The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-14 00:00:00

The Mormons.

The most wonderful exodus made by a people
since Israel left Egypt was that which took place on
the settlement of the Mormons in Utah. At the time
when this extraordinary emigration occurred, the
Great Salt Lake, with its valley and territory embo-
somed in mountains, was aslittle known as the wildest
regions of Kamskatcha or the Hudson's Bay Terri-
tory. That a community should gather themselves
together and march into the wilderness almost be-
yond the ken of men, encumbered with their women
and children, and dragging along with them every
article required by a people reared in civilisation,
was an act which, at the time, surprised the world,
though the world gave little heed to the movement.
It was, in truth, a prodigious effort, and one which
only bigotry, fanaticism, or great religious faith
could have accomplished. Not many years have
passed since the first prophet of the Mormon faith
was cruelly murdered in his prison ; and the event
occurred which led to the establishment of Utah
as a territory of the Union, and the foundation of
the Great Salt Lake City. The population of the
city of the Mormons in 1866 was 17,000, and ac-
cording to the census of the year before, that of the
Territory numbered 93,000. The sect had pene-
trated into waste places, and trusted themselves—a
lonely band—to the protection that isolation begets,
relying on PROVIDENCE and their own powers
against the hostility of the wild Indians, by whom
they were surrounded, in the hopes that the vast
distance which lay between them and their
former persecutors would be a guarantee of se-
curity for a number of years to come. But
the march of events has outstripped in
its speed all the calculations of the prophets. Cali-
fornia was created a State in 1850, and San Fran-
cisco in 1866 had become a city with a population
estimated at 150,000. The city of the Mormons
was found to bed station on the highway between
San Francisco and the Atlantic seaboard. The
Mormons, who had sought the desolation of the
wilderness, found the city they had formed had be-
come a convenient halting place on the route to a
rich gold-producing region, rapidly forming into
one of the greatest and most populous States of the
Union. The journey over which they had toiled
on foot, sending forward the young men of their
sect to grow grain and form halting stages, to pre-
vent starvation on the road, is now for the most
part traversed by railroads, two of the lines being
vigorously engaged in pushing forward their works
to connect the Salt Lake City with the Eastern
States, while thousands of Chinamen are toiling to
the West to bring it into communication with San
Francisco. Again, Mormonism comes into contact
with the Christian world as an outrage on its prin-
ciples ; and again it stands face to face with the
doctrines from which it professes to have derived
its creed, and with the " Gentiles" before whose
persecution it fled for security to the wilds beyond
the Rocky Mountains. But Mormonism since
those days has flourished and grown strong. It
now attracts the legislation of Congress and the
attention of the civilised world. That any
sect of Christians should have given birth to the
monstrosity of polygamy
could scarcely have been
credited had it not actually occurred. As a matter
of course the contact produces an explosion, in
which BRIGHAM YOUNG and his doctrines are likely
to be blown up. Since the close of the civil war
attention has been directed strongly to the Mormon
settlements and to Mormon doctrines. A bill has
been introduced by Senator HOWARD, which, if it
passes into law, will either at once destroy polygamy
or raise an armed opposition of the Mormons against
the Supreme Government. The Mormons are
powerful only in their isolation. Every month
tends more and more in the completion of the rail-
ways to remove the great barrier of distance which
separates them from the strong arm of the United
States Government. There is no split in the Union
regarding them. It is held to be an outrage on the
national character that such a sect should have
grown and thriven within their boundaries, and the
moment that " Uncle SAM" can put forth his strong
arm effectively the Mormon heresy will be knocked
on the head. The question that is now exciting in-
terest is what course BRIGHAM YOUNG and his fol-
lowers will pursue. Will they fight, or will there
be another exodus ? If another exodus, where
will they go ? It is said that, with the in-
fluence of BRIGHAM YOUNG, Mormonism will fall—
that it is supported and maintained by the ability
and admirable powers of rule displayed by this man.
It must not, however, be forgotten that it grew in
spite of persecution before the reins fell into the
hands of the present chief, and that whatever might
haveto been
accomplishhe
oneof the most extraordinary animating principle it was sufficient
pro-
ceedings ever achieved by fanaticism. The strength
with which a doctrine is held is not in proportion
to the soundness and excellence of the principle it
embodies. Although there are signs that the power
of the Mormon rulers is not so despotic as it once was,
still it is sufficiently great to be very formidable,
and to cause some uneasiness as to what may be
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S course in view of the late legis-
lative measures introduced into Congress directed
against polygamy. The latest accounts taken from
the Union Vedette, published at Salt Lake City, speak
of the preachers and elders as having commenced a
crusade against the " Gentile" merchants, and of
their success in the outlying districts, though the
Editor appeared to think that in the city these mer-
chants mould be able to hold their own. Dr.
ROBINSON, who was treacherously murdered, was
the former Editor of that newspaper, which appears,
in spite of that event, to have maintained an inde-
pendent, outspoken course. That the Mormons are
prepared to have resort to violence is seen from this
dastardly outrage, and from the fact that no " Gen-
tile" dare walk through the streets at night. It is
even hinted that the elders have excited the Indians
into the active hostility which has lately led to so
many tragedies and cruel sufferings in the Far
West. These saints, in their paradise, wish their
gates to be guarded by a two-edged sword. They
are, however, dealing with a nation with whom, it
is above all others, dangerous to trifle, who would
put its heel down on them and crush them
out of existence if they scooped out the Rocky
Mountains as a place for shelter. Uncle SAM says
so in plain terms, and therefore we may take it for
granted that the days of Mormonism are numbered.
The " saints" may meet the approaching hurricane
by abolishing polygamy; but we do not believe this
will avail the Mormons to preserve their sect. The tide
of emigration and travel is setting too strongly
across the Continent, and it must not be forgotten
that the Salt Lake City is a main station on the
new highway of the world.—Angle-American Times.

Steam Between Thames Haven and

Boulogne.

A new route between London and Paris has been
projected—to be opened simultaneously with the
Paris Exhibition. The line proposed is from the
Fenchurch-street Station to Thames Haven, by the
Tilbury and Southend Railway, there to embark in
swift passenger steamers for, probably, Boulogne,
which will be reached under five hours, making the
journey to Paris in twelve, or an hour and a half
more, than the quickest mail route. As the rail
can never compete with the sea in the economy of
transit, the new line proposes to reduce materially
the cost. This, the projectors assert, can be done
at a trifling increase of time, without any decrease
of comfort. From Thames Haven to the Foreland,
the voyage being sheltered, may be considered a
river trip. After passing the Foreland the steamers
will head down the Channel, bringing the usual
swell, which almost constantly rolls up from
the Atlantic, on the starboard bow. Long,
sharp, swift vessels,
such as the Scud, Foam, and
Petrel will scarcely feel its effects, so long as such a
position is maintained. The rule will also hold on
the return voyage, except, that the sea will be
running up astern, and the vessel running with it,
till it passes under the shelter of the Foreland. In
this respect the steamers of the new route will have
a great advantage over those of Folkestone, Dover,
and the southern ports which cross the Channel
with the sea a-beam, producing that disagreeable
rolling motion that tends so materially to sea-
sickness. Hitherto the boats which have plycd
from London Bridge have been designed for the
carriage of merchandise, and have entailed ou their

passengers the disagreeables of a long and tedious
journey down the river. This will be avoided by
the new line, which will receive the travellers at
Thames Haven, and the;vessels, being expressly built
and fitted for the conveyance of passengers, are
calculated to proceed at the rate of twenty statute
miles an hour.

When the arrangements now in progress are com-
pleted with the railways, passengers can book
through, and those who prefer, during the summer
months, a couple of hours more of sea, and less of
rail, will be able to gratify their tastes, and at the
same time save a large per tentage of the present
cost of transit. One of the main inducements of-
fered by the new company to invest in its stoat is
that each registered holder of £lOO will be entitle.'
at all times, to a free passage in the company's boats
Thus firms and men of business, whose duties lead
them frequently to cross the Channel, will be able
to secure a good dividend on their investment of
£lOO by the mere saving of passage money. The
three steamers designed to commence this undertak-
ing cost nearly £120,000, but the present company
have been enabled to obtain themfor £66,000, being
little more than half their cost. There can be
little doubt that every means of transit be-
tween London and Paris will be taxed to its utmost
to meet the requirements of the increased traffic
during the Exposition, and that the new line
will commence its operations under very happy
auspices. The signs are abundant of the activity
likely to prevail during the ensuing summer ; and
the launching of this undertaking is one of them,
in the face of such a depressed market. It is almost
impossible to procure the necessary capital for any
joint stock enterprise, no matter how well it
may be based on sound business principles.
In Paris, however, as well as in London,
the opportunity this company offers of secur-
ing a ticket that will at all times frank the
holder from Boulogne to the vicinity of London is
worth attention. No liability will attach to the
stock thus taken, and there is every probability of a
good dividend being realised. Indeed, during the
coming season the number of passengers will pro-
bably be beyond the accommodation the steamers
can afford, and we have little doubt that this line,
once established, will quickly become the favourite
—at least during the summer months.—Anglo-
American Times.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The question of the hour is, shall we go
on attempting to pass a Reform Bill ? There is no
huger any advantage in debating the inquiry as to
how we shall proceed with it. The resolutions of
the Government are before the House of Commons
and the country. They are vague, they are incom-
plete, some of them can only be named to be re-
jected; but if Parliament reject them, ref using
altogether to consider them, the settlement of Re-
form will be put off further than ever. As it is, the
House of Commons is supplied with an outline, per-
haps we should say a sketch, the details of which
may be indefinitely modified so as to admit of a par-
feet Reform Bill being evolved from it. The Go-
vernment invites the criticism and co-operation of
the house, and the most startling of the resolutions
is expressed in such terms of doubt and hesitation as
to appear on the face of it no more than a sugges-
tion. The House of Commons can, of course, refuse
to share the responsibility of her Majesty's Ministers,
and declare point-blank that it will not discuss a
single Resolution. Party motives may, perhaps,
recommend a peremptory negative of this kind ; but
it will be well to count the cost of it before it is
pronounced. We must then have a broken session,
the ordinary Parliamentary business must be sus-
pended while a desperate attempt is made to recon-
struct a party, an accession of strength would almost
certainly be sought by an appeal to the country,
and the prime question lying at the root of the diffi-
culty would be deferred for another year, when the
consideration of it would have to be resumed after
another autumn of agitation, and in the face of a
compact Opposition freed from the constraint now
compelling it to support reform. The responsibility
lies upon the House of Commons, or, in plainer
terms, upon each member of it. Say what we will
of the Resolutions of the Government—condemn
their vagueness as much as we may, and it cannot
be too strongly condemned—denounce the ill-advice
which prompted some of them, and it is marvellous
how any Cabinet could have so mistaken the temper
of the time as to think such proposals might be
adopted—still it is true that the Resolutions as a
whole point to a complete measure. R is the part
of practical wisdom under any circumstances to
take the good, eliminate the bad, supply what is de-
ficient, and amend what is capable of correction. It
is especially necessary to follow such a course when
the issue is between that and nothing. The House
of Commons may well feel embarrassed in its pre-
sent position, when an unusual duty has been cast
upon it, and the burden has been aggravated by the
mismanagement of the Ministers of the Crown. But
what hope is there of escaping from embarrassment,
and, indeed, is it not certain that the embarrass-
ment must be increased if the house simply re-
solves to accept no responsibility ? There is only
one safe course, and that is to be found in firm and
clear-sighted action. The mode of procedure which
ought to be followed may be indicated with little
difficulty. The first resolution, affirming the neces-
sity of increasing the number f electors, should be
passed as a matter of course. The second might
with advantage be postponed until some of those
which follow are considered. We believe that
only a small fraction of the House of Commons
would hesitate to accept the third Resolution, which
declares it to be contrary to the Constitution of the
country to give any class a predominating power in
the Government. A practical neglect of this truth
is, in fact, the chief justification of Reform, and it
is no more than a solemn enunciation of the funda-
mental principle of representative government. We
do not imagine that the fight of last session would
be renewed over the relative merits of rating and
rental qualifications. That no cardinal principle is
involved in it is plain from the fact that Lord John
Russell proposed a rating qualification in 1852, and
Mr. Disraeli a rental qualification in 1859 ; the ques-
tion is one of convenience and accuracy in determin-
ing the true value of qualifying tenements, and t he
Union Assessment Act of Mr. Villiers has made it
possible to adopt the test which Lord Russell's choice
in 1852 indicated to be in his opinion the more ad-
visable. Three resolutions being thus disposed of,
the fifth, putting forward the invidious and impos-
sible principle of plurality of voting, must be sum-
marily thrown aside ; but the House of Commons,
which is not legislating in a matter of this kind for a
twelvemonth merely, must make up its mind to the
necessity of providing a substitute. We have
already indicated a simple. method by which the
voter may be set free to dispose as he pleases of the
votes the law gives him, and the great difficulties
which make statesmen pause at an extensive reduc-
tion of the occupation franchise and at a transfer of
seats from small constituencies to populous towns
and counties may be at once removed. Let this
or any other adequate plan be adopted in substitu-
tion of the fifth resolution and the second may
may then be taken up. Instead, however, of pass-
ing it in its present unmeaning shape, the extent
to which the House is disposed to carry the reduc-
tion of the values of the qualifying tenements in
counties and boroughs must be stated in so many
words. There must. be no mistake about this part
of the scheme. The country would justly resent as
a mere mockery and waste of time the consideration
of resolutions which would bind the House of Com-
mons to nothing specific. What figures should be
adopted we do not pretend to suggest, but that some
figures must be determined is certain. The Re-
distribution of Seats, which is dealt with in the
sixth, seventh, and eighth resolutions, depends, like
the figures of the occupation franchises, upon the
substitute provided for the fifth resolution. Just as
the privilege of voting may be freely extended, pro-
vided the individual voter is allowed to dispose of
his votes exactly as be pleases, so may additional
members be freely added to large constituencies if
the total representation of the constituencies be not,
as now, given over wholly to the party which for the
time has a majority. The necessities of Parliamentary
warfare may possibly explain the proposal that no
borough shall be wholly disfranchised, though with
the Liberal party in opposition and a Conservative
Government in power, a bolder policy will, we hope,
be enforced. A point of far greater importance
which the House of Commons ought to determine
is, whether the increased representation of populous
districts should be conferred by way of additional
representatives to existing constituencies, or by their
subdivision. If the voter is to be permitted to ac-
cumulate his votes on the candidate who represents
his opinions, the true policy will be to increase the
number of members for the boroughs and county
divisions already in existence, and a maximum of
efficient representation will thus be secured with a
minimum of change. The Resolution declaring it
to be expedient to make better provision for the pre-
vention of bribery and corruption avenges on the
Administration the factious vote on Sir Rainald
Knightley's motion last year, against which we
protested at the time. It is vain to dream of
repressing bribery by penal legislation so long as
the power of bribery is as great as it is. If
the total representation of a borough is to depend

' upon the vote of a small corruptible section which
remains unpolled at half-past 3 o'clock in the
afternoon, no mortal virtue of Whig or Tory can
stand the temptation. The remaining Resolutions
are absolutely unexceptionable. The principle of
voting papers has been sanctioned by Parliament,
and whatever we may think of the result of the last
contest at Oxford, there was never an election at
which so large a proportion of the electors was polled
—that is to say, in which the decision represented
so accurately the opinion of the constituency. The
only objection to the Resolution providing more pol-
ling places is that it does not go far enough, and
although Mr. Disraeli has almost contrived to make
the matter of boundaries a party question, it may
be remembered with advantage that the Reform
Bill of 1832 was supplemented by a Boundary Act
which was half as large again as the statute to
which it was an appendix. The object of all well-
wishers of their country should be to settle the Re-
form question, and to settle it now. Nothing can
be less desirable than that constitutional changes
should be discussed in the midst of tumult, nothing
can be more unpatriotic than to postpone legisla-
tion until au exasperated populace demands instant
action. The 'comparative failure of the so-called
Demonstration of Monday, so far from being a rea-
son for delay, should be an incentive to exertion.
It showed how sound to the core is the popular opi-
nion. Shall it then be said that because the unen-
franchised masses distrust the flattering promises of
demagogues who assure them that the miseries of
life will vanish before a change in our electoral ma-
chinery, they shall be denied a voice in the national
government which would have been accorded them
if they had been more ignorant, more passionate,
and more credulous ? Shall it again be imputed to
Parliament that, partly to escape the trouble of
alterations it disliked, and partly to gratify aspira-
tions for office, it threw aside the consideration of
Reform, and left all to the blind chance of the
future ? We trust not. We care for no party, no
section, no clique. Whether Whig or Tory is in
office is profoundly indifferent to us. The welfare
of the people is our supreme law. It is because we
desire to fix the attention of Parliament upon that,
above all things, that we urge the House of Com-
mons to resist all attempts to enlist it under the
banner of this or that candidate for office, to seize
the opportunity presented to it, and to achieve at
once and for our generation a settlement of reform.
THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE ON THE DOMESTIC
AND FOREIGN_ POLICY OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.
—I said in the last Number that in the new Impe-
rial Constitution of France universal suffrage was
the basis of electoral rights. How uncertain
are the results of such a system of voting ; how
precarious, unstable the Government depending
on it, I endeavoured briefly to show by arguments
drawn from reason and from experience. If for
twelve or fourteen years universal suffrage has not
been characterized by such a mutability in France,
this has been owing to the elaborate centralization
of her Government, and to the extraordinary pres-
sure of the Imperial power. But this more steady
political action has been dearly purchased by the
sacrifice of all those wholesome influences which
landed property, mercantile enterprise, profes-
sional skill, and literary and scientific eminence
would have exerted in the Legislative Body. And
such defects were, of course, aggravatedby the ab-
sence of free municipal institutions, by the want of
laws to consolidate the existence of the nobility,
and by the equivocal, half-hostile . attitude of
the Government towards the Church. Accord-
ingly, in a system of election, where the votes
of clergymen, landowners, merchants, professional
and literary men were drowned in those of a vast
numerical majority, and where too the Govern-
ment exercised such inordinate sway, it was to be
expected that a Legislative Body would be chosen,
characterized by mediocrity of talent and servility
of character. How' was it possible in such a state
of things to raise up an effectual barrier against
despotism ? And so against the many arbitrary
acts that have marked the present regime, we never
hear a protest from this Legislative Ass
Assembly ; or
when a generous voice has been raised it has
been prOmptly hushed. From that assembly no
censure has come forth against the cruel confisca-
tion of the property of the House of Orleans—
the arbitrary suppression of so many Catholic and
Conservative journals—the blow levelled at the
charitable society of St. Vincent of Paul—the
lavish expenditure of the public money—the reck-
less accumulation of the national debt—the revolu-
tionary -war in Italy—the vacillating, cowardly,
mock-protection given to the head of the Ca-
tholic Church ! Such is a Parliament, the
creature of universal suffrage ! How pliant an in-
strument in the hands of despotism is democracy !
But how feeble is a power, unsupported by the
sympathy of the noble, the wealthy, and the intel-
lectual classes ! Of all props military force is the
weakest ; for those who lean on the sword will
perish by the sword !. This leads us to speak of
the prerogatives of the Crown. Having briefly
described the other members of the body politic,
and their several functions, I must now say a few
words of the head. " Monarchy," as Aristotle
says, "is the most ancient, the most widely-
diffused, and the most durable of all forms of
government." It adapts itself to every stage of
civilization, and to every variety of national cha-
racter. The civil power, indeed, under every form
is of Divine origin, because it upholds civil soci-
ety, which is of Divine institution. But royalty,
as the direct emanation of paternity, has a charac-
ter more especially sacred. The Divine origin of
civil authority was acknowledged by the heathen
nations, and among 'others, by the early Greeks.
It was ever associated with the priesthood ; and it
is a remarkable fact that in the great oriental
monarchies, when the King was taken from the
military caste, he was, before he assumed the
diadem, initiated in the mysteries of the sacer-
dotal body. The Jewish and the Christian
churches in pouring out with solemn rites and
prayers the unction on the royal head, remind the
newly-consecrated monarch of the sublime "origin
and sublime purpose of his dignity, I called roy-
alty the principle of cohesion in the body politic ;
and such it is, more especially under the Christian
dispensation. All classes group naturally around
it as a common centre ; it binds them together ;
it forms the keystone of the social edifice ; it
grows with the growth, and strengthens with the
strength of nations ; and both in foreign and do-
mestic relations is the symbol and rallying-point of
a people's nationality. Differing from the Re-
publican magistracy, which is a political abstrac-
tion, royalty is a living impersonation of poWer
and so, in despite of individual defects, is at;
object of popular affection. Being hereditary, too,
it links in social union not only the living, but
generation after generation. Submissive to the
i Church n spiritual matters, its mission is to pro-
tect her doctrines and canons, to preside over the
administration of justice, and mitigate at times
its rigour, to confirm, modify, or annul the
enactments of the subordinate Legislative Bodies,
and to defend its subjects in war, and protect their
interests in peace. The Republic appears later on
the arena of history. That form of polity I defined
on a former occasion as a municipality severed
either by revolution or by colonisation from the
parent kingdom. Under certain circumstances
and certain conditions, it is conducive to the pros-
perity and greatness of a State. But, unfit at all
times for the rule of a great country, that unfit-
ness has been much aggravated by the Chris-
tian Dispensation, which, by emancipating the
masses, has indefinitely augmented the number of
free citizens, and consequently rendered the task
of government more arduous. Now, let us apply
the foregoing remarks to the Imperial power.
In the Parliament of 1848, the Bonapartists were,
as regards numbers, talents, and respectability,
the feeblest and most obscure. In his work
on " Democracy in France," M. Guizo excuses
himself for even naming M. Bonaparte as one
of the candidates for the Presidency. Had Na-
poleon, when he overthrew the Republic, resisted
the suggestions of ambition, and, playing the part
of General Monk, have restored to France her
legitimate line of kings, not only would he have
rendered immense services to his country, but he
would, I verily believe, have eventually promoted
the interests of his family. All the natural powers
of civil society would have rallied round the legi-
mate King all the maxims and traditions on
which a State lives—all the holy and glorious re-
collections of the Church and the aristocracy—all
that latent love, strong, patient, and enduring,
glowing within the bosoms of his devoted adherents
of every class, would have spontaneously revived
to facilitate the exercise of power, and compensate
even for any possible inferiority of talent. The
jealousies, the envy, the ambition which array
themselves against a new Power, the ancient dy-
nasty would certainly have not in the same degree
encountered. But if an act so magnanimous as
the one adverted to were either above the desire,
or beyond the capacity of Napoleon 111., still
he might, by a course of wise and generous policy,
have justified the overthrow of the anarchic Re-
public of 1848, and healed the bleeding wounds
of his country. To govern France was then not
so arduous a task as in the time of King
Charles X. A certain portion of the Bourgeoisie,
then so hostile to religion and to monarchy, had
been reclaimed to the Church, while others, appal-
led by the horrors of socialism, felt, though still
unbelievers, that Catholicism could alone save
society from a general shipwreck. In other
classes, too, the religious improvement was strik-
ingly perceptible. Again, none of the political
parties that constituted the great party of order
in 1848— the Legitimists—the .Orleanists the
Catholic party—the moderate Republicans—would
haye opposed a religious and Couserypitiye

by whomsoever inaugurated. Nay, they would—
some in a greater, some in a less degree—have
given it their active support. To have achieved
all those reforms, which Catholic France had so
long demanded—to have established the liberties
of the Church on a solid basis—to have purified
many of the public schools—to have encouraged
Catholic education and Catholic literature—to
have checked the irreligious and anarchic press—
to have formed a hearty alliance with the Church
—to have restored the long withheld communal
and municipal franchises—to have allowed the no-
bility, in order to preserve their families from
destruction, the right of bequest which Republican
America concedes to her citizens—to have founded
a true, solid system of national representation, at
once restraining and supporting the sovereign
authority ;—this was a task not so difficult as it
had once been, and which, if carried out, would
have conferred lasting blessings on France, and
caused its author to be held in perpetual benedic-
tion. But alas ! how different a course has been
pursued, we have all seen. The Emperor of the
French has thought he fulfilled all his duties
towards his country when he embellished her
cities and her capital, and when he fostered trade
and manufactures. He might have emulated
the glory of Charlemagne ; he has preferred to
ape those ignoble Caesars, who gave to the
degenerate Romans, panem et Circenses, food- and
amusement. How perfectly consistent the foreign
policy of this potentate has been with his domes-
tic, I shall show in the next number ; and here
happily my task will be much more brief.