Letter XXXIII.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
The Mormons.
UNIVERSITY OF ST. LOUIS, Jan. 19, 1858.
REV. AND DEAR FATHER:
I propose to give you in this letter a short sketch of the fanatic sect of Mormons, against whom the government of the United States has just sent troops, in order to subject there to the laws, or force them to leave the country. The facts which I will relate on the origin and history of this singular people, are chiefly drawn from a recent-work by John Hyde, who had been an elder or minister of the Mormon sect.
The founder of the Mormons was one Joseph Smith, born of an obscure family, December 23, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont. The whole life of this man, from youth up, was marked by fanaticism, fraud, and vice. More than fifty persons of good reputation and in every way worthy of respect, who knew him at Palmyra, New York, where lie had settled with his family, have testified under oath that Joseph Smith was regarded as a man of no moral character and given, to vicious, habits. In 1820 Smith embraced Methodism. In April of that year he pretended to have had a revelation from Heaven, while praying in the wood. He said that God the Father. and Jesus Christ his Son, bad appeared to him, and had declared to him that his sins were forgiven, that God had chosen him to restore his kingdom on earth, and propagate anew the truth of the Gospel, which all Christendom had lost. In 1823, Smith, forgetting his revelations and his pretended divine mission, plunged as deep as ever in blasphemy, fraud, drunkenness, and other vices. Then, he said, an angel appeared to him and revealed the existence of a book, written on gold plates, and containing the history of the ancient inhabitants of America. This is the origin of the "Book of Mormon," or Golden Bible, the Koran of these Mahometans The next day Smith visited the spot designated by the angel as the spot where the book was. This was on the slope of a hill between Palmyra and Manchester. There he pretended to find in fact golden plates in a stone box ; but this time his efforts to raise them were vain. There was, he says, a great contest between the devil and the angels as to it; but although the devil was beaten, the angel did not give the book to Smith, who received it only four years after, on the 22d of September, 1827.
The Book of Mormon is, like the Koran, a tissue of contradictory plagiarisms and absurd inventions. The whole is interlarded with passages from the Bible. It has been proved that the portion given as historical is merely a plagiary of a romance of Solomon Spalding, whose manuscript had been stolen by Smith. Spalding had written, under the title of The Discovered Manuscript, a romance on the origin of the American Indians. He died before publishing it. After his death, his widow removed to New York, and Smith is known have worked near her house. Some time after the publication of the Book of Mormon, she discovered the loss of her husband's manuscript. Many of Spalding's relatives and friends detected the Discovered Manuscript, slightly altered, in Smith's book. Spalding had been in the habit of reading long passages from his novel ; the singularity of the facts, names, and style, which was biblical, had so struck them that they (lid not forget it. Now, the Book of Mormon had the same characteristics, the same strange names, the same incredible facts, the same style. John Spalding, the author's brother, thus expresses himself on the point: "My brother's book was entitled-the Discovered Manuscript. It was an historical novel on the first inhabitants of America. Its object was to show that the American Indians were descended from the Jews, or the lost tribes. There was a detailed description of their voyage, by land and sea, from their departure from Jerusalem to their arrival in America, under the orders of Nephi and Lehi. I have recently read the Book of Mormon. To my great astonishment, I have found almost the same historical matters, the same names, &c., such as they were in my brother's writings." Many other persons, who knew Solomon Spalding well, and who for the most part knew` nothing of Joseph Smith, gave similar testimony under oath.
The Book of Mormon probably derives its name from one of the chapters of this novel., A descendant of Lebi obtained the plates of gold, brass, &c., on which the prophets had engraved the history, of the voyages and wars of their race, and this descendant was called Mormon. He abridged this history, and gave it to his son, Moroni. The latter, having added a sketch of the history of Jared, inclosed all in a box, which he buried on a hill, A.D. 400. Smith, (declaring himself chosen to give this wonderful book to the world, pretend. e(1 to have received the gift of understanding and translating it. He did not write this translation himself, but dictated it. Daring the dictation, he was concealed behind a curtain, made of a bed-quilt, for the plates were so sacred that he did not even permit his secretary to gaze on them. To give a still higher idea of his golden bible, he explained the title after his own fashion. According to him, the word Mormon comes from the Egyptian mon, signifying good, and the English word more; so that Mormon means Better! Now, the Bible, says Smith, in its widest signification, means good, since our Lord says in the Gospel, " I am the good shepherd." The ignorant and fanatical believe all those fables.
The Book of Mormon, although most known, is not the chief book of the sect. The Book of Teachings and Covenants, containing some of the revelations which Smith pretended to have received from heaven, is regarded by his disciples, as a book of the law which God has given thus generation. Smith also published other revelations, which are contained in a little book called The Pearl of Great Price. Much of the doctrine of Smith is a mere repetition of the works of various Protestant sects. He has imitated Mahomet in his infamous immorality, by permitting polygamy. To all this, his successor has added abominable doctrines on the nature and attributes of God.
Smith organized his new religion in 1830. He could then number only six disciples. The next year, having obtained new adherents, he sent elders, two by two, to preach the new doctrine. When the number of his disciples had sufficiently increased, he founded a colony in Missouri, but their conduct induced the people of that State-first those around Independence, where the Mormons had first settled, and then those of Liberty-to expel them from the State. In 1834 the Mormon sect adopted the pompous title of " Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," and thence the Mormons called themselves Latter-Day Saints, or simply Saints.
Smith and his adepts having; acquired, in 1839, a large tract in Illinois, in a beautiful section on the banks of the no one else to be governor of Utah. He defies the authority of the President, and of all the Union. The judges and other officers appointed by the general government for the civil administration of Utah, have been expelled from the territory, after seeing it useless to attempt to exercise their functions. Young has set up tribunals of his own, and in the United States courts which he tolerated before his rebellion, the juries gave verdicts according to his direction. The government, at last, resolved to resort even to force to make him respect its authority. Accordingly, best fall (1857), a detachment of 2500 men was sent to the Territory to maintain the new governor and his suite.
On this, Young prepared to resist. The troops have already entered Utah, but the severity of the winter arrests them about one hundred and fifty miles from the Mormon capital. The Mormons Are Dot idle. They have surprised a train of seventy-six wagons, pillaged and burned them, carrying off all the animals, horses, mules, and oxen. This loss is estimated at a million of dollars. The troops, ill lodged and ill fed, will suffer terribly if the winter is severe, as it is usually in the elevated parts which they occupy. As soon as the spring opens, large reinforcements will be sent. There is a great diversity of opinion here on the matter. Many think that the war will be long and bloody, and that the Mormons will resist to the death. A great manifestation on the part of tile government will, doubtless, be necessary; and I think that as the new forces approach the rebel territory, the Mormons will retire after setting fire to their towns, and march to occupy some new district-Sonora, perhaps, or some other thinly-settled tract in the vast Mexican territory. This fanatical sect will find repose only outside of all other civil jurisdiction. It will master and subject all, unless it is mastered and expelled in season.
One more word on the Mormons and I have done. A new organization has been given to the Mormon troops. In 1840, Smith organized the Nauvoo Legion, and compelled all his disciples from the age of sixteen to fifty to enter lit. This little troop has continually increased, and preserves its old name. No effort is spared to render tile soldiers pert. wt in military discipline and exercises. They have at their head officers who served under General Scott in the Mexican war. Young's whole array might, in case of necessity, be brought up to 8000 men. This number would not be formidable, were they not all animated with a spirit of fanaticism which will make them fight, if it comes to that, with an obstinacy like that of tile first Mahometans. Besides the community of religion and interest, there exists among them. another bond. A great number of them are bound to the President and Prophet Young by horrible oaths. There exists among this people a society called the Mormon Endowment., into which members are admitted amid ceremonies most capable of inspiring superstitious terror. The initiated take an oath of blind obedience, as understood by the secret societies of Europe. The penalty of death awaits him who violates his oath. If the Mormons wish war, as they so loudly proclaim, they will have a chance this year, but they cannot long resist the troops of the United States.
I have the honor to be, Rev. Father,
Your servant in Christ,
P. J. DE SMET, S. J.