The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California

Chapter VI (2)

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March 18th, 1849. Albert Carrington, chairman of the Committee,
reported the following Constitution, which was read and unanimously
adopted by the Convention:

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF DESERÉT.

PREAMBLE.--Whereas a large number of the citizens of the United
States, before and since the Treaty of Peace with the Republic of
Mexico, emigrated to, and settled in that portion of the territory of
the United States lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and in the great
interior Basin of Upper California; and

Whereas, by reason of said treaty, all civil organization originating
from the Republic of Mexico became abrogated; and

Whereas the Congress of the United States has failed to provide
a form of civil government for the territory so acquired, or any
portion thereof; and

Whereas civil government and laws are necessary for the security,
peace, and prosperity of society; and

Whereas it is a fundamental principle in all republican governments
that all political power is inherent in the people, and governments
instituted for their protection, security, and benefit should emanate
from the same:

Therefore your committee beg leave to recommend the adoption of the
following CONSTITUTION until the Congress of the United States shall
otherwise provide for the government of the Territory hereinafter
named and described by admitting us into the Union. WE, THE PEOPLE,
grateful to the SUPREME BEING for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and
feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings,
DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH A FREE AND INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT, by the
name of the STATE OF DESERÉT, including all the territory of the
United States within the following boundaries, to wit: commencing at
the 33° of north latitude, where it crosses the 108° of longitude,
west of Greenwich; thence running south and west to the boundary of
Mexico; thence west to and down the main channel of the Gila River
(or the northern line of Mexico), and on the northern boundary
of Lower California to the Pacific Ocean; thence along the coast
northwesterly to the 118° 30′ of west longitude; thence north to
where said line intersects the dividing ridge of the Sierra Nevada
mountains; thence north along the summit of the Sierra Nevada
mountains to the dividing range of mountains that separate the waters
flowing into the Columbia River from the waters running into the
Great Basin; thence easterly along the dividing range of mountains
that separate said waters flowing into the Columbia River on the
north, from the waters flowing into the Great Basin on the south, to
the summit of the Wind River chain of mountains; thence southeast and
south by the dividing range of mountains that separate the waters
flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the waters flowing into the Gulf
of California, to the place of beginning, as set forth in a map drawn
by Charles Preuss, and published by order of the Senate of the United
States in 1848.

The Mormons have another complaint, touching the tenure of their land. The United States have determined that the Indian title has not been extinguished. The Saints declare that no tribe of aborigines could prove a claim to the country, otherwise they were ready to purchase it in perpetuity by pay, presents, and provisions, besides establishing the usual reservations. Moreover, the federal government has departed from the usual course. The law directs that the land, when set off into townships, six miles square with subdivisions,[163] must be sold at auction to the highest bidder. The Mormons represent that although a survey of considerable tracts has been completed by a federal official, they are left to be mere squatters that can be ejected like an Irish tenantry, because the government, knowing their ability and readiness to pay the recognized pre-emption price ($1 25 per acre), fear lest those now in possession should become lawful owners and permanent proprietors of the soil.[164] Polygamy is here again to blame.

[163] Viz., the section of one square mile, the half section =320
acres, and the quarter section of 160 acres: the latter is the legal
grant to military settlers. The pre-emption laws in the United States
are just and precise; but in the mountains it is about as easy to
eject a squatter as to collect “rint” from Western Galway in the days
of Mr. Martin.

[164] In England and Scotland the rent for use of land averages one
quarter of the gross produce; in France, one third; unhappy India
gives one half; and the Territories of the United States nearly
nothing.

The Mormon settlements resemble those of the French in Canada and elsewhere rather than the English in Australia, the Dutch at the Cape, or the American squatters on the Western frontier. They eschew solitude, and cluster together round the Church and the succedaneum for the priest. In establishing these “stakes” they proceed methodically. A tentative expedition, sent out to select the point presenting the greatest facilities for settlements, is followed by a volunteer band of Saints, composed of farmers, mechanics, and artisans, headed by an apostle, president, elder, or some other dignitary. The foundations are laid with long ceremonies. The fort or block-house is first built, and when the people are lodged the work of agriculture begins. The cities of Utah Territory are somewhat like the “towns” of Cornwall. At present there are three long lines of these juvenile settlements established as caravanserais in the several oases. The first is along the Humboldt River to Carson Valley; the second is by the southern route, _viâ_ Fillmore; and the third is betwixt the two, along “Egan’s Route,” the present mail line.

[COUNTIES IN UTAH TERRITORY.]

The counties, originally 5, increased in 1855 to 12, are now (1860) 19 in number, viz.:

1. Great Salt Lake County: the chief town is Great Salt Lake City; the sub-settlements are the Sugar-House, 4 miles S. of Temple Block--the invariable _point de départ_; Mill Creek, 7 miles; Great Cotton-wood, 8-9 miles; West Jordan, Jordan Mills, Herriman, and Union, or Little Cotton-wood Creek, 12 miles; Drapersville, 20-21 miles S.; all small villages, with good farming lands.

2. Utah County: the chief town is Provo or Provaux, on the Timpanogos River, 45 miles; David City, on Dry Creek, 28 miles; Lake City, on American Fork, 32 miles S.; Lehi City, 35 miles S.; Lone City, 37 miles S.; Pleasant Grove or Battle Creek, 41 miles S.; Springville or Hobble Creek, 53-54 miles; Palmyra, a small place east of the Lake, and north of Spanish Fork, 59-60 miles; Spanish-Fork City, 61 miles S.; Pondtown, 64 miles S.; Payson City, on both banks of the Peet-Neet Creek, 64-65 miles S.; and Santa Quin, 74 miles S.

3. Davis County: chief town Farmington; others, Stoker, Centreville, 12·50 miles N., and Kaysville, 22 miles N.

4. Weber County: chief town Ogden City, on both sides of Ogden River, 40 miles E.; also North Ogden.

5. Iron County: chief town Parovan, so called from the Pavant Indians; built on Centre Creek, 255 miles S. of Great Salt Lake City, and 96 miles from Fillmore, and incorporated in 1851. Also Cedar City, near Little Salt Lake, 275 miles S.; St. Joseph’s Springs and Vegas de Santa Clara, 200 miles from Cedar City. The Aztecs, as their rock inscriptions prove, once extended to Little Salt Lake Valley.

6. Tooele County: chief town Tooele City, 32 miles W.; also “Eastern Tooele City,” 26 miles W.; Grantsville, 27 miles W.; Richville and Cedar Valley, 40 miles W.

7. San Pete Valley County and City, 131 miles, laid out by the presidency in 1849, and incorporated in 1850; Fort Ephraim, 130 miles; Manti City, 140 miles, on the southern declivity of Mount Nebo. Aztecan pictographs have been found upon the cliffs in San Pete Valley.

8. Juab County: chief town Salt Creek, in a valley separated from Utah Valley by a ridge, on which runs Summit Creek.

9. Box-Elder County and City, 60 miles N.; also Willow Creek and Brigham’s City.

[COAL.]

10. Washington County: chief town Fort Harmony, on Ash Creek, 291 miles S., and 20 miles N. of Rio Virgen.[165]

[165] I annex a description of Washington County, which lately
appeared in the “Deserét News:”

“Yesterday afternoon I met in the library of the University the
Hon. Wm. Crosby, the representative from Washington County to
our Legislature, who furnishes me with some items of information
respecting the county he represents worthy a passing notice,
especially as there is so little known of that county. The
inhabitants are estimated at about 1500 persons, chiefly engaged in
farming and grazing. The county of Washington in area is as large as
the State of Connecticut, generally of a barren, desert character,
broken and mountainous. On the borders of the Rio Virgen and the
Santa Clara there are narrow strips of land exceedingly fertile, on
which every thing grows with great richness, and at a cost of very
little labor. During the present year only 50,000 pounds of cotton
have been raised, but, properly cultivated and attended to, the
inhabitants there could raise all the cotton ever required by the
inhabitants of this Territory. At present its cultivation is almost
neglected for the want of proper facilities for its manufacture.
The entrance also of the army in 1857, followed by immense trains
of goods--which, by-the-by, some of the merchants never paid a cent
for, and it is very doubtful if they ever will--was also a crushing
competition to the people of Washington County.

“Every kind of fruit that has been tried there grows with great
luxuriance. The apple, pear, plum, apricot, peach, and fig trees do
exceedingly well. The English walnut-tree grew this year nine feet,
and the Catawba grape grew nineteen feet and a half before the 6th
of September. The bunches of those grapes, many of them, measured
nineteen inches in length. At Tocqueville, one of the small towns in
that county, one man raised this year two water-melons from one vine
that weighed, the one sixty, and the other fifty pounds.

“At the Agricultural Exhibition, held there last September, the fine
grapes which I have mentioned were on exhibition. At the same time
there was exhibited a stalk of cotton containing three hundred and
seven forms; a radish measuring eighteen inches in circumference; a
sunflower head thirty-six inches; and a monster castor-bean stalk;
a sweet potato-vine five feet and a half long; and one Isabella
grape-vine twenty-five feet long. One man had in his garden trees
which in six months grew as follows:

ft. in.
Washington Plum 8 6
Apple-trees 6 6
Apricots 7 0
Figs 7 0
Almond 7 2
Peach 8 6
Pears 6 0

“In climate, Washington embraces all the varieties from frigid to
torrid, from regions of perpetual frost to an eternal spring. Every
kind of out-door work, plowing, ditching, building, etc., can be
pursued throughout winter in some parts of the county, while in
others there are killing frosts throughout the whole year.

“I had almost forgotten to mention that the soil is excellent for the
grape, and during the present year very fine tobacco has been grown
there, as well as madder and indigo. The sorghum raised there has
a magnificent flavor, and without the ‘patent fixings,’ with very
little labor, and that of the simplest character, good sugar is made
from it. At the late exhibition the sorghum took the two highest
prizes. I believe the honorable member from Washington has brought
with him a few gallons of this very fine molasses as a _cadeau_ to
the Prophet. To readers who have every luxury in abundance and at
very moderate figures, these items may have little interest, but to
those who watch the progress of the people here, and the reclaiming
of the desert, this information has great significance. In a few
years every thing that the people require will be raised from their
own soil, and manufactured by their own hands.

“Mr. Crosby, from whom I elicited these facts, was born in Indiana,
but ‘brought up’ in the Southern States. Mormonism got hold of him in
1843, in the State of Mississippi. Following the fortunes of Brigham,
he brought some nine or ten slaves, ‘very select niggers.’ In 1851
he went over to San Bernardino, and was bishop over there. The state
soon liberated the ebony folks, and Mr. Crosby, of course, lost his
$9000 or $10,000 by the operation.

“The Superintendent of the Church Public Works and a few others went
out exploring for coal about the Weber some time in August last,
and found a splendid bed of mineral. It promises to be the greatest
blessing that has yet fallen to the lot of the Saints. Of course I do
not look at things with ‘an eye of faith;’ that is their business.
But among people paying $10 per cord for wood, scarce at that, and
sure to be scarcer, the discovery of coal is an important matter. The
present coal-bed is about fifty miles distant; but, nevertheless,
paying $3 per ton at the mouth of the pit, at which it is now sold,
it can be brought into the city and sold for $20. Last year it was
sold here to blacksmiths for $40. The Pacific Railroad folks should
have an eye on this. The apprehension that the absence of coal and
wood in the Territory would be a serious obstacle need not now exist.
Though the wood is scarce and high priced as an article of daily
household consumption, railroad companies can get all the lumber they
require for money, though they may have to haul it far and pay a good
price for it. I believe that the whole country is full of coal, and
what is not coal is gold and silver; but I earnestly hope that the
day is far distant before the Mormons or any body else discover the
precious metals. The coal discovery, however, is very important. The
bishops of the city have been instructed to urge upon their flocks
the hauling of it, and it is hoped that by constant travel the snow
will be kept down and the roads clear all the winter. A Scotch miner,
who had just returned from the coal-bed, told me the other day that
it far exceeded any thing that he had ever seen in his own country,
or in the States, both in quality and abundance.”

11. Millard County: chief town, which is also the capital of Utah Territory, Fillmore, in N. lat. 38° 58′ 40″, in a central position, 152 miles S. of Great Salt Lake City, 600 miles E. of San Francisco, and 1200 miles W. of St. Louis. The sum of $20,000 was expended upon public buildings, but the barrenness of the soil has reduced the population from 100 to a dozen families.

12. Green River County: Fort Supply.

13. Cedar County: chief town Cedar City. It is built upon an old Aztecan foundation, rich in pottery and other remains.

14. Malad County: chief town Fort Malad, properly so called from its slow, brackish, and nauseous river.

15. Cache County, the granary of Mormonland, and the most fertile spot in the Great Basin; well settled and much valued: chief town Cache Valley, 80 miles N.

16. Beaver County: chief town Beaver Creek, 220 miles S.

17. Shambip County: Rich Valley and Deep Creek.

18. Salt Lake Islands.

19. St. Mary’s County: west of Shambip City, extending to the Humboldt River; chief settlement, Deep Creek.

I found it impossible to arrive at a true estimate of the population. Like the earlier English numberings of the people, which originated in bitter political controversies--the charge of unfairness was brought as late as 1831 against the enumerators in Ireland--the census is a purely party measure. The Mormons, desiring to show the 100,000 persons which entitle them to claim admission as a state into the Union, are naturally disposed to exaggerate their numbers; they are, of course, accused of “cooking up” schedules, of counting cattle as souls, and of making every woman a mother in _esse_ as in _posse_. On the other hand, the anti-Mormons are as naturally inclined to underestimate: moreover, as the “census marshals” receive but three halfpence per head, they are by no means disposed to pay a shilling for the trouble of ransacking every ranch and kanyon where the people repair for grazing and other purposes. The nearest approach to truth will probably be met by assuming the two opposite extremes, and by “splitting the difference.”

[POPULATION OF UTAH TERRITORY.]

In 1849 Mr. Kelly estimated the Mormons to be “about 5000 inhabitants in the town, and 7000 more in the settlements.” In 1850 the seventh official census of the United States numbered the inhabitants of Utah Territory at 11,354 free + 26 slaves = 11,380 souls. In 1853 the Saints were reckoned at 25,000 by the Gentiles, and 30,000 to 35,000 by Mr. O. Pratt, in the “Seer.” In 1854 Dr. S. W. Richards estimated the number at “probably from 40,000 to 50,000” in the United States, and in Great Britain at 29,797. In 1856 the Mormon census gave 76,335 souls. I subjoin a synopsis of the official papers.[166] In 1858 the Peace Commissioners sent to Utah Territory reported that the Saints did not exceed 40,000 to 50,000 souls, half of them foreigners, and that they could bring 7000 men, of whom 1000 were valuable for cavalry, into the field. In 1859 M. Remy made the number of Saints in Utah Territory, not including Nevada, 80,000 souls, and the total in the world 186,000. The last official census, in 1860, was taken under peculiar disadvantages. General Burr, of the firm of Hockaday and Burr, was appointed to that duty by Mr. Dotson, the anti-Mormon federal marshal. But as the choice excited loud murmurs, the task was committed to a clerk in the general’s store, and deputies for the rest of the Territory were similarly chosen. The consequence is that the Gentile marshal’s census of 1860 offers a number of 40,266 free + 29 slaves = a total of 40,295 souls; while the Mormons assert their Territory to contain from 90,000 to 100,000, and the world to hold from 300,000 to 400,000 Saints. Their rise is remarkable, even if we take the statistics of the enemy, which show nearly a quadrupling of the population in ten years, while Great Britain creeps on at a rate of about ten per cent.: a similar increase will in the ninth census of 1870 give in round numbers 160,000 persons. Utah Territory now ranks second in the eight minor states: New Mexico (93,541) and District of Columbia (75,076) take precedence of it, and it is followed by Colorado (34,197), Nebraska (28,842), Washington (11,578), Nevada (6857), and Dakotah (4839).

[166] The following is a condensed Report of the enumeration of the
inhabitants of Utah Territory, taken February, 1856:

+----------------------+------+--------+------+
| Counties. |Males.|Females.|Total.|
+----------------------+------+--------+------+
|Great Salt Lake County|12,730| 13,074 |25,804|
|Utah „ | 6,951| 7,614 |14,565|
|Davis „ | 4,765| 4,575 | 9,340|
|Weber „ | 3,486| 3,585 | 7,071|
|Iron „ | 2,474| 2,943 | 5,417|
|Tooele „ | 1,315| 1,673 | 2,988|
|San Pete „ | 1,110| 1,133 | 2,243|
|Juab „ | 807| 1,034 | 1,841|
|Box-Elder „ | 822| 717 | 1,539|
|Washington „ | 742| 778 | 1,520|
|Millard „ | 544| 512 | 1,056|
|Green River „ | 394| 345 | 739|
|Cedar „ | 312| 369 | 681|
|Malad „ | 259| 208 | 467|
|Cache „ | 240| 223 | 463|
|Beaver „ | 118| 126 | 244|
|Shambip „ | 83| 64 | 147|
|Salt Lake Islands | 125| 85 | 210|
| +------+--------+------+
| |37,277| 39,058 |76,335|
+----------------------+------+--------+------+

“Great Salt Lake City, March 1st, 1856.

“I do hereby certify that the above is a correct enumeration of
the white inhabitants of Utah Territory, according to the reports
furnished by my assistants, and which are now on file in my office.

LEONARD W. HARDY, Census Agent.”

“Great Salt Lake City, September 13th, 1860.

“The above is a correct transcript from the originals on file in the
Historian’s Office.

THOMAS BULLOCK, Clerk.”

I have vainly attempted to discover the proportion of native Anglo-Americans to the foreign-born. The late Mr. Stephen A. Douglas, who was supposed to know and to befriend the Saints, asserted it to be one to ten. This will not hold good if applied to the authorities, and if it fails at the head it will be inapplicable to the baser part of the body politic, for the American in Mormondom is the prophet, president, apostle, bishop, or other high dignitary who leavens the lump of ignorance and superstition kneaded together in the old countries. Of the thirteen members of the Upper House, there were, in 1860, ten Americans, two English, and one Irishman: of the officers, viz., secretary and his assistant, sergeant-at-arms, messenger, fireman, and chaplain, four were Americans, one English, and one Irishman. The members of the Lower House, twenty-six in number, consisted of twenty-four Americans and two Englishmen, including the speaker, Mr. John Taylor: of its six officers, four were Americans, one English, and one Scotchman. Both houses were thus distributed:

New York 13
Massachusetts 6
Vermont 5
England 4
Ohio 4
Tennessee 3
Kentucky 2
Ireland 2
Scotland 1
New Hampshire 2
Isle of Man 1
Pennsylvania 2
Virginia 1
Indiana 2
Rhode Island 1
--
Grand Total 49

The Mormon emigration is without exception the most interesting feature in their scheme. There is an evident selection of species in the supply: a man must be superior to many in “grit” and energy who voluntarily leaves his native land. As regards the national classification of the converts, it may be observed that the supply depends upon the freedom of religious discussion at home. Great Britain supplies five times more than all the rest of the world, excepting Denmark. France must be proselytized through the Channel Islands, and there are few converts of the Latin race, which speaks a strange language, and is too much attached to the soil for extensive colonization. Sweden sends forth few (67)--a fine of twenty-six rix-dollars has there been imposed upon all who harbor, let rooms to, or hold to service a Mormon; Denmark supplies many (502), because the Constitution of 1849 guaranteed to her religious liberty; Switzerland is, after a fashion, Republican; Germany gives the fewest. Propagandism has not yet been thoroughly organized east of Father Rhine; moreover, the Teuton, whose faith is mostly subordinate to his fancy, finds superior inducements to settle while passing through the Eastern States. All the “diverts” long retain their motherlandish characteristics, and, associating together, are often unable to understand the English sermon at the Tabernacle. The work of proselytizing is slow in the United States; the analytic Anglo-American prefers the _rôle_ of knave to that of fool, besides _un saint n’est pas honoré dans son pays_, upon the principle that no man is a hero to his valet. At Great Salt Lake City I saw neither Kanaka, Hindoo, nor Chinese; these “exotics” have probably withered out since the days of M. Remy; only one negro met my sight, and though a few Yutas, principally Weber River, were seen in the streets, none of them had Mormonized.

[MORMON EMIGRATION.]

Emigration in Mormondom, like El Hajj in El Islam, is the fulfillment of a divine command. As soon as the Saints could afford it, they established, under the direction of the First Presidency, a fund for importing poor converts, appointed a committee for purchasing transports, and established in Europe and elsewhere agents, who collected $5000 in the first, and $20,000 in the second year. In September, 1850, a committee of three officers was appointed to transact the business of the poor fund, and an ordinance was passed incorporating the “Perpetual Emigration Fund Company,” consisting of thirteen members, including the First President. The Saint whose passage is thus defrayed works out his debt in the public _ateliers_ of the Tithing Office Department, under the superintendence of the Third President; he is supplied with food from the “Deserét Store,” and receives half the value of his labor, besides which a tithe of his time and toil is free. The anti-Mormons declare that by this means the faces of the poor are ground: I doubt that so far-seeing a people as the Mormons would attempt so suicidal a policy.

According to the late agent at Liverpool, and publisher of the “Millennial Star,” Dr. S. W. Richards (Select Committee on Emigrant Ships, 1854, No. 12, p. 8), the Mormon emigration, under its authorized agent and passenger-broker, is better regulated than under the provisions of the Passengers’ Act; the sexes are berthed apart, and many home comforts are provided for the emigrants. In 1854 it was estimated not to exceed 3000 souls per annum, and of 2600 the English were 1430, 250 Welsh, 200 Scotch, and about a score of Irish, making a total of 1900 Britons to 700 from the Continent. The classes preferred by the Fund are agriculturists and mechanics--the latter being at a premium--moral, industrious, and educated people, “qualified to increase and enhance the interest of the community they go among.” From Liverpool, whence all the emigration proceeds, to New Orleans, the passage-money varied from £3 12_s._ 6_d._ to £4, and from New Orleans to Great Salt Lake City £20 each. Of late years that line has been abandoned as unhealthy: the route now lies by rail through New York and Chicago to Florence, on the Missouri River. The emigration season is January, February, and March, and the passage can be made at the quickest in twenty-two days.

[MORMON EMIGRATION.]

I now proceed to figures, which are given in full detail, and can easily be verified by a reference to Liverpool. The official reports are subjoined, because they speak well for Mormon accuracy.[167] From 1840-54 they reckon 17,195 souls, and from 1854-55, 4716 souls; the total in fifteen years (1840-55) being 21,911. From 1855-56 they number 4395 souls, and from the 1st of July, 1857, to the 30th of June, 1860, they count 2433, making for the five subsequent years (1855-60) a total of 6828. Thus, in the twenty years between 1840-60, they show a grand total of 28,739 immigrants. They expect for the present year an emigration of 1500 to 2000 souls from the British Isles, independent of some hundreds from the Scandinavian, Swiss, and other missions. Already 200 teams have been dispatched from Great Salt Lake City to assist with transport and provisions the poor emigrants from Florence. The Holy Land of the West would soon be populous were it not for two obstacles: first, the expense and difficulty of the outward journey; secondly, the facility of emigration to the gold regions of Pike’s Peak and the silver mines of the Nevada.

[167]

No. I.--_List of Latter-Day Saints’ Emigration, from January 6th,
1851, to May 15th, 1861._

“Latter-Day Saints’ European Publishing and Emigration Office, }
“42 Islington, Liverpool. }

“The above are the numbers of the Latter-Day Saints who have taken
passage on ships chartered at this port by the Church Emigration
Agent. Besides these, there are many who engage passages at other
offices--not being able to arrange their affairs to go when we have
ships chartered--whose numbers we do not have. The bulk of our
emigration, for the past few years, has left here in the spring. This
is the only time we have ships chartered. The scattering few who go
over in the summer and autumn, with the intention of remaining in the
United States until another spring, we do not keep any account of.

GEO. Q. CANNON.”

No. II.--_General Summary of Emigration, from Nov. 30th, 1855, to
July 6th, 1856._ (_It was discontinued in 1858, owing to troubles
with the U. S. Government._)

+--------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+------------+
| | |President of | Date of |Port of Dis-|
| Ship. | Captain. | Company. | Sailing. |embarkation.|
+--------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+------------+
|Emerald Isle |G. P. Cornish|P. C. Merrill|Nov. 30, 1855 |New York |
|John J. Boyd |Austin |C. Peterson |Dec. 12, 1855 |New York |
|Caravan |W. A. Sands |D. Tyler |Feb. 19, 1856 |New York |
|Enoch Train |H. P. Rich |J. Ferguson |Mar. 23, 1856 |Boston |
|S. Curling |S. Curling |D. Jones |April 19, 1856|Boston |
|Thornton |Collins |J. G. Willie |May 14, 1856 |New York |
|Horizon |Reed |E. Martin |May 25, 1856 |Boston |
|Wellfleet |Westcott |J. Aubray |June 1, 1856 |Boston |
|Miscellaneous}|.... |.... |.... |.... |
|Ships (U. S.)}| | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
+--------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+------------+

+--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | | | |
| Ship. |P. E. Fund.| Ordinary. | Totals. |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|Emerald Isle | ... | 350 | 350 |
|John J. Boyd | 34 | 478 | 512 |
|Caravan | ... | 457 | 457 |
|Enoch Train | 431 | 103 | 534 |
|S. Curling | 428 | 279 | 707 |
|Thornton | 484 | 280 | 764 |
|Horizon | 635 | 221 | 856 |
|Wellfleet | ... | 146 | 146 |
|Miscellaneous}| ... | 69 | 69 |
|Ships (U. S.)}| | | |
| +-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Total | 2012 | 2383 | 4395 |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

Of this number, as the table shows, 2012 are P. E. Fund passengers,
of whom 333 were ordered out by their friends in Utah; also 780
members of many years’ standing in the Church have been forwarded
to Utah under the P. E. Fund Co.’s arrangements, and 28 are elders
returning home from missions. We have not the means of ascertaining
definitely, but the approximate numbers of those who started to
go through to Utah on their own means is 385, making a total of
those who started from here, with the intention of going through
to the Valley this season, about 2397, which will leave 1998
who have located for the present in various parts of the United
States, in order to obtain means to complete their journey whenever
circumstances will permit.

_Latter-Day Saints’ Emigration Report, from July 1st, 1857, to June
30, 1860._

+--------------+-------------+---------------+---------+-------------+
| | | | Port of | |
| | | President of | Embarka-| Date of |
| Ship. | Captain. | Company. | tion. | Sailing. |
+--------------+-------------+---------------+---------+-------------+
|Wyoming |-- Brooks |Chas. Harman |Liverpool|July 18, 1857|
|Wm. Tapscott |J. B. Bell |Robt. F. Neslen|Liverpool|Apr. 11, 1859|
|Antarctic |.... |Jas. Chaplow |Liverpool|July 10, 1859|
|Emerald Isle | -- Cornish |Henry Hugg |Liverpool|Aug. 20, 1859|
|Underwriter |J. W. Roberts|Jas. D. Ross |Liverpool|Mar. 30, 1860|
|Wm. Tapscott |J. B. Bell |Asa Calkin |Liverpool|May 11, 1860 |
|Miscellaneous}|.... |.... |.... |.... |
|Ships }| | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
+--------------+-------------+---------------+---------+-------------+

+--------------+------------+-----+----------+-----+-------+------+
| | | | | | | |
| Ship. |Port of Dis-|P. E.|Hand-cart.|Team.|States.|Total.|
| |embarkation.|Fund.| | | | |
+--------------+------------+-----+----------+-----+-------+------+
|Wyoming |Philadel. | | | | 36 | 36 |
|Wm. Tapscott |N. York | 54 | 196 | 149 | 326 | 725 |
|Antarctic |N. York | | | | 30 | 30 |
|Emerald Isle |N. York | | | | 54 | 54 |
|Underwriter |N. York | 1 | 140 | 106 | 347 | 594 |
|Wm. Tapscott |N. York | 17 | 128 | 246 | 340 | 731 |
|Miscellaneous}|.... | | | 263 | 263 | |
|Ships }| | | | | | |
| | +-----+----------+-----+-------+------+
| | | 72 | 464 | 501 | 1396 | 2433 |
+--------------+------------+-----+----------+-----+-------+------+

Of this number, as the table shows, 1037 purposed going through to
Utah under P. E. Fund, hand-cart, and team arrangements. But we have
good cause to presume that a large number of those who left here
with the intention of settling for a short time in the States (and
are included in the table under that head) have also gone through to
Utah, without settling on the way.

The number of natives of the various countries may be classified
as follows: From the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland--English, 1074; Scotch, 126; Welsh, 173; Irish, 12. The total
number from the Scandinavian Mission is 762, of which there are 528
Danes, 193 Swedes, and 41 Norwegians. The total number from the Swiss
and Italian Mission is 211, of which 209 are from the Swiss Cantons,
and 2 from Italy. There are also 2 French, 3 Germans, and 70 elders
returning home from missions, making a grand total, as per table, of
2433 souls.

_Countries._--The number of natives of the various countries may be
classified as follows:

England 2611
(Principal counties--Lancashire,
Yorkshire, and Staffordshire.)
Scotland 367
Wales 667
-----3645
Ireland 54
America 19
French Mission (Channel Islands) 9
Denmark } { 505
Sweden } Scandinavian { 67
Norway } { 46
Swiss Cantons 19
Piedmont, Italy 31
East India Mission 2
Germany 1
----- 750
----
Total 4395 souls.

The emigration in 1861 is progressing satisfactorily, as the
following extract proves:

“A party of Mormonites, consisting of 17 men, 25 women, and 11
children, left London lately by the Northwestern Railway for
Liverpool, _en route_ for the Salt Lake settlement. The emigration
of Mormonites from Great Britain, particularly from the southern
district of Wales, has during the past ten weeks been on a large
scale. Their number embraces all classes; one gentleman, an
inhabitant of Merthyr, Glamorganshire, having contributed £1000, and
joined the ‘brethren,’ 200 of whom, including an old woman upward of
eighty years of age, have just left Wales.”

No. III.--_Latter-Day Saints’ Emigration, Spring of 1861._

42 Islington, Liverpool, June 29th, 1861.

Per Ship Manchester, Captain Frask.

Males. Females.
English 132 124
Scotch 3 2
Irish 2 0
Welsh 54 57
Danes 5 0
Americans 1 0
--- ---
197 183

Per Ship Underwriter, Captain Roberts.

Males. Females.
English 234 278
Scotch 32 43
Irish 3 0
Welsh 16 14
Norwegian 1 0
Americans 3 0
--- ---
289 335

Per Ship Monarch of the Sea, Captain Gardner.

Males. Females.
English 97 105
Scotch 25 27
Irish 2 1
Welsh 17 17
German 1 0
Swiss 40 48
Italian 1 3
French 1 2
Danish 175 210
Norwegian 24 43
Swedish 61 68
--- ---
Total 444 524

_Summary._

Males. Females. Total.
English 463 507 970
Scotch 60 72 132
Irish 7 1 8
Welsh 87 88 175
------1285
German 1 0 1
Swiss 40 48 88
Italian 1 3 4
French 1 2 3
Danes 180 210 390
Swedes 61 68 129
Norwegians 25 43 68
Americans 4 0 4 687
--- ---- -----------
930 1042 1972 = 1972

[MEETING ROOMS.]

The London Conference has seventeen places of worship, and numbers a little over 2000 men, scattered throughout Great Britain. In these isles there is a general Presidency of the Church, assisted by a counselor: these preside over the pastors or presidents of districts, ten in number, who also, assisted by counselors in their turn, direct and counsel the presidents of the twenty-four Conferences, while these superintend the presidents of the 400 branches. The total of members in the whole European mission is not less than 40,000. I subjoin a list of the various places--kindly furnished to me by an influential Saint--which the Mormons have selected for worship in London.[168]

[168]

_Latter-Day Saints’ Meeting Rooms in London and vicinity_:

_Somers Town_--Euston Hall, 8 George Street, Hampstead Road.

_Holborn_--148 Holborn, near Gray’s Inn Lane.

_Goswell Hall_--46 Goswell Street.

_Holloway_--1 Cornwall Place, Holloway Road.

_Whitechapel_--Pisgah Chapel, North Street, Sydney Street, Mile End.

_Poplar_--28 Penny Fields.

_Barking_--Latter-Day Saints’ Chapel, North Street.

_Paddington_--Hope Hall, Bell Street.

_Chelsea_--Lloyd’s Assembly Rooms, 1 George Street, Sloane Square.

_Shepherd’s Bush_--Latter-Day Saint’s Chapel, Shepherd’s Bush Green.

_Camden Town_--Beulah Cottage, King’s Road, Camden Town.

_On the Surrey Side of the Thames._

_Walworth Common_--Latter-Day Saints’ Meeting Room, 2 King Street,
Old Kent Road.

_Lambeth_--St. George’s Hall, St. George’s Road, near the Elephant
and Castle.

_Deptford_--Latter-Day Saints’ Meeting Room, Tanner’s Hill.

_Woolwich_--Latter-Day Saints’ Chapel, Prospect Row.

_Welling_--Latter-Day Saints’ Meeting Room, Wickham Lane, near
Welling.

_Eltham_--Latter-Day Saints’ Meeting Room, at Mr. J. Baily’s, Pound
Place.

Two points in this subject are truly remarkable. The first is the difference between Utah Territory and all other Anglo-Scandinavian colonies, in which males are usually far more numerous than females. The latter, at Utah, by the census of 1856, are 1781 in excess of the former; almost as great a disproportion as the extra three quarters of a million in England. The second is the rapid growth of the New Faith, and the deep hold which it has taken upon Great Britain. Few Englishmen are aware that their metropolis contains seventeen places of Mormon worship, and their fatherland an army of 4000 volunteer missionaries. In the United States it is also the fashion to ignore the Mormons. The subject, however, will grow in importance, and it is easy to predict that before two decades shall have elapsed, Deserét, unless sent once more upon her travels, will have forced herself into the position of an independent state.

[MORMON POLITY.]

The Mormon polity is, in my humble opinion--based upon the fact that liberty is to mankind in mass a burden far heavier than slavery--the perfection of government. It is the universal suffrage of the American States, tempered by the despotism of France and Russia: in moderate England men have nothing of it but that Tory-Radicalism to which the few of extremest opinions belong. At the semi-annual Conferences, which take place on the 6th of April and the 6th of October, and last for four days, all officers, from the President to the constable, are voted in by direction and counsel--_i. e._, of the Lord through his Prophet; consequently, re-election is the rule, unless the chief dictator determine otherwise. Every adult male has a vote, and all live under an iron sway. His poor single vote--from which even the sting of ballot has been drawn--gratifies the dignity of the man, and satisfies him with the autocracy which directs him in the way he should go. He has thus all the harmless pleasure of voting, without the danger of injuring himself by his vote. The reverse, duly carried out, frees mankind from king and kaiser, and subjects them to snobs and mobs. Mormon society is modeled upon a civilized regiment: the Prophet is the colonel commanding, and the grades are nicely graduated down to the last neophyte or recruit. I know no form of rule superior to that of Great Salt Lake City; it might supply the author of “Happy Years at Hand” with new ideas for the “Outlines of the Coming Theocracy.” It exerts its beneficial effects equally upon the turbulent and independent American; the sensible and self-sufficient Englishman; the Frenchman, ever lusting after new things; the Switzer, with his rude love of a most problematic liberty; the outwardly cold, inwardly fiery Scandinavian; the Italian, ready to bow down before any practice, with the one proviso that it must be successful; and the German, who demands to be governed by theories and Utopianisms, “worked” by professors “out of the depths of their self-consciousness.”

The following description of a Conference is extracted at length from the “Daily Missouri Republican” of May 4, 1861:

_Great Salt Lake City, April 12, 1861._

On the 6th of April, 1830, in a small room about fifteen feet square,
in the town of Fayette, Seneca County, New York, a young country
lad--Joseph Smith--and five other persons organized that movement
now known throughout Christendom as “The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints,” or Mormonism. How the units have each increased
to tens of thousands, and where those disciples have been found,
and how they have been converted, is not the task I assign myself.
I _assisted_, as the Frenchmen say, at the thirty-first anniversary
Conference of that obscure movement, and propose to give the readers
of the “Republican” its picture, and “nothing extenuate nor set down
aught in malice.”

[THE MORMON CONFERENCE.]

Twice a year the Mormons assemble in Conference, on the 6th of
April and on the 6th of October, for the purpose of re-electing
their presiding authorities, or making such changes among them as
are deemed “wisdom” or “necessary”--the chiefs, also, making these
periods seasonable for general instruction to the “body”--and in
April electing and sending out missionaries to the nations of the
earth, where Mormonism is flourishing, or where the New Faith has yet
to be introduced.

As the settlements in the Territory are widely scattered, and
communication between them rare--except where business or family
purposes invite--the Conferences are looked forward to with peculiar
interest by the people generally as a time of renewing acquaintance
and friendship with those they have known and been associated with
in the Old World. To this add the curiosity to see and hear again
the “Prophet” and his associates, and the influences that draw the
multitude to Conference is comprehended.

Up to within a few years this country has, I am told,[169] been
rarely visited by showers of rain, the husbandmen depending almost
entirely upon the melting snows of the mountains for irrigating
fields and gardens. Very recently the snow and rain had fallen in
great abundance, and the muddy roads were rendered almost impassable.
Notwithstanding this obstacle, the faithful screwed up courage and
traveled in droves from every part of the Territory, and filled the
streets of the city during Conference like a county fair.

[169] The article is probably written by a Mormon elder. It is the
fashion, however, in newspaper correspondence--as the columns of the
“New York Herald” prove--to assume Gentilism for the nonce.

Early on Saturday morning the carriages and wagons, equestrians and pedestrians, thronged into the city, and long before the opening of the Tabernacle doors the people were gathering in groups, eager for admission to obtain a good seat, fearing the general rush. On the Sunday preceding, Brigham had requested the citizens here to stay at home, and afford their country brethren and sisters an opportunity of getting within the Tabernacle; otherwise there would have been a poor show for the strangers, and as it was they were themselves vastly too many for the dimensions of the building.

THE CONFERENCE--FIRST DAY--MORNING SESSION.

At 10 o’clock there were on the stand, according to technical rank and authority:

Of the First Presidency--Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Daniel H. Wells.

Of the Twelve Apostles--Orson Hyde, Willford Woodruff, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow, and Franklin D. Richards.

Of the First Presidency of the Seventies--Joseph Young, Levi W. Hancock, Henry Herriman, Zera Pulsipher, Albert P. Rockwood, and Horace S. Eldredge.

Of the Presidency of the High Priests--Edwin D. Woolley and Samuel W. Richards.

Of the Presidency of the Stake--Daniel Spencer, David Fullmer, and George B. Wallace.

Of the Presidency of the Bishopric--Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy, and Jesse C. Little.

Of the Patriarchs--John Smith and Isaac Morley.

Apostle Hyde called the meeting to order, and in a moment all talking was hushed, and a choir of about a dozen persons, accompanied by a fine-toned organ in the centre of the building, sung:

The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Lo! Zion’s standard is unfurled!
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.

The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine;
The glory bursting from afar,
Wide o’er the nations soon will shine.

The Gentile fullness now comes in,
And Israel’s blessings are at hand;
Lo! Judah’s remnant, cleansed from sin,
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.

Jehovah speaks! let earth give ear,
And Gentile nations turn and live;
His mighty arm is making bare,
His cov’nant people to receive.

Angels from heaven and truth from earth
Have met, and both have record borne;
Thus Zion’s light is bursting forth,
To bring her ransomed children home.

Apostle Lorenzo Snow offered prayer, and the choir sung, “Praise ye the Lord; ’tis good to praise.”

Apostle Benson was first invited to address the Conference. “Brother Ezra” is generally called a son of thunder--great preacher, I suppose. On this occasion he aimed at being modest, and after expressing his gratitude for the privilege of being permitted to attend Conference, to come and see the Prophet, his counselors, and the twelve apostles, and the good brothers and sisters, he was prepared to bear his testimony.

He knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet; that his predictions had been fulfilled, and were daily fulfilling, to the joy of all the Saints. He would not stop there in his testimony; he would bear testimony to the teachings of President Brigham Young. His counselors--Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells--were also true as the revelations of Joseph, and he rejoiced in them. Oh, what a joy it was to know that they had such men to lead them! What would be the condemnation of those who rejected their testimony? Ezra was quite serious--yea, serious to shuddering.

The fearfulness of apostasy was eloquently portrayed. False spirits attending it, and false revelations bestowed on the backslider, and every other ugly, disagreeable business was the certain lot of the apostate, and from which the brethren were decently warned.

President Daniel H. Wells was much pleased with the Latter-Day work; it was a great blessing to live in the light of the Gospel. It had been but a few years proclaimed to the world. The channel of communication between heaven and earth was again open to the children of men. Brother Wells referred to the state of the nation. The present trouble was the result of bad treatment to the Saints. The people of God had been driven into the wilderness--thousands might have perished, and the government was indifferent. It was a political axiom, that when governments ceased to protect, the people were released from their obligations. The government had never protected the Saints as other citizens. They had been driven from place to place, and the murderers of Joseph Smith had gone unpunished. Fault had been found with the Mormons because they had asked the government to appoint good men as federal officers--men in whom they had confidence. They were for this called rebels; but they were probably the only people that would yet stand by the Constitution and uphold it.

The government had fallen in the eyes of the civilized world; it had become corrupt and debased. Nowadays nobody expected any thing from public servants but corruption. These things were well known to every body. The Saints had been molested and could get no redress. The Prophet Joseph, moved by the Spirit of the Most High, told their enemies there that they would see mobbing to their heart’s content, for the measure that they meted to the Saints should be meted to them back again.

The Saints could now see the distracted state of the nations, and the confusion of all governments. If they were wise men and women, they would appreciate the blessed inheritance that the Lord had brought them to. He had but one request to make, and that was, that the people should not only believe in the counselings of President Young, but be diligent, and see that his counseling prospered.

President Heber C. Kimball got up with the invocation of “God bless the Saints, and peace be multiplied unto them.” He respected and loved good men and women who were striving to do the will of Heaven. The Mormons were united, and he wanted them to continue so, and be of one heart and of one mind, and to do as they were told. The South had seceded from the North, but the Mormons would never secede from either. He had sometimes a kind of notion that North and South would secede from them, and if they did so the Mormons couldn’t help it, and the Lord would yet make a great people of them, just as fast as they were able to bear it.

Heber had a fling at “the miserable creatures who had been sent here one time and another to rule and judge them.” The yoke was off their neck; they were away out from the confusion, and the yoke was on the neck of their enemies, and the bow-key was in. Many were engaged in trying to have the Mormons associate with them in a national capacity; but they would have nothing to do with them. “No, gentlemen and ladies, we are free from them, and will keep free.” Heber was satisfied with their position in the mountains. Brigham was their governor; had always been so, and would always be so. He went around about with his hands in his pocket, and governed the people. They had the Lord for ruler, and the men whom he delegated could govern the people. He had no fear, for he lived above the law; he transgressed no law, and had nothing to apprehend. With an exhortation to go to and make themselves happy and independent by their own industry, Heber’s racy discourse terminated with a hearty _amen_ from the congregation.

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The City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to CaliforniaChapter VI (2)

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