot on which to build a temple and found the New Jerusalem. The plan was carried into execution. A place was fixed upon in the vicinity of Independence. Twelve hundred Mormons immediately collected around the elders; laid the corner-stone of the sacred edifice; began to build houses, to break the soil, to sow seed. The first commencement of a theocratic commonwealth was made, by the leaders issuing a decree that all property was held in trust for the Lord, and that a tenth part should be paid immediately to the prophet, and his colleagues. Soon after, the settlement at Kirtland was abandoned, chiefly through the financial difficulties of the leaders. The circumstance gave new impetus to the colony in Missouri. The place speedily became a nucleus, not only for honest converts sincerely endeavoring to lead a godly life, but for careless professors, and worse than all, for hypocrites who secretly made Mormonism a cloak for every description of vice. Falsehood, theft, profane swearing, profligacy with women, became, we are told, the distinguishing marks of the settlement. To these vices on the part of the dishonest, was added the haughty spiritual pride of the sincere, which was almost as irritating to the surrounding population as theft and licentiousness itself. Naturally the colony became an object of suspicion, misrepresentation, and finally inveterate dislike. Its vices were exaggerated by prejudice, by secret rancor, by attrivuting to it all the villany perpetrated in the neighborhood. On the frontier, law is not always respected. A mob collected and assailed the colony. But the Mormons beat off the rioters. At this the population of the contiguous counties rose in rage; the state authorities took up the quarrel; troops were called out. Against such overwhelming numbers the Mormons vainly essayed to resist. The colony was broken forcibly up; the leaders were arrested on a charge of high treason: sentence of banishment from the state was pronounced on the inhabitants; and in the last days of November, a terrified crowd of fugitives, driven forth upon the break prairie, began a toilsome march, they scarcely knew whither, in search of another home.  

However foolish, and in some respects even criminal, the conduct of the Mormons had been, they now redeemed themselves by the sufferings they endured. They bent their steps toward the Mississippi, intending to seek refuge in Illinois. But the difficulties on the way were almost incredible. The snow often impeded their progress; the rivers were without bridges and chocked with ice; many of the exiles were feeble, all were famishing. In the terror of the expulsion, wives had been separated from husbands, parents from children. A number of persons were known to have been killed, and it was feared that all the absent had met this fate. To add to the horrors of that wintry journey, disease broke out in the ranks. Death ravaged old and young alike. No one could tell to-day who would be alive to-morrow. The oxen began to perish from cold and starvation; and oxen were the only teams the colonists had. Yet the wayfarers struggled on. The delicate mother carried her infant. Parents denied themselves to give a morsel of food to their children. The dead were hastily thrust into rude bark coffins, and committed to the swollen stream, perchance to be wafted to some quiet nook, perhaps to reach the shore only to be devoured by wolves. At last twelve hundred emaciated persons arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, and succeeded in crossing over to Illinois, where they were compassionately allowed to settle. Here their leaders, having eventually escaped, finally rejoined them. These latter had suffered in turn. They had been paraded from one jail to another, the mark of popular opprobrium. They had been kept in uncertainty as to the fate of their families. They had been tormented by a refinement of malice, with tales of the treatment their brethren had received -- tales that even now freeze the stranger's blood with horror, and which must have kept the captives in hourly fear of death. Nor were the narratives, it seems, exaggerated. At Howe's [sic- Haun's?] Mills, twenty prisoners had been thrust into a log building, and when the door was locked, had been shot through the crevices, amid mocking laughter. A lad of nine years, who had escaped the massacre, was discovered secreted under a firge, was dragged forth, and his skull blown to pieces by one of the miscreants, while the others danced around in exultation. That such atrocities could happen, even on that then wild frontier, is a disgarce to the age, to the nation, to humanity itself. The leaders had only escaped, it is said, by their guard becoming intoxicated. But, more probably, it was through the connivance of the authorities, who grew sick at horrors perpetrated by lawless men, whom they found it impossible to control.

The fugitives selected a pcturesque bend of the river, where they began immediately to build a town, which they called Nauvoo, or "The City of Beauty." In a period of time, almost incredibly short, a large surrounding district was brought under

cultivation. The city itself grew rapidly. New converts poured in continually from every quarter of the Union, from Great Britain, and even from countries more remote. The prophet organized this increasing population, and developed their resources, with an ability which amazed those who had known him in earlier years. Nauvoo soon became a thriving city. On the brow of a bluff overlooking the lower town, a site was chosen for a temple, which was destined to surpass, it was declared, any edifice erected in honor of Jehovah, since the great temple of Solomon. The traveler, as he beheld the crowded quay at Nauvoo, the broad avenues, and the neat dwellings, where, but a year before, he had seen a comparative waste, acknowledged to himself that the Mormons were a wonderful people, in many respects at least. But when he passed beyond the town, and observed the settlements springing up in every direction; when he looked, as far as the eye could range, over fields of grain and hills dotted with cattle; when every farm-house he passed and every face he met bore evidence of thrift, contentment and plenty; and when, returning to the town, the shining walls of a great temple rose before him, on its elevated site, the first object to catch the believer's eye at sunrise, the last to reflect the beams of departing day, he could not but confess that the Mormons were not merely a wonderful people, but one to admire also. If their doctrines were strange, and often repulsive even, they were themselves practically meek and laborious. Transient visitors almost invariably returned from Nauvoo enthusiastic in the belief that the Mormons were misunderstood, if not purposely belied.

But such was not the opinion of those who inhabited the neighborhood. The peculiar tenets of the Mormons rendered them objects of suspicion and prejudice to the great body of the people of Illinois; nor were there wanting facts, industriously circulated, to substantiate, as it was thought, the most grave accusations. 

As in Missouri, so here, there were faults on both sides. The Mormons, neglecting to profit by experience, were as fanatic in many respects as ever. Success had partially turned their leader's head. He grew arrogant to those not of his people. He boasted openly that a day was coming when the saints should go in and possess the land; vague language, but deriving significance, it was believed, from his accompanying conduct. He repudiated both the great candidates for the presidency, put himself in nomination for that office, and began to drill soldiers, to collect arms, to wear a sword in public. Meantime counterfietors, robbers, house-breakers, in short, villains and scoundrels of every hue, thronged to Nauvoo, and, professing Mormonism, began to prey on the honest inhabitants of the state. It was even said that Smith secretly shared the spoil of these marauders. It is certain that Nauvoo was their head-quarters, and that the Prophet did not ferret out and bring them to punishment, as he easily might. But it is doubtful whether his guilt exceeded this, for his caharcter, as is usual in a craeer like his, appears to have risen with success; and besides, his tithes and pther sources of revenue afforded him a large income. There were, however, sufficient just causes of complaint against him and his people. The Mormons made no effort to conceal their designs to monopolize the lands around Nauvoo, even to the expulsion of those who originally had welcomed them with generous pity. If they wished for any improvement, they offered, indeed, what they considered a fair price; but, if the bargain was declined, they proceeded to drive the owner into their terms by various annoyances. One of these was called "whittling off." Three men were selected to take jack-knives and sticks, and placing themselves opposite the house of the obnoxious owner, began to whittle. When the proprietor appeared, they rose up to attend him wherever he might go, still whittling. If his errand was to market, to a place of business, to the post-office, or to church, they accompanied him, whittling as they went. If he expostulated, they made no reply, but continued to whittle. If he became angry, if he swore, or if he threatened, they answered only by whittling. Idle boys would join the procession, laughing and jeering at the victim, while his annoyers whittled more demurely at every shout. When he returned home the whittlers took their posts again opposite his house, and there continued their work. Before day-break they were whittling, and they kept guard till late at night. The irritated owner could not gaze out of his window without meeting the annoyers' stare, as they looked insolently up, still whittling. Generally, a single day brought the victim to terms. Sometimes he held out for forty-eight hours. But never, it is said, was human nature known to endure beyond three days this ludicrous, yet insufferable martyrdom.

In many cases the ejected proprietors were speculators, who had purchased for a rise, and who demanded exorbitant prices. But, in other instances, there was not even this palliation for such conduct. A disposition to have their own way, in spite even of the state authorities, began finally to develop itself among the Mormons. The office of a newspaper at Nauvoo, which had fallen under the prophet's displeasure, having been sacked by a mob, writs were issued against the leading rioters. But Smith prevented their execution. What had already happened in Missouri, now happened in Illinois. But in Missouri the people had been the first aggressors -- in Illinois it was the Mormons. The civil power called out the posse comitatus to enforce the writs. The prophet replied by summoning his militia. At last, the governor of the state himself repaired to Nauvoo, and succeeded in arresting Smith and three others, whom he threw into jail and caused to be indicted for treason. The great impostor, whether desirous of courting martyrdom, or alarmed at the lengths to which he had gone, seems to have felt a presentiment that he would never return to Nauvoo.

On his way to Carthage, where he was to be imprisoned, he said -- "I am going like a lamb to the lsaughter; but I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all men." His forebosings proved but too correct. He had raised a popular storm, which even the authorities could not control. A mob of disguised persons, nearly two hundred in number, broke open the prison in broad day, assassinated him and his brother Hiram, who was confined with him. Hiram was shot first. He fell, exclaiming -- "I am a dead man!" The prophet endeavored to escape by a window, but was shot in the attempt; and died with the words -- "O Lord, my God!" This brutal tragedy happened on the 27th of June, 1844 -- a day ever since held memorable in Mormon annals.

Thus died this extraordinary impostor. But Mormonism, instead of perishing with him as his murderers had supposed, received new vitality from his martyrdom. His followers now regarded him as a saint. His words on going to Carthage were quoted as a fresh proof of his prophetic character, and a thousand stories were circulated respecting the meekness with which it was said he had welcomed death. In another respect his fall was an advantage to Mormonism. Though a man peculiarly fitted to originate and even organize such a movement, he was not so capable of controlling it. The disturbances which brought on his martyrdom are believed by many to have led him further than he had intended. An adept at insinuating himself into men's esteem, and even in managing single individuals, he was deficient in that far-seeing policy which guides a community through complicated perils. This, at least, is the opinion of Gunnison, the most impartial, perhaps, of all his critics. By dying at the crisis he didm and thus making way for the elevation of Brigham Young, the present leader of the Mormons, he probably saved his peoiple from nay dangers, if not from total dispersion. Impetuosity, and even recklessness, may assist the founder of a sect; but prudence, even to the extreme caution, best befits the successor. In these last qualities, it is said, the present head of Mormonism, eminently excels.

It was owing to Brigham Young that vengeance was not siught, by force of arms, for the death of Smith. The new chief counseled forbearance -- pointed out the folly of the unequal contest, and suggested that a new home should be sought elsewhere before fresh disasters arose. It was hard to abandon the fields, brought to perfection with so much care -- it was harder to leave the eharths, made sacred by so many memories -- it was harder still to give up the beautiful temple, now advancing to completion, and which had so long been the pride, almost the adoration of every believer. For a time, indeed, the Mormons could not bring themselves to leave Nauvoo. Though an exploring party set forth in the autumn, in search of a suitable spot for the colony somewhere in the vast western wilderness, the great body of the community left behind cherished the hope that removal might yet be avoided, and so still clung to their homes. But the hostility of the people of Illinois was not to be allayed. Nothing but the emigration of the entire sect, it was declared, would be accepted as satisfactory. The exasperation increased, in fact, rather than diminished. At last the Mormons were notified that, if they removed before a certain day, no hindrance would offered to their departure, while aggressions on them meantime should cease. To the terms thus imperiously dictated, it was thought wisest to accede. But the departure was still made reluctantly. The period of grace was suffered to pass, and new threats were required before all of the exiles would consent to go. At last, in February, 1846, a large proportion of the Mormons crossed the Mississippi from Nauvoo, and formed a temporary rendezvous at Montrose, in Iowa. 

The sufferings they now endured were an exaggerated repetition of those that had attended their banishment from Missouri. What agony is to simple pain, what starving to privation, that the horrors of this second exile were to those of the first. Until late in march the intense cold and deep snows prevented the further prosecution of the journey. When finally the route was resumed, and the fugitives, following the direct road, entered the northern part of Missouri, the people there rose on their track, and drove them, with threats, back into Iowa. After many hardships the advance guard of the meigration reached the banks of the Missouri beyond the limits of the state. Here an officer of the United States presented himself, with a requisition for five hundred men to serve in the war with Mexico. The order was complied with, though the result was to break up the expedition, at least for that year. The colonists who remained, consisting chiefly of old men, women and children, hastily prepared habitations for the winter. Some constructed log-huts, some had to content themselves with mud-cabins, and many could aspire only to a cave rudely dug out of the earth. The season set in with great severity. The hardships of the summer had brought fever and cholera in their train, decimating the fugitives by death, and weakening those who survived, so that the physical capacity of endurance was reduced to its lowest standard. The fuel was svanty. The bleak prairie was swept incessantly by piercing winds. Food became scarce. The ague, the rheumatism, and the scurvy, followed each other in quick succession. New graves were continually opened. Yet amid it all the spirits of the emigrants never failed. Their misfortunes had sobered down their arrogance, and they now accepted their sufferings as sent from heaven. They looked death daily in the face, with a faith that recalled the times of the early Christians. They even displayed an exuberant gayety, that found vent in music and dancing, during the very saddest hours of that sad winter. For the sagacity of the Mormon leader had early divined the power of music over masses of men, had invested dancing with something of a religious character, and had provided bands of excellent instrumental performers. But no unworthy levity

attended these amusements. When the first stars of night began to twinkle in the frosty sky, the music, the laughter, and the loud talking ceased; the various groups broke up; the hymn was sumg; and then "the thousand-voiced murmur of prayer," use use the metaphor of one who, not of their faith, accompanied them, "was heard like bubling water falling down the hills." At last the long winter came to an end. In April the people were again organized for their journey. A pioneer party of one hundred and forty-three men was sent ahead to locate a home for the colony. The rest followed more at lesiure, divided into parties of tens, of fifties, and of hundreds, so as to maintain discipline, and guard against the thievish savages who hovered continually on their flank. On the 21st [sic - 24th?] of July, 1837, a day only less memorable in Mormon annals than that on which the prophet was murdered, the advanced guard reached the valley of the Great Salt lake, and here, midway between the frontier settlements and the Pacific, a thousand miles from the then utmost verge of civilization, it was determined to establish the colony.

But prior to finally abandoning Nauvoo, a scene had occurred, the recollection of which still kindles the cheek of the Mormon with enthusiasm, and which a stranger cannot hear recounted without gleams of sympathetic emotion. In spite of impending exile, the work on the great temple had never ceased. When, at last, the edifice was completed, the elders resolved to consecrate it, although emigration had already begun, and many principle persons had to be summoned from the prairies. A day was fixed for the august ceremony, and secretly announced to the believers. At the appointed time crowds flocked to Nauvoo. At high noon the consecrating mysteries commenced. Elders, priests and bishops shone in all the imposing pomp of hieratic robes. The great altar was festooned with flowers and hung with wreaths. The walls blazed with lights. The baptistic laver, resting on its twelve gigantic oxen, was decorated all over with mystic symbols. The chant rose and majestically through the court, the prayer ascended, the dedication was completed. Then, in silence, but not, it is said, without tears, the ornaments were removed and the great temple dismantled. When the sun rose, on the morrow, scarcely a sign of the late event remained. The gorgeous pageant had come and gone like a dream. The priestly crowd had vanished, the chant was heard no longer in the sanctuary, the great laver stood empty, the festive flowers and festoons had departed forever. Years have passed since that day, and another sacred edifice has risen in the wilds of Utah, but the great temple at Nauvoo has never again echoed to the tread of worshippers, never again witnessed the solemn ceremonies of its faith. 

The locality chosen for the new city was in every respect admirable. The soil was found to be almost unprecedentedly rich. At first, indeed, the colonists had privations still to endure, for food was scarce, nor could supplies be expected until the crops matured. There being but little game, many were compelled to live partially on roots, while others subsisted on the hides with which their huts had been at first roofed. The harvest, however, brought golden days; for the wheat had yielded sixty bushels to the acre. A grist-mill was put up. Saw-mills followed. New settlements were made at suitable locations in the vicinity as fresh companies of emigrants arrived. In less than eighteen months the space occupied by the farms of the colonists stretched for nearly one hundred miles north and south; while the original city had already become the capital of a new federal territory. In five years the population of the town had risen to thirty thousand. Travelers, on reaching this spot, after a weary and often painful journey across the prairies, are enchanted with its spacious streets, white dwellings, and seas of verdure. Its sight refreshes the most dispirited. Yet it scarcely needs the contrast to perpetuate its memory. Nestled at the foot of the Wahsatch Mountains, washed by the waters of the Jordan on the west, and commanding a view southward for twenty-five miles, over a luxuriant plain silvered by fertilizing streams, it is, perhaps, as beautifully located as any city in the world. A river, that never fails, flows through the town, and is artificially conducted along one side of each street. The house lots are uniform in size, an acre and a quarter apiece. The dwellings stand twenty feet back from the front line of the lot, the intervening space being filled with shrubbery and trees. As each garden is irrigated, from the artificial river conducted ny its door, the vegetation is always blooming, even in the driest seasons. So picturesque is the city, especially when seen in the fresh glory of spring, that the stranger almost pardons the enthusiasm with which the compare it to the New Jerusalem, such as the seer of the Apocalypse beheld it, surrounded with green pastures and living fountains of waters.

The pursuits of the Mormons are mostly confined to agriculture. Separated by a vast desert from the Atlantic states, and with no water communication even with the Pacific, this singular people necessarily live principally within themselves. Like all communities thus situated, they are plain, prosperous and contented. But two persons, in the whole territory were, in 1852, so poor as to require charity. In their dealings with visitors, or temporary residents, they are honest even to conscientiousness. Generally they are distinguished by enthusiastic rather than logical minds, and are more credulous and simple-hearted than learned or even intelligent. Their manner of worship is not dissimilar from that of Protestant sects who use no ritual: they have singing, prayer, and a sermon or exhortation from a pulpit. A band of music is, however, always stationed behind the choir of singers, and not only aids in the devotional exercises, but plays while the audience assembles and disperses. Mormonism is not ascetic. Balls, parties and merry-makings are

described by Stansbury as a prominent feature of social life in Utah. But on this picture there is one dark blot. Polygamy is legalized. Originating in the sensual appetites of Smith, and incorporated into his creed to preserve popular opinion of his sancity, this licentious practice has become generally prevalent among the leaders, and is pronounced by every candid traveler, to be rapidly extending. However virtuous the Mormons may be in other particulars, however devout even, they are; as regards women, brutish, if not lewd. They live, in this respect, in open violation of the constitution and laws of the United States. Consequently Utah cannot be admitted into the Union until this sensual and debasing custom has been abolished. It has been urged, indeed, that as each state is sovereign judge of its own affairs, the Federal Government has no option but to admit the Mormon commonwealth whenever its population shall be sufficient. But the discussions on the admission of Missouri, and at subsequent periods, prove that the United States has the right to impose terms of admission, and even to refuse altogether. And the plurality of wives, legalized among the Mormons, is justifiable cause for such a refusal, because polygamy is in direct violation, we repeat, of the fundamental laws of the Union.

This question must not be tried on narrow and merely technical grounds, but in a comprehensive and statesman-like spirit. It will not suffice to say that as Mormon polygamy is not punishable at common law in the federal courts, therefore it cannot be in hostility to the constitution and laws. There are many acts which are crimes, that are not cognizable for want of jurisdiction. The Federal Government, it must be remembered, is not a commonwealth in the full meaning of the term, but merely a quasi-commonwealth, made up of a league of commonwealths. It possesses only such powers as were delegated to it by the independent states joining the compact. It was initiated for the better management of our foreign relations, for the prevention and adjustment of differences between the states, rather than for the purposes of internal police, socila order, or moral discipline. Its range of action is consequently limited. But within that range its is sovereign. The neglect to keep this distinction in view often betrays our own writers into latent absurdities, and always bewilders, if it does not mislead, European authors, when discussing American politics, or questions of American social economy. It is the duty of the United States to pass laws against breaches of federal rights, and to punish offenses against federal privileges. But the correction of other crimes, and the guardianship of morals generally, is the province if the several states. This is the doctrine which all our great statesmen have held, from the first institution of the Federal Government; which every eminent jurist has ratified; which the Supreme Court has solemnly asserted again and again. It was never doubted, for example, that the common law of England, under which murder, highway robbery, bigamy, and other principal crimes, were felonies, were in force in all the original states of the Union. But in the very first case which came before the Federal Courts, in which it was sought to convict a criminal under common law, the judges determined that they had no jurisdiction. Their powers, they said, were limited to the cognizance of such crimes as Congress had invested them with, and they could not go beyond that boundary. In a later case it was asserted that they might resort to the common law in certain emergencies. If Congress, for example, should bestow on them authority to try cases of murder, it would be proper to seek in the common law for the definition of murder. Yet even this relaxation of the strict rule has never been indorsed by the Supreme Court, but rests for its authority only on the high character of the judge who suggested it. The rule seems to be that the Federal Courts have no jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territories of the United States, until Congress has vested them with that jurisdiction, because, as they do not possess it at common law, they must wait until it is explicitly conferred upon them. This cautious reserve was a necessity, as we have seen, of the peculiar character of the federal league. It was better, as the judges saw, even to allow crime to go unpunished, than, by creating precedents in favor of federal interference, to open the sluices for centralization.

But though this has been the undeviating practice of the courts, they have been careful not to exceed the necessity of the case. In the same breath in which they have refused to punish criminals under the common law, they have acknowledged its original force in the states, and its life-giving presence still in our jurisprudence everywhere. It is not, indeed, federal law, they aver, but it is municipal law, and in one sense lies at the foundation of all our law. This is especially true of it, considered in its genius and development. It is, as it were, the unwritten bond of concord between American citizens. It is the premises from which the confederation is deduced. Some such tacitly acknowledged code of first principles is indispensible to such a compact as the federal league, which pre-supposes a general development among the contracting states. In this sense the common law was recognized by our ancestors, when the war of Independence first broke out, as a fraternal bond between the thirteen colonies; and in this sense it undoubtedly entered into the minds of those who framed the constitution in 1789. It was, in fact, the bone, fibre, and muscle of the common system. What it was then it has remained to this day. That states in which the common law formed originally no part of the municipal law, have since been admitted into the Union, does not alter this fact; for the Roman law, as in Louisiana, for example, has given way wherever repugnant to the genius of the common law. The common law, viewed in this comprehensive aspect, pervades our entire social organization, as atmospheric air pervades the surface of the globe;

in it we live, and move, and have our social being; without it, every one of the great social communities, which form together the federal nation, would perish as quickly as human life under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump. It is the subtle influence which holds the atoms of the federal republic together, invisible, indeed, intangible, but not the less potentially there. The solar system, which moves so melodiously through space, each planet keeping its appointed order, would, we are told, break into peices, and each fragmnet rush wildly into chaos, if attraction should ever cease. Banish the common bond in morality, socila life, and traditional ideas, which Americans derive from the common law, and the confederation will lose its cohesive power, though the constitutional forms of the different states may remain unaltered. With the common law, considered as we have regarded it, the alliance may be made perpetual; without any such common bond, disruption would be inevitable. Finally, any bond but that would involve us inextricably with all the social, political, and religious problems of the age, and so eventually lead to disunion as certainly as no bond at all.

Polygamy is in violation of the common law. Our national development, socila life, and morals, all are hostile to it. To sanction it would not only be an error in policy, not only a crime against our well-being, but simply self-destruction. Polygamy is the vice of despots, and the mistake of semi-barbarous tribes; but to attempt to ingraft it on a free and civilized people would be suicidal. It pre-supposes what Nature proves to be a lie, an excess of the female sex so great, that in order to restore the equilibrium, each man must take at least two wives. For if it means any thing, it means this. But practically, polygamy can never become universal, because so far from there existing this disproportion in number between the sexes, the numbers are about equal -- the males being slightly in the excess, as if, by a wise provision of Nature, to correct the casualities of war and accident. Consequently, in countries where polygamy exists, it is a practice confined to the rich, and when not maintained by supplies from foreign nations, is carried out at the expense of the poor. For every additional female in the harems of the Oriental merchant, pashaw, or monarch, there must be one household the less among the indigent, if not one mutilated slave the more. Such a wrong as this can never be legalized in a community of equal rights. Nor is this all of the evil. Polygamy degenerates the race, vitiates the man, degrades the softer sex. The children of the rich, in countries blighted by polygamy, rarely excel in either physical stature, or intellectual capacity. The great men nearly always rise from the people, to whom polygamy is practically unknown. Even where the best blood of Caucasia, as in the harem of the Sultan, is mingled with the enervated current of the polygamist, the progeny is feeble, compared with the progeny born in proper wedlock. Nor is the custom more beneficial to him who practices it. The heir of Mahomet, in our day, looks like a French roue. But it is in its effect on the female that polygamy is most deleterious. It degrades her inexpressibly. All that is most lofty in womanhood, all that is most refined, all that is most pure, all that is most characteristic is stunted in its growth, even if its development is not absolutely prevented, by this unnatural, suicidal, brutish practice.

To indorse polygamy, by admitting into the Union a state which legalizes it, would be to retrace our steps toward the past. But development is the law of our life, and has been, not only since our forefathers landed at Plymouth, but since the common law began. To stand still, much less to retrograde, would be fatal to us. It is a necessity of our existence to go forward. We say thia, not of territorial, but of social progress. In proportion as we Americans understand more thoroughly the great principles of our well-being -- in proportion as we act up to those principles, watching ourselves, denying ourselves, disciplining ourselves, just in that proportion will we attain toward national as well as private perfection, and contribute to work out the stupendous destiny which will manifestly be ours, if we do not prove false to God and to humanity. For the life of a people is like the life of a man, it is great and glorious, or the reverse, according as the eternal standards of right are observed or violated. It may not always be successful in the narrow sense of what is success, but it will be so in the wider meaning, as an immortal testimony against wrong, and therefore as a perpetual incentive to whatever is heroic, whatever is elevated, whatever is divine. Was it not better that Leonidas died at Thermopylae, that Latimer perished at the stake, instead of purchasing a few years of existence, the one by cowardice, the other by recantation? How many patriots, through all ages since, have been fired by the example of the first! How much does not religious liberty, and even political freedom -- for the two are inseparable -- owe to the grand words of the last to his fellow sufferer at the pile: "Be of good cheer, Brother Ridley, and play the man, for, by God's grace. we shall light such a beacon this day, in England, as shall not soon be put out." Nations, equally with men, pass away, but truth and justice are eternal. As it is better for one tempted to hold his right hand in the fire till it shrivels into parchment, rather than to subscribe a lie to his soul, so it is worthier for a people to fall gloriously, than to buy a life of pampered rottenness by violating their national conscience. But we Americans run no peril of martyrdom for doing right. Our only foes can be ourselves. For us to live truly, is to insure success, as well as to win immortal glory. We have but to follow out our national development, to adhere to the free progressive spirit of the common law, in order to make ourselves the greatest of nations, morally as well as physically. The genius of that old common law elevated our ancestors from Saxon thralls to independent yeomen; removed social and political evils, as a healthy circulation sloughs off the sores

of the human body; made England the freest commonwealth in Europe; led our grandsires to resist royal oppression as contrary to their inherited rights; enabled them to found a mighty republic, by teaching them to regard the practical before the visionary; and has carried these confederated states, in little more than a lifetime, to a height of prosperity and influence unprecedented in the annals of the world. Blessings on the genius of that old common law! Never had people such a heritage!

And this brings us back to the point from which we started. The common law considered as a code of social and political morals, underlies the federal constitution, like the ground beneath the capitol underlies and sustains that edifice. It is, in one sense, no part of the structure, yet the fabric could not stand a day without it. To cut away any portion, to render it even unsound, would topple down the whole as if a quicksand should open and engulf it. The right to reject the Mormon association, therefore, is a right of self-preservation. To admit into the federal compact a state which sets aside any one of the great obligations of the common bond of brotherhood, would, we repeat, be virtually an act of suicide; and so our ancestors, who framed the constitution, would have doubtless declared, if they could have imagined the possibility of such a contingency. It would be sufficient cause for a withdrawal from the Union, because to remain would be to share in the guilt and ruin, and because no other remedy could be found. To deny this is to affirm an absurdity. For if there is nothing to prevent a state, which legalizes polygamy, from entering the Union, neither is there any thing to prevent one which allows promiscuous intercourse between the sexes, or one which is a community of murderers. The supposition of a common bond somewhere, which precludes such possibilities, is absolutely necessary to the integrity of the constitution, which without this, is but so much waste paper. That bond is not the Christian religion, as sometimes popularly asserted, for the Federal Government is committed to the toleration of all religions. It is not unity of race, for the race was never one, and is becoming more diverse every day. It is not any code of morals reduced to words and universally acknowledged, for no such code is extant on any statute-book, or in any ethical treatise. It is not climate, and consequent neccessary similarity of life, for nearly all zones are embraced within our territorial limits. It is not equality of fortune, for almost as great a difference, in this respect, exists here as in Europe. But it is something to which most, if not all of these ingredients have contributed; something which has grown with the growth and strengthened the strength of the Anglo-Saxon from the earliest period of his history; something which all other races that come here, all other religions, all other ethical creeds, may assist to develop and improve, but cannot radically change -- the noble, venerable, humane, free old common law, considered, not simply as a bundle of dry precedents, but in its essential and life-giving principles, in its social, moral and political, as well as in its merely technical aspects.

It has been asserted that this is not a civil, but a religious question, and that the United States, which is pledged to tolerate all creeds, is bound to protect the Mormons in the exercise of polygamy, because it is a tenet of the Mormon faith. But, if this opinion was correct, a Brahminical colony might erect a Juggernaut here, and immolate victims, without power in Congress to prevent it. They might hold a suttee in the very grounds of the capitol, and burn their shrieking victims within sight of the senators and representatives. They might expose the aged to be carried off by the tide of the Potomac, as they do to be washed down by the Ganges. The priests of Baal used to sacrifice children, by casting them alive into red-hot furnaces. If this doctrine was correct, men would have but to call themselves priests of Ball, and they might roast innocent babes to-morrow with impunity. Already there are thousands of Buddhists in California, who burn their tapers, and go through their genuflections, before their hideous deities, as undisturbed as if still in China. The day may come when these idolators, by natiral increase and by fresh emigrations, may attain to numbers necessary to found a state; may choose to segregate themselves, as would be natural, from the rest of the Pacific population; may settle on some of the unoccupied lands of that wild region, and may apply for admission into the American Union. There can be no question that, if they submitted in other things, their adherence to their idolatry would be no excuse for their exclusion. But there can be as little question, that, if they insisted on retaining child-murder, or preserved any of their grossly immoral religious practices, on the pretence that their faith authorized them, their petition would be rejected. For the constitution, though it tolerates all religions, tolerates them only in their religious aspects. No sect, or members of a sect, Christian or otherwise, can make their creed the excuse for unbridled license. The Moslems believe that he who dies fighting against the infidel goes straight to heaven. Would it be persecution to prevent fanatic Turks from slaughtering, right and left, like mad Malays, in our streets? There are some things too preposterous to discuss at length, and the assumption that Mormon polygamy must be permitted because it is a part of the Mormon creed, is one of the most ridiculous of these preposterous things.

The Mormons have the less cause to complain, because polygamy, though legalized among them, is not a cardinal point of their faith. It is nowhere recommended in the Golden Book. It has never been made the subject of a general revelation. Its very existence was concealed at first by the writers of the sect. It is not a duty enjoined, but only a license permitted. It could be excinded, therefore, from their social system, without compromising the scruples

of the most devout. No Mormon, for example, would consider that he sinned by confining himself to one wife. In parallel cases, men continually refrain from doing what they hold they have a right to do, out of respect to the laws, to a different social code, or even to popular prejudices. A Protestant thinks it no evil to eat meat on Friday. But a Protestant may fast on that day without the least peril to his soul, and at a Catholic table would do it as a matter of course. If a Mormon commonwealth desires to become a member of the great American family, it should expect to abandon a habit so repugnant to the majority. There is another aspect of the question, even more fatal to the Mormon claim. By asking for admission into the Union with the leprosy of polygamy upon them, the Mormons actually demand that the other states shall violate their consciences by consorting with what they abhor as unclean. Yet, for the Mormons to give up polygamy is not to violate their consciences, but simply to deny themselves a gratification. Again -- if the Mormons are admitted, every American not a Mormon will, by the act of admission, wink at what he believes a sin.f the Mormons surrender polygamy in order to be admitted, the most fanatical cannot accuse himself of guilt. In a word, the conscience of the Mormons runs no danger of being outraged: it is the conscience of the great body of the American people that is threatened with assault. It is not two hundred thousand who are in peril of persecution; but it is twenty-five millions, whom an inconsiderable minority desires to wrong. As water and oil will not mix, so neither can the American people and the Mormons live together in that brotherly concord which should reign over confederated states, unless polygamy is abolished by the latter. It was the "spiritual wife" system which, more than all else, exasperated the people of Missouri and Illinois. Against the continuance of this system -- policy, justice, and the common law, combine to protest.

The decision of this great question has been evaded as yet, but it cannot be much longer postponed. The Mormons, immediately on the settlement of their new territory, proceeded to form themselves into a civil government, to adopt a constitution, and to petition for admission into the Union. The request, though declined by Congress, resulted in the organization of the territory of Utah. The forms of the Mormon constitution were strictly republican, but the government is, in reality, a modified theocracy. The civil power, practically, is subordinate to the spititual -- for every Mormon acknowledges the chuef elder to be a divinely commissioned authority, in temporal as well as in religious affairs. The first preceeding of the inhabitants, when they had established their commonwealth, was to elect Brigham Young governor, as his -- in obedience to the same conviction -- was to appoint the bishops of the several wards justices of the peace. Had President Taylor, when Utah was organized into a territory, commissioned any man governor who was not a Mormon, a collision between temporal and spiritual powers would have been inevitable. But he prudently continued Brigham Young in office

If Utah becomes a state, the Mormons, being the majority of the population, can elect whom they please; but they will doubtless continue to choose their spiritual fathers, to the exclusion of all others. Practically, those who are not Mormons will, in that event, be shut out from all stations of public trust in Utah. Practically, the government will be that of a hierarchy, though retaining the name and working under the forms of a republic. In all this, however, there will be no violation of the constitution and laws. While other religions are tolerated -- while no illegal tests are put upon the statute book -- while equality of rights before the law is not denied, the citizen of Utah will practically have the same right to refuse voting for a candidate who is not a Mormon, as a Democrat has to decline voting for a Whig, or a Whig for a Democrat.

The settlement of this Mormon question is one of the great problems of the day. But we must be cautious that, in adjusting it, we do not allow ourselves to commit a great national crime, by sanctioning polygamy. We must be as cautious that we do not, from fear of oppressing the weaker party, allow the Mormons to violate our consciences. We must, in a word, be strictly just -- let what will betide.

Transcriber's Comments

1850s Magazine Articles on the Mormons


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