The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-07-22
I'll E r L P L B Lie.
From. the Cincinnati Chronicle and 1aas.
The State OF Deseret.

The general assembly of Deseret has been in SEES
sion at different times, and created Weber, Great
Salt Lake, Utah, San Pete, Yoab, and Tue coun-
tiesestabshed courts, created sheriffs, constabes
justices of the peace, State marshal aud attorney
and instituted a regular system of Jurisprudence
They have also established State university at
Great Salt Lake city, and appropriated for its ben
eft five thousand dollars year for twenty years.
to be paid out of the public treasury
[Latest Intelligence.
Such the strange, most remarkable, most ro
mantle accounts, which reach US from the far off
plains beyond the Rocky Mountains-in the mys-
terous basin OF Central America! You travel hf-
teen hundred miles beyond the metropolitan city,
blooming ON the banks of the Ohio, and you see
rising before you lofty peaks to the height Of fifteen
thousand feet above the ocean There is ''Longs
Peak" "Fremont's Peak" and the Towers.
You pass over rugged mountains, down roaring
torrents, through dark and yawning canons till
all at once you enter what seems horrid entrance
To some lower world! In the language of Mr.. Kane,
who described it before the Pennsylvania Histori-
cal Society, "rhe road. after leaving the Oregon
trail, Is OF increasing difficulty, and, when the
last mountain has been crossed, passes along the
bottom Of deep canon, whose scenery is of an al
most terrific gloom Ii is defile that trust no
Mormon Martin Hofer, of this western Tyrol, will
be called TO consecrate to liberty with blood At
every turn the overhanging cliffs threaten TO
break down upon the little torrent river that has
worn its way at their base. Indeed, the narrow
ravine is serrated by this stream that the road
it, from side to the other something like
forty times in the last five miles At the end of the
ravine the emgrant comes abruptly out of the
dark pass into the lighted valley, bench
or terrace OF its upper tableland No wonder if
he loses his sef-control here. ravishing pano-
ramic landscape opens out below him, blue, and
green, and gold, and pearl-a great sea, with hly
islands, rivers, lake, and broad sheets Of grassy
plains--all set, in silver chased cup-within
mountains whose peaks of perpetual snow bur
nished by dazzling 1t is less these, how
ever, than the foreground of old country farms,
with their stacks, and thatchings, and stock, and
~ cent ri ring from ia CHI nd
swarming with working inbabitapts-that tries the
men Of fatigue broken nerves The Caliorneys'
scream they sing. They give three cheers, and
do not count them. A few have PRAYED, some
swear, some fall ON their faces and cry outright"
Such is the first vision of Deseret, described by
Mr.. Kane. Farms fields cities, counties, Justices
assemblies thriving State. Such the new
and surprising novelties which. In less than four
years, have up by the solitary borders of the
Salt Lake, and interrupted with this panorama of
civilization the wild, unstoried plains of Central
America Where is he who told the stories of the
Arabian Nights? Where is he who sung the
nance of Loeb Katrine, and its Rhoderick Dhu?
Here themes more strange than Oriental fancy
or Scottish legends ever furnished. Fh0 these
people who are founding States and universities
by the Salt Lake, amidst the Utah Indians?
These people the Mormons--who built the
city and temple OF Nauvoo, and who were driven
out OF the place erected by their own labors by
of the most infamous prosecutions known in the
present generation. The State OF Illinois exhibited
Its utter imbeclty as civil community, and its
Inhabitants proved their utter incapacity to sympa
thze with suffering.
Ii was in September, 1916, that the Mormons wereN
driven over the Mississippi and that winter found
such shelter as they could. They disappeared for
time from all reported knowledge. They
the plains and valleys leading TO the West. In the
spring OF lS4I, large body left their camp the
Platte for the Utah country and in lssS the State of
| Dvseret was founded.
! The Mormons, who had in 1916 been 30 persecu-
ted, from lS47 TO 1850 have been in state of un-
tod
the head of this artclc) describes them as already
perfcctng form OF civil government, and found
| ing Universities for education
We pretend to pass no judgment on their moral
and religious condition-e1cept in regard 10 what
is called the Book of MormOn-which is palpably
and obviously, and proved TO be- a very gross i'm
posture. IL is of the facts which characterize
these the ''latter times" when men shall be
given over 10 gross delusons.
There are four points Of view IN which this set.
tlement Of Deseret becomes intensely interesting.
First: We zee under the eyes oi the same genera
ton, and in a very brief space the whole natural
and artistic process Of forming, organizing, and
launching forth civil State. We see the tops OF
bee hives made transparent, and watch the little
workers from the time they sip the flower till they
build their beautiful little abodes, filled with weet-
nessl So this State of Deseret-from the
time the hrsr Latter Day Saint encamped beside
the Utah, till they found courts and establish uni
versities We had heard Of this on the rocks Of
Plymouth and sands of Jamestown-buti IL had not
]
eyes We confess that, in this day of wonders, IL
Hills with surprise. Arc nations, indeed, born
in day? IL tins 10 be another Nineveh. with its
winged lions and its golden oxen?
Secondly. Here is another question Of interest.
ls this 10 be an exclusively Mormon State2 IL this
10 be another peculiar people-one out Of many
isolated amidst the grandeur Of surrounding en-
pire? Will another persecution arise? And If IL
does, will it not meet different resuti Will not
some Martin Hoier defend liberty in that dark de-
hlcl or, perhaps, some Leonidas again awaken the
fires of victorious liberty on the rocky SUBMITS Of
the Utah hills
Thirdly. We may hope that persecution will not
arise and that THE singular community will attain
its growth in prosperity.
fourthly. Here we may ask, What is 10 be that
growth, Will Mormouism increase Will the
Latter Day Saints gather from all quarters 70 this
remarkable oasis amidst American wilds How
far will they incrcasoy None can answer. The
past has been romance, and the future may be. IL
IL chapter unlike any other in human history.
Yet II has similitude 10 the most remarkable one in
all antiquity IL is not unlike the days Of Aphen,
and Nimrod, and Peeg, who went forth W found
nations aud divide the earth. II il not unlike the
days Of Jacob and of Esau, those ancient princes
who went forth, wandering over great plains, with
aocks, and herds, and little ones, 70 found nations
IN another Edom and another Canaan. Have We
often such cycle Of time l-rcturncd 10 the days
when Jacobs and Esaus, and lshmacls went forth
TO traverse, conquer aud settle vast empires amidst
the unclaimed places and hills of AmcricaS