Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-11-30

n years at the most. 1t is q law of
ind that what we prophssy often we
DON come to wish for. know hun
dred men who began the late war as
merely doubling Democrats, stating we
never could conquer the South and the
like, who came out Of II redhot Copper
heads, praying for the success Of the re-
bellion. And so with the Mormons, /
can not make ore Of them angry quicker
than by persistently arguing that the
highest degree Of prosperity prevails In
the Northern States to-day, and my best
friends were ready to knock me down at
the statement that there were still more
men than women in the United States.
l showed them from the census that
the men were in q majority OF 73O, 600 in
1860; that by immigration we gained
several hundred thousand more men than
women, and did not lose, at the outside,
more than zoo, 900 in the war. They main
tanned that by authentic (?) Southern his
tories we lost in battle one million rebels
and two million Yankees How easy to
make men believe what they wish. All
the prosecutions " these people talk so
much of we're caused by Seutherners and
Democrats, and yet they are all rebel
sympsthizers and pro-slavery politicians,,
They may whine about their loyalty, and
do, sometimes, when there is anything TO
be gained by 1t; but send here Federal
Judge or officer, who refuses to be Brig
ham tool, and you soon hear their real
feelings toward the Union. just now
they are only waiting. waiting Few
weeks or months, till all shall go to de,
struction in the States, when they VIII
return and occupy their terrestrial heaven
jackson county, Missouri. 2nds TINS
vast mass OF ignorance has been wrougnt
upon and moldsd by few leaders TIL
the people are ready for any desperate
enterprise those men may direct. Inc
common people, nine-tenths OF them at
least, are naturally peaeeable, too; but
they are 30 internally priest-ridden that
their best qualities are as dangerous as
other mems worst.
Like the poor OF all lands, they are
constant in their attachments, but with
the favorites they have chosen, their con-
stancy is vice, rather than a virtue
The feeling OF the young prophets Tor
Elijah, OF the disciples for Christ OF the
devotees Tor the Vaiied rrophet, were
mere doubt and cold indifference COM
pared with the feeling most ct these peo-
pie have for Brigham Young and few
others And In this feeling q people are
madly walking to their own destruction,
who otherwise could be made the best OF
citizens The puzzhng point IN Mor-
monism is, that the mass OF the people
really possess the virtues claimed for
them, while the leaders and their tools
are really guilty OF all the crimes charged
upon them, and probably ten times as
many more. 1t is a noteworthy fact,
that visitors who come here without any
decided feelings either way, nearly al
ways form more favorable opinion at
first than they have after few months
residence. As the Bishop OF the Thir-
teenth Ward said in his sermon, few
months ago:
They come here aud seem to like US
very much; they cannot say enough in
praise of everything they see; they are
quite charmed, in fact; but after while
they find they don't like us quite as well
as they thought, so there's no trusting
them unless they become one with us"
etc.
/ conversed with one such few days
ago, gentleman of varied and extensive
travel, whose religious views are liberal,
even to looseness. He reached this city
at a time of general prosperity, when
there seemed to be nothing but good
feeling among all classes. Leading
Mormons met him cordially and gave
him all the information he desired, both
as to business and general facts. He
soon had many friends among the Nor
mons, and became in some sort their
advocate held long arguments in favor
Of those he considered malgned and
injured people. This was six months
ago; now that man is the most invete-
rate enemy of Brighamism to be found in |
Utah. was slow in arriving at the |
reasons for this, but there are good ones. |
Men of quiet tastes arrive here from |
railroad towns, where the offscourings of |
Christendom are gathered, and the ap-
parent change strikes them with great |
iorce. They are charmed with the quiet
and order and beauty that seem to pre-
rail on every hand, and in all converse.
ions it is carefully impressed upon their
minds that all this is the result of Brig
lamism and the institutions set an under |
{. Much more is claimed than is true,
md the visitor finding things better than
,e expected. is led to believe them better
han thew really are. But as he pro.
Iresses in knowledge his views of this
'aunted "quiet, order and beauty" begin