Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-12-24
THE MORMON QUESTION.

| The Mormons form another instance Of the
thousand and one fanatcnl sccts who have arisen
like bubbles the surface Of the religious world.
Like others of the same fanatcal and ultra char.
acter, they blend the most opposite aud incOnsis
tent principles. They may be appropriately
termed stoical rouptuaries. Paradoxical as this
may seem, il is in accordance with the usual &c
centric phenomena Of human nature. Men in or
der to grati6y some favoritc propensity, will con-
sole themselves by partial stoicsm, and be as
strict and ascetc in respects ms they arc lax
and dissolute in others. All such fanaticism has
its origin in the contending principles of good and
evil, and such is the fallacy AMI nfatuaton Of the
human intellect, that those most religiOusly dis
posed frequently become the dupcs Of the most
loathsomc and unnatural dogmas. 1t is only on
this principle that we can suppose the Mormons.
MS sect, sincere in their belief. And We think
they evince as much sincerity as other religious
fanatics. Believing this, we doubt the policy Of
any movement, which will give the least sanction
to the cry of persecution. There is nothing which
we prize so much as liberty, while at the same
time there is nothing so hateful as oppression, es
pccialy that most odious Of all its phases-religi
ous intolerance We suppose the following views
by ex. Mormon elder HYDE, which we find in the
CaolMian, are substantially correct, and as the
Mormon war is assuming determined aspect, it
will be matter of interest to our readers:
b,,J Ian tL ,f
| polygamy as contrary to Scripture, to reason and
to nature; degrading the Anglo.Sa1on woman
down to the level of the Circassian He drew his il
Illustrations frcm the condition of the Mormons--
depicted comparison between them and ourselves.
| Polygamiss knew not what home was-a home,
with its happy family group, instinct with pure
motives the father loved by his wife, honored by
his children; never disturbed by wild passion nor
| agitated by aching doubts-a home, where love
| like rain. bow rests over all Mt peace beneath
| it, The lecturer now viewed the Mormon home
as it was; Brigham with his twenty-five wives,
Kimbals eighteen, Taylors seven, and so on
The women were corrupt and vile, children pre-
cocious and deprared, unhealthy and doomed to
disease and death at an early age There can be
no happiness without love, and no love without
jealousy, ifthat love be divided Jealousy is not
an evil it is not wrong. 1t is but the natural
| TesuIt vi NTOHS uuueSl ucaEt'
| There must be no second love-
Love is q fiowr
That blooms upon q plain;
And when It's pluck'd no earthly pow'r
Can make it bloom again.
| The lecturer again affirmed that it was IN error
to suppose that all who entered the fraternity had
previous knowledge Of the practice of polygamy
amongst them, for previous to 1852, nothing of
+. hOl hann ,,,lf ofnl ht-f hn
Mormon Bible, the Book of Mormon, Joseph
Smiths writings and the declarations of kimball,
Young and Taylor, are cited by the missionaries
! to controvert the assertions Of those who charge
! them with it. Why do not the women leave when
! they find they share the undivided love Of their
husbands? There is q stronger influence exerted
over them than either conjugal or parental love.
! 1t is the same influence that causes the heathen
women to throw herself upon the funeral pyre, or
| her child into the Ganges; that causes the old
man to cast his first born beneath the reeking
wheels Of Juggernaut. 1t was the same that in
spired the Crusaders. 1t was religious fnnati-
| cism. Poligamy is the only evil among Mormons
of which the rest of the world have reason to COM
plain. The people are industrious and frugal and
their great energy is shown in their ability to live
and prosper in the barren region in which they
dwell. But they have become traitors now; and
! the practical question is, chow may they be sub
o.ed?" They are military people, and of their
60,C00 citizens, they number 900 sOdiers-every
man tlained to arms and Injured to active service.
They have manufactures and every facility for
procuring Ind making articles of warfare. Their
natural posltl.n is advantageous, shut out from the
world by rugged mountains and only accessible
through narrow g,rges, which mere handful
might defend against IN army.
They boast that they can hold out against
siege of three years; but this is false Their re-
sources are slender. Yet their position is one
which may be compared to the Tyrol, the key of
Austria. If driven to the m0unsains they could
yet iniict incaculabe injury upon pr,,S.iing ar
my. He cited the example of the Swiss male a,.d
! female warriors, who harrassed the grand army
of Napoleon from the impreguable Businesses of
>their mountain grges. The hills of Utah would
prove second Switzerland for the Mormon men
and women we're as heroic; were impelled by su