The Express.
London, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

SPEECH OF A MORMON MISSIONARY AT

BDINBURCH.

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The quarterly conference of the Mormons was held
in Edinburgh last Saturday, when the amenably, consisting of
Wane 70 or en persons, about half of whom were women and
children, and all apparently belonging to the working .loose,,
was addremed by a miesienary from Utah. His speech ie
thus siren in the Edinburgh Express:
" ' Brother Jacob °Roam, President of the Glasgow Con-
ference,' apeke next. He wan a thin, leen, American, with
the peculiar Yankee phyeisignomy, end 'talked' with chw
racteriatic emphasis and deliberation. After expressing him
acquiescence in the remarks of the preceding speaker, and his
pleasure at meeting !Romany of the Points in conference,' be
continued ' Something hu been said about testimony in
favour of those men who are now leading the church, and
when that raring is touched in the greet, grand fiddle. it
affects a chord in my heart. I have been persoeally
acquainted with then men—l cony say familiarly acquainted
with them for seventeen years, the first out or ;oven not so
familiar as the Met—and I am prepared to sustain their chw
meter at the point of the bayonet, or in any other way you
may mention, whether it be before king or queen, great or
small, black or white. My testimony i+, that they are men
of God, of strong integrity, and sterling merit; and if men
can merit advation by good works, they certainly merit a
right high etlestild seat in the kingdom of God. I say, if
there is a man saved by merit, Brighatu Young is the man
entitled to that. Can -I point to one unrighteous act in his
administration during all the time I Lave known him ? No;
with all the shrewdness I may have to: a Yankee, I cannot
point to one sylbiLle of one word. I bare watched him
clomly, and I watched Joseph closely—not to ropy out
iniquity—(l don't went to be caught on that railroad, and I
don't run my locomotive on that 'ere line ; if I did,
there might have been break.downs and busting of
.the biter ')— but I have watehril their administration
closely, and the upshot of it all is the glory of God and the
good of his people. (Hear, hear.) Do I feel that lam
raising my Wove in opposition to priests, and editors, and
people of ell sorts ° Ido ; I calculate on that ; that ie my
bemuse in this country—to teetify that Brigham Young. se
I sin one of his boys—one of his little boys—(A voice " °oleo,
no,") —well, I my that ; perhaps it wouldn't be so well foe
another to say it to me; welt, what would I be willing to
do &whim ?—black his boots ? Ay, would I. (Chem.) I
have said in a congregation of five hundred reedy to eat me
up, that I was ready to shed the last drop of my blood for
him. Now, that is considerable tall talking; it requires sours
resolution that. The first drop in easily spilt, but the lad
drop is raytber hard to draw; but that's my feeling ; that's
my testimony. . . The papers are howling ; the world is
up in arms ; the devil has Umpired all his subjects to war
against the (hare's. Why are they warring against no i be-
cause we don't belong to the wort]. If we belonged to the
world it would be Heil fellow, well met; come, let's have
something to drink ; but we don't belong to them. If they
are of Ood, we am of the devil ; there elm be no doubt shod
that. Is there any one here who doubts which side be be-
long. to? I know some in Glasgow who are quaking a little.
There mem many stories in the papers. that they are not
sure but Brigham 'Young has cut stick. I tell them, 'WA
perhaps ho hoe; be mu hove gone to California and
then, after quizziug a little, I ray, Nro, he has not cut stick,
and never will, unless, the Lord 'Heeds ; if so, I have se
objection.' And if Brigham Young shall choice to select
some of the faithful, and go to elexieo. or California, or the
North Pole, I have no objection, only I would like to be
there. But he will do whatever la for the good of the church
—I am satisfied that he is just like Joseph, and I saw him
when he might have left the ship, trot did not; he braved
death for the good of his flock ; and Brigham is of the rams
stalk—of the ',Moe royal and priestly line. . . . I have
dealt in dollars and cents with these men—you can tell amen
pretty tnlembly well by these things—l have watched them
close in their transaction., and I have found the principle on
which they acted was the principle of justice. . . . . .
Brigham Young in • perfect gentlemen, every way you turn
him, over and above his religious, political, and scientiera
poeition. It ie raid, with regard to his family, that he drives
with a loose rein, but it is not wt. Ile liken to see all content
and happy, and to give every man a chance. If a man
cornett and tells him he fa going to Sandhill, to the geld
fields, he only saye, 'Well, I give you my prayers.' Every
ono may think of his prayers what they choose. The men
goes away, and he may say, ' Oh, it's all right, I have his
prayers; but some little thing., by-and-bye overtake him,
which show hint he in on the wrong railroad Here is
the ammo of the present trouble with the United States:
they sent iniquitous pumas, who were full of 'adultery and
evil practice+, to Utah, and, bemuse they could not
carry on those evil practices there, they tried to raise
an insurrection. Then the Drummond stories ewe
drummed all over the country ; and Uncle Sam is
going to send troops to chase the mints from their
habitations. Well, success to both patios, say I—that
is, for the mints to triumph, and their enemies to go
to hell. (Amen') Will they go there? Yes, certain. Bat
perhaps when they go down below, and Uncle Sam sends
out two or three thousand more to follow them, he nosy
change hie opinion. . . I like a row naturally; I have
smelt some little gunpowder in my lime. I hear there Is
going to be a breakfast spell out there some flue morning;
and if I could I would not be here for twenty-four hours.
If they are going to let-to with tome thousands of them,
I hope nothing will be done till the elders ere called in.
Uncle Sam need not send his couple of thousand Yankee'
to Utah. Why, there are as many midwives there sa
would put them to flight. (Laughter.) What are 2,000
soldiers I' the mint.. can turn out 60,000 able-bodied men
who will fight till there is not one drop of blood in their
veins ere they would give in; and I jut know that sixteen
times that many could not stand before them. It is pretty
large talk; but I say Uncle Sam has not got the materiab
on hand at present; that's the feet. But there may be
a smart brush for all that it was said by Joseph that
wo would have to contend with the county, the city, and
the State, and so we may have to contend with the
United States, and, finally, with tho whole world.
Therefore, if there are any faint-hearted ones, it is just se
good a time now as any other to back out for thew who tan't
stand fire, with musketa and bnyonete, pistols and loeofooo
matches . . We have felt the steel and musket-hallo
already, and I know no better &store to administer the drug
than those who have felt its effects in their own bodies.
When I was young in this work, I did not like to ere or
hear of bloodshed—l was a little too much of a quaker—but
peering through the siege of Nauvoo, and the murder of
Joseph, and the flight from Missouri Plama, has made me
that I could look upon the extirpation of the wicked to the
tenth generation without the trembling of a muscle. (Sen-
urine.) . . . One of the papers says that some of the
Paint. in Utah have been made to swear vengeance against
the United State, by the authorities of the church That is
exactly a teetotal lie. It is all my eye and Betty Martin.
(A laugh.) Well, what do they swear? lam not a-going
to tell you ; that is to be found out by going there and seeing.
It belongs to freenumonry, may be. But this I may
say, what is required is implicit obedience to the con-
stituted authorities; just as in baptism every one is
required to be subject to the priesthood. Some wanted to
add the words 'in righteourosera ;" I will be subject to the
priesthood in righteenuness.' There is no unrighteowneee
to the priesthood ; I have watched them, and there is none
in there. If these words were put in there would be an end
of discipline and the priesthood would go to pot. There is,
therefore, no use in a reservation of that or any other kind;
there would be cavilling about nothing, or little things of
no importance, but leading to condemnation. 'Be subject
to the prieetbood,' that is my creed. If any ono comes to
me and says, I will be subject in righteousness, I just say,
' Very good, call another time ; when Brigham Young
came to me and said, in baptism, ' Be subject to the priest-
hood,' I swallowed the hog, Mil and all. In the
tints of pr.:overfly _ you may 'wiggle if you like; but now
you have got to fight-show your pluck. Death. hell, and
the devil we against you. Bo on the 'retch. When all is
peace you may nap it ; but now, my friends, sleep as I do,
with one eye open, and one leg out of bed. No nonsense,
but Wand together right up; and thee when thin fuss, this
war Is over, you may lie down, if yen like, and take a moose.
(Conclusion as befon.—‘ data: ")