The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-01-19
Brigham Youns's Letter 10 Col. Alexan-
der.
GovERNoR's OFFICE,
Great Salt Lake City, U. T.,
October Ia 1881

GovERNoR's OFFICE,
Great Salt Lake City, u. r.,
October 16, 1857.
SIR:-I have the honor TO acknowledge
the receipt of your letter Of the 18th inst.
at Oh. som. this morning, and embrace the
earliest opportunity to reply, out Of cour-
tesy to your position al this late season of
the year.
As you officially allcge it, / acknowledge
that you and the forces under your com
mand have been sent TO this Territory by
the President of tho United States, but we
shall treat you as though you were open
enemies, because have so many times seen
armies in our country. under color of law,
drive this people, commonly styled "Mor-
MONS" from their homes, while mobs have
followed and plundered at their pleasure,
which is now most obviously the design of
the general government, as all candid-think-
ing men know full WELL Were not such
the fact, why did not the government send
an army here TO protect us again:t the saw
ages when we first settled here, and were
poor and few in number2 So contrary to
this was their course, that they sent an in
fernal requisition for five hundred Of our
most efficient men, (while we were in an
Indian country, and striving to leave the
borders of the United States. from which
its civilization (O had expelled u.s. with a
preconcerted view to cripple and destroy
us. And do you fancy for moment that
we do not fully understand the tender (O
mercies and designs of our government
against usl Again: if an army was or
dered here for peaceful purposes, to pro
tcct and preserve the rights and lives the
innocent, why did government send here
troops that were withdrawn from Minneso-
ia, where the Indians were slaughtering
men, women, and children, and were ban
ding in large numbers, threatening TO lay
waste the country?
You mention that it is alone in my gu
bernatorial capacity that you have any bu-
siness with me, though your commanding
officer, Brevet Brigadier General Harvey,
addre ssed his letter by Capt Vliet to "Pres-
ident Brigham Young, of the Society of
Mormons."
You acknowledge the receipt Of my Of
fetal proclamation forbidding your entrance
into the Territory of Utah; and upon that
point have only to again inform you that
the matter set forth in the document is
true, and the orders therein contained will
be most strictly carried out.
If you come here for peaceful purposes,
you have no use for weal ons of war. We
wish, and have ever wished, for peace,
and have ever sued for il all the day long,
as our bitterest enemies know full we'll;
and though the wicked, with the admins
tration now at their head, have determin.
cd that We hall have no peace except it
b, to lie down in death, in the name Of
IsraePs God We will have peace, even
though we be compelled by our enemies to
fight for it.
We have yet studiously avoided the
shedding Of blood, though we have resor-
ted to measures to resist our enemies, and
through the operation of those mild meas
ures you can easily perceive that you and
your troops are now in the mercy of the
elements, and that VIC live in the noun
tains and our men are all mountaneers.-
This the government should know, and al
so give us our rights, and then let us alone.
As to the style of those measures, past
present or future, persons acting in selfde.
fence have of right wide scope for choice.
and tfat, too, without being very careful
as to what name their enemies see fit to
term that choice, for both we and the
kingdom Of God will be free from all hell
ish opprcssors, the Lord being our helper.
Threatcnings to waste and extirminate this
,@aAxln haya IoI -, E.
more than a score Of years, and we yet live.
The Zion Of the ord is here, and wicked
men and devils cannot destroy it.
Ifyou persist in your attempt to perma-
nently locate an army in this Territory,
contrary to the wishes and constitutional
rights Of the people therein, and with a
view to aid tho administration in their un-
hallowed efforts to palm their corrupt Of
ficials upon us, and to protect them, and
blaci-legs, black hearted scoundrels. whore
masters and murderers, as was the sole in.
tention in sending you and your troops
here, you will have to meet a mode Of
warfare against which your tactics furnish
no information.
As to your interference concerning "pub-
lie and private letters" it contains an un-
gentlemanly and false insinuation; for so
far as l have any knowledge, the only stop
ping or OBTAINING Of the character you
mention has alone been done by the Post
Office Department in Washington, they
having, as you must have known, stopped
our mail from Independence, Missouri, by |
which it was but fair TO presume that you,
as well as we, were measurably curtailed
in mail facilities.
In regard TO myself and certain Others
having placed ourselves Gin a position Of
rebellion and hostility to the government
Of the United States" am perfectly aware
that We understand our true and most 10y
position far better than our enemies can
inform us. We Of all the people are en-
daa voyip0 to yroeorva and y,axnatuata The