The Portland daily press., 1871-11-07


i-Ls TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, ISL 4a@
What a WI orn,on hIder Says Of Mormon
ism.
Twenty-six years ago rowing youngster' |
E. B. Trip, left Wilton, Maine, to seek his
fortune, like SO many other young men, III
the far West. AT that time he was In VIVA.
he now calls "the merchandise business
and travelled extensively in the western
States. Happening to be in the lv,cinisy u
Nauvoo, he heard OF the death Oh the PRO
a. pbet,' Joseph Smith and the contemplated
. removal of that strange people, the Nor.
mons, from their home. Trip was then in
entire sympathy with the hostility to the Nor
&. mons that is almost UNIVERSAL among persons
not connected with that church. But he con-
Guided to visit Nauvoo in the way OF business,
naturally believing that the fugitive people
would dispose of their property on reasona-s
BILE terms. His visit resulted in Changing The
whole current Of his life. He became pros
elyte, has chung to the church of Joseph
Smith through all its vicissitudes, and when
he walked into our Office yesterday he came
as Mormon elder of many years standing,
hrm in the faith and in the practice OF polyga-
my. He has the qhnpistakable look OF a re-
ligious, enthusiast--a man who, If hard push
ed, would not hesitate to abandon his home,
= property and country rather than yield to
dictation as to his religion and its observan-
ces, and who, in an extremity, would even
turn his long, thin, Puritan face with its stern
grey eyes, against the foes of his people,
fighting them with carnal weapons. He
comes to Maine to visit his AGED parents who
are still living in Ripley. One OF his brothers,
VIM. Trip, now Surveyor General of pako-
tab Territory,was President of the Maine Sen
ate in 1S49. Another brother, Bartlett Trip
late law partner of Hon. e. f. Pillsbury of
Augusta, belongs to the Mormon church, hay
ing resided in Utah from 1860 till sometime
In 1866. - .....-..--
Elder Trip, who has the appearance of a
sincere and honorable man, possessed of
much more shrewdness and common sense
than culture, left Salt Lake City the day the
verdict in the Hawkins case was given. He
expresses himself very freely, though with
great moderation, in relation to the legal pro-
ceeding against the Saints" In his opinion
the Mormons will not resort to armed resist
,ance to the authorities in any emergency that
is likely to arise, though he can conceive Of
degree OF persecution where they might in
despair appeal to the sword. But they fully
appreciate the power of the government and
the inequality Of the struggle in which they
would in that case engage. Elder Trip
thinks the present troubles will be peaceably
settled in one of two ways. Brigham Young
proposes to test the legality Of the prosecu-
!. tions that have been set on foot, In the Su-
preme Court of the United States. He will
quietly await the decision of that tribunal be-
fore taking any further steps whatever, be-
, lieving that Mormons cannot be convicted of
adultery under the territorial law passed
by Mormon Legislature. II the decision is
against him, Elder Trip hopes that an ar
rangement can be effected by which all mar
rage contracts already made can be legiti-
mated, or at least undisturbed, on condition
that no more polygamous marriages are per-
United. Hei not prepared to say that his
people would be willing to make such con
cession, but he himself seems to favor it. In
travelling through the country and convers-
ing with Influential men of the "Gentiles," he
finds, much to his qualification, that such a
settlement of the difficulty would give almost
universal satisfaction, no vindictive feeling be.
ing anywhere cherished The other alterna-
tive, to be resorted to in case the compromise
% Is rejected, either by the Mormons or the gov
eminent, is the abandonment of Utah and
the building of new city beyond the limits
- OF the United States. For this the Nor
mons .are4fqlly prepared, though they con-
fdently hope. to escape the terrible necessity
Of another exodus. 81
Elder Trip scouts the notion, constantly
reiterated in our Gentle papers, that Brig.
ham Young's journey southwark is a fight.
Young is now an old man, weighed down by
a, the immense labors and cares OF bis. position,
land he is going to the southern part of the
Territory for his health, as he did last winter.
- When his case comes up for trial in March he
q will appear. Speaking of the Salt Lake dis
patch OF Monday, saying that the act against
adultery was passed by Mormon Legisla-
ture six months before they adopted polyga-
amy, he says that his people have practiced
polygamy from the very beginning of their
residence id Utah. Until the summer of 1852
however, it was one of their church myster-
les, At that time 0rson Pratt went to Wash
ington and published book called The Seer,
in. which he boldly proclaimed that God in
these latter days had commanded men to
take more than one wife. Ia... 0iasesfisg5i
- Elder Trip emphaticay denies that the
Saints are disloyal, affirming that no people
are more firmly attached TO the constitution
of the United States. This,is not the pop
nlar impression, but it is certainly one of
which everybody will be gladly convinced.
To the Presque Isle Sunrise we would say
that we cannot undertake an argument with
willo-the-wisp. If it wants to participate
in the honest, courteous discussion of the
subject of railroad subsidies that has sprung
up between the PRESS and the Whig it has
begun in the wrong way. We we'll under
stood in the beginning that some of the
friends of the subsidy scheme would be likely
to attempt to divert attention from the merits
of the case by resorting to personalities We
have an entirely disinterested purpose-a
thing we fear our Presaue Isle contemporary
cannot cOnceive-t0 arouse the people of the