Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

week in August: a hundred and twenty | rank to Brigham Young, and a Saint to strong men, three hundred women and whom he had loaned a mule! At the next children old enough to walk, and seventy meeting he proceeded to abuse his personal babies, to be carried on their mothers' backs enemy, and then all the bishops, for laziness or hauled on the carts, starting to traverse and inattention to duty, and started home eleven hundred miles of mountain and des- missionaries to preach a reformation. The ert, in the closing months of the season! arrival of the surviving sufferers from the Did those two elders believe their own plains added to the general madness. prophesies? It seems incredible that men Prayers had been put up in all the assemwould deliberately lie in the name of the blies of the Saints in Utah, that the storms Almighty, when a few weeks were so liable of winter might be stayed; but instead, it is to prove the utter falsity of their predictions. the testimony of all mountaineers that the Their cattle strayed or died of overwork; autumn snows of 1856 came on earlier and their provisions ran low, and winter over- with greater violence than for many years took them still five hundred miles from the before or since. "Surely," said fanaticism, valley. Day after day the train struggled "God is angry with this people, or His promon in silence and sorrow, and every morn- ise to temper the winds would have held ing saw from three to fifteen of their num- good." Nearly all the old members of the ber cold in death. A few starved outright; Church confessed to various sins, and were more died of disease engendered by want, re-baptized, and Grant caught the disease of and quite a number fell exhausted by the which he afterward died, by standing all day way and were frozen to death or torn to in the icy water to baptize them. pieces by the wolves. Still they struggled on, by day pierced by the keen winds of the plains, or happily sheltered a little by the mountain pines; by night shivering and moaning in a miserable sleep, cheered only by the sighing of the pines or the longdrawn and melancholy howl of the coyote. Many were badly maimed. At last an expedition from the valley reached and brought them in, after they had lost one hundred and twenty of their number.

Another company of six hundred started from the Missouri the very last of August. The first storm struck them at Laramie; they struggled on a week or two longer, then, exhausted, sat down in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, to await help or die. The relief expedition sent by Brigham reached them after one-fourth of their number had perished. The other company was fortunately prevailed upon to remain in Iowa. Counting those who died soon after reaching the valley, the total loss is set down at three hundred killed outright,starved, frozen, or torn by the wolves,-and two hundred more maimed in various degrees, from the loss of a finger, toe, or eye, to the loss of one or both limbs. The survivors seem to have been sent as soon as possible to the most remote settlements, and only those who have renounced Mormonism ever venture to talk about the tragic history. While the hand-cart companies were still on the plains, began that singular movement known in Mormon annals as the "Reformation." Strange to say, it began in a personal quarrel between Jedediah M. Grant, next in

66

The missionaries- generally the most ignorant men in the country-would shout: "Wake up!" "Repent!" "Be baptized!" Pay your tithing!" and threaten the recusant with the vengeance of God and the Church. A "family catechism" was prepared, so utterly indecent in character that Brigham has since had every copy destroyed. Armed with this document, the missionaries catechised husband and wife, in the presence of their children, as to all the minutia of private life. A fearful state of morals was revealed, and many of the sermons then preached were so indecent that, as far as possible, they have been suppressed.

Meanwhile, Grant was ranging the territory, breathing out threats against dissenters, and Orson Hyde followed, teaching the same in figures of speech. Hebraic precedents were abundant-Phineas, who killed his brother and the Midianitish woman; Jael, who slew the oppressor; the king who massacred idolaters, and the priest who hewed the transgressor to pieces before the Lord. In all the sermons of that period, one will not find twenty quotations from the New Testament; but every page is red with the bloody maxims of the old Mosaic code.

[ocr errors]

All this time the Saints went on marrying and giving in marriage. Old men traded daughters about as coolly as they traded cows. Every eligible woman in the territory was taken, and several men who were counseled" to marry were compelled to select girls of twelve and fourteen years, with agreement to be " sealed " to them as soon as the latter were old enough.

[ocr errors]

The madness next turned to rebellion. The federal officials were driven out; the United States army advanced, and the territory was soon in a state of war. Of course, in this state of the public mind, crimes became frequent. Apostates attempting to fly from the territory were waylaid and killed, as in the case of the Parrishes at Springville, and several others. In the winter of 1857'58 were killed the entire Aikin party of six men, and many others. In the September previous was perpetrated the Mountain Meadow massacre, the fearful details of which have recently been brought out during the trial of John D. Lee. The army entered, and the federal courts were re-established; but the madness of fanaticism had not spent itself, and a vast array of crimes are recorded in 1858 and 1859. Five persons were murdered in Salt Lake City during one session of the court. Drown and Arnold were shot while forming a spiritualistic circle. Brewer and Johnston were shot dead on Main street by an assassin in an alley on the opposite side of the street. The last massacre of note was that of the Morrisite leaders after their surrender, in June, 1862.

Of course this condition could not last. The madness of fanaticism wore itself out. Dazed and bewildered, men slowly emerged from the state of excitement, and sought to bury the past in oblivion. The total loss during that era of fanaticism is summed up from the records thus: Died in the handcart expedition, 300; killed at Mountain Meadows, 131; other murders and maimings, 150,-a dead loss of nearly 600, when Utah contained less than 50,000 people. That these murders were committed, neither Saint nor Gentile denies. The only question is, Who is guilty, and what shall be done? The evidence has been collected with vast labor and expense, and the grand juries in those districts are passing upon it.

Such, in brief, were the results of the only attempt in this country and century to establish a temporal theocracy. That polygamy was but an incident, and not the main factor, seems to me evident. Indeed, it is every way probable that without polygamy Mormonism would have been a far greater evil than it has been with it, for its strength would have been greater, and the national government more indifferent. It is plain matter of history that, from the date of the avowal of polygamy, the church has steadily lost ground, taking the world at large. Mormonism reached its maximum in 1850, when it had (according to the church statistics)

[ocr errors]

about 200,000 adherents, only one-fourth of them in the United States. Excluding children under ten years of age, it now has less than half that number. When polygamy was first acknowledged as Mormon doctrine, in August, 1852, Great Britain contained 35,ooo Saints, and the Continent nearly as many more. About one-third of these have since settled in Utah; the remainder have apostatized; and all the world, outside of Utah, contains less than 20,000 Mormons. Besides, to attribute these evils to polygamy alone is to assign a cause entirely inadequate. At the outside, Utah does not contain more than 3,000 male polygamists, with, perhaps, 10,000 women. Not more than one-fourth or one-fifth of the adult male Mormons are polygamists, nor is it possible that any greater proportion should be. A community of polygamists is an impossibility, the numbers of the sexes being too nearly equal; it is, like slaveholding, necessarily the prerogative of a select aristocracy; and for every man who takes two wives some other man must go without one.

By the census of 1870 Utah contained 2,056 more males than females; and the excess of males has at least doubled since. There is polygamy in New York City as well as in Utah. But the New York polygamist does not parade his sin as a virtue, and claim by divine appointment the right to be mayor of the city, judge, legislator and

executive.

It

The trouble in Utah is with the theocracy-the subordination of the state to the church; and the determination of the Saints, wherever they have settled, to subject all the machinery of courts and laws to the will of their religious leaders, has inevitably brought on war soon or late. would have had the same result in Utah had not Congress come to the rescue, giving complete jurisdiction to the United States district courts, and an absolute veto to the governor. With these two supports the non-Mormon minority has been able to hold its own; and if Congress could be persuaded to grant the territory a free, unmarked ballot, many desirable reforms might be consummated. There are people so ignorant of American character as to advise the minority in Utah to submit quietly to the church rule and not attempt to organize a political party; and occasionally a federal official goes to the territory with an impression that he can reconcile the two factions, and, as expressed by Governor Axtell, "be on good terms with all the

people." It might have been possible for a good governor to reconcile the free state men and border ruffians in the territory of Kansas, for both parties held to a belief in republican government, and had many other points in common; but it is not possible for any man to reconcile the two parties in Utah. They have no common ground whatever. Either the Mormon theory of government is true in all particulars, in which case the federal officials are usurpers and the Gentiles intruders and rebels against the "Kingdom of God; " or it is false in every particular, and must be totally subverted. It is impossible that a divinely inspired priesthood, claiming civil rule and authority in all things, and a class of citizens who maintain the paramount authority of a man-made constitution, can coalesce. If the Saints are right, they will eventually drive us all out of Utah, just as their great exemplars, the Israelites, did the Canaanites, and set up the "Kingdom of God" in its purity; if we are right, we will eventually break in pieces every vestige of the temporal rule of the priesthood, reduce the institution from a government to a church, and establish a republic in Utah like that in Colorado.

There seems to be on the part of many, a fear, and of a few, perhaps, a hope, that whenever the contest in Utah assumes a rather active phase there will be resistance and war, with destruction or confiscation. But the hopes and fears are alike groundless. There will be neither fight nor flight,-neither rebellion nor desolation. At least five thousand adult male Mormons would resist any such policy. The children of the original converts will never allow such destruction.

|

The

Twice as many men could be raised in Salt Lake City to-day to defend property as Brigham could raise to destroy it. old Mormons know this as well as we do. They know, too, that they cannot make a sudden exodus in this country, as they did in Illinois and Iowa. The command of Brigham would only take the old and middle-aged, and those without property or provisions to last them six months. They will continue for the next five years to do as for the past five-resist at each successive point, in the courts and at the polls; and when obliged to, yield gracefully and fall back to the next point, making a great bluster at times and spreading their sorrows in the newspapers. A few leaders who have committed atrocious crimes may seek safety in flight, but the mass of the people are anchored to the soil, and could only leave by slow degrees, as fast as they could sell their property for cash. There will not be a house burned or a tree felled on account of the present prosecutions, though every murderer of the "blood-atonement" era should be caught and hanged. guilty do not exceed two hundred in number; and their punishment or banishment would liberalize the rest.

The

Social revolution will proceed in Utah as it has for the last ten years; and the general government need do no more than secure a free election law, and a jury system that will enable the courts to bring murderers to justice. Conversions are nearly balanced by desertions from the church. Óld Mormons die and young ones grow up unbelievers; and the system moderates to a mild Protestantism. Punish the murderers, and a slow and peaceful death will end the religion of Joseph Smith.

To T. B. A.

It is not only that your poesy shows

Exquisite elegance and daintiest care,
But through its melody, as a grace more rare,
The protean soul of Nature moves and glows.
Now gayly, like some radiant brook, it flows,

Now with a violet's fragrance perfumes air,
And now its tropic luxury seems to wear

The balmy crimson of an opening rose!

I think that if your kindlier fate had been
To have lived when lover-minstrels were not mute,
You might have sung, reclined at languorous ease,
Amid some tapestried chamber's gold and green,
To some fair damosel, on some ribboned lute,
Such delicate and delicious songs as these!

TOPICS OF THE TIME.

The Future of American Politics.

To those who oppose the President's Southern policy, and to those who do not oppose it, but who are hesitating in their opinion, there should be said, by all who have the privilege of an editorial pen, a few plain words relating to the past. General Grant, at the head of the Republican party, had the South on his hands for eight years. He had a policy during all this period, and the privilege of pursuing and perfecting it. He appointed his own agents wherever that was his prerogative, favored his friends, and, in the last resort of difficulty, fell back repeatedly upon the military power of the United States. What he could not accomplish by political machinery and personal and official influence, he undertook to accomplish by force.

So much, we suppose, will be admitted. At the date of this writing, it is not forty-eight hours since the federal soldiery which held the Packard government in power in Louisiana, marched to its barracks, in the interest of a peaceful revolution, wrought by the policy of President Hayes. It is hardly a week since, in South Carolina, a similar scene was enacted. In those two states Grantism was holding over, and all was disturbance, uncertainty, and bitter feeling. In short, up to the very end of General Grant's administration, backed by the Republican party, there was such failure in the process of reconstruction and the adjustment of political differences, that nothing but the soldiery of the United States could keep the people from tearing each other's eyes out. If there was not a reign of terror through large districts of the South; if there were not murders by the thousand and bulldozing by the acre; if there were not RifleClubs, and Ku-Klux-Klans, and White Leagues, and multiplied and multiform organizations of wrongdoing and oppression, then the people have been grossly misinformed by General Grant's friends, for the plea for his policy has been based upon these facts-real or fabricated.

And now the people are called upon to decide whether, on the whole, matters were growing any better under General Grant's policy—whether, in the light of experience, there was any way through and by means of that policy, into peace. Were not things growing worse rather than better? The history of several of the states-notably Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina-has been a history of the most shocking incompetency in government, and the grossest corruption and abuse of power; and when President Hayes took the reins, he found in two of these states all political affairs blocked by the claims of rival governors and legislatures, with United States troops keeping the peace on behalf of a government which it was certain the people did not want, and probable that they did not elect.

It was time for a change, was it not? Was not the trial of the old policy sufficiently long? Could General Grant, who was thoroughly honest and well

meaning in this policy, or could the party which elected him, legitimately complain that there had not been time to win the fruits of his schemes and measures? We think not, and it really seems as if whatever had been done toward reconstruction had been done in spite of the policy pursued by the federal government.

We have said this that the people may understand what the opposition to President Hayes means, whenever and in whatever form it may come. They have made up their minds that President Hayes is an honest man. They see that up to this time he has shown himself to be a very wise man. He has chosen his counselors wisely and well. There is not a demagogue in the cabinet. He is a gentleman himself, and he has surrounded himself with gentlemen. He has made it impossible to intrigue for a second term of office for himself. He can have but one motive in all he does-that of ministering to the public good. Every step that he has taken thus far has tended to accomplish his object. Where there was discord, there is peace. Where there was violence, there is good-will. Where there was despair, there is hope. We believe that there has been a more decided return of loyal feeling in the South toward the national government since President Hayes was inaugurated, than had been realized during the previous twelve years.

This means a great deal to a certain class of petty politicians, who are sure to be carried by it out of power. The men who have lived on Southern outrages must die. The men who are more interested in keeping up party lines than in restoring the national peace and prosperity, must die. The men who can only secure political power by making a trade of politics-who are interested chiefly in maintaining the old doctrine that to the victors belong the spoils must die, because President Hayes is practically at work for civil service reform. So, whenever and however the onset upon President Hayes may come, it will not be hard to find out what motives are responsible for it. It will not be a strange thing, or a thing unanticipated, to see men of both the great political parties joining hands, on various pretexts, for the preservation in American politics of the spoils doctrine. That doctrine has lain at the basis of our politics so long, and has been the life-blood of such masses of demagogism, that it is not likely to be relinquished without a struggle.

Now, on behalf of the people of the Union, who do the voting and have no political ambitions, we would like to speak a single word of warning to the marplots and the irreconcilables who oppose President Hayes. We are simply anxious that justice shall be done in this country, and that peace and prosperity may follow as consequences. General Grant and his friends have had eight years in which to accomplish the work of pacifying the South, and have failed. President Hayes has announced and inaugurated another policy, which promises success; and

we propose to stand by him until he has had a fair chance. He is only to have half the time that was given to General Grant, and he needs the popular support which we propose to give him. Meantime, we propose to fight and politically kill every man of you who tries to throw difficulties in his way. We have no faith in your motives, we have lost all confidence in your wisdom, we do not believe in your candor and disinterestedness; we regard you as void of patriotism.

The people are tired of discord. They intend that the policy of the new administration shall have a fair chance. They want peace. They want a reform in the civil service, for they feel that mercenary politics have been a curse and a disgrace to them. They áre, at least, not ready to join in any crusade against the policy of the President, until it has had a fair chance to work out its results. Any politician, therefore, in any position, who undertakes a factious opposition to this policy in its initiatory stage, they will regard as a public enemy, on whom they will not hesitate to wreak their revenge. It will be a good plan for all the demagogues to take a low seat for the present, and keep their mouths shut, if they have any hope of a political life in the years to come.

The New Temperance Movement.

THERE seems to be a revival of the popular interest in the temperance question, not only in this country, but in England. Indeed, it seems to us that the peculiar phase which the revival presents in this country is born of the English facts. The terrible state of things in that country among the poor, which has given rise to such noble efforts for temperance by Cardinal Manning, has roused, at last, the ecclesiastics of the English church, and it is becoming quite respectable now in England to work for temperance. That makes it respectable here, of course, and it is really very encouraging to see wine-bibbing clergymen and church members trying, in a moderate way, to counteract the legitimate effects of their own pernicious example. It is a trifle irritating to listen to their disclaimers of sympathy with the "extremists," who have made temperance a hissing and a by-word among respectable people. It is a bit rasping to the original Adam in an old-fashioned teetotaler,who has denied himself that he might save his fellows, to be told that he is looked upon by the people of the new departure as a fanatic; but he understands exactly what that means, and should forgive it and forget it.

[ocr errors]

It is a comfort and encouragement to know that the results of intemperance have become so well appreciated that "men of moderate views cannot keep on with their wine-drinking without doing something against their consciences. It is even amusing to see them hold to their wine-glasses with one hand, while they gesture furiously with the other about the abuses of the excise law, and stand upon their rights as freemen, gentlemen, and Christians, with one foot, while the other is lively in kicking the illegal rum-seller.

|

much they may be blinded as to their own position and the position of those whose principles and policy they have derided for so many years, they are to be congratulated that they have awakened to the fact that something must be done, and that they have a duty to discharge in the matter. Nay, we are willing to go farther than this, if they prove themselves to be in earnest. We will follow their lead, knowing, of course, where an earnestly pursued purpose will conduct them. All the earnest workers for temperance land in a common conclusion; and the total abstainer may be sure that if these men are in earnest they will soon be in his company. There is no help for it, as he has thoroughly learned by experience and observation.

Now we wish to give a word of counsel to our oldfashioned temperance reformers and temperance people. If by your retiring from the field, or by your following the lead of the new talkers and workers, you can induce or compel them to commit themselves to any positive measures of reform, although these measures may be moderate, by all means give place to them and help them. Do not oppose them, on any account. If they can help you to legislation that is even a step toward that which is best, accept that help gladly. If they wish to try experiments in the line of remedy and reform, don't stand in their way, as they have always been standing in yours. Do anything and everything that will help to commit them to a line of life and policy in the direction of reform. Trust to time and experience for those changes of opinion which will insure progress toward

the end that is inevitable.

However much the new friends of temperance in this country and England may vary with the old line of temperance workers in principles, policy, and purpose, they have made a most gratifying advance from their old position. We believe that many of the English clergy have become total abstainers, and this is the best that could be desired. All that these men can do in their own country and in this to make temperance fashionable, will be a help. The only wonder is that a national church, supported by a people poisoned all through with alcohol, so that their principal cities are hells of vice and disease, should have remained indifferent and inactive so long. We are quite content to have them and their sympa. thizers in this country moderate in their beginnings, so long as they begin. They will learn the nature and necessities of their task as they proceed.

The Pauper Poison.

THERE is not a more humiliating characteristic of human nature than its aptitude for pauperism. It is alike discouraging and disgusting. It is now pub. licly declared, by responsible professional men, that the majority of those who receive medicines at the free dispensaries in this city are able to pay for them, and pretend to be poor simply to avoid paying for them. It is also declared that between thirty and thirty-five per cent. of our population are receiving medical attendance gratuitously. Instances are But we would not make fun of them, for, however detailed in which genteelly dressed men and women,

« AnkstesnisTęsti »