The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-13 00:00:00

AN ILLUSTRATED PROVINCIAL PAPER._

, Provincial journalism is evidently " marching on."
The latest announcement shews this most clearly.
Illustrated papers, for a long time thought to be
impoisible, and now confined to the metropolis, are
to have a competitor in the Midland districts. In
August a new pictorial newspaper—the Illustrated
Midland News—is to be issued from Birming-
ham. It is to be a local paper, dealing
with district affairs, inventions, arts, and manu-
factures largely. It will be non-political, will
avoid religions discussion, and will seek to speak
without assuming a dictatorial tone. It will be a
gossipy, entertaining paper, abounding in lightsome
sketches and talcs. The career of this new publica-
tion will be watched with the greatest interest.

EPISTOLARY FORMUL2E.

The Daily News protests against the now fashion-
able way of ending a letter " Yours, &c." What
does the etcetera mean ? People rebel against saying
" your obedient servant," and perhaps rightly, but
surely it is impertinent to get over the difficulty by
" Its." The formula there means, " I ought to end
my letter with some civility, but I do not know how
to define my relation to you, and I do not care to
chew you my consideration by making the usual
obeisance." This, says the Daily iVews, is stupid and
impertinent.

ANOTHER AMERICAN DIFFICULTY.

(E'rom the Anglo-American Times.)

Among the many peculiar difficulties in the way
of American statesmen is one, which though lesser
than either of the other two, upon which we have de-
scanted, is yet more remarkable. What the Mormon
community is in the United States may not be
easy for Europeans to understand, for those who
have never been out of a thickly-peopled and
highly cultivated country cannot conceive the mag-
nitude of the distance, the isolation given by the,broad
wastes intervening between settlements in the Far
West of the American Continent. When Brigham
Young led the Mormons, as Moses did the children
of Israel out of their Egypt to their promised
land, he intended to build up an independent
power wholly unconnected with the Union, differ -
ing altogether from its structure of society, which as
he designed should assume more of an Asiatic type
Americans with pleasure saw him, and his fol-
lowers depart, believing that they were well rid of
a nuisance, perhaps a danger, and surely a crime,
for the bitter persecution, the wanton violence, rob-
bery, and murder to which they were subjected,
and which could not be prevented if they remained,
would be no less than a sin and a scandal to the
Union. Vast as was the distance these fugitives
trod, barren and uninviting as was the land whereon
they settled, huge and forbidding as were the
grand mountains which hedged them in on every
side, and numerous, warlike, and cruel as were the
savages roving around their wilderness, yet Mormon
boys had scarcely grown into men ere the city their
fathers founded had become one of the most im.
portant central towns of the Continent. San Fran-
cisco grew into a great emporium on the Pacific,
and the road from San Francisco to New York
passed through the Salt Lake City. It was then
when Utah was the most populous of the territo-
ries, when Brigham Young ruled with undivided
authority, centreing in his own person spiritual as
well as temporal power, that this despotism within a
Republic, this heathendom within a Christian land,
attracted universal attention, and presented a most
extraordinary problem to the citizens of the Union.
Constantly there landed at New York parties of
immigrants about to settle in the United States,
but not to become a part of the nation. They were
bound West, to what they called their promised
land, a people separate and distinct, having no com-
munion with the other inhabitants of the country,
whose Government they disowned, whose religion
they repudiated, and whom, as broadly as they
could to mark the distinction, they termed Gentiles.
Strange, too, and worthy of note—that when verit-
able Jews settled in the New Jerusalem by a laugh-
able perversity they also were called Gentiles, being
outside the pale of these " Saints," the now chosen
people. Here was a territory of the Republic
wherein no United States writ would run, where its
laws were defied, where the Christian religion was
outraged, not merely in a sectarian way, but funda-
mentally, where th e institution upon which Christen-
dom builds up society—that of monogamy—was set
at naught, while the community that thus acted was
rapidly attaining to a central and populous posi-
tion in the Union. For a time, affairs assumed a
threatening attitude, and an army actually took
the field to coerce this contumacious people, follow-
ing the track of the Mormons, when they fled from
persecution, until crowning the Pass the promised
land lay stretched before the soldier, dotted with

its lakes and gleaming with the chain of snowy
mountains which girdled the vast valley, even as
the pilgrims saw it. But they likewise beheld in
amazement the Mormon work, which had altered
the colouring and aspect of the land, for the desert
"blossomed," the salt-sprinkled earth, and the in-
terminable sage were changed into waving crops,
the smoke of habitations rose into the bright clear
highland air, and grouped into a mass by the spark-
ling Jordan embowered in trees lay the Great Salt
Lake City; the dreary waste of nature over which
they had toiled, as by magic, giving place to
a scene of peace, civilization, and labour. Per-
haps, in the hearts of the soldiers there was a
bitter prejudice against that community, but
who could gaze upon such a landscape and
assert that their work was not good ? Nor
would they have gained that pass while the strong
arms and unerring rifles of the thousands beneath
them lay idle had they not entered in accordance
with the treaty which practically still left the rule
to Brigham Young, and there are many who think
that but a doubtful triumph would have awaited the
United States army, and the distinguished officer
who led it bad the fanatical zeal of the Mormons
been roused to resist. Young's directions to mis-
sionaries are, preach not the beauties and peace of
our mountain home, but preach a persecuted church,
and it is undeniable that persecution has raised the
Mormons into a powerful society. How the Go-
vernment at Washington is to meet this grave diffi-
culty was a question some years ago that darkened
counsel, for on every tack they were wrong. Their
Republican institutions admitted free discussion,
free thought, free religion. The Mormons were
harmless beyond their own settlements ; they were
industrious, peaceable, and religious within them ;
yet they were a standing menace to the commu-
nity and a scandal. To employ force in Mormon
suppression was to increase it ; to let it alone was to
recognize it. I his was the dilemma, and when, as
is usual between the kindred nations of Great
Britain and the United States, the former sneered
at the monstrosities created by the boasted institu-
tions of the latter, and the position in which Mor-
mondom had placed it, with striking truth the
other retorted, "Mormonism is not a creation of
our's but of your's ; it is nourished and magnified
not in the United States, but in the hills of Wales,
in the dingy and dilapidated streets of London and
of Liverpool. You create for us these perplexities,
fix them as a slur on our institutions, and then
sneer at our attempts to unravdl them ;" and this
brings us to another point worth the closest atten-
tion of both nations. They act and re-act on each
other in a way so intricate that they cannot be
wrenched asunder, and whatever may be the 'degree
of animosity between them they are so linked toge-
ther for good or for evil as not to be disse-
vered. When an Englishman flings into the face
of an American the taunt that his free Republic
bad human slavery for a corner-stone ? " Placed
there," was the immediate reply, " by you." What
of Mormonism ? " A false religion ; which has its
main support in England." What of Fenia,uism ?
"An organisation of the British Isles seeking an
asylum in the Union." W hat about American
animosity to England, cherished almost into an
institution, which finds its most lively expression
on the Fourth of July? "The seals planted first
by unjust treatment to the colonists ; second, by a
prolonged, relentless, devastating war ; third, by a
period of bullying while the new-born Republic was
weak ; followed by another of satire and ridicule
when it began to grow strong ; finally, by the un-
disguised effort, within safe bounds, made during a
time of great trial, to split the Republic, that its
struggle might fail to dig out the corner-stone laid
by England, and which, for so many years, had been
her standing taunt against America." Take the other
side, and we see that nearly all that is best in the
Republic is derived from England ; but while occu-
pying a neutral platform, we never attempt to dis-
guise the grave causes of offence and dislike given
by England to the:United States, desiring to weigh the
good against the bad, when the benefit will be found
greatly to preponderate, and on this truth we rely for
an eventual agreement and good-will. If, then, the
influence England exerts on the Republic extends
to so remote a locality as the great Salt Lake, and to
so peculiar a community as the Mormons, is it sur-
prising that that influence should be so felt through-
out the Republic as to make the kingdom an ex-
ceptional nation, against whom, to the exclusion of
others for a like act, Jonathan's wrath is directed.
But, to return to the Mormon difficulty ;—while
Senates debated it, while the press discussed, it,
and while soldiers planned, and councils estimated
the cost and effect of a war, an agent was at work
on whom the country now almost wholly relies for
its solution—the Pacific Railway. Can Mormonism
withstand free contact with the world ? Discussion
in private, harangues in public, the pulpit and the
press, Mammon and vice, all, are now brought freely
into Utah, and although while the old prophet lives,
who is sixty-eight years of age, there may not be any
great change visible, the true test will be applied
when a man less rooted in the affections of the coin-
munity,less associated with its early history and perse-
cutions as well as with a long and prosperous rule,
assumes the mantle of the departed chief. Already
there is talk of the abandonment of polygamy.
Once the offer was even made to the Government
by the Mormon elders to quit the settlement and
leave for ever the shores of the United States. But
the matter involved so serious an outlay that al-
though President Buchanan entertained it, the ques-
tion was dropped, like many others, on the outbreak
of the great Civil War. What will be the eventual
solution it is impossible to predict, for the end
must mainly depend on the root taken by the doc-
trines revealed to Joe Smith ; but Brigham Young,
with the most influential of the " saints," do not con-
ceal their hostility to Gentiles, and their willing-
ness, if needs be, to appeal to the sword. Still with-
out venturing an opinion, we can with undeniable
truth assert that a more extraordinary difficulty
never before arose in the pathway of statesmen,
and it may well be enumerated among the great pro-
blems given to America to solve.

A XEIV YORK JOIN7-STOCK COMPANY.

(From the Anglo-American 2 imes.)
Till we read the Nation of June 24 we were
unaware what that pretty name signified—Mari-
posa—which weekly takes its place in our New
York Miscellaneous Share List. If our readers
refer to it they will see Mariposa Preferred, 17k.
Whatever may be the value of a name to a CAPU-
LET or a MONTAG UE, its value can be translated into
£ s. d. in those prosaic regions the Stock Ex-
changes, and if there, it will readily be believed
anywhere else. To the pretty name hangs a pretty
tale, which, on the above-named authority, we thus
briefly tell. The Supreme Court of the United
States confirmed General Fatmorres title to the
Mariposa estate in 1858, but the expenses of the
suit ruined the suitor, and a creditor obtained judg-
ment against him, attached, and caused the estate
to be sold by the Sheriff, the creditor becoming the
purchaser. A San Francisco banker, also a credi-
tor, to secure himself paid off the first claimant,
and agreed with the General to re-transfer seven-
eighths of the estate to him, on condition that his
advances were paid, retaining, as a bonus, the one-
eighth. In 1863 the Mariposa Company was or-
g-anized under the laws of the State of New York,
several well-known citizens of the Empire City being
among the directors, who were announcedin the usual
terms of prospectuses, as of such honesty, skill, and
business tact, as to be in themselves a sufficient
guarantee for success. By the ordinary means the
advantages of the investment were brought before
and pressed upon the public, and the directors
issued $10,000,000 of shares, subscribing the whole
amount themselves, but not paying a single dollar
on the share certificates issued. These they divided
amongst them, giving a certain portion to General
FREMONT for his right to redeem seven-eighths of
the estate. Our readers may guess what the
directors did with the stock thus distributed. Ad-
vertisements everywhere announced the treasures
which lay buried beneath or on the surface of that
estate with the sweet name of Mariposa, treasures
even worthy of the morocco-bound gilt edged
pamphlets wherein they were described. The shares
were dealtin on the Stock Exchange,fetching inWall-
street from 60 to 75 cents on the dollar, and quoted
in all the daily papers, and were paid for by the
public to the extent of some five or six millions of

dollars. What the stock really represented was '
the right to redeem seven-eighths of the estate on the
payment of $300,000 in gold ; but on the ten mil-
lions of stock issued not a cent had been paid into
the corporation's till, if it bad one—the only tills as
yet being the pockets of the directors—therefore
the arrangement remained as originally made be-
tween the San Francisca banker and General FRE-
MONT. The next process then commenced of rais-
ing $1,500,000 to payoff the lien and work the estate.
This consisted in mortgaging the property for the mil-
lion and a half, and on the security of this mortgage
issuing that amount of First Mortgage Bonds,
which the public actually took at par. The original
proceeding offered the best inducement to sub-
scribe for the next, as an estate which had just been
purchased by shrewd business men for the vast
sum of ten millions of dollars surely offered ample
security for a million and a half. . It is true that
no such purchase had as yet been made, the right
only being acquired to redeem seven-eighths of the
estate, and no such mortgage could be made by
those who pretended to mortgage it, for the pro-
perty still belonged to the banker of San Francisco,
interesting facts, though not communicated. It soon
transpired that fifteen hundred thousand dollars
were wholly insufficient in the hands of the shrewd
business men to pay three hundred thousand dol-
lars, and the well-known citizens, scorning to do
things by halves, determined to pay nothing. What
became of the fifteen hundred thousand dollars
never transpired, but the great Mariposa estate still
remains in pawn. The public, however, believed
that it had been redeemed, and the enormous num-
ber of dollars required for the purpose, added to
the awe with which these confiding individuals re-
garded the name of Mariposa. Of course a cor-
poration which had floated nearly twelve millions
dollars of stock must have a clear, indisputable title
to the estate, and it needed little buoying to float
two millions more as Second Mortgage Bonds.
Finding the name a mine of wealth the well-
known citizens became greatly enamoured of it,
and as it acted as a magnet in attracting money
from the public they proceeded to make another
haul, issuing eight or nine millions of Preferred
Stock in exchange for the original shares on re-
ceiving so much per share. When the company
failed to pay the coupons on its First Mortgage
Bonds, and a little inquiry showed their real value,
the holders were offered other Bonds in exchange on
payment of a round smn, the guarantee being
given that these should be a genuine mortgage on
the banker's estate with or without his consent.
The heaviest losses are incurred by the efforts to
save previous advances made in a wrong direction.
A man goes in timidly at first, but with increasing
desperation, as the amount at stake becomes larger
and larger, while he is led on by the delusion that
his only hope rests in propping up the ricketty
structure, beneath which he is eventually caught
and crushed in its fall. One of the safest things for
an investor to know is " the timely retreat ;" it
would be better, of course, not to get into a Mari-
posa; but, as few wholly escape that, the next most
valuable knowledge to acquire is, how to get out of
it. Acting on the old delusion, the first bonds were
surrendered and the new bonds taken, more money
being paid for a mortgage in no respect differing
from its predecessor. By these means securities
were sold to the extent of from seventeen to eigh-
teen millions of dollars upon a property to which
the company never had a title, and for which they
never paid a cent. All this time the Mariposa
Estate belonged to the San Francisco banker till it
was seized by the Sheriff and sold ! for unpaid taxes.
But in this lay the true chance ; here was a pro-
perty, upon which had been issued these millions
of dollars, in the market without a purchaser ;
while by paying the overdue taxes and other claims
the real owners would surrender it to the third
parties (not to the Mariposa Company), and the
confiding public actually took this bait, surrender-
ing their bonds and shares, getting in exchange and
in consideration of more money paid, new docu-
ments called trust certificates. Although this ar-
rangement seemed to bar the Mariposa Company
from all claim to the estate after which it was named,
by some extraordinary perversion in the minds of the
public, it imparted a value to their preferred shares,
which having fallen to suddenly advanced in price.
" Now is the time !" was the cry raised for
those who had lost heavily, "to get back your
money ;" and the shares rapidly rose to 52, while
the higher they got the more eagerly did the old
holders purchase. Everything was made to wear
a cheerful aspect ; the mines yielded liberally, the
new machinery worked well, and the public asso-
ciated this with the Mariposa shares, with which, in
reality, the estate had then, even if it ever had, no
thing to do, their contingent interest having been lost.
Eventually it was discovered that those who raised the
cry " Now is your time," were themselves freely
selling ; and then commenced a stampede ; the
shares falling from 52 to 13 in forty-eight hours.
Nor is it anticipated that the story of Mariposa
ends here, for the mine that lies under that magic
name may not yet be worked out. This tale shows
that 'cute as are American business men generally,
they may be taken in as are others like children, and
the richer and lazier they get the more liable are they
to fall victims, till they descend eventually to the
gullibility of the English public. We had no idea
that this quaint comedy could have been acted on
any other stage than that of London, for a more
confiding, enduring, less suspicious body of share-
holders, could not be found even among the sundry
lots lately knocked down in such monotonous heaps
in the English Law Courts, and a more rapacious
set of Directors never sat around an English board
concocting plans for the welfare of investors. Mari-
posa, sweet name, tells a tale of interest, which will
be read with delight by thousands of victims of the
late mania. "We thought," they will exclaim,
" that we were par excellence the flock of geese,
that we were the herd of asses, but we find, even in
the land where least expected, a flock of bigger geese,
a herd of greater asses." What remains to be seen
is, whether these things on both sides thepond can be
done with impunity ; if Overend, Gurney are trium-
phantly acquitted, we will at least know that men
in England may safely take three and a half millions
of pounds sterling by deception out of one set of
pockets and put them into another set ; and if the
well-known citizens of New York can play the
Mariposa little game, they can, as far as New York
law goes, "do any mortal thing"—al ways providing
that the story is fairly and truthfully told.

JOURNALISM IN AMERICA.—The El Dorado, the
women's paper in San Francisco, has been suspended for
want of patronage. The Saturday Evening Mercury is the
only Woman's Rights organ now printed on the Pacific
coast, and it isn't published very much. The Macon
Telegraph of June 12 came to the Tribune office with a
ton-cent Confederate postage-stamp attached, and that
journal asks, " Have they a Rip Van Winkle there ?"
Sixty-one new newspapers were started in the United
States during May. The National Intelltgencer is to be
printed henceforth with the Washington Express as morn-
ing and evening editions of the same paper. The imme-
di►ate cause of the arrangement is a strike in the office of
the Intelligencer which the proprietors have failed to ar-
range. Accompanied with considerable capital, and sup-
ported by wealthy citizens of Washington, a company is
being formed to carry out the scheme. The Tribune says
the Intelligencer was started in 1800 in Washington, on
the ruins of a paper translated to that city, and
once known as the Independent Gazetteer. The In-
telligencer then belonged to Mr. Harrison Smith. In
180'e Mr. Joseph Gales secured an interest, and in 1810
Mr. Smith left the firm, and Mr. Gales becoming sole pro-
prietor, took into parternership his brother-in law, Wm.
W. Seaton. in January of 1813, the Intelligencer was
first issued daily. For eight years subsequently Gales and
Seaton were both editors and reporters of their papers,
and may be fairly credited with being the patriarchs of
Congressional reporting. One of them attended the
House and the other the Senate, and both received marked
courtesies from the officers of those bodies. For 12 years
one of the Intelligencer's editors, Mr. Seaton, remained
Mayor of Washington City, and rarely has ever an elected
officer been so complimented. The Intelligencer's "Regis-
ter of Debates" was once a high authority in our politics,
and the Intelligences itself has for nearly half a century
maintained a position of staid respectability.— The New
Idea, r.n annexation paper, printed half in French
and half in English, in Vermont, is being extensively cir-
culated in Quebec.—Horace Greeley's chapter V. is on
Paper Money—lnterest—Usury.—The Newport Mercury
has celebrated its 111th anniversary. It is the oldest jour-
nal in the United States, having been commenced by Jas.
Franklin, Ben's brother, June 12, 1758.—The Revolution
has increased its size and price.—Mr. R. W. Wright, late
Private Secretary of Governor English, will issue the first
number of a new daily paper in New-Haven, on the 10th
of July.