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 1664 
 
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 [Price 6d. 
 
 CHEAP TEIP 
 
 TO THE GREAT 
 
 ISALT LAKE CITY. 
 
 AN ANNOTATED 
 
 LECTURE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 [president of AMERICA AND REPRESENTATIVES 
 THE MAYORS OF LIVERPOOL & MANCHESTER. 
 
 BY 
 
 r?'BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 
 
 (Late Manager of the Mormon Printing Office, Great Salt Lake City,) 
 
 LECTURE ON MORMONISM.— « Dr. J. B. Franklin is deservedly looked upon as an 
 
 leuthority on this subject. The lecture has a genuine healthy reality." — New York Trihune. 
 
 K ** Earnest and forcible, and picturestively written ; and carries with it the power which of 
 
 Ijpiir kinds is the most successful, the power of truthfulness and sympathy, while smoothly 
 
 kliding down the stream of life to the black gulf of destruction. * ♦ * We are glad that 
 
 England can boast of Franklin II., printer, traveller, lecturer, and author, one who has 
 
 received (most justly) from our hands the honorary degree of LL.D. * ♦ And we shall 
 
 licver forget his thrilling, breathless, and heart-rending lecture before President Pierce and 
 
 the Representatives. After having lectured for nearly three hours, and when an unanimous 
 
 I vote of thanks echoed through the Senate House had died away, Mr. J'. B. Franklin thanked 
 
 I them one and all sincerely, and begged to assure them that this high public honour would 
 
 J ae\'er be forgotten by him. — New York Herald. 
 
 I WEXFORD. — "On Dec. 30th, Mr. J. B. Franklin, formerly manager of a newspaper in 
 Utah, delivered an interesting lecture to the members of this Society, in their room at Mr. 
 Thomas Hanrahan's. The chair was taken by the president, Mr. Pierce Reade. The 
 alented lecturer commenced by giving an exciting account of the adventures he met with 
 '" uhis journey to the Great Salt Lake City, the mode of travelling, erecting bridges, Jcc. 
 Tlhen described the different ceremonies and institutions of the Mormons, and con- 
 led by denouncing Mormonism. Mr. Patrick Magee eloquently proposed the thanks 
 "the members to Mr. Franklin for the very instructive address which he had entertained 
 hem with for nearly three hours, and being seconded by Mr. Gifford, it was passed unani- 
 nously."— TAc Typographical SocUties Monthly Circular. Jan. 1864. 
 
 Truth is eternal !—Truth is divine ! 
 Truth like the Sun in glory shall shine ! 
 Truth is the armour ! —Truth is the shield ! 
 Truth is the weapon !--Error must shield ! 
 
 IPSWICH : 
 PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY J. SCOGGINS, ORWELL PLACE. 
 
(^^ 
 
A CHEAP TRIP 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CITY OP THE MORMONS: 
 
 Jl. L E O T TJ is. E! 
 
 Delivered before the President of America, the Mayors of I/iverpool 
 
 and Manchester, the Wexford Tyjoographical Society, on Glasgoiv 
 
 Green, etc, hy 
 
 J;' BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 
 
 "I am no more surprised that some revealed truths should amaze my 
 understanding, than that the blazing sun should dazzle my eyes."— 
 Heevey. 
 
 Learn then and teach, nor pass that precept by. 
 
 Ever the sternest, — 
 How best to live, so as the best to die ? 
 
 Teach and be earnest. 
 This is the sum of wisdom, a rich treasure 
 Hath he who meets this conduct by this measure ; 
 
 And so guides his going. 
 That some sweet spring up his path to bless. 
 In every step throughout life's wilderness. 
 
 For ever growing. 
 
 But above all a few brief truths instil 
 
 In life's young daj^. 
 Ere if thou canst the thought ot action still 
 
 Hath sway. 
 Point to the time, and give this truth to know, 
 
 As its moments fly. 
 Virtue alone is happiness below ; 
 
 Vice, misery ; 
 Contentment, the true wealth of every station ; 
 Unboimded hope, a mere infatuation. 
 
This subject is intended for the few honest Mornaons in this country. 
 I know their sincerity. I know their delusion. It is interesting to learn 
 the peculiarities of a remote nation, or an ancient age. It is far more 
 important, however, that we should correctly understand the character 
 and practices of any extraordinary people of our own day. Mormonism 
 and the Mormons are subjects that not only deserve attention, or excite 
 interest, but demand the most serious consideration. The meanness of 
 its origin, the mysterious influence it exercises on its followers, and its 
 ultimate destiny, should commend its investigation to ail persons. It is 
 a religious delusion, entailing not only present suflfering, but eternal loss 
 on its infatuated believers. 
 
 Many false prophets have been, and many more will yet come, trying 
 to lead men and women from the path of duty towards their Heavenly 
 Father; attempting to show the way mankind might get an admission 
 into the Kingdom of Heaven. Allow me (one who has travelled thousands 
 of miles for the purpose of obtaining the knowledge of some of the ways 
 that these false prophets have laid out for mankind to follow in) to say, 
 that the only way to obtain admittaace into the Kingdom of Heaven, there 
 to enjoy immortality and endless felicity, Christ must be relied on, as the 
 Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only-begotten Son of the Father and 
 all-sufficient Saviour. The soul must be illuminated, regenerated, and 
 sanctified by the all-enlightening and energetic influences of the Holy 
 Spirit. Holiness and heavenly-mindedness, proceeding from a faith 
 working by love, and cherished by steady believing views of a once dying, 
 but now risen and reigning Saviour, must be perseveringly pursued, till 
 the Christian finishes his course, and is called by Him, who is Lord and 
 Judge, God over all, blessed for ever, to join the spirits of the just made 
 perfect. In order, however, to this glorious attainment, a previous 
 meetness must be diligently pursued and acquired. Although this object 
 be so truly important, and should interest every person, how many there 
 are, even in this enlightened country and age, who awfully neglect it ! 
 But, what is still more surprising is, many professing Christians will 
 foolishly run after every new doctrine of Pandemonium, and do their 
 utmost to serve the arch-deceiver of mankind, unknowingly thinking, 
 that the new doctrine must be of God. 
 
 Such a little while to learn so much 
 
 Of Mormon life who would think it such ? 
 
 Weary in thought, look not back, 
 
 Save to remember hours of pain 
 
 As so much lightened from thy load, 
 
 Pangs to be never borne again. 
 
 I now commence my subject with a statement as to myself — who I 
 am, how I became what I am, and why I lecture against Mormonism, 
 are questions every one should ask. I endeavour to reply. 
 
 Mormonism in England, and Mormonism at Utah, are two very different 
 systems. In England all its objectionable principles are denied ; its 
 apostles and elders not only utter negative, but also positive falsehoods, 
 in order to induce belief. 
 
 As a sample of their falsehoods, I will instance polygamy. This was 
 
Bancroft L ibrarj^- 
 
 practised by Smith, in 1838, and the Mormon apostles knew it. Yet, 
 when the church was charged with its adoption, Parley Pratt, in 
 Manchester, before the General Conference of the European Churches, 
 and in the Millennial Star, of 1846, thus publicly denounced it. Hear 
 their lying words : — 
 
 " Such a doctrine is not held, known, or practised as a principle of the 
 Latter-day Saints, and is as foreign from the real principles of the church 
 as the devil is from God." 
 
 Although denjuig it in this bold and lying way, this man knew that 
 Smith and others had children living who were the offspring of this very 
 practice ! 
 
 John Taylor, another Mormon apostle, in a discussion at Boulogne, 
 in July, 1850, was also charged with the belief of this doctrine of 
 more wives than one, to which accusation he thus replied : — 
 
 ** We are accused here of polygamy, and actions the most indelicate, 
 obscene, and disgusting, such as a corrupt heart only could have 
 conceived; therefore I shall content myself with reading our views of 
 chastity and marriage, from a Work published by us, containing some 
 of the articles of our faith." 
 
 He read in the book of Smith's Eevelations, page 330, the Marriage 
 Covenant, which is as follows; — ** You both mutually agree to be each 
 other's companion, husband and wife, keeping yourselves wholly for 
 each other, and from all others during your lives." 
 
 He also read, on page 331 of the same book: — " Inasmuch as this 
 church of Jesus Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication 
 and polygamy, we declare that one woman should have one husband, and 
 one man but one woman." 
 
 " There," exclaimed elder Taylor, triumphantly : — *' that is our 
 doctrine on this subject." And this man had four wives at the Great 
 Salt Lake City, and was paying attentions to a girl at Jersey, at the very 
 time he uttered these wilful and intentional falsehoods. Only a year after 
 this discussion they had to confess to it, and laid all the blame on their 
 God, saying that it was he who instructed them to tell these falsehoods 
 — in order to get converts ! 
 
 This doctrine of more wives than one, after being so strongly denied by 
 the leaders, was boldly advocated at the Pastoral Conference of the Mormon 
 Church held at the Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London, in 1852. 
 
 It is acknowledged by all that to lie one to another is bad — very bad. 
 How much worse, then, is it to charge God with lying ! Who is the liar 
 — God or Satan ? Therefore, the god of Mormonism must be none other 
 than that old lying deceiver, the devil. 
 
 What do you think of Mormonism now and their God 9 who is afraid 
 to let out all his principles at once, and even denying some that he had 
 already taught his favoured ones at the Mormon city in America. Such 
 a God as this Mormon God seems to be, is none other than that lying 
 one who tempted our forefathers, and I wish that I had the tongue of an 
 angel, ah! of an archangel, then I might be able to sound in your ears, 
 so that you might never forget, that the God of the Bible is the God of 
 Truth, and not the God of Falsehoods. 
 
The illustrious examples of such inspired apostles were industriously 
 imitated by similarly inspired elders. From the lips of such inspired 
 men did I first hear Mormonism ; the character of Smith ; his many 
 mighty miracles ; his profound sagacity ; his inspired teachings ; the 
 love of the saints ; the purity of their Zion; their frequent tribulations 
 and sufferings came forth resplendent from their testimonies. Such 
 statements, repeated constantly and by different individuals induced me 
 to embrace it. That I was sincere in my faith and conscientious in my 
 conduct I believe no one will attempt to dispute. 
 
 In December 1850, I was ordained to the office of a priest, and 
 commenced to preach Mormonism at Whetstone (eight miles north of 
 London,) as I had received and then believed it to be. This I continued 
 for four months, baptizing nearly thirty persons. I am sorry to say, most 
 of these are Mormons to this day. I have tried to gain their hearts back 
 to that position which I found them in when I first went there; but I 
 have failed. They now believe that I am a devil, and that when I was 
 amongst them I was a servant of God. However, leaving these on one 
 side, I have been the means of converting over from Mormonism to 
 the God of Truth above seven hundred precious souls, by my lectures 
 throughout the country. 
 
 In 1854, I left Liverpool for the Great Salt Lake City, I arrived at St. 
 Louis February 3rd. I then proceeded on my journey to the Great 
 Salt Lake City, the land of "milk and honey," as I then believed it to be. 
 Of course I was not long there before discovering the difference between 
 what I had been taught to expect and what I saw. Having the 
 management of the Mormon printing office gave me this opportunity of 
 knowing of many of the Mormon secrets and plans which I should not 
 have known of if located elsewhere ; besides, I lived in the prophet 
 Brigham's house while there. 
 
 Getting tired and heart-sick of living amongst such wicked and 
 blasphemous persons, and an opportunity occurring, I left the Mormon 
 city for Lower California ; from thence across the mountains, travelling 
 by foot, along with sixteen others, to Winter-Quarters, about 1500 
 miles. From Winter-Quarters I travelled to Nauvoo. The temple that 
 the Mormons had built and completed in 1845, was now in ruins. The 
 city (Nauvoo), with the temple, were to stand for ever. This was one 
 of the prophecies of Smith, like many others, that have fallen to the 
 ground. And it is to be hoped that, before many years. Salt Lake City, 
 with the temple there, and the other prophecies of Smith, will have 
 fallen also. Many other places in America, of Mormon notoriety, I also 
 visited. 
 
 In December, 1855, I was publicly appointed, as luck would have 
 it, to go on a mission to Lower California ; and the following extract will 
 show that I left the Mormon city with full honours, great caution, and 
 had really deceived the Mormon fox : — 
 
 ** We enter upon the arduous duties now before us, with a fervent 
 desire to be remembered in the prayers of the faithful everywhere, 
 and shall endeavour in all our labours to subserve the cause of God and 
 his saints on earth ; and as we are now called upon to take farewell of 
 
brother John Benjamin Franklin, whose labours have been so efficient, 
 both as an editor and president in this land, we feel to bid him God 
 speed.'* — Deseret Aervs, 
 
 When I arrived at California, I boldly lectured against the Mormon 
 doctrines and the corrupt doings of the Mormon elders. As soon as 
 Brigham Young had heard of my proceedings there, he appointed another 
 man in my place, and cut me oft' from the church. — The following is an 
 extract from a sermon preached by Young, January 29th, 1857, in 
 reference to my conduct in California : — 
 
 " There is a little matter of business," said Brigham, ** that we want to 
 lay before this congregation, in regard to J. B. Franklin, who went to 
 Lower California on a mission. Here are a couple of letters which I 
 have received on this subject, informing me that John B. Franklin is 
 preaching against Mormonism, [The letters were read.] You hear the 
 letters, and the testimony of our brethren hi regard to this man. Such 
 matters, many times, have passed along, and we have not noticed them, 
 but have let men deny the faith, speaking against it, and delivering 
 lectures through the world. Many times we have let them run at large, 
 but the time is now passed for such a course of things ; and it will be the 
 duty of my brethren to secure this man, if possible, on his way across 
 the mountains, so that his lying tongue should not reach the saints in 
 England. By the consent of my brethren, I shall move, that this man be 
 cut off from the church, and that he be delivered over to Satan to be 
 buffeted in the flesh." — Deseret Nerrs. 
 
 Route from the Great Salt Lake City to Lower California : — Little 
 Utah, Nephi, Fillmore, Little Salt Lake, Cedar City, Las Vegas, Mehave, 
 Las Angeles, San Pedro, S. Barbara, Monterey, San Francisco. 
 
 Journey Across the Mountains. 
 
 On June 1st, the company with which I travelled left for Council Bluffs, 
 crossed the river Missouri on the 12th, and saw the last civilized 
 inhabitants we were to see for months, and were fairly en route for the 
 city of the Mormons. The scenery on the road, the incidents of camp 
 hfe with stampedes of cattle, toiling along by day, uncomfortable watchings 
 by night, bad roads to mend, bridges to build — the senses of freedom 
 only exciting the mind. 
 
 Vast Scenes ! where all is wild, gigantic, grand ! 
 And countless charms bedeck a savage land ; 
 Deep solitudes I where footsteps seldom roam, 
 The red man's Eden, or a hermit's home. 
 
 Travelling on in this way, at last we met a company of Red Indians. 
 They had just come from a battle ; they were decked in all the glory of 
 Indian war-paint, were well mounted and armed, and with their 
 ferociously-daubed faces, head shaved bare, and insolent conduct, were 
 very formidable fellows. We made them a large present of flour, and so 
 got quietly rid of them. 
 
Some of these the tomahawk and hatchet wield : 
 Others, the massive club and ponderous shield ; 
 Some bear-skin mantles over their shoulders wore, 
 Just suited for their use in their constant wars. 
 Some wicker-armour wore ; some, ample vests 
 Of broad fur, bound upon their painted breasts ; 
 And some had sheaves of arrows formed for speed, 
 Of the elastic light Virginian reed. 
 Brightly did their weapons ghtter in the sun, 
 Foreboding deeds of import to be done. 
 
 I will now speak of the Indians concerning Fire Waters, and will 
 endeavour to give you their feelings — in poetic language, though I do 
 not profess to be a poet — in the following lines : — 
 
 White men would drive us to remoter skies ; 
 But shall we bid our fathers' bones arise ? 
 Our fathers, who enjoyed secure, their rights 
 For ages, ere they knew the treacherous * whites,' 
 Or quaff'' d their fire-drinkj which can but debase 
 Our nations, and our character disgrace. 
 Forswear it, and our furs exchange no more 
 For the fell draught — the deadly liquid store. 
 E'en the war-beverage, drawn from Cassine leaves. 
 Drink sparingly, or it the sense deceives. 
 
 Decline the white man's fatal gifts and tell 
 The cheating hucksters that we will not sell 
 Of forest, hill, or prairie-ground a thong ! 
 We will not do our woods and wilds that wrong. 
 The birds of air, the beasts that range the field. 
 The river's fish, the fruits the forests yield, 
 Were amply given for the Eed Man's use, 
 To serve his wants, but not for his abuse. 
 
 On June 4th, we arrived at Atchison, with our camp-kettles, a 
 trying-pan, bake-pan, and a coffee-mill. We had also tin cups and plates. 
 Each mess, too, had an axe, a spade, and three or four six-gallon 
 water-kegs. Rations were served out every evening, for each man IJlb. 
 of flour, the same of bacon ; coffee and sugar in sufficiency. We used 
 to brown all the coffee in evening in the frying-pan. 
 
 On June 8th, we arrived at Nemahaw-creek, a stream of twenty-five 
 feet. Here were eight houses, all making a good thing by selling 
 groceries and whisky to passing trains. 
 
 On June 1 0th, we encamped near Big Blue, a river from forty to fifty 
 yards wide ; there is fine timber all along the river bottom. 
 
 Places we arrived at on the route : — Fort Kearney, Ash Hollow, 
 Chimney Rock, Fort Laramie, Rock Independence, Sweet Water, South 
 Pass, Salt Lake City, 
 
 You must suppose now to be on your journey to the city of the 
 Mormons, along with me and my company. We have just climbed up a 
 steep rocky hill. Three or four teams to each waggon have at last 
 dragged them all safely to the summit of the big mountain. The cattle 
 
are panting and puffing,and lying down for a rest, while we gaze at a very 
 imposing scene. We are now standing on an eminence of the Wahsatch 
 mountains, over eight thousand feet above the level of the ocean, 
 surrounded by peaks that rise above our heads, and in the deep nooks 
 of which continually glitters the eternal snow. Behind us are receding 
 ranges of hills, and streams sparkling like silver threads. Before us, 
 mountains low in sight, till a strip of valley relieves the eye in the 
 south-west. This is the first glimpse of the Valley of the Great Salt 
 Lake. Mormons fall on their knees and pray ; some weep, and some 
 rejoice; husbands kiss their wives, and parents their children, and joy 
 glances from every eye, whilst gladness shines on every countenance. 
 We are not so overcome, and prepare to descend the big mountain. Our 
 necks and our waggon wheels are now out of danger ; we can safely 
 arrive there, being only eighteen miles further — admiring the beauties 
 of its rocky heights, and forgetting everything but the scene around us. 
 To our right and left is the continuous range of hills from which we 
 have just emerged. The lake is about seventy miles long, from north 
 to south, and thirty miles fuom east to west. It once filled and formed 
 the entire '' Great Basin," as it is termed, extending five hundred miles 
 from north to south, and three hundred and fifty miles from east to west, 
 hemmed in by the Sierra Nevada mountains on the east, and Goosecreak 
 and Humboldt ranges on the west. Mountains were once jagged islands, 
 ravines the straits, sweeping hollows the gulfs and shores of this vast 
 and silent sea. It has shrunk down to its present dimensions, and is the 
 immense reservoir into which all the streams and rivers of the " Basin " 
 pour their waters of melted snow. It has no apparent outlet, although 
 gradually diminishing, and that, too, with greater rapidity than can be 
 accounted for by the slow process of mere evaporation. Many flats of 
 black mud, with an incrustation of dazzling salt crystals, were covered 
 with water when the Mormons first went there. Its bottom is very flat, 
 however, and a very slight increase of water would again cover miles of 
 now-exposed surface. The density of the water varies in different 
 seasons, from the quantities of fresh water pouring down into it. It 
 is the strongest natural brine in the world, holding in solution over 
 twenty-two per cent, of different salts. 
 
 Its dark sluggish waves forcibly recal the Dead Sea to the mind of the 
 gazer ; and were it not that this is 4,000 feet above, and that the Dead 
 Sea lies 1000 feet below, the level of the sea, it would be as easy to fancy 
 one's self away in Palestine, and on that scene of human corruption and 
 Divine vengeance. The water is extremely buoyant, and it occasions a 
 singular feeling to be unable to swim through it. The water produces 
 immediate strangulation, and excessive smarting in the eyes. Numerous 
 salt boilers are erected on the shores ; from four gallons of water they 
 obtain nearly one gallon of clear dry salt. Thousands of bushels of 
 coarse crystals are found on its shores. Teams and waggons from the 
 cities come and shovel it up, and it sells often as low as fifty cents per 
 hundred pounds weight. 
 
 We turn our eyes from the Salt Lake back to the city, which is thus 
 peeping from under the hill. We are stopped by a mud wall, twelve feet 
 
8 
 
 high, six feet wide ; in front of it is a wide, deep ditch. The wall and 
 ditch were made to keep out the Indians. We enter at the gate, and are 
 in the city. We remark that it is divided into blocks of ten acres each, 
 intersected at right angles by streets, running due north and south, and 
 east and west, 130 feet wide; that the roads in them, in wet weather, 
 are almost impassable ; that there are very few houses in the suburbs, 
 although they grow close in the centre. We observe, too, that the side 
 walks are twenty feet wide, and they have a stream of water flowing at 
 times down each side walk ; that on some of these streams cotton-wood, 
 and other rapidly-growing trees are planted ; that the houses are all 
 built on the edges of blocks, leaving well -cultivated fields and gardens 
 in the centre. We notice that everything bears the impress of work, 
 and when one looks back at the bleak mountains, and forward at the 
 barren valley, without spontaneous vegetation higher than a willow-bush, 
 we realise that it must have been hard work. 
 
 There are about 30,000 inhabitants at Salt Lake City. They consist 
 of a very few Americans, and the large majority English, very many 
 Welsh, and numerous Danes, The American elders have all the power 
 in their own hands, and fill all the offices both church and state. Here 
 we are at the Temple Block, in the centre of the city. We have come 
 in a street full of stores. There are some very excellent business 
 premises here, and enormous stocks of merchandise are yearly imported 
 across the plains, in huge oxdrawn waggons. The merchants make 
 money very rapidly, profits on some articles amounting from 150 to 600 
 per cent. 
 
 We remark, that all the stores, &c., are built of sun-dried bricks, and 
 from their slate-white colour make the streets very lively in appearance. 
 In these streets are some good houses. A very pretty house, on the east 
 side, was occupied by the late J. M. Grant, and his five wives ; a large 
 barrack-like house in the corner is tenanted by Ezra T. Benson and his 
 nine ladies. A large but mean looking house to the west, was inhabited 
 by the late Parley P. Pratt, and his thirteen wives ; in that long, dirty 
 row of single rooms, half hidden by a very beautiful orchard and garden, 
 lived Dr. Richard and his twenty-three wives. Wilford Woodruff", and 
 eight wives, reside in another large house, still further west; Orson Pratt 
 and others occupy the other large mansions near the Temple, alongside 
 of Brigham's Lion-house. All these are the leaders of Mormonism. 
 
 Looking towards the north, we espy a whole block (ten acres of land) 
 covered with houses, barns, gardens, and orchards. In these dwell H. C. 
 Kimball and his forty-seven wives. This man is next to Brigham Young 
 in authority. A more disgusting man never lived. Passing these, we 
 arrive at Brigham's Lion-house. This is of stone to the first storey, on 
 the ridge of which, in front, is a very excellently sculptured lion, "resting 
 but watchful." It is a tangible compliment to Brigham, he being called 
 " the lion of the Lord.'* That house is occupied by some seventeen or 
 eighteen of his wives. This house cost him 30,000 dols., and would 
 have cost him more, but for his method of building it. 
 
 At a meeting, one Sunday afternoon, at the Temple, Brigham announced 
 that he had a mission for all the carpenters, and demanded of them if 
 
they would accept it. They raised their hands, and were then coolly 
 commanded by him to shingle the Lion-house, in the name of the Mormon 
 god, A range of neat offices next please the eye, and we arrive at 
 Brigham's mansion. This, also, is a large, handsome building. On the 
 top is a bee-hive, the Mormon symbol of industry. This cost over 
 65,000 dols., is the best edifice in the territory. It is occupied by 
 Brigham's favourite and her family. Orchards and gardens lie behind 
 and around it. 
 
 Struck with the fact that all the best property appears to be in the 
 hands of the leaders, we continue our walk to the Social Hall, In it is 
 performed dramatic representations, by a company of unpaid amateurs. 
 Faith works wonders ! In it, too, Brigham and the other leaders 
 *' teach the young idea how to dance." A Mormon genius has invented a 
 ** double cotillion," giving two ladies to a gentleman. The arsenal, on 
 North Hill, overlooking the city, also arrests the eye in its passing 
 glance. On the north-east corner is the Tithing-office, a large, spacious 
 building, with cellars, storerooms, and offices attached. Each person 
 on entering the Mormon church is required to pay the tenth part of 
 his or her property to Satan's servants, the Mormon leaders, I mean. 
 Having tithed their property, they must tithe their yearly increase. 
 This tenth part is really a fifth part, for each man is required to work 
 every tenth day on pubHc property, or hire a substitute. It is even more 
 than this in many cases, amounting nearly to fifty per cent., as the ladies 
 pay a tenth part of their fowls, then a tenth part of eggs, and then 
 a tenth part of the chickens that may be hatched, irrespective of their 
 loss. Besides, each person is only permitted to enjoy the fruits of his 
 labours on condition of his paying a net tithe for immediate purposes, 
 and to be ready to give up all should it be required in any emergency. 
 
 A range of neat offices next please the eye; the middle one is the 
 printing-office of the Deseret News. We found to our surprise, that 
 the Mormons had invented a new Alphabet, and that they had a small 
 Journal printed in their new language for the leaders' use only — set 
 up in type that they only can read. 
 
 The Mormons are a separate type of people, and as such we see no 
 harm in their having a separate type to themselves. On the contrary, 
 we are rejoiced that the good honest type, which is generally used for 
 the purposes of civilization, will not be defiled by their foul fingers. In 
 truth, we possessed no type that could have suited their base purposes. 
 ** Bourgeois,'* for a set of dissolute reprobates that have not a good 
 B our f^ eois d^mox\gsi them, would have been far too respectable. " Minion" 
 would have been about the most congenial representative, of a minion 
 race like them. We are glad to say, that the Mormon characters are 
 such as cannot possibly be met with in any other part of the world — 
 characters are of so base a cast that no respectable printer would think 
 of admitting them into his establishment. It should be with Englishmen 
 a great source of congratulation, that a people who have not a single 
 thought in common with us, should have adopted a distinctive medium 
 for giving shape to their thoughts on paper. It is a safeguard, for which 
 we should be grateful, as there will be less danger of our simple minded 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 cooks and housemaids being, for the future, corrupted by their dangerous 
 doctrines. — Polygamy is even more odious under Mormon than 
 Mahommed ; for even the favourite wife is not exempted from the hard 
 work-a-day duties of a slave. Should a first wife refuse permission to 
 the husband to take a second, she is condemned by the law; sometimes 
 flogged, sometimes murdered, and sometimes given over to the Indians. 
 The husband may have as many wives as he can keep, and he takes 
 care to* make them work and keep themselves. The first wife whom 
 he has married enjoys a certain ascendancy over the rest. These coarse 
 sensualists have only one desire, one ambition — that of multiplying 
 their wives. When they go upon missions, their chief object is to wed 
 as many girls as they can, and take them to the city of the Salt Lake. 
 The position of the women in the city is most degraded. The terrible 
 tyranny exercised on women, the jealousies, fears, murders, and suicides, 
 in fact the whole social rottenness which prevails, we cannot describe 
 here. Daughters are often the rivals to their own mothers, and mothers 
 to their daughters. The degradation of women is complete. It has 
 been said that " the virtue of woman is the noblest creation of man." 
 Here were found women ready at once to throw away all their advantages, 
 and to follow a fanatic as easily as they did in the middle ages the sects 
 of the Adamites, the Flagellants, or Jack of Leyden. The same 
 impressibility which has made woman ^^ Last at the Cross, and earliest 
 at the Tomh^'' has made iier minister to rogues and fools as well as to 
 prophets. 
 
 The Mormons are an extremely industrious people. During the short 
 time they have been at Utah, they have established various manufactories, 
 wool carding machines, cloth and blanket factories, tanneries, a pottery 
 for coarse brown ware, machine shops, iron and brass foundries, besides 
 all the ordinary avocations. 
 
 In 1853, they brought from France some machinery for the 
 manufacture of sugar from beet root. Some hundreds of gallons of syrup 
 were spoiled by the charcoal through which they were endeavouring to 
 refine it. Brigham, after colouring it with burnt sugar and flavouring 
 it with tea, sold this delicious compound at the very reasonable price of 
 eight dollars per gallon. By this crafty operation quite a little sum was 
 already gained. Flugh Moon has quite an extensive distillery in operation 
 at Salt Lake City. Yet these pious elders, when they arrive in England, 
 condemn the practice of drinking spirits, and even the use of tea or cofiee, 
 while at the Mormon paradise they can take as much as they like. 
 
 There is also another distillery in the city, and several in other parts of 
 the territory. Besides these there are many breweries in active operation, 
 and hundreds of gallons of something called beer are consumed weekly, 
 and ^' cakes and beer *' stared us full in the face go wherever we might, 
 through the cities of the saints. 
 
 There are vast mineral resources in Utah. Two hundred miles south 
 of the city is Iron county. Plenty of iron and coal is found there. Among 
 other minerals they have found silver and gold, and even make their own 
 coin. They have vast quantities of sulphur, alum, &c. ; they have laid 
 down saltpetre beds, and have commenced the manufacture of gunpowder. 
 
11 
 
 Swords, revolvers, rifles, lances, and guns are made in great abundance, 
 and every man is compelled to have a weapon, to be well supplied with 
 ammunition, and is drilled once a month. 
 
 Apart from its mineral abundance, it is a fact that there is hardly any 
 country so beautifully endowed with agricultwral advantages, more 
 productive in its soil, or finer in its climate. There are no violent extremes 
 of hot or cold, and the scenery of the country is of the most varied 
 description. The Mormons are an independent race of beings, though 
 composed of many nations, by the fact that they can do without the 
 assistance of other countries by way of trading. Everything they want 
 can be procured from this delightful and bountiful country of theirs, or 
 in other words, which they have taken unto themselves from the Indians. 
 
 There are some very singular springs there — sulphur, salt, boiling hot, 
 and very cold. The atmosphere is clear, and you can see objects sixty 
 miles away. In the territory there are over 76,000 inhabitants. The 
 Mormons have laboured well, and are therefore prosperous in this world's 
 goods. How it will be in the next is hard to tell. When they begin to 
 feel less contented and less happy, Brigham only makes them work all 
 the harder. To give no time for thought prevents thought, and by making 
 them merry when not labouring, helps to make them satisfied. Hence 
 the Mormons are a jovial people. Their crimes assume other shapes 
 and hues than those of the rest of the world. 
 
 •The Welsh furnish a large proportion of these emigrant geese ; while, 
 strange as it may sound, there is but one Irish goose, named Sutherland, 
 in the whole Mormon flock ! There are but few of these *' birds" of 
 native American breed ; the great intelligence, supplied by a proper 
 school system prevents much proselytism in America; but it does not 
 hinder the cute Yankee from playing the part of the fox ; for in reality 
 this is his role in the social system of Mormondom. The president, or 
 " high priest and prophet,'* the twelves and seventies, the elders, deacons, 
 and other dignitaries, are all or nearly all, of true Yankee growth ; 
 and to call these *' fanatics" would be a misapplication of the term. 
 Call them conspirators, charlatans, hypocrites, and impostors, if you will ; 
 but not fanatics* The Mormon fox is no fanatic: he is a professor in the 
 most emphatic sense of the word, but not a believer. His profession 
 is absolute hypocrisy — he has neither faith, dogma, nor doctrine. 
 
 The system of government under which the Mormon lives is a 
 " Theo-democracy." They are organised into a state. The president 
 of the church is the civil governor, and rules in right over the community. 
 They profess to stand, in a civil capacity, like the Israelites of old under 
 their leader Moses. All are bound to obey the president — at home, in 
 all things ; and abroad, in things spiritual, independent of every 
 consideration — and the converts are commanded to gather to the 
 mountains as fast as may be convenient and compatible with their 
 character and situation. When their numbers shall be complete, they 
 suppose that all the sects of Christendom will be absorbed into the one 
 which will be most concentrated and numerous. This amalgamated host 
 will then constitute what they seem to regard as the army of Antichrist, 
 which, "under the banner of the Pope of Rome," will prepare to confront 
 
12 
 
 the Saints of the Latter Days in mortal conflict. In the contest, the 
 Saints expect to be victorious; and then the earth will become their 
 undivided property, and Christ will descend from heaven to reign over 
 them through a blissful millennium. 
 
 In the animal world, we seek in vain for a type of either class. The 
 analogies of wolf and lamb, hawk and pigeon, cat and mouse, cannot 
 be employed with any degree of appropriateness — not one of them. In 
 all these creatures there are traits either of nobility or beauty. Neither 
 is to be found in the life and character of a Mormon — whether he be 
 a sincere neophyte or hypocritical Apostle. 
 
 Perhaps the nearest antagonistic forms of the animal world, by which 
 we might typify the antithetic conditions of Mormon life, both social 
 and religious, are those of fox and goose : though no doubt the subtle 
 reynard would scorn the comparison. Nor, indeed, is the fox a true 
 type : for even about him there are redeeming qualities — something to 
 relieve the soul from that loathing which it feels in contemplating the 
 character of a 'ruling elder' among the ' Saints.' 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine anything further removed from what 
 we may term the 'divinity of human nature,' than one of these. 
 Vulgar and brutal, cunning and cruel, are ordinary epithets; and 
 altogether too weak to characterise such a creature. Some of the 
 'twelves' and of the 'seventies' may lack one or other of these 
 characteristics. In most cases, however, you may safely bestow them all ; 
 and if it be the chief of the sect— the President himself — you may add 
 such other ugly appellatives as your fancy may suggest ; and be sure 
 that your portraiture will still fall short of the hideousness of the original. 
 
 Secret and Mystery of the Mormon Endowment ! 
 
 First of all, you must have a garment, made of white linen, which 
 you purchase of the " high deacon." Your receipts are then examined to 
 see whether you have paid your tithing. You then have to undress — 
 the presiding elder examines you to see whether every part of your body 
 is sound : if a male, even to see whether " he be wounded in the testes :" 
 if not, he is allowed to pass and receive his endowment; if he is not 
 sound, they make a eunuch of him — whether he like it or not. Many a 
 man, who had taken a good-looking wife with him, and would not give 
 her up to any other man when required (by the High Priest), was also 
 made a eunuch of. They still claim the right to continue this diabolical 
 practice, though many have spoken against it ! 
 
 After this disgusting inspection, you are ushered into a long room, 
 which is divided into many little compartments by white screens. All 
 is solemn and quiet. The fumes from the wood in the stoves and your 
 own beating and trembling hearts make quite a painful impression on the 
 nerves. Each convert is conducted into these little compartments. You 
 are then ordered to take your endowment garment off; and, being in a 
 state of nudity, are then laid down in an ordinary tin bath, which is 
 painted inside and out. The ceremony of the endowment noro takes 
 place^ ivhich consists of washing the unfortunate one all over ; blessing 
 each member of the body ! commencing with the head: — '* brain to be 
 
13 
 
 strong ; cars to he quick to hear ,-'' nose^ mouthy arms^ handst breasts^ 
 miththeir peculiarhlessings ^doroii to the feet I (Both to men and women.) 
 
 After this disgusting ceremony is over, the unfortunate converts receive 
 a new name, and they are then ushered into a splendid garden — all 
 in a state of nudity ! 
 
 The rvomen are ordered by the supposed deml (who is none other than 
 one of the elders disguised as such) to take from off a tree^ marked out^ 
 an apple ; and when the women have tasted the fruity they then give it 
 to the men to taste. Young then drives them out of the garden into 
 the Temple : they then have to ask forgiveness for tasting the fruit .- 
 and., after Young's blessing, they are considered to he pure and holy 
 before the Lord, When they have taken the oath., to love, honour, arid 
 obey the elders in all things, even to commit murder ! the ceremony of 
 this mysterious and disgusting endowment ends. 
 
 The ceremony of marriage next takes place. Young selects the 
 partners and marfies them for ever^ It happens sometimes that the 
 unfortunate has his wife and children given to another man. 
 
 Woe betide the "Latter-day Saint'' who dares to dream of dissent 
 or apostacy ! Woe to him who expresses a disaffection, or even discontent ! 
 Too surely may he dread a mysterious punishment — too certainly expect 
 the midnight visitation of the " Danites." 
 
 There are writers who have defended these forhans, and some who 
 have spoken well of their religion ; but let them go through the 
 ceremony of the Mormon endowment — having their wives separated from 
 them ; if they were true to the principles of humanity, they would do 
 their utmost to stop any more simple-minded persons from going to that 
 den of iniquity — that infamous mockery of a sanctuary ! 
 
 Polygamy. 
 
 I will now proceed to the many-wife doctrine, namely, Polygamy, 
 The following is part of a sermon preached by Brigham : — 
 
 '' It has been revealed to me that there are millions on millions of 
 little spirits all waiting and wishing for mortal bodies. And when they 
 come to take bodies, they wish to be of Mormon parentage. Of course 
 the higher order would be disgusted with a low, mean descent, the same 
 as a righteous man is disgusted with a wicked one, or a neat, tidy person 
 with one of filthy habits; hence, they would only be willing to go to the 
 place where purity and righteousness dwell. The lower order of spirits 
 will likewise go among the low and uncultivated, where the principles of 
 virtue and integrity have been wholly or in part neglected. Good spirits 
 do not want to partake of the sins of the low and degraded, hence they 
 will stay in heaven until a way is opened for purity and righteousness 
 to form a channel into which they can come and take honourable bodies 
 in this world, and magnify that calling. Let us take that course, and we 
 shall draw the brightest spirits to honour our generations. Try this and 
 your offspring will be the fairest specimens of the work of God's hand. 
 Let the servants of God maintain the principles of holiness and integrity, 
 and marry a multitude of wives, and by that means draw in their tram 
 more of those spirits that glorify the God of Israel, since we are very well 
 
 B 3 
 
14 
 
 assured that all the good spirits must necessarily be born in Utah, or 
 among true believers. The Almighty will never send his choice spirits 
 to the low and degraded people of the thirty-one States, who restrict 
 the holy and virtuous to the possession of one wife.*' 
 
 Another argument which he advanced in favour of Polygamy, was the 
 improving the stock : — 
 
 '' I have been looking about me," he said, '* as I always am, and have 
 seen how anxious many of our farmers are to improve their stock of 
 cattle, to make them of better blood, and thus be all the time improving: 
 but it is not a common thing for men to wish to improve their own 
 species. I wish you to think for a moment. I have seldom heard that 
 subject agitated, when it is the most important one that was ever 
 investigated. Let us go a little further into the philosophy of this : a 
 man by having many wives, and thus mingling his blood with a variety, 
 can improve his s.pecies the same as we can improve any other portion 
 of the animal creation. It is said that we bear the image of God, and 
 now don't let us dwindle down by the one-wife system to the physical 
 and mental degeneracy of the monkey," 
 
 Blasphemous and absurd as these sentiments must appear, they were 
 quite new. The brethren who were able to take more wives or to get 
 them, seemed to think it was a capital idea. 
 
 As soon as a husband dies, his wife must marry again. The children 
 of one wife and the children of another, although by the same father, 
 when grown up, marry each other. Even at the Salt Lake, at the present 
 time, you can find men married to their own daughters. Also you can 
 find men married to their own sisters. 
 
 The Mormon polygamist has no home. Some have their wives lotted 
 off by pairs in small disconnected houses, like a row of out-houses. 
 Some have long, low houses, and on taking a new wife build a new room 
 on to them, so that their rooms look like the rows of stalls in a cow-barn ! 
 
 The following rules and regulations are stuck up in every house : — 
 
 1. — Any woman in this household telling any secret that occurs in the 
 household, provided it compromises the honour of the husband, or any 
 of his wives, or can have a tendency to bring the institution of polygamy 
 into disrepute — confinement in the cellar for one month. 
 
 2. — Forbids all quarrelling among the wives; the one who commences 
 the quarrel to receive the punishment, from six lashes to twenty-five. 
 
 3. — Forbids any woman to strike or otherwise correct the child of 
 another ; for this offence, six lashes and no dinner. 
 
 Other offences of a similar kind are classified and arranged with their 
 penalties ; yet all relate more or less to that abominable system which 
 makes the domestic altar a shrine of legal prostitution, sanctioned by the 
 authority of a pretended revelation. 
 
 The Mormon husband values hiswives no more than anything else he 
 has got committed to him, and is ready to give them up at any time the 
 elders call him. Elder Kimball made reference to this one Sunday 
 Afternoon. He said, ** If God, through his prophet, wants to give my 
 wives to any other man, I must obey." 
 
 Marriage is stripped of every sentiment that makes it holy, innocent 
 
15 
 
 and pure. With them it is nothing more than the means of obtaining 
 their lustful ends. I have seen old men, with white hair and wrinkled 
 faces, go hunting after young girls. It is very common for one man to 
 marry two sisters. David Wells married three sisters in one day. 
 George B. Wallace left a wife at Salt Lake City, and came to England to 
 preach. He made the acquaintance of a very worthy man, named Davis, 
 who had three fine looking girls. Mr. Davis and family were persuaded 
 to embrace Mormonism. When Wallace returned, as he occupied a high 
 position in the Mormon church, he appropriated church monies (of which 
 about fourteen dollars is due to me (or printing), for the emigration of 
 Mr. Davis and his family to the Salt Lake City. As soon as he arrived 
 there, he married all three of the daughters. Wallace now keeps a 
 butcher's shop at the Salt Lake City, and it is currently reported that he 
 was engaged, with others, stealing cattle, and selling the meat on his 
 premises. This was the leader of the London Conference, and when he 
 was in London, he declared that no one could get to heaven without 
 believing that he only was the leader or messenger of God to them. 
 This man Wallace was not only the leader of the Mormon church in 
 London, but was, likewise, the second leader in Europe. 
 
 Curtis E.Bolton is married to a woman and her daughter. Captain Brown 
 is married to a woman and her two daughters. When their children's 
 children are born it will be bewildering to trace out their exact relationship. 
 
 This may appear disgusting enough. G. D. Watt has excelled either of 
 them — he brought from Scotland his three half-sisters, and married them. 
 
 With small houses, and several wives, more than one often sleeping in 
 each apartment, and even in the same bed, men must lose all decency 
 and self-respect, and degenerate into gross and disgusting animals. 
 
 Mormon women go to Utah, zealous in their religion ; they are firmly 
 convinced that these atrocious dogmas are the precious truths of heaven, 
 and that these men are God's servants ; they swallowed the gilded bait, 
 marry, and when they awake up to the temporal miseries of their position, 
 console themselves in more dogmatically believing their fanaticism and 
 their creed. 
 
 Fanaticism may be strong ; self-love is stronger. Many do awaken, and 
 weep bitterly. Many would fly, but they are mothers, and would be forced 
 to desert their children. Besides, they are poor, and could not leave if 
 they would. 
 
 When Mormon husbands leave the Salt Lake on missions, other men 
 act the part of husbands while they are away from their families. 
 Many and many a child has thus been born in the Mormon country. 
 
 There is another subject that I wish you to listen to ; and where these 
 Mormon teachers obtain their knowledge from no one can tell. Was it 
 from heaven or hell or their own corrupt hearts ? Time will tell, namely, 
 the last day. Depend upon it, that Joe Smith with his companions will 
 be at the head of the false prophets receiving the awful sentence, Depart, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 
 This, indeed, will be awful : — but, will the punishment be too great for 
 such wicked and corrupt teachers of mankind ? No ! they did not care 
 for others, and no one can pity them. 
 
16 
 
 On the 1st page of Elder Orson Spencer's pamphlet, entitled Patriarchal 
 Order or Plurality of wives, are the following words : — 
 
 "" When parentage is established after a wholesome order, the 
 consequence will be felt in every social and civil organization whatever, 
 both in this world and beyond the limits of this world. It is not in the 
 power of any government, or any religious community, or reform 
 association, to create good order and great prosperity, without having 
 been endowed with the same authority as Joseph Smith had." 
 
 This man would have us believe, that all the good institutions of the 
 day can do us no good, without these institutions were set up and 
 instituted by this false prophet. Even if these institutions were instituted 
 beyond the limits of this world, no matter where, they must have his 
 sanction and authority. 
 
 In the same paragraph you will find more blasphemous and absurd 
 doctrines. 
 
 *' This family order," says he, *' is not only one at which God sits as 
 the head and first pattern in the series of matrimonial examples ; but it 
 is of perpetual duration, both in and beyond this world, and that God 
 cannot be our father without having a wife ; yea, several wives ; the 
 angels in heaven have also got many wives ! The Saviour had wives and 
 children when he was upon the earth ! these wives are with him now, 
 with many more, in heaven ! and begets spirits in heaven. And after 
 the resurrection, even men upon this earth shall have their wives which 
 shall bear them children in all worlds to come. Will the resurrection 
 return you a mere female acquaintance that is not to be the wife of your 
 bosom in eternity ? No, but it will restore you the wife of your bosom 
 immortalized, who shall bear you children from your own loins in all 
 worlds to come and that without pain or sorrow." 
 
 I will now turn your attention to some more of this man's argument, 
 which you will find on the last page of this pamphlet, which runs as 
 follows : — 
 
 *' More women than men will be saved. Hence some men must have 
 more than one, seeing that neither sex can be in Christ without the other. 
 No man can be perfect without having a wife, and no woman can enter 
 heaven without having a husband; — and men who forsake their rebellious 
 wives for the gospel sake, or devote the whole of their time in preaching 
 (Joe Smith's) gospel ; shall receive an hundred-fold of wives in this world, 
 and also, in ail worlds to come." 
 
 He would have us believe that all men that will not obey the 
 commandments of Joe Smith, shall lose their wives at the resurrection, 
 which are to be shared amongst such men as shall believe Joe Smith 
 and Brigham Young to be prophets sent by God. 
 
 I would ask these Mormon teachers, what will become of such men as 
 Elijah, Daniel, John the Baptist, and the apostle Paul. These men, 
 with many others, never had wives while upon the earth, and we find 
 that the apostle Paul preferred to be alone. That, whether these men 
 will be classed amongst the so-called imperfect ones of Joe Smith's crew? 
 
 Origin op Mormonism. 
 A numerous sect has risen in America who style themselves 
 
17 
 
 *' Latter-Day Saints," and are called by others Mormonites. The term 
 Mormonites is taken from the book entitled " The Book of Mormon.'* 
 
 A Story Ready Made to Hand. 
 
 There was a tale, written when Joe Smith was a child, by a person of 
 the name of Spaulding, in the state where Smith then lived. It was 
 called *' The Manuscript Found.'* The outline of the story is that of the 
 Book of Mormon, and it contains the names Lehi, Nephi, the Lamanites, 
 Mormon, and his son Moroni, The book of Spaulding was never 
 published ; but it came into the hands of a person who was both a 
 preacher and a compositor, and this person was one of Smith's companions. 
 
 To every Christian mind it must be a matter of most serious grief 
 that any persons should be found attempting to palm such a book as 
 this upon the world as a translation from writings inspired by God. 
 
 Take warning from the words of Christ : — " For I testify unto every 
 man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man 
 shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 
 are written in this book." Rev. xxii. 18. 
 
 We shall not copy much of this wretched book. Yet, besides showing 
 how it has been got up, we may mention a few particulars which ought 
 to satisfy every reader of its utter worthlessness. 
 
 In the book of Mormon (page 33) we are told that Nephi found a 
 *' ball of curious workmanship, and it was of fine brass ; and within 
 the ball were two spindles, and the one pointed the way that we should 
 go into the wilderness." At pp. 42, 43, it is expressly called " the 
 compass which had been prepared of the Lord." Certainly, a compass 
 for steering a ship by is ** a mariner's compass." At whatever time the 
 mariner's compass was invented, the man who wrote that part of the 
 Book of Mormon knew something of such an instrument, which was not 
 known by any one for several centuries after the time when the voyage 
 there described is pretended to have been made. To represent this 
 '* compass " as the work of the Lord is to invent a miracle by putting the 
 ideas of our times into a narrative which pretends to have been written 
 above two thousand years before. This notion of a " compass " any 
 man in America might have, if he was only ignorant enough to think of 
 it as Smith appears to have thought when he dictated the description of 
 it which he has given in the Book of Mormon. It would have been quite 
 as easy to introduce steam-engines and other modern inventions into a 
 story pretended to be two thousand years old, and then to say " it was 
 the work of the Lord.'* There is nothing of this kind in the Bible. 
 The Book of Mormon, therefore, cannot be from the same Divine author 
 as the Bible. 
 
 There is one passage, on the 57th page, in which many words taken 
 from the EngUsh Bible are mixed up in obscure notions which the writer 
 had picked up somewhere without knowing how to express them. 
 
 In almost every page there are statements which must be rejected on 
 a moment's reflection. 
 
 There is an account of persons going, by the Red Sea, from Jerusalem 
 to the wilderness. The Red Sea is not in the way from Jerusalem to the 
 
18 
 
 wilderness. Then in the wilderness, three days' journey, we are told of 
 a river where there never was a river. Then this river is said, first to 
 empty itself into the Red Sea, and then into the '' fountain of the Red 
 Sea." Evidently the ignorant man who wrote all this nonsense, or spoke 
 it, knew nothing of the geography of the wilderness, and knew little about 
 seas, and rivers, and fountains. Young Smith might say these things in 
 his ignorance ; but a man really in the situation which he describes must 
 have known better. 
 
 Description of the voyage of '* the people of Jared '* from Asia to America. 
 
 "And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work and 
 also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, 
 according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and 
 they were light upon the water, even unto the lightness of a fowl upon 
 the water ; and they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly 
 tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish ; and the sides 
 thereof were tight, like unto a dish ; and the ends thereof was the length 
 of a tree, and the door thereof was tight, like unto a dish. And it came 
 to pass that the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying, O Lord, I 
 have performed the work which thou has commanded me, and I have 
 made the barges according as thou hast directed me.*' — (It was the 
 manner after which they had built, and in which they had built, and in 
 which they had already " crossed many waters.**) " And behold, O 
 Lord, in them there is no light, whither we shall steer. And also, we 
 shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is 
 an them : therefore we shall perish.** (How had they breathed in the 
 barges made like these before ?) *' And the Lord said unto the brother 
 of Jared, Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top thereof,*' — (Where 
 was the door ?) *' and in the bottom thereof; and when thou shalt suffer 
 for air, thou shalt unstop the hole thereof, that ye may not perish in the 
 flood.*' If this is not enough to prove the ignorance and stupidity, as 
 well as impiety of the author of the book, what does the reader think of 
 the people in these barges, with such modes of getting air to breathe ? 
 
 Then there is a rambling tale about sixteen small stones which they 
 ^' did moulden out of a rock ; " which the finger of Jesus touched ; 
 which where set on in each end of the eight vessels ; giving them light 
 that they might not cross the great waters in darkness.** For three 
 hundred and forty and four days they were " buried in the deep ** — 
 "under the water," on the " top of the waters,'* ** tossed upon the wave 
 -of the sea — mountain waves, and thus they reached the promised land." 
 And all this absurd heap of contradictions is given out as coming from 
 " the Lord.'* 
 
 A man of the name of Ingersoll made oath in December, 1833, that he 
 was hired by Joseph Smith to remove his furniture from the house of 
 his father-in-law. He was witness to many tricks and impostures, which 
 he describes, but which need not to be repeated here. One of the tricks 
 he mentions is the following, which he gives in Smith's own words — 
 " One day Smith came and greeted me with a joyful countenance. Upon 
 asking the cause of his unusual happiness, he replied in the following 
 language : *' As I was passing, yesterday, across the woods, after a heavy 
 
19 
 
 shower of rain, I found in a hollow some beautiful white sand that had- 
 been washed up by the water, I took off my frock, and tied up several 
 quarts of it, and then went home. On my entering the house, I found 
 the family at the table, eating dinner. They were all anxious to know 
 the contents of my frock. At that moment I happened to think of what 
 I had heard about a history found in Canada, called the Golden Bible; so 
 I very gravely told them it was the Golden Bible. To my surprise, they 
 were credulous enough to believe what I said ; accordingly I told them 
 that I had received a commandment to let no one see it, for, says I, no 
 man can see it with the naked eye and live. However, I offered to take 
 out the Book and shew it to them, but they refused to see it, and left the 
 
 room." " Now," said Joe, " I have got the fools fixed, and I will 
 
 carry out the fun.'* Notwithstanding, he told me he had no such book, 
 yet, he told me that he actually went to Willard Chase, to get him to 
 make a chest, in which he might deposit his Golden Bible; but as Chase 
 would not do it, he made a box himself of clapboards, and put it into a 
 pillow-case, and allowed people only to lift it and feel of it thro ugh the case. 
 
 Joseph Smith, the Mormon Impostor. 
 Joseph Smith, junior, the founder of this scheme, was born at Sharon, 
 Windsor county, in the state of New York. He had very little education. 
 At the age of fifteen he saw — according to his own account — a. 
 supernatural light in a grove near his father's house, and then two 
 glorious beings, exactly like each other, who told him that his sins were 
 forgiven — that all the christians were in error, none of them acknowledged 
 God — and that, at a future time, the truth would be made known to him. 
 After the vision, this youth, who believed that his sins were forgiven, 
 without any regard to repentance or faith in the Saviour, continued to 
 live in sin. Sometime after, before he was eighteen years old, he had, as 
 he said, another vision of an angel, who told him his sins were forgiven 
 (still without any repentance or faith, according to the gospel,) and that 
 his prayers were heard ; that the millennium was at hand and that he 
 was chosen of God to bring to pass some of his wonderful works. He 
 professed to have learned, by this angel, that the American Indians were 
 a remnant of Israel who had been taught by prophets, whose writings 
 still existed, and that if he were faithful, he should be employed in- 
 laying these sacred writings before the world. Next morning, he says, 
 the angel told him where these records were to be found. Following the 
 directions thus said to have been given, he went to the place. There, he 
 says, he was filled with the Holy Spirit; the angel again appeared and 
 said *'Look," and described the records as containing the fullness of the 
 gospel as it was given to the people of that land. It seems that some 
 years elapsed, in which he professed to have received frequent instructions, 
 from the angel before he delivered the records to him. These records 
 were engraved on plates which had the appearance of gold, filled with 
 engravings in Egyptian characters, and bound like the leaves of a book, 
 and fastened with three rings running through them all at one edge. 
 Along with the plates were the Urim and Thummim, two crystal stones, 
 set in two rims of a bow, with which he says, persons in ancient times, 
 
20 
 
 called Seers, received revelations of past, distant, or future events. By 
 means of these stones, Joseph Smith affirms that he was enabled by the 
 gift and power of God to translate the inscription on the plates. As he 
 was a bad writer, he dictated the words of the translation to another 
 person. The part which he translated is the Book of Mormon. 
 
 About six years after this findmg of the plates, while Joseph Smith 
 and another person, named Oliver Cowdrey, were employed in translating 
 the book, they declare that John the Baptist came from heaven and 
 ordained them to the priesthood of Aaron, and commanded them to 
 baptize each other. When Smith had baptized Cowdrey, and Cowdrey 
 had baptized Smith, they ordained one another ; though Smith says they 
 had both been ordained by John the Baptist ! 
 
 Mormon Boasting — the Avenging Angels, 
 
 The Mormonites in the state of Missouri boasted that they would 
 take the whole state to themselves. They thus spread alarm and hostility 
 around them. They were accused of various crimes ; and a conspiracy 
 was raised against them ; they were also disturbed by jealousies among 
 themselves. Smith took two other persons, Rigdon and Williams, as his 
 equals in the government. They were ordered by a pretended revelation 
 to search for a rich man of strong faith, to pay their debts. A meeting 
 of the county of Jackson was held, in which it was resolved to expel the 
 Mormons from the county. This led to hard fighting on both sides, 
 which ended in the expulsion of the Mormons. For four years they 
 lived in Clay county. Thither Smith repaired, with a hundred and fifty 
 armed men. Though he professed to see visions of angels, and to heal 
 diseases, he could not cure the cholera in his own camp. He appears to 
 have remained only a week in Missouri at that time, and to have returned 
 to Kirkland. But his bank there failed ; and he departed in the night 
 once more for Missouri. There were many divisions and some desertions 
 among his followers. The opposition of their enemies increased. A war 
 was kept up for several weeks with a body of Mormons called the 
 *' Danite Band," or '' Destroying Angels," who took an oath to support 
 the heads of the church in all things. The militia of the state was called 
 out against them. Smith was apprehended on charges of treason, murder, 
 and felony. He escaped from prison; in the mean time his followers 
 were driven from the state of Missouri. In a few months they amounted 
 to fifteen thousand persons, including children, and obtained a settlement 
 in the state of Illinois. There they founded the city of Nauvoo, or 
 Beautiful. Smith became the Mayor of this city, and General of the 
 Nauvoo Militia. In 1841, he had a pretended revelation, directing the 
 building of a splendid temple at Nauvoo, to which all the ** saints" were 
 to give the tenth of their property, time, or labour. The first stone was 
 laid in April, 1841, with great military pomp. Smith appearing on 
 horseback, and reviewing his legion. His followers in America and in 
 Europe are said to have amounted, about this time, to a hundred and 
 fifty thousand. Smith was now in his glory. In 1844, he ofiered himself 
 as a candidate for the presidency of the United States. He had many 
 wives, as had also Eigdon. This " spiritual wife " system involved him 
 
21 
 
 in great trouble and disgrace. For forcibly destroying tbe property of a 
 party excommunicated on account of their exposure of this s}'Stem, he 
 was served with a warrant from an officer of the government. Smith 
 denied the authority of the warrant, and ordered the Marshal of Nauvoo 
 to drive the constable who delivered it from the city. The militia of the 
 county were called out. The Mormons fortified their city. The 
 governor of the state of Illinois took the field and persuaded the Mormons 
 to submit to the law, and promised to protect them. While Smith lay in 
 prison at Carthage to take his trial, a writ was served upon him for high 
 treason against the state of Illinois. 
 
 In the evening of the 7th of June, 1844, the guard at the prison were 
 overpowered by a mob, who fired at Smith, his brother, and two of their 
 fellow-prisoners. Joseph Smith was shot dead while attempting to leap 
 out of the window. 1 he murderers were never found out. It may be 
 easily supposed that the unhappy end of this man excited the grief and 
 indignation of even those who disbelieved his pretensions as a prophet. 
 Among his followers it was looked on as a martyrdom. 
 
 Sidney Rigdon aspired to be the successor of Smith, and pretended 
 to revelations which contradicted those of Smith. But he was expelled 
 from the church for numerous off'ences, and the chief place was taken by 
 Brigham Young. They were again involved in war, which raged four 
 months. Nauvoo was regularly besieged; and the Mormons were 
 compelled to abandon it. 
 
 A EivAL TO Brigham Young. 
 Joseph Smith, son of the founder of the Mormons — perhaps I should 
 say Joseph II — on the 6th April, 1860, assumed the leadership of all the 
 Mormons. Nauvoo will be the future Jerusalem of the Mormons, for 
 Joseph II. has determined to make this the head of the church, or the 
 holy of holies. When the Mormons came to Nauvoo in 1839 they found 
 in that country only about 3,000 or 4,000 people all told. Now they 
 have a population of over 30,000, who it is believed have nothing to fear 
 from all that will be disposed to settle at Nauvoo under the guidance 
 of Joseph II. let their disposition be what they may. He ignores the 
 Mormon doctrine of Polygamy as taught by his father, as contrary to 
 good policy and contravenmg every law, whether physical, moral, human, 
 or Divine. He ignores also the Utah doctrine of milking the Gentiles 
 (takmg all a Gentile has, and cutting his throat because he has not more), 
 and requires a strict obedience to all laws of the land under which his 
 church members may reside, and absolutely prohibits, under pain of 
 excommunication, any interference on the subject of politics on the part 
 of his priesthood, not prohibiting their interfering in political contests 
 except to vote, and leaving his whole people to vote as they please. 
 
 Brigham Young. 
 
 Brigham Young, in the year 1832, heard and embraced Mormonism. 
 
 He soon became a marked and prominent man. Young, after travelling 
 
 with the Mormons to Kirkland, was ordained one of the twelve apostles, 
 
 in 1835. On the 14th September, 1839, he was appointed, with others, 
 
22 
 
 ■by Joseph Smith, to come to England, to preach the good news of 
 Mormonism (?) It would have been a great deal better for many a 
 broken heart, if he had stopped where he was. For many a husband 
 has left these shores, leaving behind him a wife and children to lament 
 his loss ; and many women have run away with these Mormon deceivers 
 to the Great Salt Lake City, and are now sorry for what they have done. 
 
 Is it too late to stop and persuade those who have not yet quitted 
 these shores ? I think not. Do not run away with the idea that 
 Mormonism has done its work here in England. There are thousands 
 of good, honest souls that have embraced Mormonism, and will go to 
 the Salt Lake yet, if not saved in time. 
 
 These Mormon elders, with Brigham, landed at Liverpool, on the 6th 
 day of April, 1840. How many converts do you suppose they have got 
 from that day to this out of this land ? Nearly 70,000 ! Besides this 
 ■large number, I will refer you to the contuient of Europe. Nearly 
 ^0,000 have obeyed the Mormon gospel, and partly through the 
 instrumentality of our finding the printed word of the Mormon bible, and 
 other Mormon books, thousands of pounds have been collected here in 
 England to carry on Mormonism. Ever since these men landed, till now, 
 I can inform you, that thousands of books, in no less than five languages, 
 have been printed in England for circulation abroad. Besides, nearly 
 £40,000 sterling have been collected for building the Mormon temple at 
 Salt Lake City. Nobody knows the amount of money that has been 
 taken from this country to America through Mormonism. Every 
 Mormon has to pay to their church two shillings in the pound, besides 
 other collections. 
 
 We must now see how these first arrivals got on here in England, in 
 1840. They commenced preaching, with great success, at Preston, 
 Lancashire. Nearly 800 met in conference at this place in the same year. 
 If this had really been the word of God, perhaps eight would have been 
 the number, instead of 800. Brigham superintended affairs at Liverpool, 
 issued an edition of the Book of Mormon, and commenced the publication 
 of the Millennial Star, a weekly periodical still living. 27,000 copies 
 of this periodical are circulated every week. A similar periodical is 
 printed in Wales, in the Welsh language, besides other publications of 
 new doctrine every now and then coming forth. 
 
 In 1841 Brigham shipped off to Nauvoo with seven hundred and sixty 
 converts, and then leaving behind him many Mormon churches with 
 organisations completed. His value was now felt and appreciated. 
 Smith received him cordially at Nauvoo, in the July following, and all 
 the saints applauded him very warmly. 
 
 It was June, 1844, Smith was shot. The twelve apostles were scattered 
 in different places; Nauvoo was threatened; other Mormon places were 
 alarmed ; the troops were in arms. Brigham called the twelve and the 
 people together, and was chosen president by a large majority. Other 
 claimants were in the field, and each had their followers. Brigham had 
 given a strong proof of his administrative ability. The people obeyed 
 him willingly ; for people will always obey men who are able and 
 determined to lead. Not only on the present did he keep his shrewd 
 
23 
 
 gaze; he felt that the then position of the saints was entirely a false one, 
 and he was busy labouring to con/ince them of the necessity of moving 
 from Nauvoo, even though it should be at the sacrifice of their all. 
 They had reared their temple in the munificence of their property — to 
 leave it was like forsaking a child. The temple was finished in 1845, 
 and endowments were commenced. Thousands were hurried through 
 the temple to receive their endowments. They were bound together 
 and to him by oaths, which while they made them shudder to remember, 
 yet made them love him the more. Loving him as their brother, 
 obeying him as their god, they left even their beautiful Nauvoo. They 
 crossed the Mississippi on the ice, in February, 1846. Here Brigham 
 proved himself a general as well as a commander. He directed 
 everything. Thousands were leaving, many destitute, and all poor ; 
 their future location was undecided and unknown, it being " somewhere 
 in the Rocky Mountains," and all their property left behind them. 
 Without confusion, without hurrying, their long trains rolled by him, 
 while he comforted, inspired, blessed, and counselled the weeping 
 emigrants. ^ ; " ^JifS?^ 
 
 The Mormons now with their new leader, proceed to Salt La'ke. 
 Brigham Young receives a revelation about Joe Smith's remains, and 
 states that the Lord has instructed him to take along with them the body 
 of the fallen prophet to the Promised Land. The Mormons in their fright 
 and consternation, had neglected the mortal remains of their former 
 leader; a hole had been dug in the ground, near Carthage gaol, by his 
 enemies, and the body thrown in. Several days had already elapsed, 
 and it could scarcely be considered expedient to remove it ; and after 
 much discussion it was finally decided that a coffin, with suitable 
 inscriptions and adornments, should be procured, and being filled with 
 the clothes and personal property of Joe Smith, should be considered as 
 possessing the same efficacy as would pertain to his flesh and his bones. 
 After several da)s' journey, the saints arrived at the place where the first 
 encampment was to be made. It was a beautiful retired place, in a grove 
 of Cottonwood. Brigham Young saluted the sisters with a holy kiss, as 
 soon as they all met, praised the babies, and flattered their fathers ; telling 
 them that their enemies and even the whole world besides would never 
 have such fine children until they become initiated to the Mormon faith, 
 and that the children when grown up to manhood, should be known as 
 coming from Mormon parents. The best of everything was reserved for 
 him ; he was continually receiving presents from the sisters. But the 
 good sisters knew nothing of this man's character, and very little of the 
 real principles of the church. But, however, they believe themselves 
 to be in the same condition as the Israelites of old, that they were 
 journeying to the Promised Land, and that Joe Smith and Brigham 
 Young were really prophets sent by God. The saints with this belief, 
 go forward bravely until they reach their destination. By all accounts, 
 it was a scene of trials and difficulties. Suppose you were driven from 
 your homes, your very town besieged, your houses burnt to the ground, 
 and you flying for refuge ; then you would be in the same condition as 
 the saints were in, when they were driven from Nauvoo. They travelled 
 
24 
 
 through the wilderness of America ; had to make their own roads and 
 their own bridges, across the mountains of America, in order that they 
 might arrive to some distant and remote place. At last they reached 
 the Salt Lake, almost starved to death. The health, beauty, and fertility 
 of the country, induced them to stop and go no further Besides, 
 Brigham Young pretends to receive another revelation, saying, that 
 this place was their future resting place. 
 
 The same skill and energy directed the next movement of the church. 
 Their avowed intention of going to the Rocky Mountains — then Mexican 
 country — was to establish an independent government. Disgusted with 
 the institutions of a country that had allowed them to be expelled three 
 times, they resolved to forsake it. In their style, they would " worship 
 under their own vine and fig-tree, and none should make them afraid.'' 
 But they were poor; money was needed to enable them to move. The 
 United States offered them 20,000 dols. bounty money for five hundred 
 of their best men, which Brigham accepted. They joined General Scott's 
 army, then in Mexico. One hundred and forty-three families, with 
 Brigham at their head, made the trip to the Salt Lake, where they 
 arrived, July 24th, 1847; and, leaving them to commence farming 
 operations, Brigham returned to Winter-Quarters, where the Church 
 was suffering poverty and starvation. He had something now to do. The 
 whole of the Church had to be moved a distance of 1,300 miles, through 
 an almost unknown country, full of dangers and difficulties. However, 
 Brigham's energy inspired them all ; his genius controlled them all. 
 Marking their road with their grave-stones, they arrived at Salt Lake 
 Valley, destitute and feeble, in 1848. He set them to work, and worked 
 himself as their example. He directed their labours, controlled their 
 domestic affairs, preached at them, to them, and for them. He told 
 foolish anecdotes to make them laugh, encouraged their dancing to make 
 them merry, got up theatrical performances to distract their minds, and 
 made them work hard, certain by that of rendering them contented 
 by-and-by. They learned to dread his iron hand, and were daunted by 
 his iron heart. They got enough to eat, and their previous want made 
 their then scarcity seem like paradise begun. 
 
 Mexico was made to obey, California seized, and the Mormons were 
 now desirous to be recognized by the Government of the United States. 
 Accordingly the people elected a committee, who drew up the 
 Constitution of the State of Deseret, appointed delegates, sent them to 
 Washington, and prayed admission in the Union. Brigham, of course, 
 was governor ; the other offices being filled by the leading men of the 
 Church. Congress, in 1850, granted them a territorial government under 
 the name of Utah. The President of America appointed Brigham as the 
 governor of Utah for the first term of four years. 
 
 Since that time large bodies of emigrants have flocked in. The 
 California excitement drove thousands through Salt Lake, who left much 
 money and property for food. 
 
 At this time, many of the Mormons were inspired by the most resolute 
 fanaticism ; others imbued with sentiments of religious veneration for 
 their leader ; and all pledged to support a cause that, whether good or 
 
25 
 
 bad, could not fail to redound to the glory of the Mormon kingdom, and 
 promote the interests of their church. They were at full liberty to form 
 such laws as suited them ; to establish precedents and decisions, 
 conformable to their own views ; and, above all, the utter impossibility 
 of escape or appeal, exercised a wonderful influence over the dissatisfied, 
 and aided more than anything else in causing them to abide by their 
 fate, and conform to the circumstances in which they were placed. Had 
 injured wives possessed the chance of redress by law, or even the 
 opportunity of flying from the scene of such licentious habits, polygamy, 
 even in its infancy, would have received a death-blow ; but these, the 
 ones most interested in its suppression, and upon whom fell the burdens 
 of its intolerable evils, were constrained to abide by it, and, in most cases, 
 without murmur or complaint. 
 
 The great influence which Mormonism has acquired in Utah, and 
 the power by which it will yet make itself felt in the world, is solely 
 attributable to the fact, that it has been left free to spread and develope 
 itself, without any counteracting influences, which could not have been 
 the case in a State where the laws were already established. In Utah 
 it became the nucleus around which society formed itself, and thus 
 entered at once in all the organizations of domestic and political affairs. 
 The Mormons, from the first, were settled in communities ; they were 
 bound to each other by human sympathies, neighbourhood attachments, 
 and the ties of church relationship, consequently there was no waste of 
 influence, but a centre was created, possessing an attractive force which 
 could not fail of modelling to a certain extent, all that came within 
 its circle. 
 
 The Mormon Exodus, though not regarded at the time in such a 
 light, was a missionary effort on a grand scale, and in the most effective 
 form. The Mormon Church thus established, became a germ of a city, 
 and planted the seed of all its evils and abominations around it. How 
 far into the future this movement will reach, in its influence upon the 
 destinies of the western portion of the continent of America, or even 
 upon the Republic, it is impossible at this time to decide. 
 
 You might then ask, *' Will the Mormon City become a great nation 
 in time? " It is very likely to be the case ; for let it be remembered, 
 that under the Greek Empire it was considered disreputable to marry 
 more than once. But time soon altered this. And time, customs, and 
 public opinion, will regulate the minds of the daughters of Mormons, 
 even those who hate this abominable practice of more wives than one at 
 the present time. Being 1,300 miles from civilization they will know 
 nothing of God or his righteous commandments ; therefore the custom 
 will become general to them, and they will consequently be imbued 
 with the same spirit as the followers of Mahomet, which is none other 
 than the spirit of the devil. 
 
 But it need not be supposed the present prosperity of Utah has been 
 accomplished without effort, and labour, too, of the most zealous and 
 untiring description. Settled in this place, they have not only sustained 
 themselves, but sent missionaries into every quarter of the globe. Thus, 
 in a few years, Utah has become the centre of the Mormon Church, the 
 
26 
 
 basis of a powerful State, and the stronghold of a church differing from 
 Christianity in all its essential points. 
 
 Brigham's policy of keeping the people to work constantly, began to 
 show its fruits. Cities, towns, public buildings, roads, &c., were going 
 up. Thousands came from England, prepared to believe in anything he 
 pretended, and everything he said. They brought the skill of English 
 mechanics, which, combined with the Mormon energy, produced great 
 results. In 1854 the crops failed. Famine stared the people in the face; 
 hundreds were suffering want and anxiety. Brigham recalled his old 
 tact and energy — *' The saints were unfaithful, therefore they were 
 cursed ;" or, rather the saints were cursed, therefore they were unfaithful. 
 Brigham's famine sermons startled everyone ; he stifled out complaint 
 by cursing the murmurers. The people bowed to the yoke, and only 
 worked harder than ever. What a glorious thing it would be if this man 
 was really the prophet of God ! And by casting away his bad qualities, 
 this people and their beautiful city would be Paradise indeed ; he would 
 be really a second Moses. Moses had not the tact and energy that this 
 man possesses. True he had the spirit of God, while this man Brigham 
 has only got the spirit of Satan, It is a wonder and astonishment 
 how wicked men succeed in this world, while good cannot get along so 
 fast. If this man and his followers had the spirit of God, do you think 
 he would have founded a State and a Church so soon ! I would venture 
 to say that if Elijah or Daniel were to come down from heaven with a 
 mission from God to this world of sin and wickedness, they would 
 not get one hundred converts in one year ; but this man Brigham could 
 get eight hundred believers and churches formed in less than one year, 
 €ven without purse or scrip. He has done this in this land ; and it will 
 take all the energy and tact of all the good people here to root out 
 Mormonism from this land in twenty years. Brigham has frequently 
 declared that " no other man should be governor of Utah." 
 
 Colonel Steptoe went to Utah in 1854 with his appointment as 
 governor, generally respected. Brigham courted the Colonel ; got up 
 parties for the officers ; flattered, befooled, and used them as tools. The 
 Colonel threw up his appointment; got up a memorial to President 
 Pierce ; and induced his officers and civil friends to sign it, and forward 
 it to Washington, praying for the reappointment of Brigham Young to 
 the office of governor. The Colonel left, believing Brigham to be an 
 ill-used man, and feeling that certainly, notwithstanding his fame in 
 military and diplomatic circles, he was not the man to cope with this 
 famous prophet and would-be reformer. Other judges and officers were 
 appointed ; not one of them but sank themselves, or was fiercely curbed 
 by Brigham. Brigham Young has one design, and only one, and that 
 is to make the Mormon Church, by-and-by, control the whole of the 
 continent of America. For this he really hopes, and to this end are all 
 his efforts directed. By the native force and vigour of a strong mind he 
 has already taken this system of the grossest absurdity and re-created 
 it ; moulded it anew and changed its spirit ; taken from beneath it 
 the monstrous stilts of a miserable superstition, and consolidated it into 
 a compact scheme of the sternest fanaticism ; guided its energies and 
 
27 
 
 swelled its numbers ; increased its wealth and established its power, 
 and all with the same abiUty that characterised his triumph over all his 
 foes, or his direction of the emigration to Salt Lake. His success in the 
 past only inspires in him confidence in the future. 
 
 I have seen and heard him often ; privately conversed with him ; 
 watched him and his family and in his public administrations ; carefully 
 endeavoured to criticise his movements, and discover his secret of power, 
 and I conscientiously assert that the world has much mistaken the ability 
 and danger of the man. I may state that, by my having the charge of 
 all the printing, the short time 1 had the same, gave me this opportunity 
 of knowing something of the then and hereafter schemes of Brigham. 
 Also, I might say, that if I had no thought of heaven, with all its blessings, 
 and hell, with all its miseries, I might have still been there, superintending 
 the printing business of this wicked man. 
 
 Brigham Young is far superior to Smith in everything that constitutes 
 a great leader. Smith was not a man of genius, He only embraced 
 opportunities that presented themselves. He used circumstances, but 
 did not create them. Had it not been for Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, 
 Orson Pratt, and Brigham Young, Smith would have been lost, Sidney 
 Rigdon gave point, direction, and apparent consistency to the Mormon 
 system of theology. He invented its forms, and many of its arguments. 
 To carry on Mormonism demands increasing talent and skill. Its 
 position and progress become constantly beset with fresh and greater 
 difficulties. The next president must be as superior to Brigham as he 
 was to Smith, or Mormonism will die. Depend upon it, the Devil has 
 one already selected for this all-important office of his church. 
 
 Thus far with Brigham's past history. It may be interesting to ask, 
 what is his appearance and style. In person he is rather large and portly, 
 has an imposing carriage, and very impressive manner. To pass him in 
 the street (alongside of your humble servant) he would be one of those 
 men you would naturally turn round to look after. In private conversation' 
 he is pointed, but affable, very courteous to strangers, knows he is the- 
 object of much curiosity, and takes it as a matter of course ; and, as long 
 as their curiosity is not impertinent, is very friendly. He talks freely, in 
 an off-hand style, on any subject. He does not get much time to read 
 — he is much more of an observer than reader, thoroughly knowing the 
 weak points of men. In council he is calm, dehberate, and very politic ; 
 neither is he hastily decided. 
 
 No man ever lived who had more deeply devoted friends than Brigham 
 Young. Philosophy has had its disciples, adventurers their followers, 
 generals their soldiers, kings their subjects, impostors their fanatics — 
 Mahommed, Smith, and Brigham, have all been thus. The magnetism 
 that attracts and infatuates, makes men feel its weight, and yet love 
 its presence, abounds in him. The clerks in bis office, and his very 
 wives, feel the same veneration for the prophet. It is thus, also, in his- 
 public orations — ^he soon winds a thrall round his hearers. 
 
 Much interest is naturally felt as to his large and increasing family. 
 As a husband he is kind, not fond. He sleeps by himself in a private 
 chamber behind hia office. He, as some old philosophers, teaches the 
 
28 
 
 doctrine that cohabitation is entirely for the purpose of procreation, and 
 that all cohabitation should, therefore, cease with pregnancy, nor be 
 resumed until after weaning the infant. 
 
 Brigham has some of his wives in his Lion-house, others in his 
 mansion, and others in little houses in different parts of the city. He 
 intends to see them all once a week, and, if possible, once a day, 
 excepting when in ill-health. His wives, if they want to see him then, 
 have to go to him. For fifty or sixty women to be in a sick room, and 
 all wanting to do something for their suffering lord and master, is no 
 trifle for weak or disordered nerves. If he be sick, he has to name his 
 attendant, and the rest go sadly away, and weep, till their jealousy and 
 anguish are over ! Poor women ! They are the companions of his 
 passions, and not of his life ; panders to his lusts, instead of being the 
 partners of his affections; obliged to be satisfied with a passing nod, a 
 casual smile, or an accidental confidence ; crushing out every hope of 
 happiness, every dream of girlhood, every wish and every necessity of 
 their deep woman's hearts ; and yet most of them appearing content to 
 be thus degraded for the sake of their religion. 
 
 Brigham Young has a favourite. She is a very good-looking person, 
 of about thirty years of age. She is tall, and her general expression was 
 very intelligent and prepossessing. 
 
 Each wife has a separate sleeping apartment, except in cases of 
 discarded ones, who sleep by twos. The rooms are clean and neat. 
 
 Wives, children, workmen, and visitors all sit down at one table. He 
 keeps no servants, his wives do all the work. Cooking, cleaning, 
 dairy- work, attending children, has to be distributed among them 
 according to the taste and skill of each. It must not be imagined that 
 these sixty-eight wives of Brigham's lead an idle life. They boast of 
 how many stockings, quilts, yards of flannel, linsey, and carpet they have 
 made. '* If a woman cannot support herself and family she is only half a 
 woman," say Mormon domestic economists, 
 
 Brigham is a very extensive farmer, having the best locations, and 
 what with his sons and others helping him, gets all the farming work done 
 for little or nothing. Of course his position secures also many valuable 
 presents. From a barrel of brandy to an umbrella Brigham receives 
 courteously. Any new variety of fruit is always sent up to " Brother 
 Brigham, with Brother So-and-So's respects.'' I saw one man make him 
 a present often fine cows. He is very rich indeed. Brigham's time is 
 much occupied. He rises early to make his calls; after this sits in 
 his office as the prophet of God, or as we may with truth say, the prophet 
 of Satan. 
 
 We have viewed Brigham Young as a man ; now let us view him as a 
 prophet. He is very candid about the position of the Mormons at Utah. 
 The following was uttered by him in the Tabernacle at Salt Lake, on 
 a Sunday : — 
 
 " I say, as the Lord lives, we are bound to become a sovereign state, 
 an independent nation by ourselves ; and twenty-six years shall not pass 
 away before the elders of this church will be as much thought of as kings 
 on their thrones." 
 
29 
 
 In 1852, Albert Smith, then living at Salt Lake City difFered from 
 Brigham on some points of doctrine, and began to teach his heresy, 
 thinking that a people who declaimed so loud against modern intolerance 
 would be tolerant with regard to himself. He taught his opinions in his 
 own house, and the Mormons threatened to tear it down over his head. 
 He called a meeting on the public square and there he was interrupted also* 
 Brigham threatened to cut his throat, and send him to hell across lots ! 
 
 Many persons have suddenly disappeared for speaking against 
 Mormonism. These sudden disappearances never elicited remarks or 
 enquiries. They were gone, and that comprised the sum of the matter; 
 but where they were or who had spirited them away, was quite another 
 thing. In all cases, however, the persons mysteriously removed, were 
 enemies of the church. Lawrence and Irene, Brigham's wives, were two 
 of this number. They had dwelt together in a small farm, and they 
 might be seen daily walking with him in their little garden. But all at 
 once they disappeared. I have heard these women remonstrating with 
 their husband ; persuading him to lead a new life, and not take another 
 wife. This displeased him. A meeting of the elders agreed that these 
 women must be removed from the earth. Two elders were appointed to 
 murder these women; so that their influence of reasoning with the 
 prophet and the saints, might be stopped. 
 
 Too inexperienced, helpless ones ! — to know 
 
 What bitter Fate may in Life's footpath throw. 
 
 How little did they dream, — fond-hearted maids. 
 
 What griefs would soon their inmost souls invade ; 
 
 AVho had seen them bathing at the side 
 
 Of that clear water where the rocks divide 
 
 And form a screen, could then have prophesied 
 
 Their cheeks so soon would lose their roseate dye. 
 
 And dim become the lustre of each eye 1 
 
 That, ere the eve its amber shades should throw 
 
 Where golden coronals of blossoms grow ; — 
 
 That, ere those lovely flowers had kissed the stream, 
 
 And closed their yellow cups 'till morning's beam. 
 
 Their hearts, — Lawrence and Irene, — should be fast ensnared, 
 
 By love enchained, for misery unprepared 1 
 
 Oh ! had they been — the gentle victims — spared ! 
 
 Equally mysterious has been the disappearance of others. An amiable 
 young man had visited the Great Salt Lake City, in company with an 
 emigrant train, and had become deeply enamoured of a young woman 
 belonging to a Mormon family. His affections were returned with 
 ardour by the lady, whose hand had been demanded by a Mormon elder, 
 already the husband of nine wives. They had concerted a plan of escape ; 
 but, however, their intentions became known to this elder, and this young 
 man was murdered. 
 
 Another case. A young and very prepossessing lady named Julia came 
 with an emigrant bound to Oregon. She became acquainted with a man, 
 apparently a gentleman, who represented himself to her as being single 
 and possessing a large property. Other arts and intrigues were brought 
 to bear upon her, and she finally consented to become his wife. But, 
 
30 
 
 judge of her consternation and astonishment on being conveyed to his 
 home, to find it tenanted by a wife whose appearance betokened her a 
 perfect tigress. She took no further notice of the new wife than to order 
 her into the kitchen, and bidding her remember that thenceforth that 
 was to be her place. Julia looked at her husband, " Margaret is right, 
 my dear," he said, "you must always obey her." Julia was too deeply 
 grieved to speak, and retired to the kitchen, and from that hour a system 
 of cruelty was practised by the first wife on the second that almost 
 exceeds belief. — Julia found the trials and miseries of her lot increasing 
 every day, and she finally informed her husband that she had made up 
 her mind to leave him with the first emigrant train that came along, and 
 one was then expected every day. The husband promised to pay her fare, 
 and seemed perfectly satisfied ; but, before the emigrant train came, she 
 disappeared. Some few of the women expressed surprise, but were 
 silenced by a Mormon elder, who assured them that Satan had carried 
 her off bodily, because she presumed to be discontented with her happy 
 lot among the children of God. This young woman, also, was murdered. 
 
 A party of emigrants halted at the Great Salt Lake City, to refresh 
 themselves before crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountain. The Mormon 
 spies ascertained that they had discovered some secret which was not 
 desirable for them to know ; ascertained, too, that they intended finding 
 more ; and, to complete the whole, presented clear and undeniable proof 
 that two or three of the emigrants had obtained private access to a 
 chamber where a secret Mormon meeting was being held, and there 
 learned the plans of the self-styled saints. On this discovery another 
 private meeting was held, to consider what Was best to be done with 
 these emigrants. It was decided that, as their offence had been 
 clandestine, so should be their punishment. 
 
 Shakspeare declared that, in his time, ** a man might smile and smile, 
 and be a villain, "and human nature has improved very littlesince his day. 
 They smiled, these Mormon saints ! with murderous designs in their 
 hearts, jested and laughed with the women, caressed the children, and 
 managed to delay the travellers till the snow commenced falling on the 
 mountains, and there was every appearance that the winter would sooni 
 set in. This was succeeded by the proposal that two or three of the 
 Mormons should go with them as guides through the most difficult part 
 of the journey, pretending to lead them along a newly-discovered rout, 
 by which the distance would be shortened nearly one-half. Pleased 
 with themselves, pleased with the Mormons, the emigrants departed. 
 True, they had seen much in Mormonism that they did not like, they 
 had been both shocked and astounded by the secret revelations ; yet 
 men so kind and pious and charitable as the Mormons seemed to be^ 
 must be good-hearted after all. Thus argued the unsuspicious 
 emigrants, and they gladly accepted the offer. Was ever such villanous 
 duplicity manifested in a civilized community before ? They left the 
 Mormon city, dreaming only of the bright land of gold, and rejoiced 
 that they had obtained guides whose knowledge would shorten the 
 journey to that delectable country. After the guides left them, they 
 entered right into the heart of the granite mountains, destitute of 
 
31 
 
 vegetation, and attaining a height of many thousand feet. The snow 
 closed around them ; their stock of provisions daily diminished ; it was 
 impossible for them to make any progress amidst the ice and snow ; and 
 here they were left to perish ! 
 
 One only survived ; and he was discovered by a party of hunters the 
 next season. He lived just long enough to relate the horrible fate of 
 his companions, and then followed them ! 
 
 The name of Sierra Nevada has been given to that huge mountain 
 chain which forms the western rim of the Great Basin, as well as the 
 eastern boundary of California. Bewildered among these mountains, 
 escape is impossible. As well might one attempt to find his way to 
 the open air. One mountain crossed amid all the horrors of snow and 
 fatigue, only brings you to the foot of another I 
 
 The editor of this pamphlet saw one poor women taken from her home, 
 stripped, tied to a tree, and flogged till the blood ran from her wounds 
 to the ground. She was taken back to her husband's residence, laid on 
 the door-step — the other wives would not do anything for her — and 
 
 1 by morning she was dead. 
 
 i This is not all. The mountains and valleys, yea, even cities, were 
 infested with freebooters, desperadoes, and spies. They boldly stalk the 
 streets by day, and lie in ambush for their victims by night. They have 
 debauched and then murdered helpless women. They have taken the 
 
 ; lives of American citizens by order of their priesthood. They have 
 refused to provide jails or other means for the safe keeping of prisoners, 
 and they have in nearly every instance prevented the arrest of criminals. 
 Witnesses have not dared to testify in courts of justice, and they have 
 steadily refused to provide money to enable the Federal courts to try 
 and punish offenders. Those who speak against the elders are shot, 
 stabbed, and beaten, as well as robbed, and no evidence can be elicited 
 against the guilty. 
 
 J. B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 "This little pamphlet has deservedly met with a very large sale It is no fictitious narra- 
 tive, like most of the publications which have been issued on this subject, but the author 
 was really what he professes to have been, the manager of the Salt Lake printing oflBce, and 
 he has received numeroua letters from ministers and others thanking him for his exposure 
 of the crimes of Mormonism. The narrative of his journey thither, his experience while 
 there, and his escape, are very interesting, and there is no doubt that if the author's experi- 
 ence was given in a more extended form. In the shape of a book, it would be very readily 
 welcomed by the general public."— S^. Fancras News, 
 
 **Thb Horrors op Mormonism on Glasgow Grben. — On Sunday evening last, by 
 far the largest and most attentive meeting we have ever witnessed this season, assembled to 
 hear Mr. J. B. Franklin, (compositor, of London,) on the * Horrors of Mormonism.' The 
 lecturer handled the subject in a masterly style, to the satisfaction of every one present, 
 except the few Mormon leaders standing by. J. B. P. challenged any one to deny the ac- 
 cusations he had made against the priesthood of the Mormon church. No one came forward, 
 and the meeting separated highly pleased with the lecture."— G/oj^row Daily News, 
 
" In another part ot our journal will be found the first part of one of the most interestJni? 
 lectures ever delivered having reference to the Errors of Mormonksm. Whilst the subject is 
 by far too important to be altogether omitted by us who profess *• to contend for the truth 
 once given," our limited space obliges us to render the whole in three parts. The Lecture 
 was delivered at the Academy, Aldenham-street, St. Pancras, on Friday evening last, by 
 Mr. J. B. Franklin, formerly a Mormon Priest, and late manager in the printing office. Great 
 Salt L&keCity.^—North London Record, ^ ^ » ^reai 
 
 "As far as wecan judge from internal evidence, this little pamphletdoes not seem to belong 
 to the category of manufactured catchpennies."— Penny Newsman* 
 
 *'A truthful and well-told account of the infamy and folly of Mormonism. Some three 
 years ago we had the pleasure to hear an interesting lecture delivered by Mr. J. B. Franklin, 
 at the Calton Rooms, on the * Horrors of Mormonism.* We hope that the editor of this little 
 pamphlet will, ere long, try his hand at a longer account in a more substantial form."— Edin- 
 burgh News, 
 
 "This exposure of the Mormons, by J. B. Franklin (late manager of the Mormon printing 
 office, Great Salt Lake City), is a record of imposture and crime that will frighten all who 
 have the remotest relations under Brigham Young influence. But we shall know what Cap- 
 tain Burton has to say on this subject shortly." — Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 
 
 J. B. Franklin at Bangor. 
 
 '•A lecture was delivered by J. B. Franklin, Compositor (of London,) at the English Wes- 
 leyan Chapel, on Monday evening last. The subject was "The Horrors of Mormonism." 
 The lecture was well received by all present,— and about twenty of Joe Smith's followers 
 have left the Mormon church by hearing this truthful and interesting lecture. 
 
 Mr. J. B. Franklin (formerly editor of the Deseret News, manager of the printing office, 
 Great Salt Lake City, and president of one of the quorums of the seventies), who gave an 
 account of his perversion to Mormonism in Lancashire j his presidency of the Mormon 
 branch at Whetstone, in Middlesex j the causes of his journey to Utah j his residence and 
 observations in Great Salt Lake City; the assassination of Elder Thomas Margetts by " de- 
 stroying angels," while attempting to escape j of the Parrishes when on their road to the 
 United States j of Lieut. Gunnison ; of Hand-cart massacre, of 1856, and the Mountain Mea- 
 dows massacre, perpetrated by 600 Mormons. He spoke at considerable length of the " des- 
 troying angels," to correct the incorrect notions generally held respecting them. There was no 
 definite and fixed number of them ; nor were they a body of men with a distinct organisation. 
 Every elder who received his " endowment," took an oath to murder father, mother, sister, 
 brother, wife, or child, if "the Church" required,or they opposed the progress of Mormonism; 
 and although the elders did not so murder their relatives, the oath constituted them 
 " destroying angels." 
 
 On the following evening we again had the pleasure to hear another most interesting 
 lecture from this wonderfully interesting little man, to the Members and friends of the Bangor 
 Mechanics' Institution. The subjectwas "Volcanoes." The lecture lasted two hours. Having 
 himself visited many of the scenes alluded to, added freshness and vigour to his lecture. 
 The Town Hall was completely filled by a very respectable and most attentive audience, who 
 frequently testified their admiration of the lecture, by loud and enthusiastic applause. E. 
 Hollier, Esq., president, occupied the chair, and In a short but appropriate speech introduced 
 the lecturer, who was received with loud cheers. In selecting Volcanoes as a subject of 
 lecture he has chosen, he said, *' one which was much veiled in mystery. It was his duty 
 to do what he could, by the aid which philosophers, historians, and travellers could afford, to 
 draw that veil aside, and show what really was known upon that most Interesting subject." 
 Volcanoes were accounted for in various ways ; he proposed first, to notice the chemical 
 theory; and secondly, the Nebulae theory; and lastly, to notice individually some of the 
 most important volcanoes. Volcanoes were first alluded to by Hesiod, who wrote in the 
 days of Homer ; he alludes to Etna. Pindar next speaks of the same Volcano. Several 
 Greek colonists were in search of new homes. They landed on Sicily, but when they saw 
 the smoke issuing from the mountain, they thought it was the gods venting their indignation 
 against them for invading this territory. Virgil also alludes to it in a most poetic manner. 
 He represents the mountain as a tombstone placed by Jupiter over a vanquished foe, and 
 the convulsive motions of the giant below caused the eruptions and motions above. Vesuvius 
 was first alluded to about 70 years B.C. and afterwards by Strabo, about the year 40, A.D. 
 In explaining the various theories of volcanic eruptions, the lecturer was particularly happy. 
 He not only showed that he thoroughly understood the subject himself, but by the familiar 
 and appropriate manner in which he illustrated it, he clearly made it manifest that he knew 
 how well to impart most important information. In noticing the Nebulae theory, he very 
 beautifully alluded to the Mosaic account of the Creation, remarking that " according to the 
 opinion of the most enlightened Philosophers and divines, the Creation alluded to in Gen. I, 
 was long prior to the Creation or arrangement of matter alluded to in the succeeding verses. 
 In scientific matters the Bible was written according to the knowledge at that time ; it was 
 well that it was so, had it been otherwise, it would have driven many to infidelity. In 
 modern times science has made mighty strides, but every fresh discovery only tends to stamp 
 the Word of God as true, and add further proofs to its Divine origin."— .Ban^'or Chronicle. 
 
^ 
 
Makers 
 Stockton, Calif. 
 
 PAT. JAN 21, ISnS