The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1871-10-14
A %Crumbling Power.
From Inc New Orleans Picayune.

From Inc New Orleans P%icayune.
"Iama and will be Governor, and no power
can hinder me until the Lord Almighty
says: Brigham, you need not be Cover
nor any LONGER"
So said Brigham Young when the Presl-
dent of the United States sent Col. Steptoe
| 1854 with an inadequate force to install 4
new Governor. At that time B'igham had
been about six years the ruler of the Nor.
mon colony as its I! gu priest and temporal
chief magistIa ale. lie carried his point and
Col. Steptoc withdrew his troops, and tor
| two OF three years more the civil functions
of the Head Of the Lattcr-Day Saints were
not questioned. 1t has been pretty hard
work to convince the Prophet that there IS
any power in the United States to which his
own is subordinate, nor was it until the
gallant and noble Albert Sidney Johnston,
in 1857, invaded Utah with a competent
force that the great hierarch was willing to
acknowledge even the concurrent JnrlSdlc-
ton of Congress and the President. By a
mixture Of heroic %tirmness, wise policy and
charitable forbearance, the armed represent
tative Of Federal authority brought brigham
and his followers to reason. A civil Gov
crnor of the Territory was installed. a C.N,
District Court was placed in authority, and
everything was so quoted that Johnston
was enabled to withdraw his command in
1860.
Brigham Young WAS the son Of farmer
of Nottingham, Vermont, and a grandson
Of one Of the Revolutionary soldiers-a
Green Mountain Boy, who fought under
Ethan Allen, and through the entire war.
In 1882, when thi,ty-one years old, he
! turned mp at Kirkland, Ohio, and there uni
ted his fortunes with the Mormon sect, WHO
had a colony and temple at that place. lie
studied theology, was ordained as m cider
; and appointed one Of the twelve apostles Of
the Saints. Tie has adhered steadily TO the
brethren from that time forward. lie stood
OF the right hand of Joseph Smith in oil Of
the Mormon troubles in Ohio and in Mis-.
sonri, whence the growing sect were vio-
lently expelled in 1S38by the militia, under
the orders of the Governor. When Smith
found himself unable to cover with q gore
of blood" all the country between the At
lantic and the Rocky Mountains, as he had
Threatened, he withdrew his seven hundred
disciples 10 Illinois, whittier Young, his
.fdus Ach0tes followed him, sharing with
him his splendid speculations in the town
lots Of Nauyoo, by which Smith made a
million and the chief saints very handsome
nln
1t was here That the real troubles Of the
| Mormons originated. Before the walls Of
Nauvoo temple were reared polygamy was
no part Of Mormon faith and practice. 1t
was there added BY Smith as a spiritual reve-
~lation, at the same time that unlimited
power, spiritual and temporal, was assumed
and conceded. The Prophet, pulled up
with pride and rejoicing in his wealth, de-
fed local authorities, paraded his Nauvoo
Legion against the constabulary Of Illinois !;
but was at last arrested, and, while in jail,
killed by a mob, supposed to lie from
| Missouri.
The mantle Of Smith fell upon no second
rate man. Smith was narrow-minded and
ignorant, of base stock, a drunken, thievish.
illlterate, thriftless, lazy vagabond in his
youth, deluding his followers by cunning
devices, and at last ruinins them by forcing
upon them a dogma invented to shield his
own bestial %iniquity. Young was a man of
culture and varied talent and soon acquired
All VIC tStCt!uhtitS NttiCil LC lIScutI. IiC
planned the transfer of the growing colony
! from Nauvoo to Deseret, LAND ofthe Honey
Bee.) sent out pioneers, had corn and vege-
tables planted or stored along the route.
provided relays Of draft animals, planted
crops in Utah, and managed the whole
transfer Of ten thousand followers through
many hundred miles of uninhabited prairie
and wilderness without loss or suffering,
thus performing 4 feat of which the ablest
military leader might we'll be proud. His
government since this exodus U54S) has
been characterized by great sagacity. He
has not only secured q fortune of several
millions for himself "a prudent share of
which is funded in British c~onsols) but he
has made his colony prosperous. In 1850,
two years after the settlement, the Mor1nons
numbered II, $50. In 1860 the census gave
the territory 40, 273, although the census
ordered by Young gave q much greater
number. The census of 1870 gives a popu-
lation Of 6 $3.50, a part of which consists of
s~entiles. The wealth of the Mormons has
increased in a greater proportion still. They
live within they own resources. they are
cut off from the means OF luxurious indul-
gences, they are drilled in precepts and
practice Of industry, and they labor under
the direction Of capable men.
But whether prosperous Or in tribulation
Brigham Young has held continued auto
cratic sway over the Mormons, but few at
any time disputIng or resisting his mandates
Of mingled spiritualism and temporarily.
But from the tenor Of orr dispatches it
seems as if the voice had spoken, saying
brigham you need be Governor no longer
A law of Congress forbids poligamous prac,
tees in all our territories, and young will
be made TO, feel that he cannot long bid de-
tiance to our Government.