The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 Part 54

"You do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty G.o.d, his holy angels, and these witnesses, that you will avenge the blood of Joseph Smith upon this nation; and so teach your children; and that you will from this day henceforth and forever begin and carry out hostility against this nation, and keep the same a profound secret now and ever.

So help you G.o.d."

This memorial also set forth that the Mormons were practising polygamy in the Salt Lake Valley; that since their arrival there they had tried two Indian agents on a charge of partic.i.p.ation in the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri, and that they were, by their own a.s.sumed authority, imposing duties on all goods imported into the Salt Lake region from the rest of the United States. Senator Douglas, in an explanation concerning the latter charge, admitted that Delegate Babbitt acknowledged the levying of duties, the excuse being that the Mormons had found it necessary to set up a government for themselves, pending the action of Congress, and as a means of revenue they had imposed duties on all goods brought into and sold within the limits of Great Salt Lake City, but a.s.serted that goods simply pa.s.sing through were not molested. This tax seems to have been established entirely by the church authorities, the first of the "ordinances" of the Deseret legislature being dated January 15, 1850.

The const.i.tution of Deseret was presented to the House of Representatives by Mr. Boyd, a Kentucky Democrat, on January 28, 1850, and referred to the Committee on Territories. On July 25, John Wentworth, an Illinois Democrat, presented a pet.i.tion from citizens of Lee County, in his state, asking Congress to protect the rights of American citizens pa.s.sing through the Salt Lake Valley, and charging on the organizers of the State of Deseret treason, a desire for a kingly government, murder, robbery, and polygamy.

The Mormon memorial was taken up in the House of Representatives on July 18, after the committee had unanimously reported that "it is inexpedient to admit Almon W. Babbitt, Esq., to a seat in this body from the alleged State of Deseret." A long debate on the admission of the delegate from New Mexico had deferred action. The chairman of the committee, Mr.

Strong, a Pennsylvania Whig, explained that their report was founded on the terms of the Mormon memorial, which did not ask for Babbitt's reception as a delegate until some form of government was provided for them. Mr. McDonald, an Indiana Whig, offered an amendment admitting Babbitt, and a debate of considerable length followed, in which the slavery question received some attention. The Committee of the Whole voted to report to the House the resolution against seating Babbitt, and then the House, by a vote of 104 yeas to 78 nays, laid the resolution on the table (on motion of its friends), and tabled a motion for reconsideration. On the 9th of September following, the law for the admission of Utah as a territory was signed. The boundaries defined were California on the west, Oregon on the north, the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the east, and the 37th parallel of north lat.i.tude on the south.

CHAPTER VI. -- BRIGHAM YOUNG'S DESPOTISM

There is no reason to believe that, to the date of Joseph Smith's death, Brigham Young had inspired his fellow-Mormons with an idea of his leaders.h.i.+p. This was certified to by one of the most radical of them, Mayor Jedediah M. Grant of Salt Lake City, in 1852, in these words:--

"When Joseph Smith lived, a man about whose real character and pretensions we differ, Joseph was often and almost invariably imposed upon by those in whom he placed his trust. There was one man--only one of his early adherents--he could always rely upon to stick to him closer than a brother, steadfast in faith, clear in counsel, and foremost in fight. He seemed a plain man in those days, of a wonderful talent for business and hundred horse-power of industry, but least of everything affecting cleverness or quickness. 'Honest Brigham Young,' or 'hard-working Brigham Young,' was nearly as much as you would ever hear him called, though he was the almost universal executor and trustee of men's wills and trusteed estates, and a confidential manager of our most intricate church affairs."*

* Grant's pamphlet, "Truth about the Mormons."

When the Saints found themselves in Salt Lake Valley they had learned something from experience. They could not fail to realize that, distant as they now were from outside interference, union among themselves was an essential to success. The body of the church was soon composed of two elements--those who had const.i.tuted the church in the East, and the new members who were pouring in from Europe. Young established his leaders.h.i.+p with both of these parties in the early days. There was much to discourage in those days--a soil to cultivate that required irrigation, houses to build where material was scarce, and starvation to fight year after year. Young encouraged everybody by his talk at the church meetings, shared in the manual labor of building houses and cultivating land, and devised means to entertain and encourage those who were disposed to look on their future darkly. No one ever heard him, whatever others might say, doubt the genuineness of Joseph Smith's inspiration and revelations, and he so established his own position as Smith's successor that he secured the devout allegiance of the old flock, without making such business mistakes as weakened Smith's reputation. "I believed," says John D. Lee, one of the most trusted and prominent of the church members almost to the day of his death, "that Brigham Young spoke by the direction of the G.o.d of heaven. I would have suffered death rather than have disobeyed any command of his." Said Young's a.s.sociate in the First Presidency, Heber C. Kimball, "To me the word comes from Brother Brigham as the word of G.o.d," and again, "His word is the word of G.o.d to his people."*

The new-comers from Europe were simply helpless. They were, in the first place, religious enthusiasts, who believed, when they set out on their journey, that they were going to a real Zion. Large numbers of them were indebted to the church for at least a part of their pa.s.sage money from the day of their arrival. Few of those who had paid their own way brought much cash capital, all depending on the representations about the richness of the valley which had been held out to them. Once, there, they soon realized that all must sustain the same policy if the church was to be a success. They were, too, of that superst.i.tious cla.s.s which was ready, not only to believe in modern miracles, "signs," and revelations, but actually hungered for such manifestations, and, once accepting members.h.i.+p in the church, they accepted with it the dictation of the head of the church in all things. Secretary Fuller has told me that, after he ascertained the existence of gold near Salt Lake City, he said to an intelligent goldsmith there, "Why do you not look for the gold you need in your business in the mountains?" "Why," was the reply, "if I went to the mountains and found gold, and put it into my pouch, the pouch would be empty when I got back to the city. I know this is so, because Brigham Young has told me so."

* Journal of Discourses, VOL IV, p. 47.

The extent of the dictators.h.i.+p which Young prescribed and carried out in all matters, spiritual and commercial, might be questioned if we were not able to follow the various steps taken in establis.h.i.+ng his authority, and to ill.u.s.trate its scope, by the testimony, not of men who suffered from it, but by his own words and those of his closest a.s.sociates. With a blindness which seems incomprehensible, the sermons, or "discourses," delivered in the early days in Salt Lake City were printed under church authority, and are preserved in the journal of Discourses. The student of this chapter of the church's history can obtain what information he wants by reading the volumes of this Journal.

The language used is often coa.r.s.e, but there is never any difficulty in understanding the speakers.

Young referred to his own plain speaking in a discourse on October 6, 1855. He said that he had received advice about bridling his tongue--a wheelbarrow load of such letters from the East, especially on the subject of his attacks on the Gentiles. "Do you know," he asked, "how I feel when I get such communications? I will tell you. I feel just like rubbing their noses with them."* In a discourse on February 17, 1856, he vouchsafed this explanation, "If I were preaching abroad in the world, I should feel myself somewhat obliged, through custom, to adhere to the wishes and feelings of the people in regard to pursuing the thread of any given subject; but here I feel as free as air." **

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. III, p. 48.

** Ibid., p. 211.

Mention has already been made of Young's refusal to continue Smith's series of "revelations." In doing this he never admitted for a moment any lack of authority as spokesman for the Almighty. A few ill.u.s.trations will make clear his position in this matter. Defining his view of his own authority, before the General Conference in Salt Lake City, on April 6, 1850, he said, "It is your privilege and it is mine to receive revelation; and my privilege to dictate to the church." *

* Millennial Star, VOL XII, p, 273.

When the site of the Temple was consecrated, in 1853, there were many inquiries whether a revelation had been given about its construction.

Young said, "If the Lord and all the people want a revelation, I can give one concerning this Temple"; but he did not do so, declaring that a revelation was no more necessary concerning the building of a temple than it was concerning a kitchen or a bedroom.* We must certainly concede to this man a dictator's daring.

* Ibid., Vol. XV, p. 391.

An early ill.u.s.tration of Young's policy toward all Mormon offenders was given in the case of the so-called "Gladdenites." There were members of the church even in Utah who were ready to revolt when the open announcement of the "revelation" regarding polygamy was made in 1852, and they found a leader in Gladden Bishop, who had had much experience in apostasy, repentance, and readmission.* These men held meetings and made considerable headway, but when the time came for Brigham to exercise his authority he did it.

* "This Gladden gave Joseph much trouble; was cut off from the church and taken back and rebaptized nine times."--Ferris, "Utah and the Mormons," p. 326.

On Sunday, March 20, 1853, a meeting, orderly in every respect, which the Gladdenites were holding in front of the Council House, was dispersed by the city marshal, and another, called for the next Sunday, was prohibited entirely. Then Alfred Smith, a leading Gladdenite, who had accused Young of robbing him of his property, was arrested and locked up until he gave a promise to discontinue his rebellion. On the 27th of March Young made the Gladdenites the subject of a large part of his discourse in the Tabernacle. What he said is thus stated in the church report of the address:--

"I say to those persons: You must not court persecution here, lest you get so much of it you will not know what to do with it. Do not court persecution. We have known Gladden Bishop for more than twenty years, and know him to be a poor, dirty curse.... I say again, you Gladdenites, do not court persecution, or you will get more than you want, and it will come quicker than you want it. I say to you Bishops, do not allow them to preach in your wards." (After telling of a dream he had had, in which he saw two men creep into the bed where one of his wives was lying, whereupon he took a large bowie knife and cut one of their throats from ear to ear, saying, "Go to h.e.l.l across lots," he continued:) "I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here I will unsheath my bowie knife and conquer or die." (Great commotion in the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, a.s.senting to the declaration.) "Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line and righteousness to the plummet." (Voices generally, "Go it," "go it.") "If you say it is all right, raise your hand." (All hands up.) "Let us call upon the Lord to a.s.sist us in this and every good work." *

*Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 82.

This was the practical end of Gladdenism.

Young's dictators.h.i.+p was quite as broad and determined in things temporal as in things spiritual. He made no concealment of the fact that he was a money-getter, only insisting on his readiness to contribute to the support of church enterprises. The canyons through the mountains which shut in the valley were the source of wood supply for the city, and their control was very valuable. Young brought this matter before the Conference of October 9, 1852, speaking on it at length, and finally putting his own view in the form of a resolution that the canyons be placed in the hands of individuals, who should make good roads through them, and obtain their pay by taking toll at the entrance. After getting the usual unanimous vote on his proposition, he said: "Let the Judges of the County of Great Salt Lake take due notice and govern themselves accordingly.... This is my order for the judges to take due notice of. It does not come from the Governor, but from the President of the church. You will not see any proclamation in the paper to this effect, but it is a mere declaration of the President of the Conference."* The "declaration," of course, had all the effect of a law, and Young got one of the best canyons.

* Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, pp. 217, 218.

Very early in his rule Young defined his views about the property rights of the Saints. "A man," he declared in the Tabernacle on June 5, 1853, "has no right with property which, according to the laws of the land, legally belongs to him, if he does not want to use it.... When we first came into the valley, the question was asked me if men would ever be allowed to come into this church, and remain in it, and h.o.a.rd up their property. I say, no." *

* Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 252-253

Another view of property rights was thus set forth in his discourse of December 5, 1853:--

"If an Elder has borrowed [a hundred or a thousand dollars from you], and you find he is going to apostatize, then you may tighten the screws on him. But if he is willing to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip, it is none of your business what he does with the money he has borrowed from you." *

* Ibid, Vol. I, p. 340.

Addressing the people in the trying business year of 1856, when his own creditors were pus.h.i.+ng him hard, Young said:

"I wish to give you one text to preach upon, 'From this time henceforth do not fret thy gizzard.' I will pay you when I can and not before. Now I hope you will apostatize if you would rather do it."*

* Ibid., Vol. III, p. 4.

Kimball, in giving Young's order to some seventy men, who had displeased him, to leave the territory, used these words: "When a man is appointed to take a mission, unless he has a just and honorable reason for not going, if he does not go he will be severed from the church. Why?

Because you said you were willing to be pa.s.sive, and, if you are not pa.s.sive, that lump of clay must be cut off from the church and laid aside, and a lump put on that will be pa.s.sive." *