The Richmond Indiana palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1854-1855, 1855-08-09
JOHN FERTICH, ir.
from the NeW ] ORR Herald.
utah--Crickets. Grasshopper. and Locus,s.-
Dreadful Prospect for the Mormous

From the New York Herald
Otah--Crickets. Grasshopper. and Locusts.-
Dreadful Prospect for the Mormons.
According TO our last ad,ices from Utah it
IS quite possible that the kingdom and the in
stitution of Mormondom will be extinguished,
or expelled, from our Western Territories
within few years. by causes and Instruments
which have never entered into the calc ula.ions
of saints, philosophers, or politicians. Grass
hoppers, crlckets and locusts threaten to do
the work which has COMPOUNDED alike our
statesmen who believe In the supremacy of
"squatter sovereignty" and those Who main
tain the supremacy of Congress over the Ter
ritories.
The intelligence which we publish else
where represents the crops of the Utah peo-
pie. over all that vast region-a limited district
here and there only excep;ed-as in process
of absolute extirpation by grasshoppers and
crlckets, and that a new ally. in the shape of
locust, was appearing IN some localities to
aid IN the work. of famine The poor Nor
mons were naturally alarmed and bewildered
at the fearful prospect before them; for with
the consumption of their crops BY those vor-
aclous insects. rising out Of the ground in
swarms. and eating up every green thing with
IN their reach, there can be no other alterna-
tive to the Saints than starva ion, or a rapid
exodus TO some more favored region of The
world, among the waste places of some other
continent, or the unapproprIated islands Of
the sea.
The history Of the Mormons is the living
wonder of these latter times. In their origin
in the absurdities and abominations of their
religious faith-in their prosecutions from
place TO place-in their rapid multiplication
by reinforcements from all parts CT the civili-
zed woodland IN their astonishing persever-
ance. industry and success, the creed, the
prophet, and the followers Of Mormondom.
are, in may respects. without a parallel in the
history of religious decisions. Certainly, the
most extraordinary anomaly Of modern times
is the kingdom of the Mormon chief-an i'm
periam an intperio-an establishment of po-
lygamy of the epoch Of Jacob and Esau In
the midst of the institutions Of the highest
civilization OF the nineteenth century OF the
Christian dispensa.on. The causes. too,
which threaten the extinction or expulsion OF
these Iormons from our continent will be re-
garded By many scarcely less than rniracu-
lous, though perfectly natural
In l84i Colonel Fremont, as the first recorded
white man who had every penetrated 10 the fab
ulous Salt Lake, gave US the first information
of that terra inoog1sita of the Great Desert Ba-
sin. By reference TO his reports Of that, and
OF all his subsequent explorations. and upon
referring 10 the reports of all other travellers.
official and unofficial. in that region, from that
day to this, it will be seen thai these crickeIs
and graSshopPers are among the fixed natural
institutions Of Utah. From time immemori.l
the native Indians have been accustomed 10
regard them as part of their subsistence
They make cakes OF grasshoppers and erick
cts They drive them into trenches with
hot fire al the bottom. where their wings and
legs are burned of, and they are roasted after
the fashion of the locusts of Africa. These
American insects thus bear the same relssion.
and serve the same purposes 70 the wild ma
tive tribes, as the locusts Of the deserts of
Asia and Africa in their respective localities
They are bar to the cultivation of the soil:
they exist where there is no soil for cultivation.
and where animal FIFE is limited to insects and