Year: 1871

were nearly starved before the winter ended,
but in the spring they set to work for them
selves and the main body Of their people for
the next winter. This main body went out in
lS4S, and their sufferings and endurance on
the way are among the most remarkable events
in the history of any people.


They built up a prosperous community in
the oases of the Utah desert. Their Salt Lake
settlement was the halfway victualling station
of our overland pioneers to the California gold
and the Nevada silver mines; and Brigham
Young and the Mormons, though much against
their wishes and their peculiar interests, did
good service in the building of the Pacific
Railroad. Now, in consideration of these and
other services to the country, and having been
tolerated so long in their polygamy by the gov
ernment, we think that justice to the Mormons
should be tempered with mercy.


What shall we do with them2 Some eight
or ten years ago an adventurous Virginian,
sailor, Of the name Of Gibson, who had had
some rough but romantic experience in the
island of Java, went out to the
Sandwich Islands as an ambassador,
we believe, from Brigham Young, to
negotiate for the purchase Of one or two of
those islands. The idea with Gibson was that
a group of tropical or semi-tropical islands in
the Pacific Ocean was the manifest destiny of
the Mormons, because it was only in some
such destination that they could live, prosper
and be recognized by the civilized world as an
independent State with their polygamy, to the
fullest enjoyment thereof If Brigham Young
were in his prime we might look for some
such exodus as this from Utah but now it
would be too much for him. His community
is too cumbersome to be shipped of, and there
is no place for it but Utah. Let Mormon
polygamy be abolished; but let President
Grant, while pursuing the ends of justice and
morality, prepare for such recommendations
to Congress at the coming session as will meet
the ends of humanity in the needful provision
for those Mormon wives and children who in
the simple enforcement of the law as it stands,
will be left not only widows and orphans, but
penniless vagrants. The aim, then, and the
object of this article, is to call the attention
of the President to the question of humanity
touching these Mormons and to the propriety
and expediency of recommending to Congress
some special legislation on this subject. We
throw out this suggestion, too, because we
know that General Grant is humane man,
and seeks, in his admins tration of Justice, to
spare the innocent while furnishing the guilty.
MIR. Gladstone the Condition of Eng.
Parliamentary constituents on Blackheath
Common, near Greenwich, yesterday. The
assemblage was mutitudinous his reception
by the people enthusiastic. Mr.. Gladstone's
address, as we have its main points reported
by cable, purported to present review of the
present situation of the English nation. 1t
was really defence of his own administration
and its policy in the past, while pro-
nouncing promises of reforms for the
future. These reforms contemplate changes


constitutional and changes electoral. The
economic discipline of the government with
regard to the savings which were lately
effected in the naval yards was defended in
such manner as to soothe the ruffled feelings
of the working democracy of the country.
The Premier eulogized the Queen. He held
out a finger of warning to the House of
Lords. In this he wished doubtless to init
mate that the Crown will remain intact and
secure, even if its hereditary aristocratic
props should be swept away by the wild Of the
people. The "House of Lords might need
REFORM" Such words spoken from such
source may come to be regarded as the de-
lendd of feudalism and of the law of first
at the least, point out a subject for
future agitation, an agitation perhaps of the
most formidable character which Britain
has yet experienced. The Ballot bill will be
brought forward again. Ireland has been
conciliated. The abolition of the system of
purchase of army commissions is source of
congratulation. The public health will be
cared for by the passage Of revised sanitary
laws.


Premier Gladstone has, on the whole, made
a very able Ministerial exposition. This ex-
position may have considerable effect in in
ducing his retention in Office, always pro-
vided that no British radical of note bids
higher for the voice of the people or that
Disraeli will not resolve to lead British
movement for the accomplishment OF a con-
stitutional revolution Of more sweeping
character than that which is contemplated by
the present Cabinet.


The POpe and His TrOubles.


Plus the Ninth, as he grows older, is not
finding that the world is coming round to his
way of thinking. He feels his end approach