Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1858-03-24

to reason, especially when that reason is backed
by the great power of our Government. think,
therefore, the prospect of success Is sufficiently
great to induce US to resort to negotiations with
this people. The wisdom of resorting to pacific:
measures first is sustained by another view OF
the case. Brigham Young has impressed the
Mormons with the idea that this Government
wishes to interfere with their religion, to punish
them for their polygamy, and generally to crush
and DESTROY. them. 7 have no idea that Brigham
Young believes any such thing but it is his
policy to have it believed by his people: 1t is
our policy to disabuse the people of this false
impression. This false idea is tower of strength
for Brigham Young. Let US so act as to. over.
throw this tower If we can remove this i'm
preston from the popular mind in Utah, Brig.
ham Young will be shorn of large portion OF
his strength. The people of Utah may proceed
to the most desperate extremities if they believe
that our purpose is to destroy them, that we are
naturally hostile to them, and are seizing upon
pretexts to subjugate them. Let US pursue such
a line of policy as will circumvent the policy OF
Brigham Young Brigham Young wishes us to
manifest nothing but the most settled hostility
to the Mormons, in order to consolidate his power
over them. Let us do exactly the thing he does
not wish US to do. Let US 60 to the utmost verge
of moderation; let US manifest our intentions OF
peace, of kindness, and generosity, in the most
unmistakablc manner to these people; let us,
| before a gun is fired, gain moral victory over
Brigham Young. That moral victory may su.
persede the necessity of resorting to force. 1t
! it does not accomplish that much, it will weaken
| the grasp of the Mormon hand upon the sword,
and cannot but operate favorably to us in the
progress of the struggle. The Mormons can
onlS be stimulated to their resistance of despera
ton by having their minds poisoned as to the
purposes of this Government. A resort to o
| peaceful policy will be the most efectual way OF
counteracting the diseased condition of the pub
lie mind in Utah. 1t has been forcibly said,
that the pen is mightier than the sword. .
There is infinite truth in this, as expressive Of
the greater power of ideas over materialism. l
would try the force of ideas on the Mormons be-
fore resorting to the scourge of humanity, the
sword Let our Government present itself to
them in the image of generous, kind, paterna!!,
and affectionate Government, anxious, II posi-
BILE, to forgive even them and if this fails, then
let destiny take its course.
But let US now suppose that all efforts to settle
matters peaceably in Utah shall have failed, and
that the sword must be dkawn-that terrible In
strument of the avenging Nemesis, which even
Christianity has not been able to sheath; let us
suppose that the sword must he restored to Its
old office of sprinkling the BOSOM of mother
earth with the blood of the children of men
what then? There are two modes OF prosecu-
ting this war:
ist By what shall call offensive war, inra,
s;ou t]a.iructon devastation
I'd. By cutting off all communication with
Utah, placing the Mormons in quarantine, let
ting none come out and none go i'll, and guard
ing our trains of emigrants over the northern
and southern routes.
AS regards the first mode shall say nothing
of the distance of Utah from us, practically
further than Europe, nor Of the difficulty of car
ryng subsistence so far, nor Of the difficult ap'
proaches through wild gorses in the mountains
| nor of the army Of fierce fanatics to be encoun'
tered 7 shall say nothing of all these, because
such is my confidence in our indomitablc Army,
that believe we shall carry everything before
| US, and plant our victorious standards in the
heart of their sacred city. grant you that we
shall beat down the Mormon chivalry upon the
plains of Utah. But what fear is, that our
greatest success will he our greatest disaster
| lle ueleaL vi Lue Will, l lCdI oS tiiS
dispersion of the Mormons through the bound
less plains and vast mountain ranges Of the mid
die Of the continent. Once they are thus dis
persed, they become fierce banditti; every
mountain gorge will resound with the crack o
their unerring rifles. Their very women will
give forth from their envenomed wombs race
of monsters more horrible than Milton describes
as pursuing Sin ut the gates of hell. Confedera'
ted with the Indian tribes, race of American
Arabs, they will become enemies OF the human
race. In vain will your emigrant trains endeavor
to cross the center Of the continent. The march
of every train would be succession of battles
and you will have upon your hands, for hun
dred years, perpetual war with bandits. Study
the physical geography Of the globe, and nowhere
else do you iind vast conformation OF the
earths surface so well adapted to tribes of rob
bers as the great basin Of the Salt Lake.
said in the beginning, that the immediate
practical interest we had in the Mormon question
was securing our cmigrant routes to the Pacific
This interest, l fear, will be more endangered by
q successful war against the Mormons than IN any
other way. We wish railroad; we wish the
telegraph wires to "wreak themselves upon ex
preston through the center Of the continent
How can you accomplish either Of these great
IDEAS after you have driven the Mormons in des
peralion and fury to The mountains? My ohjec
ton to offensive war is, that, even if successful
it defeats, more completely than anything else
the very purpose We have in vicw-securing oul
COMMUNICATIONS with the Pacific.
The second mode of employing force against
the Mormons shutting them up in Utah, inter
| rupting all communication with them, seems t.
me the wisest kind of force to adopt towards them
at least at first. By that mode, with proper Grim
inal legislation, we may place the Mormons III
! such circumstances Us may make them willing tt
obey the laws. The only inconvenince this mode
OF procedure will cost US will>br some addition
perhaps, to our military strength and more cir
cuitous route for our emigrant trains. The qucs
ton il not free frorn difficulty in any aspect. We
should choose the least OF evils Lctu try peace
tu means if they he possible; then the isoatne
process. Ii all fail, then war outright will still
he left to us. In the mean time something may
turn up in the chapter Of events. There may be
a schsn among the Mormons, or something else
that may give US the opportunity of acting to
more advantage.
There is one consideration should not be over
looked in this Mormon question. 1t is this: that
the greatest danger to the integrity OF the Nor
mon faith is prosperity. The greater their ma
teral moral, intellectual development, the less
hold false faith will have upon them; the more
likelihood of woman asserting her divine mission
among them. in short, the more they become
civilized, the less they are Mormons. This devcl
opmeut will most certainly take place by peace
Mormonism may be eternal among nomadc
tribes, Arabs, or bandits; it must perish out un.