Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-07-20
From the New York Tribune.
The MormOns
SALT LAKE CRY, June 1s, 1867.

SALT LAKE CITY, June IS, 1867.
l have seen Mormonism in its best gar
ments only. Its dignitaries have made
me welcome Its hospitality encompass
ed me. It's fruits and flowers, its light
spots and pleasant recreations, were all
before me- With its humble followers,
and its shadowed household circles, l
must repeat the experience of all other
gentle visitors, and go as l came, u stran-
ger. But on every hand, on the streets,
in the home where crime wears its rich
est gliding, in the tabernacle, and even in
the very fountain of the polluted stream,
are plainly visible the melancholy evi-
dence of mingled fraud and infatuation,
of cunning wrong-doers and dsluded
wrong-sufferers.
The world elsewhere may be sought
in vain for despotism so relentless and
pitiless as is Mormonism. Kings and
Emperors rule millions of willing or un-
willing subjects, but there is no people
in utter, abject servility to their monarch.
There are churches wherein infalibility is
accorded to the head, OF limited power
of an absolute character conceded, but in
none could any spiritual potentate rise
up, as did Brigham Young on Sunday
last, before $500 people, and prescribe
their worldly actions, ordinary daily deal
ings, with the penalty of eternul damna-
ton proclaimed for disobedience. At
first glance the arrogant exercise of pow
er by the Mormon leaders, and the will
ling submission of their followers, bewil-
ders the observer, but when the whole
theory of this stupendous fraud is un-
raveled, the character ofits subjects stud
led, the thousand channels through which
absolute power reaches out and ramifies
into most every household, it ceases to
be incomprehensible A very large ma
jority of the Mormon people are the
serfs of the old world-not so, perhaps in
name in most cases, but so in fact.
They are Ignorant, superstitious,
fanatical, and ready victims for new
doctrine that promises to bring them in
to immediate communion with God.-
When ohce brought to the home of the
rints, often by the generous aid of the
Emigration Society, their temporal con-
dition is readily bettered, their social sta
tus is elevated to recognition by even the
inspired teachers, and they never learn
| aught else but submission to the dOgmas
of the church and the mandates of its a
postles. They, as a rule, remain aliens to
the Government, and no claim upon the
citizen is tolerated that in any degree
antagonizes the claims OF doctrines OF
the Church.
regard Brigham young as a greatly
under estimated man by most persons
in the east. They all Judge him mainly
by his ribald and often blasphcmous har-
angues from the pulpit, do not appreci
ate him as great administrator and 9
leader of surprising attainments. L first
saw him in his own business room. lie
was nearly OF perhaps quite alone when
/ entered, but instantly several side-doorS
opened, and half dozen brothers, sons
secretaries, &c. were seated around The
little Office. learn that he never sees
any person alone, unless he knows per
fectly the character of the visitor, an(
when strangers call on him his person is
guarded from possible assassination by
the apparently casual but evdently sys
tematic appearance of his immediate
friends He greets the visitor with Sc
rene dignity but faultless courtesy, ant
converses freely and quite intelligently
on all agreeable topics. He was evident
ly in no mood for talk about the inside
workings of Mormonism, and an inquiry
as to the number of his wives and chill
dren, and their health, would doubtless
have terminated the interview most alb
ruptly. He is well preserved man O
66 years, of medium height, rather cor
puient, with an abundant growth of ligh
auburn hair, and heavy crop of sand.
whiskers, excepting on his upper ane
lower lips. His eyes are very light, dul
blue, and wanting in expression, his nos
sharp and prominent, his lips thick an'
firmly set, and the whole give him tn
appearance of man of obstinate will
and cold, calculating purpose. His hea'
is of unusual shape. The face is quit
broad Just across the centre, and gradu
ally>narrows to the top of the forehead
and point of the chin, while his neck /
of uncommon thickness and describes
semi-oval line from the base of the hea'