Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1867-09-11
The Future of Mormonisn.

ne e uIure OF wi NiOrnoniSm.
\ crisis appears to have overtaken
1 at the same time the civil community
established at the Great Salt Lake
| City and the Mormon Church which
/ has its central seat there. We have
! heard Of late that schisms Of most
! serious character have broken out in
/ Utah that President Goung's author
itv Is defed, and that his practices are
/ denounced hr some who have hitherto
held high places under him, while his
/ chief occupation has been the excom
munication Of the uurulv. The mar
/ riage laws Of Utah. which have hitherto
| been held to be fundamental parts Of
the Mormon polity. appear TO be call
. ed IN question by some of the princi-
| pal men IN the society. and this is a
matter on which Young. it is under
stood, will make no concession. But
1 the cause which most threatens the
/ character, if not the existence. of the
/ Mnrmon settlement Is external.-
/ Gold. which builds up 90 many things
7 Is disInter@ratlng Mormoudom.-
/ Mines, which in the first excitement of
/ discovery are said To exceed in value
/ all previously known to exist on the
American continent, have been found
near the South Pass, about two hun
dred and fifty miles from Salt Lake
City, and six weeks ago the people
were departing for them by hundreds.
/ leaving the richest wheat harvests
ungathered There is nothing leads
so rapidly to the settlement of re
/ gion in America as the discovery of
gold, and the depopulation Of their
capital Is not the dircst evil the Nor
mons have to fear In the present
disorganized condition of large por-
tions of the population Of the United
/ States. it j. inevitable that thous-
ands who have been dislocated by the
/ events of war should make their way
! to the neighborhood of Utah whittier
/ they Will carry sentiments md ideas
anything but favorable to Mr.. Gounc
and his institutions. Whatever view
we NAV he dis posd to take of the sta.
bility and strength of Mormonism. it
Is certain that Its leaders for the last
twenty years have acted on the be
lief OF their plans, and they have ac-
cordingW discouraged 10 the utmost
/ the attempts of strangers TO approach
or mingle with them 1t is only at
/ distance from all rival power that atI-
thoritv such as Young and his asso-
ciates have hitherto claimed can be
exercised. But justas that authority
itself is called IN question. it is about
I to be subjected TO the severest strain.
i The strong element of discomfort
/ which has never been absent from
! Utah viii now be able to make ALI
auccs which have until lately been
/ impossible; while Northern opinion
will also end new agencies with which
to combat polvgamv. Many clahor-
ate plans have been devised at New
y ork and Washington for DESTROYING
an organization OF society so repun-
CANT a. Mormonism to the best features
Of modern civilization. It has even
been proposed to suppress its = Pc
cH,iar institutions by the power Of
/ Federal law, supported by a military
! expedition WHAT'S happening shows
/ how much wiser it l. in yoaug count
/ rv, where unsuspected forces ate a J.
ways suddenly developing themeselve
/ to look with a certain amount Of pa
thence on departure from custom and
usage. and to wait for a remedy ia thc
course Of the operations Of natural
laws rather than seek IL in the best
+. intcntioncd violence Nobody need
be @candalizrd at seeing these srIr
/ styled = Saints leaving off their the
ocracy for the gold mines They
have never dissemhlcd that the pros
! pe~itv they sought was earthly and
maternal, and if to realize it bv gold
/ mining thew have to abandon detcst-
able habits they and their neighbors
may he congratulated on the esuIt--
London -Ne,0s. dug. II.