The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-08-15

shaken py mhniIess lncousisteucy OF detected i'm.
posture the enthusiasm Of the old Crusaders and
the fanaticism of Musselmen propsgandis.s; an
old oriental drama acted over in the New Worh
by men and women of Yankee origin united in
devout belief in prophet-martyr who could only
be properly characterized as cross between Sam
Slick and Mokanna of Khorassin. 1t would do
more than this II would contain the record Of a
persecution as cruel and remorseless az thu,
which hunted the Huguenots from France and
the Jews from Spain, endured, for the most mar,
with patient 6rmness and heroic persistence
under circumstances Of suffering and danger
which 60 far to reconcile liberal and eenero~
minds to those absurdites or novelties of worshin
and faith, which were made the excuse OF n new
Christian crusade on the part Of the blackler and
nOmadic rascality Of the Mississippi valley. In
the language of the author Of the sDiscoursep
before us, it would tell of "a people whose indus
try had made them rich, expelled by lawless force
from the comforts and Injuries of refined life
into the Great Wilderness, seeking an untried
home, far away from the scenes which their pre-
vious life had endeared TO them, moving onward
destitute, hunger sickened, and sinking with dis
ease, bearing with them wives 1hd cpllurh, III"
~ 80 o@ns. the decrepid; renewing daily on
their march the Offices of devotion, the ties Of
family and friendship, and charity; sharing ne
oessities and Drawing dangers together, cheerful
in the midst of want and trial--of men who men.
aced by famine and in the midst of pestilence,
with every energy taxed by the urgency Of the
hour, were building roads and bridges, laying out
villages and planting corn-felds, for the benefit
Of the stranger who might come after them, their
kinsman only by common humanity, or, perad-
venture, by a common suffering-of men who
have renewed their prosperity in the homes they
have founded in the desert and who, in their
new-built city, walled round by mountains like
fortress are extending pious Inequalities to the
destitute emigrants from our frontier States"
As yet we can scarcely form an accurate idea
of the geographical peculiarities the new Terri
tory We only know that, hemmed in by sue
cessive chains Of rugged mountains, and by vast
unexplored deserts, it combines within its limits
the most inconsistent characteristics Of other
countries The climate Of its mountains is more
severe than that OF Switzerland; descending TO-
wards the great valley, the varied climates of H.
ally are successfully encountered. Rarrr "a:
wastes--desolate and unsightly as the shores Of
the Dead Sea--alternate with valleys of extraor-
binary fertility and beauty Streams strongly
impregnated with salt flow down from the noun.
tains in close proximity with others of the purest
and sweetest water. Hot springs, and ice-cold
ones, are found in the same neighborhood. The
resources Of the country, in agricultural point
Of view, were not overlooked by its first explorer
"The bottoms" says Fremont are extensive
the water excellent, timber sufficient, the soil
good, and well adapted to the grains and grasses
of an elevated region. The lake furnishes
abundant supplies Of salt. All the mountain sides
are covered with valuable and nutritious grass,
called bunch grass, which has second growth in
the fall; its quantity will sustain any amount Of
cattle, and make this truly bucolic region
On some Of the best lands it appears that irriga-
tion is necessary to secure the full advantages of
the rich virgin soil. Fifty bushels Of wheat may
thus be raised to the acre, and in the present
price current Of the country, it is 81 the bushel
Proximity to the gold region secures a ready and
sure market for all kinds Of provisions.
The City Of the Salt Lake, if we may credi,
the statements Of recent travellers, now number
from $4,000 to 10000 inhabitants. The houses
are Of sun brick, generally Of one story, with gar
dens distributed over an area as great as that Of
New York, and surrounded by square miles Of
wheat fields There are several other settle
ments, extending forty miles north and two hun
bred miles south Of the great city.
at is to these homes" says the author of the
Discourse, Sin the heart Of our American Alps
like the holy people Of st. Bernard, they hold out
their welcome to the passing traveller. Some Of
you have doubtless seen in the st. Louis papers
the reported votes Of thanks to them Of compa
MES Of emigrants to California. These are Of
ten reduced to great straits after passing Fort
Laramie, and turn aside to seek the Salt Lake
colony, in pitiable plight of fatigue and dest
tuition" The route from the Oregon road to the
Salt Lake is one of great difficulty, over noun
tains, and through deep and narrow ravines. The
poor struggling emigrant at length comes at
rubtly out Of the dark pass into the lighted val
ley Of the Mormons, on level terrace of its
high table land. mo wonder If he loses his self
control here A ravishing panoramic Landscape
opens out below him, blue, green, and gold, and
pearl great sea with billy islands, rivers, a
lake, and broad sheets of grassy plain, all set as
in silver-chased cup, within mountains whose
peaks of perpetual snow are FURNISHED by q dsr
zling SUM- 1t is less these, however, than the
foreground of dcountry farms, with their stacks
thatchings and stock, and the central city, swarm
ing with its working inhabitants, and smoking
from its chimneys, that tries the men of fatigue
broken nerves. The Cslifornians scream, they
sing, they give three cheers, and do not count
them, few pray and more swear, some fall on
their faces and cry outright"
Several hundred emigrants in more or less dis
tress have, during the past year, received gratu-
itous relief from the Mormons, whose indomita-
BILE industry has enabled them to exercise to the
fullest extent the rites Of hospitality. They
boast that they have no loafers, idle gentemen,or
Their glorious valley must be the
grand central station Of the future railroad which
is to unite the two oceans and to open to us the
golden stream of oriental rqfic by the way Of
California The popularity Of their religious
faith and customs may have the effect to divert
from them some of the emigration which would
otherwise flow towards so inviting region; but
even this cannot essentially retard their growth
Fifty thousand of their own order in Grea
Britain are already preparing to join them InS
have shrewd, intelligent men at the head OF anar''
aud are evidently losing great deal Of the fana'
Oism Of their early time. They have regularly
organized Government, and all accounts asl'.
IN representing them as an orderly and pesoe'u'
people. The author of the discourse bei0r'
as, denies emphatically the charges which nav,
hee, nras.rred aoainst their habitual purity Of