could not be engaged till the expected arrival of the hand-cart train. However, the proprietor, Mr. Townsend, a Mormon, from the State of Maine-when expelled from Nauvoo, he had parted with land, house, and furniture for $50-who had married an Englishwoman, was in the highest degree civil and obliging, and he attended personally to our wants, offered his wife's services to Mrs. Dana, and put us all in the best of humors, despite the closeness of the atmosphere, the sadness ever attending one's first entrance into a new place, the swarms of "emigration flies"-so called because they appear in September with the emigrants, and, after living for a month, die off with the first snow-and a certain populousness of bedstead, concerning which the less said the better. Such, gentle reader, are the results of my first glance at Zion on the tops of the mountains, in the Holy City of the Far West.

Our journey had occupied nineteen days, from the 7th to the 25th of August, both included; and in that time we had accomplished not less than 1136 statute miles.

CHAPTER IV.

First Week at Great Salt Lake City.-Preliminaries.

BEFORE entering upon the subject of the Mormons I would fain offer to the reader a few words of warning. During my twenty-four days at head-quarters, ample opportunities of surface observation were afforded me. I saw, as will presently appear, specimens of every class, from the Head of the Church down to the field-hand, and, being a stranger in the land, could ask questions and receive replies upon subjects which would have been forbidden to an American of the States, more especially to an official. But there is in Mormondom, as in all other exclusive faiths, whether Jewish, Hindoo, or other, an inner life into which I can not flatter myself or deceive the reader with the idea of my having penetrated. At the same time, it is only fair to state that no Gentile, even the unprejudiced, who are rare aves, however long he may live or intimately he may be connected with Mormons, can expect to see any thing but the superficies. The writings of the Faithful are necessarily wholly presumed. And, finally, the accounts of Life in the City of the Saints published by antiMormons and apostates are venomous, and, as their serious discrepancies prove, thoroughly untrustworthy. I may therefore still hope, by recounting honestly and truthfully as lies in my power what I heard, and felt, and saw, and by allowing readers to draw their own conclusions, to take new ground.

The Mormons have been represented, and are generally believed to be, an intolerant race; I found the reverse far nearer the fact. The best proof of this is that there is hardly one anti-Mormon publication, however untruthful, violent, or scandalous, which I did not find in Great Salt Lake City.* The extent of the sub

* A list of works published upon the subject of Mormonism may not be uninteresting. They admit of a triple division-the Gentile, the anti-Mormon, and the Mor

mon.

Of the Gentiles, by which I understand the comparatively unprejudiced observer, the principal are,

1. The Exploration and Survey of the Great Salt Lake by Captain Stansbury, who followed up Colonel Frémont's flying survey in 1849, or two years before the Mormons had settled in the basin, and found the young colony about 2-3 years old. Anti-Mormons find fault with Captain Stansbury for expending upon their adversaries too much of the milk of human kindness.

2. The Mormons or Latter-Day Saints, by Lieutenant J. W. Gunnison, of the U. S. Topographical Engineers. This officer was second in command of the exploration under Captain Stansbury, and has recorded, in unpretending style and with great impartiality, his opinions concerning the "rise and progress, peculiar doctrines, personal conditions and prospects" of the Mormons, "derived from personal observation." Like his commanding officer, Lieutenant Gunnison is accused of having favored the New

1

joined bibliographical list would deter me from a theme so used up by friend and foe, were it not for these considerations. In the Faith, and yet, with all the inconsistency of the odium theologicum, the Faithful are charged with his subsequent murder; the only motive of the foul deed being that the Saints dreaded future disclosures, and were determined, though one of their number had been sent to accompany Captain Stansbury as assistant, to prevent other expeditions. Upon Lieutenant Gunnison's volume is founded "Les Mormons" of M. Etourneau, first printed in the "Presse," and afterward republished, Paris, 1856.

3. The Mormons; a Discourse delivered before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, March 26th, 1850, by Colonel T. L. Kane (U. S. Militia): this gentleman, an eye-witness, who has touchingly, and, I believe, truthfully related the details of the Nauvoo Exodus, is called by anti-Mormons an "apologist," and is suspected of being a Latter-Day Saint-baptized under the name of Dr. Osborne-in Christian disguise. Arrived at Fort Bridger in 1857, he found assembled there the three heads of departments, Governor Cumming, Chief Justice Eccles, and General Johnston. According to the Saints, he was watched, spied, treated as a Mormon emissary, and nearly shot by a mistake made on purpose; he was, however, supported by the governor against the general, and the result was a coolness most favorable to the New Faith. Colonel Kane is said to have preserved an affectionate and respectful remembrance of his friends the Mormons.

4. History of the Mormons, by Messrs. Chambers, Edinburgh.

5. An Excursion to California, over the Prairies, Rocky Mountains, and Great Sierra Nevada, by W. Kelly, Esq., J. P. Mr. Kelly, whose work shared at the time of its appearance the interest and admiration of the public with Messrs. Huc and Gabet's Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and the Chinese Empire, visited Great Salt Lake City in 1849, an important epoch in the annals of the infant colony, and leaves the reader only to regret that he devoted so little of his time and of his two volumes to the history of the Saints.

6. The Mormons or Latter-Day Saints, with Memoirs of the Life of Joseph Smith, the American Mahomet. Office of the National Illustrated Library, 198 Strand, London. This little compilation, dealing with facts rather than theories, borrows from the polemics of both parties, and displays the calmness of judgment which results from studying the subject at a distance; though Gentile, it is somewhat in favor with Mormons because it shows some desire to speak the truth. This solid merit has won it the honor of an abridged translation with the title "Les Mormons” (292 pages in 12mo, Messrs. Hachette, Paris, 1854), by M. Amédée Pichot, and a brilliant review by M. Prosper Mérimée in the "Moniteur," and reprinted in "Les Mélanges Historiques et Littéraires" (p. 1-58, Michel Levy, 1855).

7. A Visit to Salt Lake, and a Residence in the Mormon Settlements at Utah, by William Chandless. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1857. Mr. Chandless, about the middle of July, 1855, crossed the prairies in the character of a "teamster for pay," spent the end of the year at Great Salt Lake City, and thence traveled via Fillmore and San Bernardino to California. The book is exceedingly lively and picturesque, combining pleasant reading with just observation, impartiality, and good sense.

8. Voyage au Pays des Mormons, par Jules Remy (2 vols., E. Dentu, Paris, 1860). The author, accompanied by Mr. Brenchley, M.A., traveled in July and the autumn of 1855 from San Francisco along the line of the Carson and Humboldt Rivers to Great Salt Lake City, and returned, like Mr. Chandless, by the southern road. The two volumes are more valuable for the observations on the natural history of the little-known basin, than for the generalisms, more or less sound, with which the subject of the New Faith is discussed.

Not a few anomalies appear in the judgments passed by M. Remy upon the Saints: while in some places they are represented as fervent and full of faith, we also read: "Le Mormonisme n'a pas caractère de spontanéité des religions primitives, ce qui va, du reste, de soi, ni la naïveté des religions qui suivirent, ni la sincérité des révélations ou des réformes religieuses qui, durant les siècles derniers, ont pris place dans l'histoire ;" and while Mr. Joseph Smith is in parts tenderly treated, he is ruthlessly characterized in p. 24 as un fourbe et un imposteur, a "savage and gigantic Tartuffe." An excellent English translation of this work has lately appeared, under the auspices of Mr. Jeffs, Burlington Arcade, but an account of Great Salt Lake City in 1855 is as archæological as a study of London life in A.D. 1800.

3:

first place, I have found, since my return to England, a prodigious general ignorance of the "Mormon rule;" the mass of the public has heard of the Saints, but even well-educated men hold theirs

9. Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West, by M. Carvalho, who accompanied Colonel Frémont in his last exploration. According to anti-Mormons, the account of the Saints is far too favorable (1856).

10. Geological Survey of the Territory of Utah, by H. Englemann. Washington,

1860.

The principal anti-Mormon works are the following, ranged in the order of their respective dates. The Cons, it will be observed, more than treble the Pros.

1. A brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly called Mormons), including an Account of their Doctrine and Discipline, with the reason of the Author for leaving the said Church, by John Corrill, a member of the Legislature of Missouri (50 pages, 8vo, St. Louis, 1839). I know nothing beyond the name of this little work, or of the nine following.

2. Addresses on Mormonism, by the Rev. Hays Douglas (Isle of Man, 1839). 3. Mormonism weighed in the Balances of the Sanctuary and found Wanting, by Samuel Haining (66 pages, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1839).

4. The Latter-Day Saints and Book of Mormon. By W. J. Morrish, Ledbury. 5. An Exposure of the Errors and Fallacies of the Self-named Latter-Day Saints. By W. Hewitt, Staffordshire.

6. Tract on Mormonism. By Capt. D. L. St. Clair. (1840.)

7. Mormonism Unveiled. By E. D. Howe. (1841.)

8. Mormonism Exposed. By the Rev. L. Sunderland. (1841.)

9. Mormonism Portrayed; its Errors and Absurdities Exposed, and the Spirit and Designs of its Author made Manifest. By W. Harris (64 pages, Warsaw, Illinois, 1841).

10. Mormonism in all Ages; or, the Rise, Progress, and Causes of Mormonism; with the Biography of its Author and Founder, Joseph Smith, junior. By Professor J. B. Turner, Illinois College, Jacksonville. (304 pages, 12mo, New York, 1842.) 11. Gleanings by the Way. By the Rev. John A. Clark, D.D. (352 pages in 12mo, Philadelphia, 1842), Minister at Palmyra in New York at the time when the New Faith arose.

12. The History of the Saints, or an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. By John C. Bennett (344 pages, 12mo, Boston, 1842). This is the work of a celebrated apostate, who for a season took a prominent propagandist part in the political history of Mormondom. Defeated in his hopes of dominion, he has revenged himself by a volume whose title declares the character of its contents, and which wants nothing but the confidence of the reader to be highly interesting. The Mormons speak of him as the Musaylimat el Kazzáb-Musaylimat the Liar, who tried, and failed to enter into partnership with Mohammed-of their religion.

The four following works were written by the Rev. Henry Caswall, a violent antiMormon, who solemnly and apparently honestly believes all the calumnies against the "worthless family" of the Prophet; unhesitatingly adopts the Solomon Spaulding story, discovers in Mormon Scripture as many "anachronisms, contradictions, and grammatical errors" as ever Celsus and Porphyry detected in the writings of the early Christians, and designates the faith in which hundreds of thousands live and die as a “delusion in some respects worse than paganism, and a system destined perhaps to act like Mohammedanism (!) as a scourge upon corrupted Christianity” (sub. the American?). The Mormons speak of this gentleman as of a 19th century Torquemada: he appears by his own evidence to have combined with the heart of the great inquisitor some of the head qualities of Mr. Coroner W when insisting upon the unhappy Fire-king's swallowing his (Mr. W.'s) prussic acid instead of the pseudopoison provided for the edification of the public. Mr. Caswall went to Nauvoo holding in his hand an ancient MS. of the Greek Psalter, and completely, according to his account, puzzled the Prophet, who decided it to be "reformed Egyptian." Moreover, he convicted of falsehood the "wretched old creature," viz., the maternal parent of Mr. Joseph Smith, called a mother in Israel, looked upon as one of the holiest of women, and who, at any rate, was a good and kind-hearted mother, that could not be reproached, like Luther's, with "chastising her son so severely about a nut that the blood came." It is no light proof of Mormon tolerance that so truculent a

to be a kind of socialistic or communist concern, where, as in the world to come, there is no marrying nor giving in marriage.

divine and opponent par voie de fait should have been allowed to depart from among a people whom he had offended and insulted without loss of liberty or life.

13. The City of the Mormons, or three Days in Nauvoo in 1842 (87 pages, Messrs. Rivingtons, London, 1843).

14. The Prophet of the 19th Century; or, the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Mormons (277 pages, 8vo, published by the same, London, 1843).

15. Joseph Smith and the Mormons. Chapter xiii. of America and the American Church (John and Charles Mozley, Paternoster Row, London, 1851).

16. Mormonism and its Author; or, a Statement of the Doctrines of the LatterDay Saints. London: Tract Society, No. 866 (16 pages, 1858).

17. Narrative of some of the Proceedings of the Mormons, giving an Account of their Iniquities, with Particulars concerning the Training of the Indians by them; Descriptions of their Mode of Endowment, Plurality of Wives, &c. By Catharine Lewis Lynn (24 pages, 8vo, 1848). As will presently appear, when the fair sex enters upon the subject of polygamy, it apparently loses all self-control, not to say its

senses.

18. Friendly Warnings on the Subject of Mormonism. By a Country Clergyman (London, 1850).

19. The Mormon Imposture: an Exposure of the Fraudulent Origin of the Book of Mormon (8vo, Newbury, London, 1851).

20. Mormonism Exposed. By Mr. Bowes. (1851.)

21. Mormonism or the Bible; a Question for the Times. By a Cambridge Clergyman (12mo, Cambridge and London, 1852). According to Mormon view, the title should have been Mormonism and the Bible.

22. History of Illinois. By Governor Ford (Chicago, 1854). The author was a determined opponent of the New Faith, and gives his own version of the massacres at Carthage and Nauvoo: it is valuable only on the venerable principle "audi alteram partem."

23. Mormonism. By J. W. Conybeare, first printed in the "Edinburgh Review" (No. ccii., April, 1854, and reprinted in 112 pages, 12mo, by Messrs. Longman, London, 1854).

24. Utah and the Mormons; the History, Government, Doctrines, Customs, and Prospects of the Latter-Day Saints, from Personal Observations during a Six-months' Residence at Great Salt Lake City. By Benjamin G. Ferris, late Secretary of Utah Territory (347 pages, 12mo, Messrs. Harper, New York, 1854). The author being married, appears to have lived among them to as little purpose-for observation-as possible. Every thing is considered from an anti-Mormon point of view, and some of the accusations against the Saints, as in the case of the Eldridges and the Howards, I know to be not founded on fact. The calmness of the work, upon a highly exciting subject, contrasts curiously with the feminine violence-the natural result of contemplating polygamy—of another that issued under the same name.

25. Mormonism Unveiled; or, a History of Mormonism to the Present Time (235 pages, 8vo, London, 1855).

26. Mormonism Examined: a few Kind Words to a Mormon (8vo, Birmingham, 1855).

27. Female Life among the Mormons, published anonymously for the demand of the New York market, and especially intended for the followers of Miss Lucy Stone and of the Rev. Miss Antoinette Brown, but known to be by Mrs. Maria Ward, who subsequently edited another work. The authoress, who professes to have escaped from the Mormons, was manifestly never among them. This "tissu de mensonges et de calomnies," as M. Remy somewhat ungallantly, but very truthfully styles it, has had extensive currency. M. Révoil has given a free translation of it, under the name of "Les Harems du Nouveau Monde" (308 pages, Paris, 1856). Its success was such that its writeress was in 1858 induced to repeat the experiment.

28. The Mormons at Home; in a Series of Letters, by Mrs. Ferris, wife of the late United States Secretary for Utah Territory (Dix and Edwards, Broadway, New York, 1856). The reasons for this lady's rabid hate may be found in polygamy, which is calculated to astound, perplex, and enrage fair woman in America even more than her strong-opinioned English sister, and in the somewhat contemptuous