The New York herald., 1870-02-20
The Mormons-Wiil They Treat for aH
Exodus or Fight for Utahs


The Mormons-Win They Treat for an
Exodus or Fight for Utahs
In regard to the terrible CuIlom bill ''in aid
Of the execution of the laws in the Territory
of Utah." the organ OF Brigham Young at
Great Salt Lake City, the Epening Neaos, has
declared in behalf of the Utah saints that
they Shave no objection to the passage of this
or any bill-the more obnoxious the better /"
that it will not injure the people Of Utah,
though 1t may give them trouble, but that
''there is one resolve, however, which we
have heard expressed, which we trust will
never be forgotten-no mob, sanctioned by
law or otherwise, shall ever enjoy undisturbed
the fruits of our toll. We would rather see
this land UtahD converted again into will
derness and the labors of twenty-five years
swept away in few hours than that our enc
mics shall find that reward for their villany in
our possessions"
This means that if any attempt by the gov
ernment shall be made to enforce the laws OF
the United States in reference to polygamy in
Utah, and that if the saints shall not be equal
to the expulsion Of the United States military
force that may be sent against them, they will
lay waste by fire their homes and their i'm
provements, and leave Utah the wilderness
which they found it. This is the raving of
lunatic; for with the destruction of their
settlements the poor Mormons would be left
completely at the mercy Of the government
ha s,, .h rhov,
hundred and twenty-five thousand souls, all
told-men, women and children. The general
character of their territory is that Of desert,
with here and there, as in the deserts Of Ara
bia and Africa, pretty and fertile valley,
with its fresh water stream or streams.
Nearly all these GASES in Utah, avail
able for cultivation by irrigation, have
been appropriated and made productive by
the Industrious Mormons. But beyond these
settlements on all sides is the bowling wilder
ness of sandy wastes and rocky mountains
With the destruction Of their settlements, then,
the Mormons would instantly be reduced to
for even their cattle, removed from
their settlement pastures, would perish. In
found no native four-foote animals in it larger
than the desert sagebush rabbit and the wolf,
and the few native Indians he encountered he
found mainly subsisting upon crickets, grass
hoppers, lizards and "such small deer"
The Mormons, being so situated, are incapa-
BILE of military resistance even against regi-
ment of well appointed United States troops.
Brigham Young well aware of his defenceess
position in an appeal to arms, has never seri-
ously thought OF such thing. But still the
question recurs, ii the pains and penalties Of
outlawry, fines and imprsonments are to be
passed against Mormon polygamists, and a de-
tachment of the United States Army is to be
sent out to Utah to protect the civil officers in
carrying out the law, what will the Prophet
do? The Pacific Railroad has simply rendered
Mormon polygamy in Utah unsafe to-day and
impossible tomorrow. In the course of q year
or two, if left alone by the government the
institution will be removed by the Gentiles,
and perhaps in the most dreadful scenes of fire
and destruction. Humanity to the Mormons,
not less than decent respect for the obliga-
tions due to the general law of American
society, demands the Intervention of the gov
ernment either for the peaceable abolition
of Mormon polygamy or for the quiet re-
moval Of the Mormon saints to some other
country; and it is in the names of humanity
and charity that we would call the earnest
attention Of Brigham Young to the necessity of
preparing for the one alternative or the other