The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-04-04 00:00:00

A VISIT TO THE MORMONS.

The Rev. John Sheepshanks, M. A, of New West-
minster, British Columbia, gave an account of his
missionary travels last week, at • meeting in the
Exchange Hall, Nottingham, the Vicar of St. Mary's,
the Rev. S. Morris, presiding. When returning home,
he chose the overland route across the Rocky Mountairui.
Speaking of the Mormons, in the Valley of the Salt
Lake, he said: Generally speaking the people were
rusty in their appearance, and they principally consisted
of emigrants from the labouring population of England
and Wales, and the lowlands of Scotland. They were
simple, credulous, and ignorant. They dressed like
labourers here ; but the women all wore sun-bonnets,
or rather Quaker bonnets, with a strip of cotton or
cloth falling down the back. They had a very neat,
nice appearance. There were a great many Danes and
some Prussians amongst them; very few French; but,
the Mormons asserted that they never preached in any,
place where they did not obtain converts; and now one
of their ablest men, Orson Pratt, had gone to Austria
on a missionary expedition. The rulers were all
Americans, with the exception of one, a Canadian. He
(Mr. Sheepshanks) lodged in a Mormon family, and
the social aspect was peculiar from the institution of
polygamy. Many of them had a plurality of wives,
which gave a peculiar aspect to society. In England,
in country places, a farmer took his wife out In
the evening for a drive. In Utah you saw nothing
of the kind—you saw—a man in a waggon, our-,
rounded by three or four, or five or six wives, each of
them having little children in their arms. Each wife
generally had a couple of rooms to herein', with -an
outer door, so that she might go out and in without
clashing with the other inmates. It was a common
saying that if a gentile happened to be curious to know
how many wives • man had, he need only walk around
his house and count the external doors. They had a
theatre to which they resorted in large numbers. It
would not be possible for a man to being one of his
wives and leave the others at home—that would be
attended with unpleasantness ; so in the theatre you
saw a man sitting down with a bevy of five or six wives,
three or four of them with babies. The theatre was
Brigham Young's. 14e (Mr. Sheepshanks) never went
to • theatre in England, because many things were
heard there that • Christian man ought not to hear.
He said so, and Brigham Young said, "If you come to
iny theatre, you need not leave your virtue at the
door." Ha said that people wanted recreation, and
that if it was not provided for them of a good kind they
would procure recreation for themselves that might be
bad; and he added that when they opened the building
they did so with prayer. He (Mr. Sheepshanks) con-
sented to go, and from what he saw he considered we
might borrow something from them on this point. No
drink was allowed; it was conducted entirely on tem-
perance principles, and there was not much applause,
and none of that awful noise made in our theatres by
boys placing their fingers in their mouths and cat-
calling. He witnessed a beautiful play, "Damon" and
"Pythias, of which, perhaps, the audience had not
heard. The Mormons never allowed an improper
sentence to remain in the plays they performed,
they had no paid actors, and they selected plays
which referred to some sentiment of patriotism or
friendship. The Tabernacle was • large place for public
worship, to which every person was expected to resort
every Sunday morning. The one great point in their
belief was the materiality of God. They taught that
God in some former world suited as a man. They
also permitted marriage within some of the forbidden
degrees. They allowed unifies to marry nieees ; • man
might marry two sisters; and a man was allowed to
marry mother and daughter. In fact, the people with
whom he lodged, told him that a man had wanted to
marry a young girl, and her mother being unwilling, he
mod, "Well, I will take the mother too." The very
gentleman who reported his own sermon in the Taber-
nacle, and who usually reported all the sermons, had
married his own half-sister. When he preached at the
polite invitation of Brigham Young, be did so, not in
such a way as would lead it to be supposed that there
was no difference between them an him. Some might
think he was wrong, but he was desirous, for his part,
to preach the gospel of Christ anywhere. The congre.
getion was very attentive, and he took his text from the
Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 6tti
chapter—" Now, then, we are ambassadors of Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us; we prey you in
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." The Mormom-
ites were not all united. There were some Robison'
amongst them. The " Josephites" were led by the eon of
Joe Smith, who was killed at Carthage in the year 1842.
Brigham Young gave out that the revelation respecting
marriage had been made celestially to Joe Smith, and
that he, in oonsequence, married several wives, but
kept the fact • secret; and it was only divulged after
the lapse of nine years. Young Joe Smith said
that statement was falser—that his father never had
more than one wife. There were not many Josephiteg
in Utah, but there were a great many in Illinois.
Another sect was Morrisites. They seceded on the
ground that the rich oppressed the poor. In Utah
tithe was taken of everything. A man wss compelled
to give up the tenth egg, the tenth cow, and the tenth
everything. The Morrisites seceded on that account,
and went North to found a settlement. They were
pursued and overtaken by the Brighamites ; a fight
to& place, and many of the Morrisites were killed. It
was a sad story.

THZ WESTBURY•EDMIINDS SCANDAL

A writer in the Stasidcsrd tells the following story :
About twenty years ago a Hon. Mr. Carson held office
AS registrar in the Birmingham Court of Bankruptcy,
hut being a man of strong connections tie was able to
pass most of his time in London on the plea of labouring
under weak health. A gentleman, named Radiger, was
consequently deputed to act on his behalf, as aaaiatant- ,
registrar—perhaps for • period of from one to two years.
Having answered this friendly purpose in one court Mr.
Radiger was afterwards called upon to do the same in
another. On the Liverpool registrar (named, I think,
Thompson) being incapacitated by illness, Mr. Radiger
was sent down to perform his duties, but before he had
been at work more than three or four dates Mr.
Thompson died. No fresh appointment being there.
upon made, Mr. Radiger remained in office at Liver-
pool for about a year. At the end of this time be
thought himself warranted in seeking to get a permanent
tenure of the poet. He accordingly procured a
testimonial from many of the leading people at Liver-
pool, testifying to the merit he had displayed, and
expressing a hope that he might he regularly inducted
into the office he temporarily filled; but, just as he
presented it, the place WAS given to a nephew of Lord
Brougham's. It then transpired that young Brougham
had not, at the time of Mr. Thompson's death, the
seven-year qualification which the law requires before
a barrister can be made • registrar in bankruptcy, and
that poor Radiger had been rosined in Liverpool to
keep the place warm until his official majority was
attained. By the law which then prevailed (I believe
it has, in reference to bankruptcy appointments, been
altered since) a judicial officer, such as a registrar,
was entitled to take his salary from the time of
his predecessor', decease or abandonment of office.
Consequently Brougham, junior, walked into all
the pay which had accrued since Thompson died,
and Mr. Radiger was told,on applying for his remunera-
tion, that none could be allowed, became, having
been appointed to "assist" Mr. Thompson he had no
legal status except during the few days which inter-
vened between his arrival in Liverpool and that gentle.
man's decease, This is bow the case stood up to the
last time of my being acquainted with it. I should
hope that Mr. Radiger ultimately got his money, in
spite of the technicality which had been no strangely
violated. The last time I saw him he showed roe •
letter from Lord Brougham, in reply to one in which
he complained of having been, through his lordship's
family arrangements, made the victim of a cruel deli-
eon. In this communication the great soMal reformer
said he was sorry that my friend had sustained any
disappointment, but that the place had been "promised
to the young gentleman long ago." On these facts it
would seem that the government:of the day purposely
kept open an impel tent judicial appointment until an
offilot of the Brougham race became qualified to fill it,
and thereby wasted about £BOO of publio money by
paying one man to do the work, and another for
standing heir to the privilege of doing it afterwards.
Poor Radiger survived the blow only a short time. He
bad lost a great part of his own money by some unfortu-
nate engagement with an assurance company, and
looked upon this as his great opportunity of retrieving
his fortunes. Not having reckoned on finding himself
thwarted by the patriotic family of Broughams, he
gave Way to melancholy and despondency, looking upon
himself as one of the unfortunate wretches who must
be victimised in order that great men may provide for
their relatives at the public expense. He died of a
broken heart, no doubt ready to,say with the poet—

How seldom, friend. • worthy man inherits,
Honour and wealth with all his toll and pains,
It sounds like language from the land of spirits
If any man obtain that which he merits,
Or any merit that which he obtains."
I may have made a mistake as to the name of the
registrar who formerly °Etiolated at Liverpool, having at
hand no means of verifying it. In other respeeM you
may rely upon the truth of thin story.