The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-12-25
THEN a full history of the Mormon
M Il 70 hn

A
ANI people shall come to be written,
Wv its author, whether he be friendly
or hostile, and every attentive
reader, whether he be bitterly opposed or
generously partial to the subject of the
work, will not fail to be impressed with
two remarkable facts. One is that in all
the course of their interesting and troub
lous career, though marked at every stage
by honesty, thrift and good order, the PEG
pie were constantly maligned by their
neighbors and accused of views and prac-
tees inimical to the peace and welfare OF
the country. The other is that no sooner
was one subterfuge of their opponents
pierced by the light of truth and utterly
disproved, than a second was brought for
ward and urged successfully throughout
the confines of township, county, state and
nation. The ingenuity of their enemies
has thus been shown n formulated charges
of stealing, swindling, immortality, murder,
rebellion and, at last, treason. 1t may
not be improper to say that third
fact will be no less prominent than the
two mentioned. 1t is that after each on
slaught, no matter how great the increase
strength. in numbers, in prosperity and in
the ability to withstand every kind OF
attack. They were mobbed and plundered
before they came into possession of and
made beautiful their lovely gathering spot,
Nauvoo. They were hunted and driven by
bloodthirsty men before they developed
and made homes in the Great Basin. An
army was sent against them to eXterminate
item before they came into the prosperity
which attended the building of the rail
road They had to suffer imported officials,
hostile legislation, fines, Imprisonment al d
finally denial of the elective franchise, te-
fore their cities came to be regarded
throughout the continent as desiral lie
places to live, models Of sobriety, syncny-
nous with health beauty, wealth and good
order Their members have been robted,
murdered, driven, impris oled, and now de-
prived of the common rights for which the
patriots bled and died. Yetthey are to-day
more numerous, more wealthy, more
powerful to show in their lives the sin
certify of their professions and the divinity
of their cause, than ever before.
We have said that the honest walk and
conduct of the Mormons has put to the Sc
verest test the ingenuity of the enemy.
Let US see how many times the latter has
been forced to abandon his position, and
how often he has changed his front. Sixty
years rarely furnish sufficient review of
the history of a whole community to meet
the requirements of a just comparison
In the present instance, however, the
sixty years have been so crowded with
eyents-dissimila indeed in their nature,
but identical in their purpose-that there
is ample material for such consideration as
the moment seems appropriately to in
vite
What is known as the Mormon Church
had scarcely come into existence before its
members began to feel the pressure of
hostile surroundings. Within four years,
a space of time that under the most zeal
GUS PROSECUTING could not make any religious
system formidable in point of numbers, a
series of murderous assaults, in which
brutality to women and children, cruel VIC
lence to men, ana wanton destruction to
property were distinguishing features, was
directed against the unpopular sect
Armed mobs, consisting of wild frontiers
men, but led by educated bigots and sus-
tanned by the authority of the common
wealth, waited upon the little colony with
orders to leave the state forthwith. Fifteen
minutes was the limit of time allowed for
the consideration of an edict involving the
loss of all that industry had accumulated,
besides train of sorrows and sufferings
which the heart of man could only imagine
81, = no hor, Of
departure was afterwards extended, there
was no modification of the absolute terms
imposed. "Our Jackson county boys" said
Lieutenant Governor Boggs, "have shown
what they can do" The prosecuted set
tiers were left 10 draw their own inference.
1t was compliance with the infamous de-
mands of the mob, or death at their hands.
Before yielding assent the people ad-
dressed petition after petition to the gov
ernor of the state, who replied in senti-
mental language, but gave no promise of
protection. A communication from the
secretary of war, in behalf of the President
of the United States, was filed with like
expressions For five years the inhuman
work of the mobocrats went On. Whether
as mere rabble of citizens with self chosen
leaders, or as sheriff's posse with vague
authority, or as the militia of the state act
ing under orders of the executive, the pro
cess was the same. The brand of the in
cendiary and the musket of the assassin
enforced the original demand. Five coun-
ties of Missouri were in turn abandoned by
the best citizens of the state. Their thirty
ing settlements were a smoking ruin-the
soil had drank their blood
In all the correspondence preceding the
completio" of the expulsion, which TOOK
place in the dead ofwinter, 1899 and under
circumstances at once pitiful and shocking,
there is not single charge officially made
against the exiles. tits true the mobocrats