BANCROFT 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 
 OLD BOOKE SHOPPE 
 IT LAKE CITY, UTAH 
 

 - 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR, 
 
 THIRD PRESIDENT er THE GH&RGH OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
 0F L2ATTER-DAY SAINTS. 
 
 BY B. H. ROBERTS. 
 
 The great man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution. 
 
 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: 
 
 GEORGE Q. CANNON & SONS CO., 
 
 PUBLISHERS. 
 
 1892. 
 
TO THE 
 FAMILY OF THE LATE 
 
 PRESIDENT J0HN TAYLOR 
 
 THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED, 
 
 WITH THE HOPE THAT IT WILL INSPIRE IS THE 
 MINDS OF HIS NUMEROUS AND EVER IN- 
 CREASING POSTERITY AN EMULA- 
 TION OF HIS VIRTUES. 
 
Bancroft Library 
 to 
 
 , 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IF THE preface to a book be looked upon as 
 the author's excuse for writing it, then this book should 
 have no preface, for the author has no excuse to make. 
 Justice to the character and labors of John Taylor 
 demanded that his life be written. The annals of the 
 Church could not be recorded without devoting large 
 space to the part he took in her affairs ; but no notice of 
 his life and labors, however extended in a general history, 
 could do justice to his great career: for of course there 
 is much in that career peculiar to himself, and of a char- 
 acter, too, to make it worthy of a separate volume. 
 
 The author is of the opinion that John Taylor would 
 have had a remarkable history even if Mormonism had 
 not found him ; for he possessed those qualities of mind 
 which would have made him a leader and a reformer 
 among men. It is quite probable, too, that in the event of 
 Mormonism not finding him, he would have won more 
 of the honors and applause of men ; for while his connec- 
 tion with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
 Saints threw him into prominence, the disrepute in which 
 that Church is held brought reproach and odium upon 
 him from the world. Had the courage and unselfish 
 devotion which he brought to the support of Mor- 
 monism been given to some reform movement less odious 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 in the estimation of mankind, his conduct would have 
 called forth the highest encomiums from all men ; but as 
 those virtues were displayed for the interest and 
 advancement of Mormonism, the world either refused to 
 recognize them at all, or accounted them fanaticism 
 merely, for which no praise was due. 
 
 The praise of the world, however, is a small matter. 
 It often praises those least worthy ; it neglects or abuses 
 those who are its chief benefactors. Our generation 
 like many that have preceded it, garnishes the sepulchres 
 of the ancient prophets, saying, " Had we lived in their 
 day, we would not have persecuted and killed them." 
 And yet with strange inconsistency they hunt to the 
 death the living prophets whose memory future genera- 
 tions will honor. But the praise or censure of the 
 world had little influence over the mind of John Taylor 
 where truth was concerned. The more men despised it 
 the more intense seemed his devotion. 
 
 In that most beautiful of all his poems entitled " An 
 Irishman's Address to his Mistress "-the poem is an 
 allegory, the mistress is the Irish Catholic Church- 
 Thomas Moore represents the Irishman as saying that 
 through grief and through danger the smile of his mis- 
 tress had cheered his way, till hope seemed to spring 
 from thorns that round him lay ; the darker their for- 
 tunes, the brighter their pure love burned, until shame 
 into glory and fear into zeal was turned. The mistress 
 had a rival. That rival was honored, while the mistress 
 was wronged and scorned ; her crown was of briars, 
 while gold the rival's brows adorned. The rival wooed 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 him to temples, while the mistress lay hid in caves ; the 
 former's friends were all masters, while the latter's, alas ! 
 were all slaves. "Yet," said the faithful devotee, "cold 
 in the earth at thy feet I would rather be, than wed what 
 I love not, or turn one thought from thee!" Such was 
 the love of John Taylor for the Church of Christ to 
 which he devoted his life. 
 
 The author has but one reason to give for under- 
 taking the pleasing task of writing this book he loved 
 the subject. To him John Taylor was the embodiment 
 of those qualities of mind and heart which most become 
 a man. He therefore applied to the family of the late 
 President John Taylor they being the parties most 
 interested in such an undertaking for the privilege of 
 writing his history. They gave a ready assent, and the 
 work was begun. Of the difficulties attending the pro- 
 duction of this history I need not speak. They are such 
 as attend all similar undertakings. The journals of 
 President Taylor were very incomplete, covering only 
 fragments of his life at best ; but the chief events of his 
 life were so closely interwoven with the history of the 
 Church that his movements and labors could be followed 
 in the Church publications ; so that I feel reasonably 
 certain that no important fact is omitted. 
 
 To George J. Taylor the eldest son of President 
 Taylor I am indebted for many valuable items of infor- 
 mation ; and he has taken an abiding interest in the work 
 from its commencement. 
 
 At my request the first Presidency of the Church 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 appointed a committee to read the manuscript and pass 
 upon it critically in respect to its doctrinal and historical 
 correctness. That committee was Elders John Jaques 
 and L. John Nuttall, the former assistant Church histo- 
 rian, the latter for a number of years secretary to Pres- 
 ident Taylor. The position these brethren occupied 
 made them intimately acquainted with the subject, and 
 they were enabled to render me valuable assistance in 
 my work, for which I am deeply grateful to them. 
 
 The work is now presented to the public in the 
 hope that it will meet with approval, and preserve to the 
 present and future generations a true history of John 
 Taylor, the third President of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Birth and Ancestry l ^ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Boyhood Early Surroundings Trade Spiritual Manifesta- 
 tions A Storm at Sea 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Arrival in Canada Marriage Leonora A Message from God 
 
 Investigation Embraces the Gospel 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ordination Appointed to Preside Visit to Kirtland Meets 
 the Prophet Defends Him Arrival of an Imposter 
 Exposed by the Prophet Spread of the Work A Prophecy 
 and its Fulfillment the Work Spreads into England ... 39 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Appointed to Collect Funds in Canada Call to the Apostleship 
 
 Reflections Prepares to Leave Canada for Missouri . . 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Journey to Far West via Kirtland State of Affairs at Kirtland 
 Defiance to a Mob Experience at De Witt Missouri Per- 
 secutions Ordained an Apostle 51 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Banished from Missouri Returns to Fulfill a Prophecy Starts 
 on His Mission to England Sickness by the Way Arrival 
 in New York 65 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "I have Plenty of Money" Amusing Conversation Voyage to 
 England Appointed to Preach in Liverpool People Pre- 
 pared to Receive the Gospel Begins Work Baptisms . . 72 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Labors Continued in Liverpool Manner of Meeting Opposi- 
 tion Introduction of the Gospel into Ireland A Prophecy 
 First Baptism Visit to Scotland Love of the Saints ... 80 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Course of Lectures Visit to the Isle of Man Reflections Lec- 
 tures in Douglas Opposition Challenge Discussions 
 Success 88 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Return to Nauvoo Sickness of Leonora Saved by the Power of 
 God Founds "Nauvoo Neighbor" Edits "Times and 
 Seasons" Nominates the Prophet for President Reasons- 
 Introduction of Celestial Marriage His Conduct in Regard 
 to it 9 6 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A Retrospect A State's Crime Trouble Brewing 106 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 An Important Year Apostates Agitation of the Mormon Ques- 
 tion The Nauvoo "Expositor" Its Suppression Effect of 
 suppression Governor Ford's Order Nauvoo under Martial 
 Law 114 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Arrival of Governor Ford in Carthage Mob Converted into 
 Militia Elder Taylor and Dr. Bernhisel go to Carthage 
 Demands of Governor Ford Pledges the Honor of the 
 State for Joseph's Protection Joseph Starts for the West- 
 Returns Arrival and Reception at Carthage 122 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Martyrdom 130 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Flight of the Mob Excitement of the Governor Elder Tay- 
 lor's Suffering Hypocrisy Still in Danger The Return 
 to Nauvoo Gratitude " With the Greatest of Prophets he 
 Suffered and Bled" 142 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Was Governor Ford a Party to the Massacre? Suspicious Cir- 
 
 cumstances ............... ..... 151 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Management of Affairs in Nauvoo Arrival of Sidney Rigdon 
 Arrival of the Twelve Rigdon Rejected as Leader the 
 Twelve Chosen Prosperity Unique Organization Mob- 
 bings Agreement to Leave Nauvoo Bold Speeches of Elder 
 Taylor " The Lord was with Me" .......... 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Preparations for leaving Nauvoo Labors in the Temple Elder 
 Taylor's Sacrifice Journey Through the Wilderness Arri- 
 val at Council Bluffs Helps to Raise the Mormon Battalion 
 
 "Who Cannot Trust the United States?" Rumors of 
 Trouble in England Called to a Mission in England The 
 Departure ..................... 167 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Unjust Stewards called to Account Disposed of Tour 
 through the Churches Ovations Articles for the Star 
 Moderate Spirit of them Work Accomplished Start for 
 Home Storm Beaten Return to Liverpool Second Start 
 Successful Voyage Farewell from America In the Nick of 
 Time ....................... 177 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Preparations for Journey into the Wilderness The Outfit The 
 Rendezvous Organization Manner of Traveling Meeting 
 the Pioneers A Sylvan Feast Arrival in Salt Lake Valley 
 
 "Work enough for One Fall" Social Feast Character 
 
 of Primitive Society ................. 186 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Mistake in Building Scarcity of Provisions Taxed the 
 Cricket War Crops Saved Harvest Feast Deputation 
 from the President of the United States Elder Taylor Con- 
 fers with it Called to France From Sawpit to Pulpit The 
 Life of an Apostle ................ 198 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Dreary Journey Across the Plains Charged by A Troop of 
 Indians Peace or War? Suspense a Feast instead of a 
 Massacre Arrival at Kanesville St. Louis Letter to 
 Family Arrival in England 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Arrival in France Preparations for Work Monsieur Le Maire 
 Permission to Lecture Meetings in Boulogne-Sur-Mer 
 Impudent Priests A Challenge Great Discussion Minis- 
 ters fly their Colors Unfair Chairman Defense of Elder 
 Taylor 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Work Introduced into Paris Interview with M. Krolo- 
 koski "Which is best, your Philosophy or our Religion?" 
 French Philosophy or Fried Froth Translation of the 
 Book of Mormon into French Characteristic Letter 
 Unsettled State of Affairs in France French Liberty 
 Gospel Introduced into Germany Translation of the Book 
 of Mormon into the German Zion's Panier a Confer- 
 ence under Difficulties Departure from France a Know- 
 ing Officer and a True Friend 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Busts of the Martyrs the Government of God Manufacturing 
 Company Organized Farewell to France to Europe a 
 Bigoted Captain Visit to Washington Meeting an old 
 Friend Colonel Kane Arrival in Salt Lake Greetings 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Labors at Home Called to Preach the Gospel in the Settlements 
 of the Saints a Mission to New York Mormonism to 
 Represent Itself "1 can call Spirits from the Vasty Deep"- 
 Will they come? Publishing a Paper Without Purse or 
 Scrip 242 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 PACT, 
 
 "The Mormon" The first Issue In the front of the Battle 
 Boldness of Defense Challenges Accepted The acts of 
 Cowards "The Mormons don't need your Sympathy, nor 
 Cankered Gold" A Tertullian -246 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Defense of Celestial Marriage Bible Society's War on Mor- 
 monism Elder Taylor's Bible Strange Solution of the 
 Mormon Problem The Army to the Rescue 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 "The Mormon " for the Preservation of the Union The U. P. 
 Railway Interviews with President Franklin Pierce U. S. 
 Officials Invasion of Utah Departure for Salt Lake . . 263 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 "The Mormon" Commended by Brigham Young Trying 
 Times Courage Elder Taylor in the Front "Let the Trial 
 1 Come" Speech on the Rights of the People in the Terri- 
 tories 270 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The Arrival of Captain Van Vliet in Salt Lake Elder Taylor 
 on the Approaching Army How it would be Met Van 
 Vliet's Surprise and Perplexity His Report to Secretary of the 
 Interior Captain Marcy's Letter Elder Taylor's Reply 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Martial Law Declared in Utah The Legislature to Congress 
 "We shall not Abandon our Religion " Give us our rights 
 and we are at Home Arrival of Col. Kane Compromises 
 Entrance of Governor Gumming into Salt Lake 
 Remaining Difficulties Preparing for an Exodus The Peace 
 Commission Difficulties Adjusted Elder Taylor's Part . 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Labors after the Utah War A Member of the Legislature 
 Speaker of the House Probate Judge Great Discussion 
 with Vice-President Schuyler Colfax 299 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A Reign of Judicial Terror Judges with a Mission James B. 
 McKean A Judicial Crusade A System on Trial The High- 
 handed Measures Stopped by the Supreme Court "Masterly 
 Inactivity" Elder Taylor on the Crusade "Be Quiet" 
 the Counsel Vindicated 311 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Interest in Educational Affairs Chosen Superintendent of Com- 
 mon Schools Commended by Authorities at Washington- 
 Death of President Young The new Leader Standing of 
 the Twelve Apostles Elder Taylor's Place in the Quorum 
 The Hand of the Lord 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Character of President Taylor's Administration The Gardo 
 House Voted as his Residence The Great Jubilee Confer- 
 ence A Great Testimony Meeting 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 The Quorum of Apostles not the Permanent Presiding Quorum 
 of the Church First Presidency Chosen A General Assem- 
 bly of Quorums The Voting Vox Dei et Vox Populi 
 Dignity of Presidency Character of Government One of 
 the Noble Ones 338 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Labors as President Sample Tours Character of Sermons 
 Less of the Poet but More of the Philosopher A Revela- 
 tion 346 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Public Reception at the Gardo House Promise of Peace Peace 
 Disturbed New Agitation An Old Opponent with Bad 
 Taste The False Indictment Investigation AskedDenied 
 Indecent Haste Passage of the Edmunds' Bill The Sac- 
 rifice of President Taylor 352 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 I'AQE. 
 
 "A Storm is Coming" " Turn up your Collars" Policy of the 
 Church Outlined Contest under the Law every Encroach- 
 ment on the Dominion of Liberty Warnings and Proph- 
 ecies Hosanna No New Shout Its Impressions on a 
 Stranger 360 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Work on the ''Mediation and Atonement" Its Character 
 "The Aaronic Priesthood "The " Storm" Arrival of the 
 Commission Test Oath " In the Marriage Relation " 
 How it Works First Case in the Crusade President Tay- 
 lor's Reflections .... 367 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 The Storm Bursts upon the People The Morality Plea Who 
 the Criminals are Testimony of Statistics A Visit to Ari- 
 zona and Mexico Assault upon the People in Arizona 
 An American Siberia Seeking a Place of Refuge In 
 San Francisco Threatened with Arrest Return to Utah 
 Last Sermon Warning and Prophecy 377 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 Presiding Under Difficulties General Epistle An Infamous 
 Crusade Homes Invaded Judical Legislation Cohabita- 
 tion President Taylor's Deportment 384 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Letter to his Family 391 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Reflections Death of Sophia Taylor Determination ' to bring 
 about an Issue A Violent one Preferred Half-masting 
 Episode The Course of the G. A. R. Warlike Preparations 
 for Pioneer day Flags at Half Mast Throughout the Union- 
 Expressions of Love and Confidence Last Illness and Death 
 of President Taylor 399 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 Official Announcement of President Taylor's Death His Coun- 
 selors on his Life and Character Expressions of the People 
 Resolutions of Respect 410 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Personal Appearance and Character His Broad Views Faith 
 and Confidence in God Devotion to his Religion Moral 
 Life Above Suspicion Love of Liberty "I would not be 
 a Slave to God ! "The Riches he Sought "I Prefer A 
 Faded Coat to a Faded Reputation" Skill and Maxims as 
 a Workman Power as a Writer A Poet A Preacher of 
 Righteousness Social Qualities A Great Man 419 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Funeral Ceremonies Testimonies of President Taylor's Fellow 
 
 Laborers Final Resting Place of the Champion of Liberty 436 
 
 Appendix . 465 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR Frontispiece. 
 
 I-A..I 
 
 EXTERIOR CARTHAGE JAIL 130 
 
 SCENE IN CARTHAGE JAIL - 140 
 
 RESIDENCE OF JOHN TAYLOR, NAUVOO 170 
 
 COUNCIL BLUFFS FERRY 185 
 
 CAMP AT WOOD RIVER 189 
 
 FIRST RESIDENCE IN UTAH 192 
 
 PRIMITIVE SAW MILL - 202 
 
 BUSTS OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH 236 
 
 HEADING OF "THE MORMON" 247 
 GARDO HOUSE 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 
 
 THE leading spirits whom the Prophet Joseph Smith 
 gathered about him in his brief but glorious career, were 
 remarkable men. Not remarkable for illustrious birth, 
 for they were of humble origin ; not for scholarly attain- 
 ments, for such were the conditions of their early life that 
 scholastic education of a very high order was out of the 
 question : but they were remarkable for character that 
 mysterious something which exists independent of birth, 
 education or fortune. 
 
 It has become proverbial that all great movements, 
 all reformations, all revolutions must produce their own 
 leaders ; and this is as true of the great work of the last 
 days, the establishment of the Church of Christ on the 
 earth, as it is of any other great movement. Leaders in 
 established usages and institutions, political, social or 
 religious, are very seldom converted to innovations. 
 They usually consider it to their interest to oppose 
 changes, especially those changes which from their very 
 nature cast any shadow of doubt upon the correctness of 
 existing customs or institutions with which they are con- 
 nected. Hence it happened that the Jewish rabbis, the 
 priests, the scribes, the members of the great Sanhedrin 
 leaders in their nation did not accept the doctrines of 
 Messiah and become the chief apostles, seventies and 
 elders of the new church. On the contrary, this class 
 
1 8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 were the stubbornest opponents to the doctrines taught 
 by the Son of God, and His most implacable enemies. 
 It was the common people who heard Him gladly: and 
 from their number He chose the apostles, who, through 
 the God-given powers of the priesthood conferred upon 
 them, shook the old systems of morals and religion from 
 their foundations. 
 
 Nor can it be "doubted that the hand of the Lord is 
 in this matter of choosing men to be His messengers, 
 His prophets and His rulers. Many of them are chosen 
 before they are born in the flesh. The messenger that 
 was to prepare the way for the coming of the Son of 
 God, John the Baptist, was so chosen. Jeremiah was 
 ordained a prophet to the nations before he was born. 
 Cyrus the Great, the war prince of Persia, was selected 
 to be the deliverer of Israel from Babylonian bondage 
 more than a century before his birth. Indeed, we are 
 given to understand from the revelations of God, that 
 from among the nobler class of spirits that dwell in His 
 presence, the Father hath chosen those who are to be 
 His rulers. 
 
 From the very nature of things it must be necessary 
 that men whose minds are unwarped by prevailing cus- 
 toms and traditions, should be selected to establish a new 
 order of religion, of government or of society. How 
 could the Jewish priests and rabbis, bound by long cus- 
 tom to a slavish adherence to the outward forms and 
 ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual, the spirit and purpose 
 of which had long been made of no effect by the rubbish 
 of false traditions, open their minds to receive the larger 
 and nobler doctrines of the gospel of Christ, unmixed 
 with the pomp and circumstance which they of that age 
 and nation considered essential to religion ? 
 
 Can men educated to an attachment for despotic 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 19 
 
 government, and whose interests are bound up with its 
 maintenance, be expected to look with favor on demo- 
 cratic principles, or become the champions of a republic? 
 
 Finally, to wander no further from the subject in 
 hand, were the religious leaders of the early part of the 
 nineteenth century, educated to the idea that revelation 
 had ceased; that the voice of prophecy was forever 
 silenced ; that the ministration of angels was ended ; that 
 the miraculous powers of the Holy Ghost were done 
 away; that the ancient organization of the church was 
 no longer needed ; and further, believing that God was a 
 substance merely, without form, without a body, or 
 parts, or passions were such men, filled with pride 
 which the learning of this world too often infuses into 
 the hearts of those who possess it were such men qual- 
 ified to stand at the head of, and become the leading 
 actors in, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times ? A 
 dispensation which was to be opened by the personal 
 visitation of the Father and the Son, followed by numer- 
 ous visitations of angels, the re-establishment of the 
 church of Christ, with all its doctrines, ordinances, priest- 
 hoods, powers, promises and blessings ; and ending, 
 eventually, with the full restoration of the house of 
 Israel and the complete redemption of the earth and all 
 its righteous inhabitants ? 
 
 Such a work was too large, too high and too deep 
 for minds filled with false, sectarian ideas. Hence God 
 chose His servants in these last days from men whose 
 minds were unwarped by false education, but men of 
 large capacity; possessing breadth and freedom of 
 thought, of sanguine, fearless temperament : children of 
 nature were they, with consciences unseared by worldly 
 guile, .and strangers to motives other than those dictated 
 by an honest purpose ; and, withal, full of implicit confi- 
 
2O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 dence in God a confidence born of a living faith in the 
 fact of Deity's existence, and a consciousness of the rec- 
 titude of their own intentions and lives. 
 
 It was these qualities which made the men whom 
 the Prophet Joseph Smith gathered about him, and who 
 were his trusted counselors, remarkable; and of that 
 coterie of men there was not one who more completely 
 united in his own character all those qualities which made 
 the group remarkable than John Taylor. Nor was there 
 one more devoted in his friendship for the prophet, or 
 more zealous in his efforts to spread abroad the glad 
 tidings that the gospel of the Son of God in its fullness 
 was restored to the earth to bless mankind. Neither 
 was there one whose experience was more varied, or 
 whose life was more crowded with thrilling events, or 
 whose position in the Church was more exalted than 
 his. He proclaimed the gospel in many lands ; and as 
 the champion of truth, stood ready to meet all who 
 assailed it ; and whether he met his opponents in the 
 forum, before a multitude steeped full of prejudice 
 against him, or in the columns of the public press, he 
 was equally successful in vanquishing them by his power- 
 ful statement of the truth, backed by a peculiar ability 
 to expose the weakness of his opponent's position. 
 
 So prominent was the career of John Taylor in the 
 Church, as a trusted friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 
 with whom he may be said to have shared martyrdom ; 
 as a founder and editor of Church periodicals ; as a 
 preacher of the gospel ; as an apostle ; as a pioneer of 
 Utah ; as a legislator ; and, finally, as President of the 
 Church during one of the most trying periods through 
 which she has passed in her eventful career, that the 
 literature of the Church would be incomplete without 
 his history. And if the lives of her leading men be the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 21 
 
 history of the Church, as some aver, then that history 
 would be extremely imperfect if the life of her third 
 President in this dispensation were not written. 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR was born November ist, 1808, in Miln- 
 thorpe, a small town near the head of Morecombe Bay, 
 and not far from Windemere, the ''Queen of English 
 Lakes," in the county of Westmoreland, England. His 
 father's name was James Taylor, whose forefathers for 
 many generations had lived on an estate known as Craig 
 Gate, in Ackenthwaite. James Taylor's mother was the 
 second wife of his father, Edward Taylor. By his first 
 wife Edward Taylor had two sons and three daughters ; 
 by his second wife, whose name was Elizabeth, he had 
 one son, James, and three daughters, named Mary, Jane 
 and Agnes. Edward Taylor, the grandfather of the 
 subject of this writing, died before his son James was 
 born ; and owing to the English law of primogeniture, 
 the eldest son took the estate and left the younger 
 branches of the family to provide for themselves as best 
 they could. 
 
 Though James Taylor was deprived of any share 
 of his father's estate, he acquired a good English educa- 
 tion, some proficiency in the Latin and Greek lan- 
 guages, and the higher branches of mathematics. What 
 he had lost by an unjust law, in the sudden demise of his 
 father, was made up to him by the munificence of an 
 uncle (on his mother's side), William T. Moon, who 
 bequeathed to him a small estate in Hale, Westmore- 
 land. 
 
 John Taylor's mother's name was Agnes; her 
 maiden name was also Taylor. Her grandfather, Chris- 
 
22 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 topher Taylor, lived to be ninety-seven years of age. His 
 son John, father of Agnes, held an office in the excise 
 under government, from his first setting out in life to 
 the age of about sixty. He was between seventy and 
 eighty when he died. The maiden name of Agnes 
 Taylor's mother was Whittington, a descendant of the 
 family made famous by Richard Whittington, the younger 
 son of Sir William Whittington. (Sir William died intes- 
 tate shortly after his son Richard was born ; and this 
 circumstance, under the English law of primogeniture, 
 left him without a fortune. Nothing discouraged by this 
 event, Richard went to London to engage in trade. He 
 apprenticed himself to a mercer and appears to have 
 risen rapidly in the world. He was made an alderman 
 in the city of London, then high sheriff; thrice was he 
 chosen lord mayor of London, and afterwards was 
 elected member of parliament for the city. He stood 
 in high favor with the king, who conferred on him the 
 honor of knighthood. He was diligent and exceedingly 
 prosperous in business, upright and liberal in character, 
 "a virtuous and godly man, full of good works, and those 
 famous," says an old chronicler. In many respects he 
 was considerably in advance of his times and conferred 
 a lustre on his family's name which will live forever in 
 English story. This illustrious man was born, as nearly 
 as may be ascertained, about 1360.) 
 
 To James and Agnes Taylor were born ten chil- 
 dren eight sons and two daughters. Three of the 
 sons died while young. John Taylor was the second 
 son, but as his eldest brother, Edward, died at the 
 age of twenty-two, John stood next to his father, the 
 head of the family. 
 
 John Taylor's father had received an appointment 
 under government in the excise, and the nature of his 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 23 
 
 office was such that he had to move from place to place. 
 In 1819, however, he left government employ and re- 
 moved from Liverpool, where he had lived five years, and 
 settled on his estate in Hale. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BOYHOOD EARLY SURROUNDINGS TRADE SPIRITUAL MANI- 
 FESTATIONS A STORM AT SEA. 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR was eleven years old when his father 
 settled on his estate in Hale. He attended school at 
 Beetham, about a mile from Hale, and only a few miles 
 south of his birth place. It was in these boyhood days 
 at home that he got " mixed up," as he puts it, "with 
 ploughing, sowing, reaping, hay-making and other farm 
 work; and I have indelibly impressed on my mind," he 
 continues, "some of my first mishaps in horsemanship 
 in the way of sundry curious evolutions between the 
 horses' backs and terra fir ma" 
 
 At the age of fourteen he was bound an apprentice to 
 a cooper, in Liverpool. In about twelve months his 
 employer failed and young Taylor returned home. He 
 afterwards went to learn the business of turner in 
 Penrith, Cumberland. Penrith is situated near the middle 
 of a beautiful, fertile valley sloping northwesterly to the 
 Solway firth, and drained by the Eden river ; the valley 
 because of its rare scenery, is called the Vale of Eden. 
 It is one of the most romantic districts in all England. 
 On the east is the Pennine range of mountains, which in 
 this locality attain their greatest altitude. On the west 
 
24 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 is the Cumbrian group, where the highest summits in 
 England are found. The highest mountain is Scawfell, 
 the loftiest of whose four peaks is 3,229 feet above the 
 sea. A little to the east of this, and hence nearer Pen- 
 rith, is Mount Helvellyn 3,118 feet; and to the north 
 Skiddaw 3,058 feet. 
 
 Nestling at the feet, or in basins between these 
 mountain peaks, are the most famous lakes in England, 
 fifteen in number, varying in size from one mile to ten in 
 length, and from one-third to one mile in width. Ulles- 
 water is the lake nearest to Penrith, and while it has lit- 
 tle of the soft beauty that has made Lake Windemere 
 famous, its rugged surroundings and especially Mount 
 Helvellyn at its south west extremity, give to it a gran- 
 deur that verges on sublimity. 
 
 The climate of this lake region is very damp, and on 
 the higher mountain peaks snow lies for six and in some 
 seasons even eight months in the year. The excessive 
 rain-fall, however, gives great freshness and luxuriance to 
 vegetation. 
 
 Besides the beauty and grandeur of the surrounding 
 country, Penrith and vicinity are rich in historical associa- 
 tions and monuments of a past civilization. Lying near 
 the Scotch border it was frequently invaded by that hardy 
 race during their unhappy conflicts with England; the 
 town was well nigh destroyed by them in the time of 
 Edward III. ; and was again sacked in the time of 
 Richard III. 
 
 In the immediate vicinity are a number of Druidical 
 remains, among which is the great Druidic monument 
 Long Meg, a monolith eighteen feet high and fifteen feet 
 in circumference ; while about her, in a circle one hundred 
 and fifty yards in diameter, are sixty-six other monu- 
 ments, inferior to her in size, called her daughters. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 25 
 
 Near by is Lowther Castle with its beautiful park ; Eden 
 Hall, the seat of the ancient family of Musgrave ; 
 Authur's Round Table, and Shap Abbey, are also within 
 a radius of five or six miles. 
 
 It was in the midst of this splendid scenery, made 
 doubly enchanting by historic associations and the monu- 
 ments of those weird people, the Druids, that John 
 Taylor spent the days of his youth, from his fifteenth to 
 his twentieth year ; and no doubt these surroundings 
 had a powerful effect on his then forming character, and 
 did much to develop the poetical impulses of his mind, 
 for the power of poetry was not among the least of his 
 natural gifts. Thence, too, comes the splendid imagery 
 so frequently dashed into his sermons and writings. It 
 was there he saw the " water nymphs playing with the 
 clouds on mountain tops, frolicking with the snow and 
 rain in rugged gorges, coquetting with the sun and danc- 
 ing to the sheen of the moon ;" * there, too, he saw the 
 drifting clouds wrapping mountain peaks in solemn gloom, 
 while the flower-flecked vale below was flooded with warm 
 sunlight. These scenes and the impressions they formed 
 he treasured up, and afterwards made them clothe in 
 splendid drapery an eloquence which held thousands 
 enchanted by the magic of its spell. 
 
 The religious nature of John Taylor began early 
 to develope. His parents were . members, nominally, 
 of the Church of England, and he was told that that 
 Church was the true one, and that the "Roman Catholics 
 were a dreadful set of fellows." Indeed, it may be said 
 that part of the Church of England's creed in those days, 
 though unwritten, was " down with the Pope." He learned 
 the catechism and the prayers of the church. In a fine 
 
 From Taylor's Reply to Colfax. 
 
26 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 vein of satire he says : "I repeated week after week 
 * We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost 
 sheep. We have left undone those 
 
 things which we ought to have done ; and we have done 
 those things which we ought not to have done, and there 
 is no health in us ; have mercy upon 
 
 us, miserable sinners." 
 
 He was baptized into the church when an infant ; a 
 god-father and god-mother promised and vowed for him 
 that he would renounce the devil and all his works the 
 pomp and vanity of this wicked world, and all the deceit- 
 ful lusts of the flesh ; that he should believe all the articles 
 of the Christian faith, and keep God's holy laws and com- 
 mandments, and walk in the same all the days of his life. 
 "How far I have filled their pledges," he says, "I must 
 leave others to judge." 
 
 In childhood and youth he was naturally vivacious, 
 and seems to have had but little regard for the stiff for- 
 mula of church creed, and was without any definite idea 
 of correct religious views ; still he had a deep reverence 
 for God ; with him it was an intuition, and he dreaded 
 nothing so much as offending Him. 
 
 When about sixteen he heard the Methodist doc- 
 trines taught, and as he perceived more spiritual light 
 and force in their teachings than in the cold, set services 
 of the Church of England, he became a Methodist. He 
 was strictly sincere in his religious faith, and very zealous 
 to learn what he then considered to be the truth. Be- 
 lieving that "every good and perfect gift proceedeth 
 from the Lord," he prayed frequently in private. Most 
 of his leisure hours were spent in reading the Bible, 
 works on theology and in prayer. For the latter pur- 
 pose he usually resorted to secluded places in the woods 
 and fields. The missionary spirit about this time began 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 27 
 
 to develop in him. He induced a number of boys 
 about his own age to join with him in secret prayer, but 
 they generally soon forsook him. He relates a circum- 
 stance that must have occurred about this time, that still 
 further gives evidence of the missionary spirit working 
 within him. Living in the same neighborhood was an old 
 gentleman whom he greatly respected ; he was a good 
 man, a praying man, but he had a wife who did not want 
 to pray, and also interfered with his devotions. She was 
 restless and turbulent, a kind of thorn in his flesh. 
 Under these circumstances he did not get along very well, 
 but it used to drive him to the Lord. After a while she 
 died, and he married again ; this time to a very amiable 
 lady. His wife was so pleasant and agreeable, that the 
 change in his circumstances was very great. Being thus 
 comfortably situated he became remiss in his religious 
 duties ; and among other things gave way to the tempta- 
 tions of liquor. Observing the course he was taking, 
 young Taylor took up a labor with him. He felt a little 
 abashed on account 'of his youth, but because of long 
 friendship, and out of respect for the old gentleman's 
 many good qualities, he felt it his duty to call his atten- 
 tion to his neglect of Christian precepts. He told him 
 how he had seen him drunk a few days previously, and 
 how it had hurt his feelings, as his course hitherto had 
 been exemplary. The old gentleman appreciated the 
 good feelings, the respect and courage of his young 
 friend, deplored his weakness and promised amendment. 
 Young Taylor possessed a portion of the spirit of God 
 and was very happy. Manifestations of its presence 
 were frequent, not only in the expansion of his mind to 
 understand doctrines and principles, but also in dreams 
 and visions. " Often when alone," he writes, " and some- 
 times in company, I heard sweet, soft, melodious music, 
 
28 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 as if performed by angelic or supernatural beings." 
 When but a small boy he saw, in vision, an angel in the 
 heavens, holding a trumpet to his mouth, sounding a 
 message to the nations. The import of this vision he 
 did not understand until later in life. 
 
 At the age of seventeen he was made a Methodist 
 exhorter, or local preacher. His first appointment was 
 at a small country town some seven miles from Penrith. 
 A brother in the same church accompanied him ; and 
 when the two had walked about a mile from Penrith, 
 young Taylor suddenly stopped, overpowered by a 
 peculiar influence, and as he stood there in the road, he 
 remarked to his companion, "I have a strong impression 
 on my mind, that I have to go to America to preach the 
 gospel!" At the time he knew nothing of America but 
 what he had learned in his geography at school ; and 
 emigration to that country had not been thought of then 
 by his family. So strong was the voice of the spirit to 
 him on that occasion that it continued to impress him as 
 long as he remained in that land ; and even after he 
 arrived in Canada, a presentiment that he could not 
 shake off, clung to him that he had some work to do 
 which he did not then understand. 
 
 At the age of twenty, having mastered the business 
 of turner, young Taylor left Penrith, and in the town of 
 Hale started business for himself, under the auspices of 
 his father. Shortly after this, in 1830, his father and 
 family emigrated to Upper Canada, leaving him to dis- 
 pose of some unsold property and settle the affairs of 
 the estate. 
 
 In about two years he completed the business 
 entrusted to him and followed them. While crossing 
 the British channel the ship he sailed in encountered 
 severe storms, which lasted a number of days. He saw 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 29 
 
 several ships wrecked in that storm, and the captain and 
 officers of his own ship expected hourly that she would 
 go down. But not so with our young emigrant. The 
 voice of the Spirit was still saying within him, "You 
 must yet go to America and preach the gospel." " So 
 confident was I of my destiny," he remarks, "that I went 
 on deck at midnight, and amidst the raging elements 
 felt as calm as though I was sitting in a parlor at home. 
 I believed I should reach America and perform my 
 work." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ARRIVAL IN CANADA MARRIAGE LEONORA A MESSAGE 
 
 FROM GOD INVESTIGATION EMBRACES THE GOSPEL. 
 
 LANDING in Ne\tf York, he remained there and in 
 Brooklyn and Albany a few months before going on to 
 Toronto, Upper Canada, where he was to rejoin his 
 parents. 
 
 After his arrival in Toronto he connected himself 
 with the Methodists in that city, and began preaching 
 under the auspices of their church organization. It was 
 while he was engaged in this work that he met Leonora 
 Cannon, to whom he was married on the 28th of Janu- 
 ary, 1833. 
 
 Leonora Cannon was a daughter of Captain George 
 Cannon (grandfather of President George Q. Cannon) 
 of Peel, Isle of Man. Captain Cannon died while 
 Leonora was yet in her girlhood ; the old homestead in 
 Peel was rented to strangers, and she went to reside in 
 
3O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 England with a lady named Vail. Later she became an 
 inmate of Governor Smelt's family, residing in Castle 
 Rushen, Castletown, Isle of Man. Here she frequently 
 met with many distinguished people from England. 
 Finally in the capacity of companion to the wife of Mr. 
 Mason, the private secretary of Lord Aylmer, Governor 
 General of Canada, she went to Toronto, and being a 
 devout Methodist, associated with that church and there 
 met Mr. Taylor, who became her class leader. 
 
 His first proposal of marriage was rejected; but 
 afterwards, through a dream in which she saw herself 
 associated with him, she was convinced that he would be 
 her husband. Therefore, when he renewed his proposal, 
 he was accepted. 
 
 Refined both by nature and education, gentle and 
 lady-like in manner, witty, intelligent, gifted with rare 
 conversational powers, possessed of a deep religious 
 sentiment, and, withal, remarkable for the beauty of her 
 person, she was a fitting companion to John Taylor. 
 
 Mrs. Taylor frequently accompanied her husband 
 in filling his appointments to preach on the Sabbath, and 
 he often alluded to the singular revelation he had 
 received in his youth, about his having to preach the 
 gospel in America. 
 
 "Are you not now preaching the gospel in America?" 
 Leonora would ask. 
 
 "This is not the work; it is something of more 
 importance," he would answer. 
 
 As a preacher in the Methodist church, both in 
 England and Canada, he was very successful, and made 
 many converts. "My object," he remarks, "was to 
 teach them what I then considered the leading doctrines 
 of the Christian religion, rather than the peculiar dogmas 
 of Methodism." His theological investigations had 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 3! 
 
 made him very much dissatisfied with existing creeds 
 and churches, because of the wide difference between 
 modern and primitive Christianity, in doctrine, in ordi 
 nances, in organization and above all, in spirit and power. 
 
 He was not the only one on whom the Spirit was 
 operating in this manner. There were several others, 
 chiefly men belonging to the same Church, in or near 
 Toronto, and engaged in the same calling. They were 
 gentlemen of refinement and education, and generally 
 talented. 
 
 It was their custom to meet several times a week to 
 search the scriptures, and investigate the doctrines of the 
 Christian religion as contained in the Bible. They were 
 all familiar with the various systems of theology as 
 accepted by the Christian sects of the day, and as they 
 had more or less distrust regarding each of them they 
 agreed, in their investigation, to reject every man's 
 opinion and work, and to search the scriptures alone, 
 praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 On these lines they investigated the claims of each 
 sect of religion, as to its being the Church of Christ. 
 The result of that investigation was that they were 
 driven irresistibly to the conclusion that all sects were in 
 error, and without authority to preach the gospel or 
 administer its ordinances. "If modern Christianity is 
 true," said they, " then the Bible is false," and vice versa. 
 Fortunately they clung to a firm belief in the Bible ; and 
 further believed in a restoration of pure principles and a 
 true church. They believed that men should be called 
 of God as in former days, and ordained by proper 
 authority ; and that in the Church there should be apos- 
 tles and prophets, evangelists and pastors, teachers and 
 deacons ; in short, that the primitive organization of the 
 Church of Christ should be perpetuated. 
 
32 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 They believed that men who accepted the gospel 
 should have bestowed upon them the Holy Ghost; that 
 it should lead them into all truth, and show them things 
 to come. They believed also in the gift of tongues, 
 the gift of healing, miracles, prophecy, faith, discerning 
 of spirits and all the powers, graces and blessings as ex- 
 perienced in the Christian Church of former days. They 
 believed that Israel would be gathered, the ten tribes 
 restored; that judgments would overtake the wicked, 
 and Christ return to the earth and reign with the right- 
 eous ; they believed in the first and second resurrection, 
 and in the final glory and triumph of the righteous. But 
 while they believed all these things, they recognized the 
 fact that they had no authority to act in the premises and 
 organize a church, incorporating these views in its doc- 
 trines and organization. True, they might organize a 
 church with apostles and prophets, and all other officers, 
 and teach the letter of their principles ; but whence should 
 they look for the Spirit to give it life, and make their 
 dream of a restored, perfect Christian church a reality? 
 It was evident to them they could not perform this work 
 unless called of God to do it, and they were painfully 
 conscious of the fact that not one among them was so 
 called. They could only wait, and pray that God would 
 send to them a messenger if He had a Church on the 
 earth. 
 
 So wide and thorough an investigation of religion, 
 by such a body of men, could not fail to attract some 
 attention, especially from the church with which the most 
 of them were nominally connected. The leading men 
 in the Methodist church called a special conference 
 ,to consider the principles of these heterodox brethren. 
 The meeting was called and presided over by some of 
 the most prominent leaders in the Methodist persuasion 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 33 
 
 in Canada, among whom were the Rev. Mr. Ryarson and 
 Rev. Mr. Lord, of the British conference. The hearing 
 was not a trial pro forma, but rather a friendly discus- 
 sion of those principles held by the brethren in question. 
 
 The hearing continued through several days ; and 
 in the debates the "heterodox" held their own against 
 the learning and talent of the church leaders ; and at the 
 conclusion of the investigation expressed themselves as 
 being more fully confirmed in their doctrines since their 
 learned opponents had been unable to refute them by the 
 word of God. The conclusion reached by the conference 
 was thus stated by the president : 
 
 "Brethren, we esteem you as brethren and gentle- 
 men ; we believe you are sincere, but cannot fellowship 
 your doctrine. Wishing, however, to concede all we 
 can, we would say: You may believe your doctrines if 
 you will not teach them ; and we will still retain you in 
 fellowship as members, leaders and preachers." 
 
 These conditions the "heterodox" could not con- 
 scientiously comply with, so they were deprived of their 
 offices but retained as members. Since they considered 
 the Methodist Church without authority, taking from 
 them their offices was not regarded by them as a hard- 
 ship. 
 
 Meantime, their fastings and prayers, their longing 
 for the Kingdom of God, came up in remembrance 
 before the Lord, and He sent a messenger to them. 
 Parley P. Pratt, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ, called upon Mr. Taylor, with a letter of introduc- 
 tion from a merchant acquaintance of his, Mr. Moses 
 Nickerson. As soon as he learned that Mr. Pratt was a 
 "Mormon," he thought his acquaintance had imposed 
 upon him a little by sending him such a character; for 
 then, as now, and as in the days of the ancient apostles, 
 
34 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the Saints were everywhere spoken against, and Mr. 
 Taylor had heard the evil rumors circulated about them ; 
 and because of these rumors, he had been led to regard 
 "Mormonism" as anything but a religious system. He 
 treated Apostle Pratt courteously, as he considered him- 
 self bound to do, because of his letter of introduction ; 
 but the reception he gave him could not be called cor- 
 dial. 
 
 It was a strange message the Apostle had to deliver 
 this story of the revelation of the gospel: how God 
 had passed by the great, and learned, and eloquent theo- 
 logians of the day, and had revealed Himself to an 
 unlearned youth, reared in the backwoods of New 
 York ; how, subsequently, He sent to him an angel, who 
 made known to him the existence of the hidden record 
 of the ancient inhabitants of America the Book of 
 Mormon ; how that angel met him annually in the 
 month of September for four successive years, and 
 taught him the gospel and many things concerning the 
 work of the Lord in these last days ; and then delivered 
 into his keeping those records, which he translated into 
 the English language by the gift and power of God ; how 
 this same young man, during the progress of the work 
 of translation, was visited by John the Baptist, who con- 
 ferred upon him and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic Priest- 
 hood, which gave them the authority to preach repent- 
 ance and baptize for remission of sins ; how, subsequently, 
 the ancient apostles, Peter, James and John came and con- 
 ferred upon the young Prophet the apostleship, which 
 gave him the right and power to ordain other men to be 
 Apostles, Seventies, High Priests and Elders ; to lay on 
 hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost in short, which 
 gave him the right to preach the gospel in all the world, 
 and establish the Church of Christ on the earth. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 35 
 
 But if this story was strange, the circumstance which 
 led to the Apostle coming among them, though of less 
 importance than the main message he had to deliver, was 
 stranger still. He told them how Heber C. Kimball, 
 and others, came to his house one night, in Kirtland, 
 after he and Mrs. Pratt had retired. Heber C. Kimball 
 requested him to get up as he had a prophecy to deliver 
 concerning him. Apostle Pratt arose and his visitor 
 thus addressed him : 
 
 "Brother Parley, thy wife shall be healed from this 
 hour, and shall bear a son, and his name shall be Parley; 
 and he shall be a chosen instrument in the hands of the 
 Lord to inherit the priesthood, and to walk in the foot- 
 steps of his father. He shall do a great work on the 
 earth in ministering the word and teaching the children 
 of men. Arise, therefore, and go forth in the ministry, 
 nothing doubting. Take no thought for your debts, nor 
 the necessaries of life, for the Lord will supply you with 
 abundant means for all things. Thou shalt go to Upper 
 Canada, even to the city of Toronto, the capital, and 
 there thou shalt find a people prepared for the gospel, 
 and they shall receive thee, and thou shalt organize the 
 Church among them, and it shall spread thence into the 
 regions round about, and many shall be brought to a 
 knowledge of the truth, and shall be filled with joy ; and 
 from the things growing out of this mission, shall the 
 fullness of the gospel spread into England, and cause a 
 great work to be done in that land." 
 
 To understand the boldness of this prediction the 
 reader ought to be informed that Apostle Pratt had 
 been married to his wife ten years, but they had never 
 been blessed with offspring ; and for six years his wife 
 had been considered an incurable consumptive. 
 
 As before stated Mr Taylor did not receive Apostle 
 
36 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Pratt very cordially. While seeking for the truth he did 
 not propose being led away by every wind of doctrine, 
 nor by the cunning craftiness of men who lie in wait to 
 deceive. He was very cautious, remembering that an 
 ancient apostle had said : 
 
 "If there come any unto you, and bring not this 
 doctrine, [the gospel] receive him not into your house, 
 neither bid him God speed ; for he that biddeth him God 
 speed is partaker of his evil deeds."* 
 
 He therefore rendered Elder Pratt no assistance, 
 until he began to discover that there were good grounds 
 for believing he was a messenger sent of God. 
 
 Elder Pratt applied to all the ministers of Toronto, 
 and the city officials having charge of public buildings, for 
 a place in which to deliver his message, without avail. 
 Disheartened at his unpropitious reception, he was about 
 to leave a city where he could see no prospect of making 
 an opening. In this spirit he called on Mr. Taylor to 
 say farewell. 
 
 Mr Taylor's turning shop adjoined his house, and 
 it was here that Elder Pratt found him. While talking 
 to him, valise in hand ready to depart, a Mrs. Walton 
 called on Mrs. Taylor in the adjoining room. The 
 latter told Mrs. Walton about Elder Pratt and his 
 strange mission, and how, failing to get an opportunity to 
 preach, he was on the eve of departing. "He may be a 
 man of God," said Leonora, "I am sorry to have him 
 depart." 
 
 At this Mrs. Walton expressed her willingness to 
 open her house for Elder Pratt to preach in, and pro- 
 posed to lodge and feed him. Here at last was an 
 opening. He began holding meetings at Mrs. Walton's, 
 
 * II. John, 10, ii. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 37 
 
 and was soon afterwards introduced to the investigation 
 meetings held by Mr. Taylor and his religious friends. 
 
 They were delighted with his preaching. He taught 
 them faith in God, and in Jesus Christ ; called upon them 
 to repent of their sins, and to be baptized in the likeness 
 of Christ's burial, for the remission of them, and prom- 
 ised them the Holy Ghost through the laying on of 
 hands, together with a full enjoyment of all its gifts and 
 blessings. All this, and much more that he taught, was in 
 strict harmony with what they themselves believed ; but 
 what he had to say about Joseph Smith and the Book of 
 Mormon perplexed a great many, and some of their 
 members even refused to investigate the Book of Mor- 
 mon, or examine the claims of Apostle Pratt to having 
 divine authority to preach the gospel and administer 
 in the ordinances thereof. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the noble independence 
 and boldness of spirit, so conspicuous in John Taylor 
 throughout his life, asserted itself. He addressed the 
 assembly to the following effect : 
 
 "We are here, ostensibly in search of truth. Hitherto 
 we have fully investigated other creeds and doctrines and 
 proven them false. Why should we fear to investigate 
 Mormonism? This gentleman, Mr. Pratt, has brought 
 to us many doctrines that correspond with our own 
 views. We have endured a great deal and made many 
 sacrifices for our religious convictions. We have prayed 
 to God to send us a messenger, if He has a true Church 
 on earth. Mr. Pratt has come to us under circumstances 
 that are peculiar ; and there is one thing that commends 
 him to our consideration ; he has come amongst us with- 
 out purse or scrip, as the ancient apostles traveled ; and 
 none of us are able to refute his doctrine by scripture or 
 logic. I desire to investigate his doctrines and claims to 
 
38 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 authority, and shall be very glad if some of my friends 
 will unite with me in this investigation. But if no one 
 will unite with me, be assured I shall make the investi- 
 gation alone. If I find his religion true, I shall accept 
 it, no matter what the consequences may be; and if false, 
 then I shall expose it." 
 
 After this, John Taylor began the investigation of 
 Mormonism in earnest. He wrote down eight sermons 
 which Apostle Pratt preached, and compared them with 
 the scripture. He also investigated the evidences of the 
 divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon and the 
 Doctrine and Covenants. "I made a regular business 
 of it for three weeks," he says, "and followed Brother 
 Parley from place to place." The result of his thorough 
 investigation was conviction ; and on the gth of May, 1836, 
 himself and wife were baptized. "I have never doubted 
 any principle of Mormonism since," was the comment 
 he made in relating, when well advanced in life, how he 
 came to accept the gospel. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ORDINATION APPOINTED TO PRESIDE VISIT TO KIRTLAND 
 
 MEETS THE PROPHET DEFENDS HIM ARRIVAL OF 
 
 AN IMPOSTER EXPOSED BY THE PROPHET SPREAD OF 
 
 THE WORK A PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILLMENT THE 
 
 WORK SPREADS INTO ENGLAND. 
 
 SHORTLY after his baptism, John Taylor was ordained 
 an Elder in the Church, and began his labors in the min- 
 istry. He was now preaching the gospel in America in 
 fulfillment of the revelation he received in his youth. 
 
 So rapidly did the work spread in Canada, that 
 Apostles Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt were sent to 
 assist Parley. The country was excited on the subject 
 of "Mormonism," and the ministers alarmed. Public 
 discussions were frequent and the truth everywhere 
 triumphed. All through the summer of 1836, Elder Tay- 
 lor was actively engaged in the ministry ; and when in 
 the autumn the apostles departed for Kirtland, he was 
 appointed to preside over the churches they had founded. 
 
 In March of the following year, Elder Taylor visited 
 Kirtland, and there met the Prophet Joseph Smith, who 
 entertained him at his house and gave him many items 
 of information pertaining to the work of the Lord in this 
 dispensation. At that time there was a bitter spirit of 
 apostasy rife in Kirtland. A number in the quorum of 
 the Twelve were disaffected towards the Prophet, and the 
 Church seemed on the point of disintegration. Among 
 others, Parley P. Pratt was floundering in darkness, and 
 coming to Elder Taylor told him of some things wherein 
 
4O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 he considered the Prophet Joseph in error. To his 
 remarks Elder Taylor replied : 
 
 " I am surprised to hear you speak so, Brother 
 Parley. Before you left Canada you bore a strong tes- 
 timony to Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God, and to 
 the truth of the work he has inaugurated ; and you said 
 you knew these things by revelation, and the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost. You gave to me a strict charge to the 
 effect that though you or an angel from heaven was to 
 declare anything else I was not to believe it. Now 
 Brother Parley, it is not man that I am following, but the 
 Lord. The principles you taught me led me to Him, and 
 I now have the same testimony that you then rejoiced in. 
 If the work was true six months ago, it is true today ; if 
 Joseph Smith was then a prophet, he is now a prophet." 
 
 To the honor of Parley, be it said, he sought no 
 further to lead Elder Taylor astray ; nor did he use much 
 argument in the first place. " He with many others," 
 says Elder Taylor, " were passing under a dark cloud ; 
 he soon made all right with the Prophet Joseph, and was 
 restored to full fellowship." 
 
 It was about this time that Elder Taylor first came 
 prominently before the Church. The apostates met fre- 
 quently in the temple, and on one of these occasions, on 
 a Sunday the Prophet Joseph was absent Warren 
 Parrish made a violent attack upon the character of the 
 Prophet, which was warmly sustained by many of those 
 present. Towards the close of the meeting, Elder Tay- 
 lor asked the privilege of speaking. It was granted him. 
 He referred, in opening his remarks, to the ancient Israel- 
 ites, and to their murmurings against God and Moses, 
 and then asked : 
 
 " From whence do we get our intelligence, and 
 knowledge of the laws, ordinances and doctrines of the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 41 
 
 kingdom of God? Who understood even the first prin- 
 ciples of the doctrines of Christ ? Who in the Christian 
 world taught them ? If we, with our learning and intel- 
 ligence, could not find out the first principles, which was 
 the case with myself and millions of others, how can we 
 find out the mysteries of the kingdom ? It was Joseph 
 Smith, under the Almighty, who developed the first prin- 
 ciples, and to him we must look for further instructions. 
 If the spirit which he manifests does not bring blessings, 
 I am very much afraid that the one manifested by those 
 who have spoken, will not be very likely to secure them. 
 The children of Israel, formerly, after seeing the power 
 of God manifested in their midst, fell into rebellion and 
 idolatry, and there is certainly very great danger of us 
 doing the same thing." 
 
 While the apostates were neither convinced nor 
 silenced by the remarks of Elder Taylor, the faithful 
 Saints were strengthened, and saw in that fearless de- 
 fender of the prophet, a champion of innocence and truth. 
 While on his part, in commenting on this circumstance, 
 Elder Taylor remarks : " I was pained on the one hand 
 to witness the hard feelings and severe expressions of 
 apostates ; while on the other, I rejoiced to see the firm- 
 ness, faith, integrity and joy of the faithful." 
 
 Elder Taylor returned to Canada in company with 
 Isaac Russell and others. Being detained in Queens- 
 town on Sunday, the brethren determined to hold meet- 
 ing. Before seeking for a place to preach in, at the sug- 
 gestion of Elder Taylor, the party repaired to a secluded 
 spot under a high cliff, just below Niagara Falls. While 
 engaged in prayer, there, within hearing of the mighty 
 cataract, Elder Taylor spoke in tongues for the first time. 
 Comforted by this manifestation of the power of God 
 which was with them, the party, full of joy, re-entered 
 
42 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Queenstown, secured a place to meet in, and Elder Tay- 
 lor preached. Next day they continued their journey 
 and arrived at Toronto. 
 
 Not long after Elder Taylor's return to Canada, 
 Doctor Sampson Avard, a high priest, presented him- 
 self in Toronto, and by virtue of an appointment signed 
 by his quorum, claimed the right to preside over the 
 churches in that district. Elder Taylor was absent from 
 Toronto when Avard arrived, but that officious person 
 at once assumed the responsibility of presiding; and 
 boasted of his great power, and what marvelous things 
 he intended to accomplish. Elder Taylor had been cau- 
 tioned by the apostles, before their departure, not to 
 allow any person to take his place, unless he came com- 
 missioned by proper authority. But when on his return 
 Avard showed his authority from the high priest's quo- 
 rum, Elder Taylor thought that sufficient, gave up his 
 presidency and went into Whitby County to preach. 
 
 It was in August of that year, 1837, that the Prophet 
 Joseph, accompanied by Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. 
 Marsh, then President of the Twelve Apostles, visited 
 Canada. The course of the Prophet was in marked 
 contrast with that of the self-sufficient high priest, Samp- 
 son Avard. The latter at once assumed the presidency 
 of the churches, and commenced regulating affairs with- 
 out consulting or even seeing Elder Taylor ; the former, 
 though acknowledged and sustained as the President of 
 the Church in all the world, and Prophet, Seer and 
 Revelator thereto, called for him, and would not move in 
 any business concerning the churches in Canada until 
 he had seen him. Although Elder Taylor was some 
 distance from Toronto, the Prophet sent for him, and 
 patiently awaited his coming. On his arrival, to the 
 great surprise of Elder Taylor, the Prophet began to 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 43 
 
 counsel with him as to the best mode of procedure in 
 relation to holding some conferences during their visit. 
 Elder Taylor told the prophet that Elder Avard was pre- 
 siding. It was Joseph's turn to be surprised now. 
 Avard had never been sent to preside in Canada by his 
 consent. Elder Taylor told him of the credentials that 
 Avard had presented from the high priests' quorum. 
 Joseph insisted that there must be some mistake; an 
 imposition had been practiced, at which he was much 
 annoyed. 
 
 Obtaining a carriage, Elder Taylor accompanied the 
 Prophet and his associates in visiting the churches. "This 
 was as great a treat to me as I ever enjoyed," he re- 
 marks. " I had daily opportunity of conversing with 
 them, of listening to their instructions, and in participat- 
 ing in the rich stores of intelligence that flowed continu- 
 ally from the Prophet Joseph." 
 
 A conference was held in the County of Whitby, in 
 a large barn owned by Edward Lawrence, which was 
 numerously attended. The spirit of God was present, 
 the hearts of the Saints were made to rejoice, and many 
 who were out of the Church believed. 
 
 Another conference was held in Scarboro with simi- 
 lar results. At the latter conference Doctor Avard was 
 present, and the Prophet reproved him severely for com- 
 ing to that place with fictitious papers. He also cen- 
 sured Elder Taylor for yielding up his office on so flimsy 
 a pretext ; but palliated it on account of his youth and 
 inexperience. He gave him a strict charge never again, 
 on any account, to give up any office or calling unless he 
 received orders from a legitimate source that could be 
 relied upon ; otherwise he would be held responsible for 
 any evil that might accrue from it. The apostate party 
 at Kirtland had appointed Doctor Avard to supercede 
 
44 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Elder Taylor. They remembered the fearless speech the 
 latter had made in Kirtland, in the early spring, and 
 doubtless thought it to their interest to have a man pre- 
 siding in Canada who was less staunch in his friendship 
 for the Prophet than he.* 
 
 Before the Prophet and his companions left Canada, 
 they ordained Elder Taylor a High Priest, on the 2ist of 
 August, 1837, and feappointed him to preside over the 
 Churches. 
 
 The work spread rapidly on every hand in Canada. 
 The Lord labored with His servants, confirming their 
 words by signs following the believers. The sick were 
 healed; and many possessed the spirit of prophecy. 
 Among the latter was a boy living in Toronto, who, 
 shortly after his baptism, prophesied that the people of 
 Canada would soon have war, and that armed men would 
 arrive in the city of Toronto on a steamer, and stack 
 their arms on the wharf. 
 
 As at that time their was no prospect whatever of 
 war, many of the enemies of the Church laughed at what 
 they called the impertinence of the young prophet. 
 The prophecy however was fulfilled. 
 
 At that time Canada was divided into two Provinces, 
 Upper and Lower Canada. A governor was appointed 
 
 * It may not be out of place to remark here that this Doctor Avard was the same 
 man who, two years later, in Missouri, took it upon himself to organize a band of men 
 whom he called " Danites." In this, as in the matter above related, he ran without being 
 sent, and the affair ended in his disgrace. He intimated with an air of mystery, when 
 organizing the Danite band in Missouri, that he had been appointed, by the heads of the 
 Church, to perform some important work of a secret character, and at last put the men, 
 whom he had inveigled into his secret meetings, under fearful oaths not to reveal the 
 nature of his work. This done he revealed to the captains of the organization his 
 plans ; and to their surprise he proposed a bold scheme of robbery and plunder against 
 the Gentiles. The brethern to whom he made known his plans, were indignant, for they 
 knew that the heads of the Church were not standing behind any such thing as that, 
 and reported the affair to the Prophet. As soon as Avard's movements were thus made 
 known, he was promptly excommunicated ; and the (t Danite " movement was stifled at 
 its birth. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 45 
 
 by the English crown, for each province, and to assist 
 him in his duties there was also appointed an execu- 
 tive council. In addition to these executive officers 
 there was a legislative council, appointed by the crown, 
 and an assembly, the members of which were elected 
 by the people/ This latter body formed the lower 
 branch of the provincial legislature, and the former the 
 higher. 
 
 For years the people had petitioned the British 
 government for the abolishment of the executive council, 
 and demanded that the legislative council be made 
 elective. The British Parliament refused these alter- 
 ations in the Canadian constitution, whereupon one 
 Mackenzie, the leader of a party that had urged complete 
 separation from the British government, considered the 
 times ripe for a revolution, and suddenly assembled five 
 hundred men at Montgomery's tavern, four miles from 
 Toronto, with a view of attacking that town. The 
 loyalists as suddenly assembled to defend the town, and 
 a few days later defeated the rebels in an open engage- 
 ment. Mackenzie escaped to Buffalo, in the United States, 
 and there succeeded in kindling a great enthusiasm for 
 the cause of his party; and in a short time returned to 
 Canada and mustered into service over a thousand men. 
 
 He took up a position on Navy Island, situated in 
 the Niagara Channel. Fortifications were commenced 
 which were defended by thirteen cannon, and for a time 
 the insurgents baffled all attempts of the government to 
 dislodge them. The uprising, however, was finally sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 It was during this rebellion that all the terms of 
 the young prophet's predictions were fulfilled. War 
 broke out as he had said it would ; and during the time 
 it existed, troops entered Toronto harbor, were disem- 
 
46 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 barked and stacked their arms on the wharf. Elder 
 Taylor and his wife witnessed the arrival of the ships, 
 the landing of the troops, and saw them stack their arms 
 on the wharf. 
 
 Speaking of prophecy, it may be well to state here 
 that the remarkable prophecy of Heber C. Kimball on 
 the head of Parley P. Pratt was literally fulfilled. He 
 found a people in Canada prepared to receive the gospel j- 
 they assisted him to sufficient means to relieve him from 
 his temporal embarrassments: his wife, contrary to all 
 natural prospects, bore him a son, though she died at his 
 birth ; and from Canada the work of the Lord spread 
 into England in the following manner : 
 
 At the request of Elder Joseph Fielding, Elder 
 Taylor wrote a letter to his brother, a minister in the 
 town of Preston, England, giving an account of the res- 
 toration of the gospel through the ministration of angels 
 to the Prophet Joseph Smith. This was doubtless the 
 first announcement of these things in England, by an 
 authorized servant of God. 
 
 Subsequently, in this same year, 1837, Elder Field- 
 ing accompanied Apostles Kimball and Hyde to England ; 
 and it was in his brother's chapel, in Preston, that Apos- 
 tle Heber C. Kimball preached the first public discourse, 
 in this dispensation, on the gospel in that land. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 APPOINTED TO COLLECT FUNDS IN CANADA CALL TO THE 
 
 APOSTLESHIP REFLECTIONS PREPARES TO LEAVE 
 
 CANADA FOR MISSOURI. 
 
 THE spirit of apostasy so prevalent in Kirtland, in 
 1837 and 1838, resulted in many prominent leaders being 
 excommunicated from the Church. Among those who 
 fell in those dark days were a number of the Twelve 
 Apostles. 
 
 About the same time several business enterprises 
 which the Saints inaugurated at Kirtland, including a 
 banking establishment, went down before the wave of 
 financial disaster which swept over the country ; and as 
 the Presidency of the Church were heavily involved in 
 consequence of these failures, Elder Taylor was appointed 
 to collect funds in the district over which he presided, to 
 relieve them from their embarrassment. He accom- 
 plished this labor to the entire satisfaction of the 
 Presidency. 
 
 In the fall of 1837, Elder Taylor received word from 
 the Prophet Joseph that he would be chosen to fill one of 
 the vacancies in the quorum of Apostles.* 
 
 This call to the Apostleship, found Elder Taylor 
 busily engaged in the ministry. He had previously 
 
 *There is a revelation in the Doctrine & Covenants, Sec 118, that was given at Far 
 West, on the 8th of July, 1838, in which John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff 
 and Willard Richards, are called to the Apostleship; and direction is given that they 
 should be officially notified of their appointment. But it is quite evident that Elder 
 Taylor was notified of his appointment previous to July 8th, 183^, as he wound up his 
 affairs and prepared to leave Canada, because of his being informed of this call to the 
 Apostleship in the fall of 1837. 
 
48 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 received a manifestation that he would be called to that 
 high office in the Church, but fearing that it might be 
 from the devil he wisely kept it hidden in his own breast. 
 Now, however, he had been chosen to that place by the 
 voice of God through His Prophet; but while his heart 
 rejoiced at the thought that he was known of the Lord, 
 and considered worthy by Him to stand in this exalted 
 station in the Church of Christ, he bore his new honors 
 with becoming modesty. Commenting upon the ap- 
 pointment, and the prospect which now opened before 
 him, he remarks : 
 
 "The work seemed great, the duties arduous and 
 responsible. I felt my own weakness and littleness ; but 
 I felt determined, the Lord being my helper, to endeavor 
 to magnify it. When I first entered upon Mormonism, 
 I did it with my eyes open. I counted the cost. I 
 looked upon it as a life-long labor, and I considered that 
 I was not only enlisted for time, but for eternity also, and 
 did not wish to shrink now, although I felt my incompe- 
 tency." 
 
 Having received notice of his appointment, and 
 instructions from the Prophet to make his way to Far 
 West as soon as possible, he appointed a time to leave, 
 and in the interim made a farewell visit to the branches 
 of the Church he had presided over, for the purpose of 
 setting them in order. 
 
 Some time previous to being called to the Apostle- 
 ship, in connection with a brother by the name of Henry 
 Humphrey, Elder Taylor had purchased a house and 
 barn and five acres of land within a quarter of a mile of 
 the Kirtland Temple, where they had anticipated going 
 into business together as soon as he should be released 
 from presiding in Canada. This, with his expenses dur- 
 ing nearly two years that he had been preaching in 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 49 
 
 Canada without remuneration, left him with very little 
 means. "But," he writes, "I put my trust in the Lord." 
 
 He told his wife to make preparations for leaving at 
 a certain time. 
 
 "But how are you going to perform a journey of 
 thirteen or fourteen hundred miles by land, and to a 
 wilderness country without means?" 
 
 "I don't know; but the Lord will open out the 
 way." 
 
 Everywhere he went, he told the Saints about the 
 time he expected to leave for Far West, but still no visi- 
 ble prospect of getting there was yet in sight. Three or 
 four days before the time appointed for his departure, he 
 called upon a Brother John Mills, who had previously 
 talked of going with him to Kirtland when the time came 
 that he could leave Canada. Elder Taylor now told him 
 that he would have to give up going to Kirtland as he 
 had received word from the Prophet to go to Far 
 West. 
 
 "Well, I'll go to Far West too," said Brother Mills, 
 "won't you go with me, Brother Taylor, I have plenty 
 of teams?" 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "Brother Mills, I have nothing to 
 pay you with for taking me." 
 
 BROTHER MILLS. "That makes no difference." 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "But I have no money to pay my 
 expenses." 
 
 BROTHER MILLS. "I have plenty, and it is at your 
 
 service." 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "That is very kind of you, but I 
 object to getting into debt without the prospect of being 
 able to pay." 
 
 BROTHER MILLS. " But you need not pay." 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "Well, if you'll clear me of all 
 
5O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 responsibility in the matter, and take the Lord for your 
 paymaster, I'll go with you." 
 
 BROTHER MILLS. ( 'Oh, I am quite willing to agree 
 to that." 
 
 And so it was arranged right then that they would 
 travel together to Far West. Before the day of their 
 departure had come, the Saints sent to Elder Taylor 
 plenty of supplies, flour, cakes and hams ; and as it was 
 the winter season, and such things would keep, they fur- 
 nished him enough roasted geese, ducks, and other cooked 
 provisions to last himself and several other families hun- 
 dreds of miles on the journey. Others sent him money 
 and clothing, so that he had an abundance of everything; 
 and as Brother Mills had supplied the necessary convey- 
 ance for the journey, it would appear that he had not 
 trusted in the Lord in vain. 
 
 They fitted up a covered sleigh for their families to 
 ride in, while their goods were conveyed in wagons. In 
 this way they traveled to Kirtland. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 51 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JOURNEY TO FAR WEST VIA KIRTLAND STATE OF AFFAIRS 
 
 AT KIRTLAND DEFIANCE TO A MOB EXPERIENCE AT 
 
 DE WITT MISSOURI PERSECUTIONS ORDAINED AN 
 
 APOSTLE. 
 
 ON arriving in Kirtland Elder Taylor found that the 
 Presidency of the Church and many of the Saints had 
 removed to Far West, Missouri. This alone was calcu- 
 lated to make a great alteration in the place, and surround 
 it with a spirit of loneliness. But other causes had also 
 been operating to bring about marked changes since his 
 former visits to this shrine. 
 
 Only a year or two before, everything in and about 
 Kirtland had been prosperous. The Saints abounded 
 in everything their hearts could desire. The men wore 
 expensive raiment, ornamented with velvets and silks of 
 the richest and rarest quality. It may be taken for 
 granted that the sisters were not a whit behind them. 
 They were arrayed in their silks, satins, lace, veils and 
 jewelry ; and amid all their piety, manifested a full share 
 of vanity and pride. 
 
 Speculation was rife all over the United States at 
 that time, and the Saints did not escape the contagion. 
 They started a banking Institution, engaged in mercan- 
 tile pursuits and land speculation. For a time they were 
 prosperous and wealth rapidly accumulated among them. 
 Sidney Rigdon declared, in a burst of enthusiasm, that 
 the glory of the latter-days was now being ushered in, 
 and that Zion would soon become the glory of the whole 
 
52 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 earth ; when the Lord for silver would bring gold ; for 
 iron, brass ; and for stones, iron. But a wave of financial 
 disaster swept over the entire country. Banking insti- 
 tutions went down before it; thousands of merchants 
 were hopelessly ruined ; and in the general disaster 
 Kirtland did not escape. Like the inhabitants of other 
 towns her people were overwhelmed with financial 
 embarrassment. "Distress, ruin and poverty," says 
 Elder Taylor, " seemed to prevail. Apostates and cor- 
 rupt men were prowling about as so many wolves seek- 
 ing whom they might devour. . They were oppressive, 
 cruel, heartless ; devising every pretext that the most 
 satanic malignity could invent to harrass the Saints. 
 Fraud, false accusation and false swearing, vexatious law 
 suits, personal violence, and bare-faced robbery abounded. 
 They were truly afflicted, persecuted and tormented." 
 
 As snow failed them at Kirtland Elder Taylor and 
 company had to abandon their sleigh and take to their 
 wagons. The roads were so very bad, however, that 
 they had only gone some twenty or thirty miles when 
 they concluded it would be wise to stop until they should 
 become dryer. In the village where they stopped Elder 
 Taylor took a job of varnishing some furniture for a 
 cabinet maker. While here he formed the acquaintance 
 of a number of infidels with whom he frequently con- 
 versed, and they desired to hearhim preach. He con- 
 sented. They could not obtain the use of the Methodist 
 Church, though they had assisted to build it ; but nothing 
 daunted, they cleared out and seated a cabinet maker's 
 shop, and here the Elder held forth. 
 
 He proved the Bible true, and then taught them its 
 principles. He proved the Book of Mormon true, and 
 then preached from that. They were highly delighted 
 with his lectures ; and when the time came that he had 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 53 
 
 to leave them, they deeply regretted his departure. One 
 of the number took him by the hand and said: "Mr. 
 Taylor, God bless you wherever you go." 
 
 Among them was a gentleman to whom the Prophet 
 Joseph had gone to school. He spoke very highly of 
 him as an exemplary, moral young man. He had never 
 investigated the evidences concerning the Book of Mor- 
 mon ; but he knew the Prophet's character was misrep- 
 resented by pious frauds, jealous of his influence and the 
 spread of Mormonism. 
 
 Near Columbus, the capital of Ohio, they stayed 
 at a town where a number of brethren resided, and all 
 were anxious to hear Elder Taylor preach. As they 
 had no hall, it was arranged that he should speak in the 
 open air. 
 
 A little before meeting time a number of the 
 brethren came running to the house where he was stop- 
 ping with the information that the whole town was 
 gathering and that a number of men had proposed tar 
 and feathers, and boasted they would dress him with 
 them if he undertook to preach. The brethren advised 
 him not to attempt it as they were not strong enough to 
 protect him. After a moment's reflection, however, he 
 decided to go and preach. The brethren remonstrated ; 
 they knew the tar and feathers were prepared and that 
 he could not escape. He replied that he had made up 
 his mind to go ; they could go with him if they chose, if 
 not, he would go alone. 
 
 A very large concourse of people had assembled to 
 listen to him. He began his remarks by informing them 
 that he had lately come from Canada a land under mon- 
 archical rule ; that standing as he then did on free soil, 
 among free men, he experienced I peculiar sensations. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I now stand among men whose fathers 
 
54 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 fought for and obtained one of the greatest blessings ever 
 conferred upon the human family the right to think, 
 to speak, to write ; the right to say who shall govern 
 them, and the right to worship God 'according to the 
 dictates of their own consciences all of them sacred, 
 human rights, and now guaranteed by the American 
 Constitution. I see around me the sons of those noble 
 sires, who, rather than bow to the behests of a tyrant, 
 pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honors to burst 
 those fetters, enjoy freedom themselves, bequeath it to 
 their posterity, or die in the attempt. 
 
 ' 'They nobly fought and nobly conquered ; and now 
 the cap of liberty is elevated on the tops of your liberty 
 poles throughout the land, and the flag of freedom waves 
 from Wisconsin to Louisiana from Maine to Missouri. 
 Not only so, but your vessels foremost in the world 
 sail over oceans, seas and bays ; visiting every nation, 
 and wherever those vessels go your flag flutters in the 
 breeze, a hope is inspired among the down-trodden 
 millions, that they, perchance, if they cannot find liberty 
 in their own land, may find it with you. 
 Gentlemen, with you liberty is more than a name ; it is 
 incorporated in your system ; it is proclaimed by your 
 senators ; thundered by your cannon ; lisped by your 
 infants ; taught to your school-boys ; it echoes from 
 mountain to mountain; reverberates through your valleys, 
 and is whispered by every breeze. Is it any wonder, 
 gentlemen, under these circumstances having lately 
 emerged from a monarchical government, that I should 
 experience peculiar sensations in rising to address 
 you ? 
 
 "But, by the by, I have been informed that you pur- 
 pose to tar and feather me, for my religious opinions 
 Is this the boon you have inherited from your fathers? 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 55 
 
 Is this the blessing they purchased with their dearest 
 hearts' blood this your liberty? If so, you now have a 
 victim, and we will have an offering to the goddess of 
 liberty." Here he tore open his vest and said: "Gen- 
 tlemen come on with your tar and feathers, your victim 
 is ready ; and ye shades of the venerable patriots, gaze 
 upon the deeds of your degenerate sons ! Come on, 
 gentlemen! Come on, I say, I am ready!" 
 
 No one moved, no one spoke. He stood there 
 drawn to his full height, calm but defiant the master 
 of the situation. 
 
 After a pause of some moments he continued his 
 remarks and preached with great boldness and power 
 for some three hours. 
 
 At the conclusion of his discourse, he was waited 
 upon by some of the leading citizens of the place who 
 expressed their pleasure at what they had heard, .and 
 disclaimed, in behalf of the people, any intention of tarring 
 and feathering him ; but the brethren still insisted that 
 such was the intention of the crowd, and that the tar and 
 feathers had been provided ; but they had been awed 
 into silence by the boldness of Elder Taylor. 
 
 Near Indianapolis, Indiana, Brother Mills and the 
 other brethren who had joined their company, obtained 
 employment, and Elder Taylor and his family stayed at 
 the house of a Brother Miller. While there his second 
 son, Joseph James, was born. 
 
 During the two months that he remained in that 
 place, he worked at his craft and also made a carriage for 
 himself. He preached the gospel in Indianapolis and 
 raised up a small branch of the Church. His wife hav- 
 ing recovered from child bed, he continued his journey 
 to the west, parting company with Brother Mills who 
 was not ready to go. 
 
56 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Approaching De Witt, Caroll County, Missouri, 
 about fifty miles from Far West, as he was holding back 
 his horse, while descending a hill, his foot slipped and 
 he fell from his carriage. The wheels passed over 
 his arm, inflicting a serious injury, land he was again 
 detained. 
 
 In DeWitt there was a number of Saints who had 
 purchased land and settled there, and Elder Taylor 
 stayed at the house of a Brother Humphreys. It was 
 while at DeWitt that he had his first experience with 
 mobs. It was late in the summer of 1838 when he 
 arrived there, and the persecutions which were to termi- 
 nate in the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri were 
 just beginning. 
 
 The mob that first came upon the Saints at DeWitt, 
 was led by two alleged ministers of the gospel, Sashiel 
 Wopds and Abbot Hancock. " This was the first mob I 
 had ever seen," remarks Elder Taylor, " and the whole 
 affair was new to me, especially when I considered the 
 kind of officers they had. I had heretofore looked upon 
 gospel ministers as messengers of peace ; here they 
 came not only in a war-like capacity, but as the leaders of 
 an armed mob a gang of marauders and free-booters, 
 with the avowed object of driving peaceful citizens 
 men, women and children from their homes." 
 
 It would appear that while Elder Taylor did not be- 
 lieve in fighting for slight infringements of his rights, he 
 did believe to the fullest extent in self-defense ; and the 
 ease with which he adapted himself to the new circum- 
 stances in which he was placed, exhibited the character of 
 the man. " I had no arms," he continues in his account 
 of this affair at DeWitt, "and heretofore considered that 
 I needed none in a Christian civilized land ; but I found I 
 had been laboring under a mistake. The civilization here 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 57 
 
 was of a very low order, and the Christianity of a very 
 questionable character. I therefore threw off the sling 
 and bandages from my lame arm, suppressed my repug- 
 nance to fighting, borrowed a gun, bought a brace of 
 pistols, and prepared myself at least for defensive meas- 
 
 ures." 
 
 There were twenty four of the brethren, and about 
 one hundred and fifty of the mob. The little band, 
 nothing daunted at the superior forces of the enemy, or- 
 ganized under a captain and prepared for the onset. 
 "These reverend gentlemen," says Elder Taylor's nar- 
 rative, " concluded that it was best to have a parley, and 
 by a little strategy throw us off our guard. Having cap- 
 tured a stray Saint, they sent by him a message informing 
 us that they would like three or four of our leaders to 
 come and treat with them. To this we returned an- 
 swer that they had come in the capacity of banditti, to 
 interfere with our rights when in the peaceful prosecution 
 of our daily avocations ; that we could have no confi- 
 dence in men occupying so questionable a position ; that 
 their ruse to divide us would not work ; and though 
 inferior to them in numbers, if they attempted to molest 
 us, we should protect ourselves as best we could." 
 
 After some further parleying, the mob gave the 
 Saints ten days in which to leave, threatening that if they 
 were not gone in that time, they would return with 
 increased forces, kill every man, woman and child, and 
 throw their goods into the Missouri. 
 
 This affair having ended for the time being, Elder 
 Taylor continued his journey, and finally reached Far 
 West, where he met the Prophet Joseph, several of the 
 Twelve and other leading brethren. The mob did not 
 return in ten days upon the people of De Witt, but they 
 did return early in October and the Saints at last had to 
 
58 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 abandon their homes there, although they had purchased 
 their lands from the general government. 
 
 The history of the prominent men in the Church is 
 so closely interwoven with that of the Church, that it is 
 difficult to write the one without also writing the other ; 
 and in order to understand the scenes which the subject 
 of this writing was now in the midst of, it will be neces- 
 sary to relate as briefly as may be, the events which befel 
 the Saints in the state of Missouri up to the time that 
 Elder Taylor joined them, in the autumn of 1838. 
 
 From the Book of Mormon,* the Saints learned that 
 upon the continent of America the people of God, in the 
 last days, are to build a holy city, the " New Jerusalem," 
 or"Zion." In July, 1831, the Lord revealed the place 
 where the city should be located and a temple built. 
 That place was Independence, near the western boun- 
 dary of Missouri ; and there the Saints were commanded 
 to gather, purchase the land and dedicate it unto the 
 Lord. This commandment they began to fulfill, where- 
 upon the jealous rage of the old settlers was aroused 
 against them. It was the meeting of two elements that 
 had little or no affinity with each other. 
 
 The old settlers were from the slaves states of the 
 south, the Saints were from the free states of the north, 
 and many of them from New England. The former 
 were idle, indifferent to their surroundings, and the de- 
 velopment of their lands ; the latter were industrious, 
 frugal, eager to make good homes, develop, build up 
 and beautify the country in short, make it the Zion of 
 God in very deed. The Missourians were habitual Sab- 
 bath breakers ; horse racing, cock-fighting and gambling 
 being the " pleasures" they indulged in on that day, at- 
 tended with the drunkenness and blasphemy which usually 
 
 * Ether XIII, and III. Nephi XX and XXI. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 59 
 
 go hand in hand with such sports. Of course the Saints 
 could not engage with them in this kind of life, their early 
 training, no less than their religion, forebade it. The 
 result was a coolness between the Saints and the old 
 settlers, followed by suspicion on the part of the latter 
 that they would be supplanted by the new comers. 
 From that conviction to a resolution to prevent it was a 
 short step, and they made haste to take it. 
 
 Although some of the Saints were, doubtless, un- 
 wise in much of their talk, they were guilty of no overt 
 act against the peace and good order of the community 
 in which they settled ; nor did they in any way interfere 
 with the old settlers, further, perhaps, than to remonstrate 
 with them on their manner of life, and surely that was no 
 act that called for violence. 
 
 But if there was no real cause for violence, it was 
 easy to create an imaginary one, and this was done. All 
 manner of false accusations were brought against the 
 Saints. They were accused of tampering with the negro 
 slaves, with a view to creating a servile insurrection ; and 
 of having a design to possess themselves of the land by 
 force. 
 
 But it was their religion that was made the chief 
 rock of offense. It was denounced as blasphemy "de- 
 rogatory of God and religion, and subversive of human 
 reason; " and this because the Saints claimed and enjoyed, 
 to some extent at least, the power and blessings which 
 attended the gospel of Christ in ancient days. For these 
 reasons (?) the old settlers determined to rid themselves 
 of the Saints, "peaceably if they could, forcibly if they 
 must;" and to the performance of this unlawful action, 
 they pledged their "bodily power, their lives, fortunes 
 and sacred honors." They organized mobs; and, finally, 
 with acts of cruelty and violence that would bring the 
 
6O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 blush of shame to the cheek of a savage, they drove the 
 Saints from Jackson County; stole or destroyed their 
 goods, burned their houses and appropriated to their 
 own use the lands the Saints had purchased. There were 
 some twelve hundred Saints, men, women and children 
 thus expelled by violence from Jackson County. 
 
 This first driving took place in December, 1833. 
 
 The exiles found a temporary resting place in Clay 
 County, and while there petitioned the governor of the 
 state to reinstate them in their lands, and give them pro- 
 tection when so reinstated. The governor replied that 
 he could call out the militia and escort them back to their 
 homes ; but he considered that he had no authority to 
 detail any force for their protection after he had thus 
 reinstated them. As to go back under those circum- 
 stances would be exposing themselves to more violence 
 from their enemies, they could not avail themselves of 
 the governor's proffered assistance to return. 
 
 The Saints remained scattered through Clay and 
 the surrounding counties until 1836, when, at the request 
 of the citizens of Clay County, who had kindly received 
 them in their affliction, they moved northward and peti- 
 tioned for the forming of a new county. The new county 
 was called Caldwell, and the county seat, Far West. 
 
 The rapidity with which the new county increased in 
 population and prosperity, aroused the jealousy of the 
 people in surrounding counties; and as the inhabitants of 
 Jackson had despoiled the Saints with impunity, it en- 
 couraged others that were like-minded to attempt the 
 same thing. Especially was this the case when they saw 
 those who had taken a prominent part in expelling the 
 Saints from Jackson County, holding high positions in 
 the state. 
 
 The fact that the religion of the Saints was different 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 6 1 
 
 from that professed by their neighbors was of itself suf- 
 ficient to arouse the hatred and jealousy of the sectarian 
 ministers, who throughout all the Missouri troubles took 
 not only an active but a leading part. A leading part 
 in what? In murdering, plundering, driving, imprison- 
 ing, whipping and turning out of their homes their fel- 
 low men ! A fine occupation for ministers of the gospel 
 truly! And for what? Because the Saints bore witness 
 that God had restored to the earth the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ in .its fullness; that the Priesthood to administer 
 in its ordinances was again conferred on men ; and they 
 announced it as their intention to beautify the earth and 
 prepare a portion of it for the coming of the Son of 
 God. For this they w*re hated by the Missourians, and 
 considered the legitimate prey of the despoiler. 
 
 Another circumstance that increased the hatred and 
 jealousy of the Missourians against the Saints was the 
 growing political power of the latter ; and it was at a 
 political election in Gallatin, Daviess County a county 
 joining Calldwell on . the north that the troubles in the 
 autumn of 1838 began. 
 
 A number of the Saints had settled in Daviess 
 County, and being citizens of the United States, and of 
 the state and county where they lived, and possessing all 
 the qualifications of voters, they essayed to cast their 
 ballots at the aforesaid election, but some of the old 
 settlers sought forcibly to prevent them ; a thing which 
 the brethren would not quietly submit to, and a disturb- 
 ance was the result. Upon that difficulty the mob 
 founded their pretext for the commencement of open 
 hostilities. The clouds which had been gathering hatred 
 and jealousy for so long, burst almost without warning 
 upon the unprotected heads of the Saints. 
 
 Scenes of mob violence were of almost daily occur- 
 
62 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 rence ; property was destroyed, men were tied up and 
 beaten until blood streamed down their backs ; the chas- 
 tity of women was forcibly outraged ; cattle and hogs 
 were wantonly shot down ; houses were ruthlessly burned 
 in the presence of their owners ; fields of grain destroyed 
 but this was not the worst helpless women and 
 children were brutally murdered together with defense- 
 less old men, some of whom had fought in the 
 continental army during the American Revolution. 
 Elder Taylor, in relating these scenes some thirty years 
 after they had occurred, refers to one who had been of 
 the class last named : 
 
 "My mind wanders back upwardly of thirty years 
 ago," he says, "when in the state of Missouri, Mr. 
 McBride, a gray-haired, venerable veteran of the Revo- 
 lution, with feeble frame and tottering steps, cried to a 
 Missouri patriot : ' Spare my life, I am a revolutionary 
 soldier, I fought for liberty, would you murder me? 
 What is my offense, I believe in God and revelation?' 
 This frenzied disciple of a misplaced faith said, 'Take 
 
 that you God d d Mormon,' and with the butt of his 
 
 gun he dashed his brains out, and he lay quivering there, 
 his white locks clotted with his own brains and gore, on 
 the soil that he had heretofore shed his blood to redeem 
 a sacrifice at the shrine of liberty!" 
 
 Taking advantage of the disturbance at the election 
 in Gallatin, some of the old settlers at Millport, in the 
 same county, set fire to their log huts and then fled ( south- 
 ward, spreading the report that the Mormons had burned 
 their houses and driven them from their lands. At this 
 rumor, false though it was, a wave of popular indigna- 
 tion passed through the state, which Governor Boggs 
 took advantage of to issue an exterminating order, and 
 called out the militia of the state to execute it. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 63 
 
 Governor Boggs was the more ready to issue this 
 infamous order, because he himself had imbibed a hatred 
 of the Saints, and had been an active participant against 
 them in the Jackson County troubles. 
 
 By this edict the Governor virtually converted 
 the mobs that had been plundering the Saints into the 
 state militia, and gave them full license to continue the 
 war on the Saints, which they did in the most brutal 
 manner. 
 
 The result of these outrages was that some four 
 hundred of the Saints were either murdered outright or 
 died from exposure and hardship inflicted upon them in 
 this unhallowed persecution ; from twelve to fifteen 
 thousand citizens of the United States were expelled 
 from the state of Missouri from the lands they had 
 purchased of the general government ; while their homes 
 were destroyed, and their stock and much other property 
 were confiscated. Many of the leaders in the Church, 
 among them the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum, 
 were cast into prison. 
 
 Elder Taylor was a witness of these high-handed 
 and unlawful proceedings, and a sufferer in some of 
 them. One circumstance he relates which I do not 
 remember to have seen elsewhere, and hence give 
 it here : 
 
 "On one occasion, when some thirty-five hundred of 
 the mob forces were approaching Far West, our officer, 
 Colonel Hinkle, sought to betray us, and as a preliminary 
 step, ordered us to retreat. ' Retreat !' exclaimed Joseph 
 Smith. 'Why, where in the name of God shall we go?' 
 Then turning to our men he said: ' Boys, follow me.' 
 About two hundred men went out on the open prairie to 
 meet the thirty-five hundred. . While these forces faced 
 each other, a flag of truce came in from the mob bearing 
 
64 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the message that it was their intention to destroy Far 
 West ; but there was a man and his family of the name 
 of Lightner not Mormons, who had friends among the 
 attacking party, and they desired this family to leave the 
 city before it was destroyed. This message was sent 
 to the family. They replied that they had always been 
 treated with consideration by the Mormons, and they 
 would stay with them. This reply the Prophet Joseph 
 took in person to the flag of truce man ; and just then 
 a troop of cavalry, two hundred strong, was seen 
 approaching, and Joseph added this to the answer sent 
 by the non-Mormon family: 'Go tell your general for 
 me that if he does not immediately withdraw his men, I 
 will send them to hell !' " 
 
 Notwithstanding their superiority in numbers the 
 mob beat a hasty and inglorious retreat. 
 
 Such were the scenes enacted in Missouri during 
 the stay of Elder Taylor in that state ; and it was in the 
 midst of such scenes as these, on the ipth of December, 
 1838, that he was ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BANISHED FROM MISSOURI RETURNS TO FULFILL A PROPH- 
 ECY STARTS ON HIS MISSION TO ENGLAND SICKNESS 
 
 BY THE WAY ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK. 
 
 THE Saints, after their expulsion from the State of 
 Missouri, found a temporary resting place in Quincy, Illi- 
 nois, and to that city, after visiting the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith in Liberty prison, the place of his incarceration, 
 Elder Taylor made his way. 
 
 Several of the Apostles who met there held a con- 
 sultation in respect to the revelation which had been 
 given the July previous, commanding their quorum to 
 take leave of the Saints in the city of Far West, on the 
 26th day of April, 1839, at the building spot of the Lord's 
 house, previous to crossing the Atlantic on a mission to 
 foreign lands. It had been the constant boast of the 
 mob from the time the revelation was made known, that 
 this was one of " Joe Smith's" revelations that should 
 fail of fulfillment if no other did. But the several Apos- 
 tles who took part in the above mentioned consultation, 
 among whom was Elder Taylor, were determined that 
 the revelation should not fail, and agreed to return to 
 Far West by different routes, andmeet at the temple site 
 on the day appointed. 
 
 Their undertaking was successful. Five of the 
 Apostles were at the temple site before daylight of the 
 day appointed, together with a number of high priests, 
 elders and priests. At this meeting they excommuni- 
 cated a number of persons from the Church, ordained 
 
66 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith apostles, and 
 others were ordained to the office of seventy. Prayer 
 was offered up by the apostles in the order of their 
 standing in their quorum. It was a brilliant, moonlight 
 night, according to Elder Taylor, and out on the still air, 
 strong and clear rose that glorious song of Zion 
 
 ADAM ONDI-AHMAN.* 
 
 This earth was once a garden place, 
 With all her glories common ; 
 And men did live a holy race, 
 And worship Jesus face to face 
 In Adam-ondi-Ahman. 
 
 We read that Enoch walked with God, 
 Above the power of mammon ; 
 While Zion spread herself abroad, 
 And saints and angels sang aloud 
 In Adam-ondi-Ahman. 
 
 Her land was good and greatly blest, 
 Beyond old Israel's Canaan; 
 Her fame was known from east to west, 
 Her peace was great, and pure the rest 
 Of Adam-ondi-Ahman. 
 
 Hosanna to such days to come 
 The Savior's second coming, 
 When all the earth in glorious bloom 
 Affords the saints a holy home, 
 Like Adam-ondi-Ahman. 
 
 * The meaning of this word or phrase is not known, further than it is a name by 
 which a prominent point on Grand River, Daviess County, Mo., formerly known as 
 Spring Hill, but which the Lord named Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said He, it is the 
 place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as 
 spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. (See Daniel 7 : 914. Doctrine and Covenants, 
 Section 116.) When discovered by the brethren, an old stone altar was there, which 
 has since been thrown down. It was the place where Adam called his posterity together 
 three years before his death and blessed them ; so that holy memories as well as fond 
 anticipations are associated with the place. W. W. Phelps is the author of the hymn. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 67 
 
 At the conclusion of the hymn, Elder Alpheus Cut- 
 ler, the master workman of the Lord's House, laid the 
 south-east corner stone in its position, and stated that in 
 consequence of the peculiar situation of the Saints it was 
 deemed prudent to discontinue further labor on the 
 house until the Lord should open the way for its comple- 
 tion. The Apostles then took leave of some seventeen 
 Saints who were present, and started on their way to fill 
 their missions beyond the Atlantic. 
 
 On their way they stopped at Quincy, where they 
 met the Prophet Joseph, who had lately escaped from the 
 hands of his enemies in Missouri. The Prophet heartily 
 approved the labors of the Twelve, and their course 
 received also the commendation of the Church in a gen- 
 eral conference assembled at Quincy. 
 
 The Saints that same spring began settling at Com- 
 merce, afterwards Nauvoo, on the east bank of the Mis- 
 sissippi, in Hancock County, Illinois. By this time the 
 reaction from the excitement in which they had lived for 
 more than a year, set in, and almost the entire people 
 sank down from exhaustion, and became an easy prey to 
 the malaria prevalent in the district at that time. 
 
 In the midst of this sickness, poverty and general 
 wretchedness, Elder Taylor made his preparations to 
 continue his journey to England. He had secured quar- 
 ters for his family, in connection with others, in miserable, 
 old log barracks in Montrose, a small settlement oppo- 
 site Nauvoo, in what was then the Territory of Iowa. 
 
 It was the 8th of August that he left Montrose to fill 
 his mission. He dedicated his wife and family to the 
 care of the Lord, and blessed them in His name: "The 
 thought of the hardships they had just endured," he 
 remarks, "the uncertainty of their continuing in the 
 house they then occupied and that only a solitary room 
 
68 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the prevalence of disease, the poverty of the brethren, 
 their insecurity from mobs, together with the uncertainty 
 of what might take place during my absence, produced 
 feelings of no ordinary character. These solicitations, 
 paternal and conjugal, were enhanced also by the time 
 and distance that was to separate us. But the thought 
 of going forth at the command of the God of Israel to 
 revisit my native land, to unfold the principles of eternal 
 truth and make known the things that God had revealed 
 for the salvation of the world, overcame every other 
 feeling." 
 
 In Nauvoo Elder Taylor joined Wilford Woodruff, 
 who was scarcely able to drag himself along, and who 
 remarked that he felt and looked more like a subject for 
 the dissecting room than a missionary. After taking 
 leave of the Prophet and his counselors, Sidney Rigdon 
 and Hyrum Smith, Elder Taylor and his sick companion 
 left Nauvoo. 
 
 On the outskirts of the settlement they passed Par- 
 ley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball, who were building a 
 log house. Parley, who, it will be remembered, had car- 
 ried the gospel to Elder Taylor, was stripped bare 
 headed and bare footed. He hailed the brethren as they 
 were passing and gave them a purse, it was all he had. 
 Elder Heber C. Kimball, who was but a short distance 
 away, stripped as Elder Pratt was, came up and said, 
 "As Brother Parley has given you a purse, I have a dollar 
 I will give you to put in it." Then mutually blessing 
 each other, they said farewell. Elders Taylor and Wood- 
 ruff were the first of their quorum to start on their 
 mission. 
 
 At Macomb they found Brother Zebedee Coltrin, 
 who proposed taking them as far as Cleveland, Ohio, in 
 his wagon, a proposition they gladly accepted. At this 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 69 
 
 place a Brother Miller, whom Elder Taylor baptized while 
 there, gave them a horse, and another a saddle and 
 bridle. At Springfield a broker sold his horse for him, 
 and with the proceeds he published a pamphlet on the 
 persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. The edition was 
 2,000. A portion of these pamphlets were left in the 
 hands of Elder Coltrin to dispose of, the proceeds to be 
 given to Sisters Taylor and Woodruff. 
 
 Elder Taylor's strong constitution and iron will had 
 carried him through the Missouri troubles and the trying 
 scenes of poverty and sickness which prevailed that sum- 
 mer about Nauvoo ; but as he traveled eastward his 
 health began failing him. Approaching Indianapolis he 
 was taken with violent vomiting and afterwards fainted 
 by the wagon in the road. It was with some difficulty 
 that his companions resuscitated him and conveyed him 
 to the house of Brother Horace S. Eldredge, where he 
 received the kindest treatment. Notwithstanding there 
 were rest and attention for him at the home of Brother 
 Eldredge until he should be restored, weak as he was, he 
 continued his journey next morning. He would travel 
 all day and frequently preach at night, though scarcely 
 able to stand upon his feet. 
 
 At Germantown, in Indiana, his strength again failed 
 him; and seeing no prospect of immediate recovery, he 
 advised Brothers Woodruff and Coltrin to proceed on 
 their journey without him. This they reluctantly did. 
 
 The name of the proprietor of the hotel in German- 
 town where he stopped was Jacob Waltz ; both from 
 himself and his wife Elder Taylor received the kindest 
 attention. 
 
 After a severe illness of two weeks, during which 
 time he was reduced to a mere skeleton, he began to 
 recover; and with returning health came the old burning 
 
JO LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 desire to preach the gospel ; and before he was fairly 
 able to stand he obtained the court house adjacent to his 
 hotel and began holding meetings, though he had to sit 
 part of the time while delivering his discourses. 
 
 One thing that much surprised those who listened 
 to him was that, although he was a long distance from his 
 home and friends, and had been prostrate with sickness 
 among strangers, and on expenses, he never alluded to 
 these things or begged for assistance. What a contrast 
 between this servant of God and the sectarian priests of 
 the day ! Had one of their number been similarly situ- 
 ated, what a tale of woe would have been told of his 
 heroic suffering for the gospel's sake, and what pathetic 
 appeals would have been made to the generous who, 
 loved the Lord, for assistance ! But this Apostle of Jesus 
 Christ bore all patiently, more anxious to deliver the 
 message he bore than secure his own comfort. At last a 
 gentleman waited upon him, and asking to be excused 
 for the liberty he was about to take, referred to the above 
 matters in the following manner: 
 
 "Mr. Taylor, you do not act as most preachers do; 
 you have said nothing about your circumstances or 
 money, yet you have been here some time sick; your 
 doctor's, hotel and other bills must be heavy. Some 
 friends and myself have talked these matters over and 
 would like to assist you, though we do not wish to give 
 any offense." 
 
 In replying to this Elder Taylor thanked the gentle- 
 man, and said: 
 
 " I preach without purse or scrip, leaving the 
 Lord to manage 'those matters you speak of in His own 
 way ; and as you have been prompted by the Lord and 
 your own generous impulses, I shall thankfully receive 
 whatever assistance you are disposed to render me." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 71 
 
 The gentleman then presented him a small sum of 
 money, which, with what he had, was sufficient to settle 
 all his bills and enable him to pursue his journey. 
 
 Commenting upon the above incident, Elder Taylor 
 says: " I would rather put my trust in the Lord than 
 in any of the kings of the earth." 
 
 Bidding farewell to his kind host and other friends 
 in Germantown, he started for Dayton, Ohio. The first 
 day out he reached the town of Richmond, at 5 o'clock, 
 and two hours later he was lecturing to a large audience 
 on the "Mormon Difficulties in Missouri," and the next 
 day was on his way to Dayton. 
 
 Here he remained a few days preaching the gospel, 
 and then had a serious relapse which confined him 
 to the house of a friend, a Brother Brown, for two 
 weeks. As he was recovering from his illness and pre- 
 paring to leave Dayton, he was agreeably surprised to 
 learn of the arrival of his fellow Apostle, George A. 
 Smith, and others. . Elder Smith was on his way to 
 England also, and as there was room in his wagon, he 
 invited Elder Taylor to ride with him a proposition 
 that was gladly accepted. 
 
 Together they traveled to Kirtland where they met 
 Elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. Here 
 Elder Taylor was again stricken down by sickness ; but 
 through the blessings of God he recovered sufficiently to 
 accompany his brethren on their way to New York. 
 They arrived in that city in due time, and were cordially 
 welcomed to the house of Parley P. Pratt, whom Elder 
 Taylor had left in Nauvoo a few months before, putting 
 up a log house ; but who was now presiding over a large 
 branch of the Church in the metropolis of the United 
 States. 
 
 I have been particular to relate the details of this 
 
72 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 trying journey from Nauvoo to New York, that the 
 readers of this work may have a knowledge of the diffi- 
 culties encountered by Elder Taylor, in his efforts to 
 comply with the requirement of God to preach the gospel 
 in his native land. Truly he went forth weeping, but 
 bearing precious seed ; and we shall see, anon, how he 
 returned rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "I HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY" AMUSING CONVERSATION 
 
 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND APPOINTED TO PREACH IN 
 
 LIVERPOOL PEOPLE PREPARED TO RECEIVE THE GOS- 
 PEL BEGINS WORK BAPTISMS. 
 
 WHEN Elder Taylor arrived in New York, Elder 
 Woodruff had been there some time, and was all 
 impatience to embark for England, but as yet the former 
 had no means with which to pay for his ocean passage. 
 Although supplied with all the means necessary on 
 his journey thus far, after paying his cab-fare to the 
 house of Brother Pratt he had but one cent left. Still 
 he was the last man on earth to plead poverty, and in 
 answer to inquiries of some of the brethren as to 
 his financial circumstances, he replied that he had plenty 
 of money. 
 
 This was reported to Brother Pratt, who the next 
 day approached Elder Taylor on the subject : 
 
 Elder Pratt: " Brother Taylor, I hear you have 
 plenty of money?" 
 
 Elder Taylor: " Yes, Brother Pratt, that's true." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 73 
 
 Elder Pratt: " Well, I am about to publish my 
 'Voice of Warning' and 'Millennial Poems,' I am very 
 much in need of money, and if you could furnish me 
 two or three hundred dollars I should be very much 
 obliged." 
 
 Elder Taylor: "Well, Brother Parley, you are 
 welcome to anything I have, if it will be of service to 
 you." 
 
 Elder Pratt: "I never saw the time when means 
 would be more acceptable." 
 
 Elder Taylor: "Then you are welcome to all I 
 have." 
 
 And putting his hand into his pocket Elder Taylor 
 gave him his copper cent. A laugh followed. 
 
 "But I thought you gave it out that you had plenty 
 of money," said Parley. 
 
 "Yes, and so I have," replied Elder Taylor. "I 
 am well clothed, you furnish me plenty to eat and drink 
 and good lodging ; with all these things and a penny 
 over, as I owe nothing, is not that plenty?" 
 
 That evening at a council meeting Elder Pratt pro- 
 posed that the brethren assist Elder Taylor with means 
 to pay his passage to England as Brother Woodruff 
 was prepared and desired to go. To this Elder Taylor 
 bojected and told the brethren if they had anything to 
 give to let Parley have it, as he had a family to support 
 and needed means for publishing. At the close of the 
 meeting Elder Woodruff expressed his regret at the 
 course taken by Elder Taylor, as he had been waiting for 
 him, and at last had engaged his passage. 
 
 Elder Taylor: "Well, Brother Woodruff, if you 
 think it best for me to go, I will accompany you." 
 
 Elder Woodruff: "But where will you get the 
 money?" 
 
74 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Elder Taylor: "Oh, there will be no difficulty 
 about that. Go and take a passage for me on your 
 vessel, and I will furnish you the means." 
 
 A Brother Theodore Turley, hearing the above con- 
 versation, and thinking that Elder Taylor had resources 
 unknown to himself or Brother Woodruff, said: " I wish 
 I could go with you, I would do your cooking and wait 
 on you." 
 
 The passage to be secured was in the steerage 
 these missionaries were not going on flowery beds of 
 ease hence the necessity of such service as Brother 
 Turley proposed rendering. In answer to this appeal, 
 Elder Taylor told Brother Woodruff to take a passage 
 for Brother Turley also. 
 
 At the time of making these arrangements Elder 
 Taylor had no money, but the Spirit had whispered him 
 that means would be forthcoming, and when had that 
 still, small voice failed him ! In that he trusted, and he 
 did not trust in vain. Although he did not ask for a 
 penny of anyone, from various persons in voluntary 
 donations he received money enough to meet his engage- 
 ments for the passage of himself and Brother Turley, 
 but no more. 
 
 Elder Taylor and his two companions embarked 
 on the loth of December, 1839, and after a very pros- 
 perous voyage arrived in Liverpool, January nth, 1840. 
 Two days later they went to Preston, Lancashire. 
 
 In 1837, Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson 
 Hyde and several other Elders had opened the door of 
 the gospel in England, and raised up several branches of 
 the Church, the principal one being in Preston. Elder 
 Willard Richards had been left in charge of the mission 
 in England, after the return of Elder Kimball in the 
 spring of 1838; and Elder Joseph Fielding, an old 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 75 
 
 Canadian friend of Elder Taylor's, at whose instance 
 he had written an account of the restoration of the 
 gospel to England some years before presided over the 
 branch at Preston. 
 
 A council of the priesthood within reach was held 
 at Preston, af which it was decided that Elder Taylor 
 should labor in Liverpool, with Elder Fielding to assist 
 him. After receiving this assignment the brethren at 
 once repaired to Liverpool and began their labors. 
 
 A few words here relative to the opening of this 
 English mission. In England, as in Canada, the servants 
 of God found a people looking for and prepared to 
 receive the gospel. They believed the major part of 
 those things which the Elders of Israel had come into 
 their midst to proclaim, as the company of gentlemen 
 did with whom Elder Taylor was associated in Toronto. 
 The people were in that peculiar frame of mind that 
 made them realize that great changes in systems were 
 about to take place. The Spirit of God was moving 
 upon the righteous, and when they heard the gospel 
 they were ready to receive it. 
 
 Among those so situated was a Mr. Matthews, a 
 brother-in-law to Elder Joseph Fielding, and formerly a 
 Church of England minister; but he had resigned his 
 position because he saw how far that church had 
 departed from the gospel of the New Testament ; and 
 how destitute it was of the gifts and powers of the Holy 
 Ghost ; and because it was not making any preparations 
 for the coming and reign of Christ on earth. He had 
 heard the gospel preached by Elders Richards and 
 Goodson, in Bedfordshire ; he testified of its truth to his 
 congregation ; and went so far as to appoint a time 
 when he would be baptized with a number of his fol- 
 lowers. For some cause he failed to put in an 
 
76 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 appearance at the appointed time, his mind became 
 darkened and he opposed the Elders, but adopted their 
 principles and began preaching them on his own account. 
 In this way he raised up a number of congregations, one 
 of which was located in Liverpool. 
 
 Elder Taylor and his companion diligently searched 
 these people out and presented the gospel message to 
 them. Some gladly received the word, and others 
 rejected it with great bitterness. Against some of this 
 latter class the brethren washed their feet as a witness 
 against them.* The manner in which they complied 
 with this ordinance appointed unto them is described by 
 Elder Taylor as follows : 
 
 "We washed our feet and then knelt before the 
 Lord and bore testimony of it, saying: 'O Lord, our 
 Heavenly Father, we Thy servants have borne testimony 
 to the truth of those things which Thou hast revealed to 
 
 Mr. S , and he has rejected our testimony. O, 
 
 Father, Thou knowest we have no hard feelings 
 toward the man ; if Thou canst forgive him and lead him 
 to the truth, do so, we pray Thee. O, Father, we do 
 this that we may fulfill Thy word, and bear testimony 
 before Thee according to Thy commandment ; and now, 
 O, Lord, we leave him in Thy hands, praying Thee to 
 guide us into all truth, in the name of Jesus. Amen.' ' 
 
 When the Sabbath came they attended services at 
 a chapel in Hope Street, where Mr. Matthews usually 
 held forth. He was absent on this occasion, but a young 
 man, whom Elder Taylor describes as very devout, 
 preached. He lamented the state of the church, its 
 
 *"He that receiveth you not, go away from him alone by yourselves, and cleanse 
 your feet even with water, pure water, whether in heat or in cold, and bear testimony 
 of it unto your Father which is in heaven, and return not again to that man." See 
 Doc. and Cov. Sec. 84 and Sec. 61. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 77 
 
 pride, its vanity, its lack of spiritual power ; prayed for 
 the blessings of the Holy Ghost to be again made mani- 
 fest, and for the coming of Christ's kingdom. 
 
 Such an opening as this was not neglected by Elder 
 Taylor. At the close of the meeting he arose and 
 requested the privilege of speaking. He was told, how- 
 ever, that he had better repair to the vestry and there a 
 hearing would be accorded him. He accepted the 
 proposition. Some sixteen or twenty class-leaders and 
 elders were present who seemed anxious to learn what 
 sect the brethren were of. Setting aside that matter, 
 Elder Taylor thus addressed them : 
 
 "Gentlemen, friends and brethren ; I have listened 
 with deep interest to the things that I have heard this 
 morning. I have observed with peculiar emotions the 
 deep anxiety, the fervent prayer and the strong solicitude 
 manifested by you in relation to obtaining the Holy 
 Ghost. I have been pleased with the correct views 
 you entertain in regard to the situation of the world. 
 We believe in those things as you do. We hear that 
 you believe in baptism and the laying on of hands, so 
 also do we. Brethren and friends, we are the humble 
 followers of Jesus Christ and are from America. I 
 lately arrived in this place, and have come five thousand 
 miles without purse or scrip, and I testify to you, my 
 brethren, that the Lord has revealed Himself from 
 heaven and put us in possession of these things you are 
 so anxiously looking for and praying that you may 
 receive." ("Glory be to God," was shouted by many 
 present, and great emotion manifested.) 
 
 "That thing has taken place which is spoken of by 
 John in the Revelations, where he says: 'I saw another 
 angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting 
 gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth, 
 
78 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, 
 saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to 
 him, for the hour of his judgment is come.' Brethren, 
 we the servants of God are come to this place to warn 
 the inhabitants of their approaching danger, and to call 
 upon them to repent and be baptized in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, and they shall receive the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 "I feel an anxious desire to deliver this testimony. 
 I feel the word of the Lord like fire in my bones and 
 am desirous to have an opportunity of proclaiming to 
 you those blessings that you are looking for, that you 
 may rejoice with us in those glorious things which God 
 has revealed for the salvation of the world in the 
 last days." 
 
 This speech filled many with exceeding great 
 rejoicing, some even wept for joy, while others were 
 equally filled with zealous rage. The class so affected 
 demanded to know if they were not Mormons. "No," 
 replied Elder Taylor, "we belong to the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter-day Saints, called by our enemies the 
 'Mormon Church." 
 
 When this was known some said they had heard an 
 unfavorable opinion of that people. Others said that 
 their pastor, Mr. Matthews, had declared the thing was 
 from hell, etc. ; and in answer to the application for 
 the chapel to preach in, an unfavorable reply was made. 
 
 In the afternoon Elder Taylor and companion 
 attended a meeting of the non-communion Baptists. 
 The brethren made themselves known to the leader of 
 the meeting and asked for the use of the house, telling 
 him he might make collections and keep the money for 
 his society if he would grant them the privilege of 
 speaking. He excused himself on the grounds that the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 79 
 
 Baptist society was so rigid that they would refuse to 
 hear ; but he treated them very kindly. 
 
 In the evening they again attended service at Mr. 
 Matthews' chapel. "There are many who will become 
 Saints among them," predicted Elder Taylor, "but they, 
 like others, are sadly under the influence of priests." 
 That night after meeting one of the preachers of the 
 society, of the name of William Mitchell, came to Elder 
 Taylor and invited him to his home, and during the next 
 week opened his house for him to hold meetings in. And 
 notwithstanding all the efforts on the part of Mr. Mat- 
 thews' preachers and class-leaders to prevent their mem- 
 bers from going, the house was filled. At the first meet- 
 ing Mr. Mitchell and his wife expressed their determina- 
 tion to receive the message, and others soon followed. 
 A hall in Preston Street was taken, capable of seating 
 about three hundred, and the first night it was well filled. 
 
 Elder Taylor's text was from Jude: 
 
 "It was needful for me to exhort 
 
 you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which 
 was delivered to the Saints." 
 
 He referred to the laudable efforts of such reformers 
 as Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Wesley, Whitfield and 
 others who had tried to bring about the ancient order of 
 things, but by reference to the gospel as contained in the 
 New Testament, showed that they had failed to accom- 
 plish it. This was followed up by an account of how the 
 gospel had been restored to the earth in the present age 
 by the ministration of angels and the revelations of God 
 to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He showed them how 
 what they had been praying for was now accomplished, 
 and exhorted them to receive it. 
 
 The effect of his discourse was overwhelming. Ex- 
 clamations of praise and thanksgiving were heard in vari- 
 
8O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ous parts of the house, while the weeping of others tes- 
 tified to the emotion they could not otherwise express. 
 Ten offered themselves for baptism at the close of the 
 meeting, and many others expressed a friendly disposi- 
 tion. 
 
 Meantime the news had reached Mr. Matthews that 
 his sheepfold had been invaded by the " Mormons," and 
 he wrote back a letter warning his flock against "Mor- 
 monism," but to no purpose. The ten were baptized, 
 among them Mr. Mitchell, and a great many who 
 attended to witness the ceremony of baptism expressed 
 a desire to obey the message the next time a day was 
 appointed for baptisms. Thus the work was begun in 
 Liverpool. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LABORS CONTINUED IN LIVERPOOL MANNER OF MEETING 
 
 OPPOSITION INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL INTO IRE- 
 LAND A PROPHECY FIRST BAPTISM VISIT TO SCOT- 
 LAND LOVE OF THE SAINTS. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR continued calling upon ministers 
 and other gentlemen in Liverpool, bearing testimony to 
 them of the restoration of the gospel. For this purpose 
 he called upon an aged Methodist minister who accom- 
 panied Doctor Coke in some of his missionary tours, 
 and who was with him when he died. 
 
 The conversation with him was very pleasant, but 
 he did not receive the message of the gospel. He 
 inquired if his visitor intended calling upon all the " min- 
 isters in the city, to which the Elder replied that it was 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 8 1 
 
 his determination to deliver the message he had been 
 commissioned with ; he had called upon some ministers 
 and intended to see others ; and if there was liberality 
 enough among the Methodists or other denominations 
 to open their chapels, he would preach. To this the 
 minister replied that he thought the doctrines Elder 
 Taylor had to advocate would not agree with theirs, and 
 that he would have to do as the venerable founder of 
 Methodism had done go into the highways and the 
 fields. 
 
 "But when Paul, the despised Christian, went into 
 the synagogues of the Jews, bigoted and fallen as they 
 were," replied the Elder, "they said to him and his 
 companions, ' Brethren, if ye have any word of exhort- 
 ation for the people, say on." 
 
 "That is what I say," answered the Methodist, 
 "say on." 
 
 "Yes," replied Elder Taylor, "but this is not in your 
 synagogue, sir." 
 
 To this gentle hint he could only say that he thought 
 the trustees would not consent to it. In parting, he 
 shook the Elder by the hand and wished him God-speed. 
 
 Elder Taylor also called upon Mr. Radcliff, agent 
 for the Bible Society and superintendent of the School of 
 Arts. In a conversation lasting over of three hours, 
 that gentleman made many admissions relative to the 
 condition of the religious world, which, when his visitor 
 began to make use of them to show the necessity of a 
 re-opening of the heavens and a restoration of the an- 
 cient gospel, he stopped alarmed, and observed that 
 "Mormonism led to tremendous conclusions!" 
 
 "I am aware that it does," quietly replied his visitor, 
 "but the words I have used are not mine, but the words 
 of God." 
 
 6 
 
82 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 There was present at this interview a Miss Brannan, 
 from the Isle of Man, who expressed a fear of Elder 
 Taylor's religion ; and who, as the conversation drew to 
 a close, ventured to censure him because he condemned 
 others. 
 
 "No, he does not," said Mr. Rad cliff, "he only says 
 they have been wrong ignorantly, and that they have 
 doubtless lived up to the best light they had." 
 
 Miss Brannan did not relish this remark, and 
 relapsed into silence. 
 
 Before leaving them, Elder Taylor remarked to her 
 that he was thinking of going to the Isle of Man, and 
 he would be pleased to call upon her. She would be 
 glad to see him, but not as a religious teacher. Or if he 
 was like other preachers, she would be pleased to 
 receive him. To this the Elder replied that he should 
 visit the Isle of Man whether she desired him to or 
 not; that there were others there who would receive 
 the gospel if she rejected it, and as to the matter of 
 being like other ministers, it reminded him of the story 
 of the Prophet Micah, who was told to speak as the 
 other prophets of king Ahab had spoken, and it would 
 be well with him; but Micah replied: "As the Lord 
 liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak." 
 So, likewise, he could only declare that which God had 
 revealed ; if that came in conflict with the doctrines and 
 practices of men, so much the worse for their doctrines 
 and practices. 
 
 In this manner Elder Taylor continued to labor 
 day after day, neither avoiding the poor and lowly nor 
 shunning the high and the learned. Conscious that he 
 possessed the truth, he fearlessly came in contact with 
 all sorts and conditions of men ; and so gentlemanly 
 and pleasing was his bearing that it compelled men to 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 83 
 
 listen to the message he delivered with respectful 
 attention. 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1840, Apostles Brigham 
 Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson 
 Pratt, George A. Smith and Elder Reuben Hedlock 
 arrived in Liverpool, from America. The next day 
 they found Elder Taylor, who was overjoyed to see 
 them. In a few days they repaired to Preston and 
 held a council seven of the quorum of Apostles being 
 present. 
 
 The first business of the council was to ordain 
 Willard Richards an Apostle, and receive him into the 
 quorum. This addition made eight Apostles in the 
 council. Brigham Young presided ; Elder Taylor was 
 made clerk. The former was also sustained as the 
 President of the Twelve Apostles, he being next in 
 seniority of ordination to Thomas B. Marsh, the former 
 President, who apostatized in Missouri. 
 
 It was resolved that a periodical should be pub- 
 lished and called the Latler-day Saints Millennial Star, 
 of which Parley P. Pratt was appointed editor. A hymn 
 book was also to be published, John Taylor being one of 
 a committee of three to select the hymns. It was also 
 decided to print an edition of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 In appointing the several Apostles to fields of labor, 
 it was decided that Elder Taylor continue to preach in 
 Liverpool and vicinity. 
 
 On his return to that city, the work spread more 
 rapidly than before the council at Preston. Opportuni- 
 ties for preaching were plentiful, and baptisms frequent. 
 In May he called those who had been baptized together, 
 and ordained a number of the brethren Priests and 
 Elders, which gave them the right to preach the gospel 
 and to administer the ordinances thereof. These breth- 
 
84 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ren, filled with zeal, went out into the public parks, to 
 the commons, the fields and even the streets, proclaim- 
 ing everywhere the gospel and bearing testimony of its 
 truth. 
 
 When the opposition of the priests increased in 
 bitterness, and they sought by every conceivable device 
 to hinder the work and disturb the meetings, Elder Tay- 
 lor instructed several of the most zealous of the brethren 
 to hold auxiliary meetings simultaneously on the public 
 thoroughfares just prior to the time appointed for the 
 main central meeting and announce to their hearers 
 that a discourse would be delivered in the public hall, 
 engaged for that purpose. In this way an interest was 
 awakened in the work, and the meetings crowded with 
 people, notwithstanding all the efforts of the hostile 
 ministers to prevent it. 
 
 These labors, and assisting in selecting the hymns 
 suitable for the worship of the Saints, together with 
 reading the proofs and superintending the printing of the 
 Book of Mormon, occupied the early summer of 1840. 
 
 In July, however, Elder Taylor took the Music Hall 
 in Bold Street, a large hall, capable of seating some fif- 
 teen hundred people, in which he proposed delivering a 
 course of lectures. 
 
 Pending the opening of this hall for the lectures, he 
 went to Ireland to proclaim the restoration of the gospel 
 in that land. Among many others he baptized in Liver- 
 pool was a Mr. McGuffie, who had some acquaintances 
 in Newry, County Down, Ireland. This man and a 
 Brother William Black he took with him as his compan- 
 ions. 
 
 A large company of Saints went with them to the 
 dock to see them off. It was but natural that Elder Tay- 
 or should contrast his situation, now that he was depart- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 85 
 
 ing for Ireland, with what it was when he landed in 
 England a few months before. Then he was friendless, 
 unknown and among strangers ; now he was surrounded 
 by a multitude of friends, anxious to administer to his 
 necessities and willing to assist him in his mission, while 
 few men in Liverpool were more sought for, or filled a 
 larger space in public attention. 
 
 The company remained on the pier-head waving 
 their adieux until they could no longer be seen. 
 
 The day after sailing, Elder Taylor and companions 
 arrived in Newry, a beautiful Irish village nestled among 
 rolling hills, characteristic of that part of Ireland. 
 Brother McGuffie obtained the Court House to hold a 
 meeting in, and sent around the bell-man to give notice 
 of it. A congregation of six or seven hundred gathered 
 in at seven o'clock in the evening, and Elder Taylor 
 preached to them. This was the introduction of the gos- 
 pel into Ireland. 
 
 An appointment was given out for the next evening, 
 but only a few attended, and Elder Taylor turned the 
 meeting into a sort of conversational, promising to 
 explain anything those present wished to know respect- 
 ing the message he had delivered to them the night 
 before. Thus the evening was passed. 
 
 It was determined that night as his stay in Ireland 
 could only be brief, in consequence of his appointments 
 in Liverpool that the next day they would proceed to 
 the other points they had proposed to visit. 
 
 In the night Elder Taylor in a vision saw a gen- 
 tleman approach him and ask him to stay, saying he 
 would be pleased to hear him. The next morning, as 
 himself, Brothers McGuffie and Black and a gentleman 
 of the name of Thomas Tate were leaving the village 
 in a jaunting car, the same man whom Elder Taylor 
 
86 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 had seen in the vision stopped them and requested him 
 to remain ; but as Brother McGuffie expected to return 
 to Newry and remain there some time, Elder Taylor 
 concluded to go on his way. 
 
 After a ride of seven miles through a beautiful, fer- 
 tile, undulating country, cut up into small farms by green 
 hedges closely trimmed, and plentifully dotted with neatly 
 white-washed cottages, they arrived at the four towns of 
 Bellimacrat, where, in the evening, Elder Taylor preached 
 in a barn owned by a Mr. Willie. The following morn- 
 ing they started on foot for the town of Lisburn, Mr. 
 Tate going with them to assist in carrying their valises. 
 This Mr. Tate Elder Taylor had met in Liverpool, and 
 prophesied that he would be the first person to be bap- 
 tized in Ireland. As he and Elder Taylor walked on, 
 side by side, that beautiful, fresh morning they left Belli- 
 macrat, the latter opened the scriptures to his under- 
 standing and taught him the gospel in its simplicity. The 
 listener was carried away with admiration for the plan of 
 redemption which God had established for the salvation 
 of His children, and as conviction of its truth had taken 
 hold of his mind, he was ready to receive it ; and on 
 reaching the summit of a hill, which suddenly brought 
 them in full view of the beautiful Lock Brickland, he 
 cried out in ecstacy : 
 
 " There is water, what doth hinder me being bap- 
 tized?" 
 
 At this the party stopped, and Elder Taylor, going 
 down into the water, baptized him. He was the first to 
 receive the gospel in Ireland in this dispensation. 
 
 In the town of Lisburn Elder Taylor preached four 
 times in the market place to large and attentive crowds. 
 
 The preaching in Market Square created consider- 
 able interest in that place, but no one applied for baptism. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 87 
 
 The whole of County Down had been considerably excited 
 by the meetings held, and before leaving Lisburn Elder 
 Taylor learned that Brother McGuffie on his return to 
 Newry had begun to baptize. 
 
 Having thus opened the door of salvation to the 
 Irish nation by the proclamation of the gospel, Elder 
 Taylor, on the 6th of August, took passage on a steamer 
 at Belfast for the city of Glasgow. On board he formed 
 the acquaintance of a gentleman who had met with Elder 
 Orson Pratt in Edinburgh, where that Apostle was labor- 
 ing ; and also with an Irish gentleman from Belfast. The 
 latter was a friend of a Mr. Mulholland, of Illinois, who 
 had written him an account of the persecutions of the 
 Saints in Missouri. He had the letter published in one 
 of the Belfast papers. 
 
 On arriving in Glasgow, Elder Taylor met with 
 Elders Hedlock, Clark and Mulliner, and the following 
 Sunday preached to the Saints there, and ordained two 
 brethren Elders. He also visited a small branch of the 
 Church in Paisley, Renfrewshire. Here that love which 
 the gospel inspires in the hearts of those who receive it 
 was abundantly manifested. Though Elder Taylor was 
 a stranger to the Saints there, they gathered about him, 
 pleaded with him to remain in their midst and teach 
 them something further concerning the Kingdom of God. 
 Failing to persuade him to remain longer, as the time 
 for him to be in Liverpool drew near, they flocked about 
 him for his blessing, and it was not until the night was 
 gone and day was approaching that he could get a 
 chance to retire to rest. 
 
88 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 COURSE OF LECTURES VISIT TO THE ISLE OF MAN 
 
 REFLECTIONS LECTURES IN DOUGLAS OPPOSITION 
 
 CHALLENGE DISCUSSIONS SUCCESS. 
 
 RETURNING to Liverpool, Elder Taylor delivered his 
 course of lectures in the Music Hall, Bold Street. The 
 course covered the principal events connected with the 
 work of the Lord in these last days. The transgression 
 of the laws of the gospel ; the changing of its ordinances ; 
 the breaking of the covenant thereof after its introduc- 
 tion by the personal ministration of the Son of God ; the 
 restoration of the gospel through the ministration of 
 angels; the restoration, and the powers and authority 
 of the Holy Priesthood; the coming forth, character 
 and value of the Book of Mormon ; the gathering of 
 Israel and final redemption of the earth, etc., etc. The 
 lectures were numerously attended and created consid- 
 erable interest in religious circles. 
 
 During his absence in Ireland and Scotland the local 
 Elders in Liverpool had been very active, and a number 
 had been added to the Church. He also found that 
 Elders Curtis and Winchester had arrived from New 
 York. Both these Elders were able ministers of the 
 word. The latter had distinguished himself by his 
 labors in Philadelphia, the former in New York, near 
 which city was his home. Elder Curtis was sent to Ire- 
 land to continue the work commenced there. 
 
 Considerable opposition ran side by side with the 
 labors of Elder Taylor in Liverpool. The ministers 
 belonging to the churches founded by Mr. Matthews and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 89 
 
 his chief supporter, Mr. Aitkins, were the principals in 
 this opposition. They had been very near the truth at 
 one time not far removed from the Kingdom of God ; 
 but having made up their minds to reject it, the light they 
 once possessed departed from them. They were filled 
 with bitterness, jealousy and hatred, and in their madness 
 descended to methods of opposition unworthy of those 
 who profess to be gentlemen, to say nothing of men who 
 professed to be followers and ministers of the Son of 
 God. They raised commotions in some of the meetings 
 where Elder Taylor held forth that would have disgraced 
 the meetings in the very heat of a political campaign. 
 They denounced him whose doctrines they could not 
 refute by the word of God or by reason, as a liar, a 
 wolf in sheep's clothing, a hypocrite, a false prophet, and 
 every other vile epithet that the malice of men or the 
 ingenuity of Satan could invent. Truly having rejected 
 the truth, they were given up to a hard heart and a rep- 
 robate mind. 
 
 Seeing that everything was moving along satisfac- 
 torily in Liverpool, Elder Taylor determined to make his 
 long contemplated visit to the Isle of Man. He started 
 on the 1 6th of September, 1840, having for companions 
 Elder Hiram Clark and Brother William Mitchel, one of 
 the first to receive his testimony in Liverpool. The 
 party arrived in Douglas the next day. 
 
 It was but natural that his arrival in this island 
 should awaken his remembrance of "Nora," as he affec- 
 tionately called his wife, Leonora. Here she had spent 
 her youthful days in the home of her father. Here, 
 amid the green hills and flower-flecked vales, which every- 
 where abound in this delightful island, she had wandered 
 in girlhood, buoyant with hope and joy ; or with a pleas- 
 ing fear had seen the storm-clouds gather about her 
 
90 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 island home, and saw old ocean's mighty waves lashed 
 into fury, break into harmless spray on Mona's rugged 
 shores. These thoughts suggested others. He dwelt 
 in fond remembrance on the occasion of her becoming 
 his wife, and called to mind her trust and love, and all 
 the happy scenes and hours they had shared together. 
 
 Recollection once at work, stopped not at their 
 joys, but brought up to his vision their sorrows, their 
 afflictions and the persecutions they had passed through 
 for the sake of the truth for the cause of God ; and in 
 conclusion he exclaimed : 
 
 "Thou hast passed through trials, Nora, but thou 
 shalt rejoice ! Thou hast been driven from thy home for 
 the truth's sake, but thou and thy children shall have a 
 home in the Kingdom of God ! Thou hast suffered the 
 bereavement of thy husband the tender association has 
 been severed that others may be made partakers of 
 endless life ; but thou and thy husband shall yet reign 
 together in the celestial kingdom of God. A few more 
 struggles and the battle will be fought, the victory will 
 be ours, and with the redeemed out of every nation we 
 will sing, 'Glory, and honor, and power, and might, and 
 majesty, and dominion be ascribed to Him that sitteth 
 upon the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and for- 
 ever?'" 
 
 A day or two after their arrival it was decided that 
 Elders Clark and Brother Mitchel should go to Ramsey 
 and Elder Taylor remain to labor in Douglas. He 
 accompanied the two brethren a short distance on their 
 journey, and before separating they repaired to a lovely 
 spot in a field, some distance from the road, and there 
 engaged in prayer. The burden of that prayer was that 
 an effectual door might be opened to them in that island 
 for the proclamation of the gospel; that gainsayers 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 9! 
 
 might be put to shame, and that the word might be con- 
 firmed by signs following the believers. After prayer 
 they each sought a stone and placed it at the foot of a 
 tree, on which Elder Taylor carved their names and the 
 date of their being there. He also ordained Brother 
 Mitchel a Deacon ; and at the request of Elder Clark he 
 also laid hands upon his head that he might have the gift 
 of tongues and the interpretation thereof; and after- 
 wards Elder Clark blessed Elder Taylor. For some 
 time they spoke in tongues, sang, prophesied, and finally 
 separated to their respective fields of labor, each to 
 thrust in his sickle and reap. 
 
 Elder Taylor, on returning to Douglas, called on 
 Mr. Cain, a book-binder and seller, and a Primitive 
 Methodist preacher. Although he was a minister, he 
 was sensible that his church fell far short of having a 
 fullness of truth, and hence was ready to listen to one 
 who claimed to have the fullness of the gospel. 
 
 He also called upon a number of his wife's girl- 
 hood friends, some of whom were pleased to see him. 
 In this way he made a large circle of acquaintances, and 
 taught them the gospel. Finally he engaged the Wel- 
 lington Rooms, the largest hall in Douglas, capable oi 
 seating one thousand persons. 
 
 In this hall he delivered several lectures amid consid- 
 erable opposition from sectarian priests. One of their num- 
 ber, Rev. Thomas Hamilton, was particularly offensive and 
 made some disturbance, but the Elder found many who 
 befriended him, and indeed, the people generally seemed 
 indignant at the course pursued by his opponents. At 
 length Mr. Hamilton sent a challenge to meet him in 
 public discussion, the body of which was as follows : 
 
 "SiR: Conceiving that the principles advocated by 
 you in the lectures which you delivered in the Welling- 
 
92 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ton Rooms have no support from the word of God, but 
 are diametrically opposed to it, and as you misquoted 
 that word, mutilated it, took from and added to it ; I 
 hereby invite you to a public discussion of the truth of 
 what I conceive to be mere assertions, and design to 
 prove you guilty of blasphemy against God and of decoy- 
 ing souls to perdition." 
 
 To this Elder Taylor made the following reply: 
 
 "I am not aware of having mutilated, misquoted, 
 taken from or added to the word of God, or of speaking 
 or teaching blasphemy, or trying to lead men to perdi 
 tion, as I am charged with in your note ; but have been 
 conscientiously discharging a duty devolving upon me in 
 unfolding the principles of eternal truth. But as I never 
 shrink from the task of supporting those principles, in 
 the strength of the Lord, I comply with your request 
 on the following terms: 
 
 "First. That each of us choose a chairman for the 
 preserving of order in the meeting. 
 
 " Second. That the lectures I have delivered in the 
 Wellington Rooms be the subject of debate, and that you 
 engage to prove that in those lectures I have advanced 
 doctrines that are unscriptural. 
 
 4 'Third. That the word of God be the test. 
 
 "Fourth. That you have an hour to repudiate 
 those supposed errors, and that I have the same time to 
 reply ; that you then .have half an hour to speak and that 
 I have half an hour to reply, and that the meeting then 
 close for the evening. 
 
 "As you have not said anything in your note about 
 the room being taken by you, I propose that we take it 
 between us, and make a collection to pay the charge for 
 its use. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 93 
 
 "If these propositions, sir, should meet with your 
 approbation, you may expect me there at the appointed 
 time. 
 
 "As I am a stranger in the town I have not as yet 
 made choice of a chairman, but as Mr. Cain, in the midst 
 of the confusion the other evening, spoke a few words 
 in my favor, perhaps I may choose him, if he will 
 accept it." 
 
 The discussion came off in accordance with this 
 arrangement, and Mr. Hamilton was vanquished. "No 
 great honor, however," says Elder Taylor, in his account 
 of this affair, "as he was a very ignorant man." 
 
 Another minister delivered a course of lectures 
 against him, to which he replied in his own hall the 
 Wellington Rooms. Another a Mr. J. Curran 
 published a series of newspaper articles against Mor- 
 monism, to which he replied. At the same time the Rev. 
 Robert Heys, a Wesleyan Methodist, published three 
 pamphlets in opposition to his doctrines, to each of which 
 he published a reply. Unfortunately, only one of these 
 pamphlets the second has been preserved ; but from it 
 we may learn something of Elder Taylor's power as a 
 debater, the power by which J^e earned his title of 
 "Champion of Truth." It is not my purpose to follow 
 the discussion in all its details, or even give an outline of 
 it, but simply introduce a single paragraph that is a 
 specimen of Elder Taylor's cogent reasoning. 
 
 His reverend opponent stoutly objected to Mormon- 
 ism because it was based on a new revelation, and in his 
 view the day of revelation had passed the volume 
 thereof was complete ; and he maintained that the Bible 
 itself forbids any more revelation being added to it, and 
 as Mormonism claimed to have come into existence 
 
94 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 through revelation, it violated the prohibitions of the 
 Bible, and therefore Mormonism was an imposture. 
 
 In support of this argument, he quoted three pas- 
 sages of scripture: First from Deuteronomy, "Ye shall 
 not add unto the word which I command you, neither 
 shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the 
 commandments of the Lord your God which I command 
 you;" second from Proverbs, "Every word of the Lord 
 is pure, Add thou not unto his words, 
 
 lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar;" lastly, 
 from Revelation, "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." 
 
 To this argument Elder Taylor replied: 
 
 "With astonishing confidence in the infallibility of 
 his skill in biblical lore, Mr. Heys rapidly carries his 
 readers along with him through the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, and then, after showing them why they were writ- 
 ten, he reveals the perfection of his knowledge by giving 
 publicity to the following, which, for aught I know, he 
 may consider a new discovery : ' Now of this complete 
 and infallible rule (meaning the HOLY BIBLE) God has 
 decreed and declared tflat nothing shall be either added to 
 it or taken from it!' This certainly must be a new reve- 
 lation^ for such a decree or declaration is not to be found 
 in the whole of the sacred writings! It is true, he 
 quotes three passages one from Deuteronomy, one 
 from Proverbs, and another from Revelation ; but not 
 one of them contains the decree ! That in Deuteronomy 
 refers exclusively to the Book of the Law. If they 
 declared the revelation of God to be complete, the other 
 scriptures could never have been written. That in Pro- 
 verbs refers to the portion of the sacred writings then in 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 95 
 
 existence. If it declared the Holy Scriptures were complete, 
 there would not have been afterwards a continued writ- 
 ten revelation. That in the Revelation refers to the 
 Apocalypse alone, it being, when written, a separate 
 book, unconnected with the other books of the New 
 Testament which were not then collected ; it could not, 
 therefore, have reference to any other book or books of 
 the Holy Scriptures. According to his own interpreta- 
 tion of the above scriptures, in quoting from Proverbs, 
 he would reject the New Testament and all the prophets 
 that prophesied after Solomon's day ; and in his quotation 
 from Deuteronomy, he would reject all the Bible but the 
 five books of Moses. But let Mr. Hays take care that 
 he himself is not incurring the curse by altering the 
 meaning of the words of the very books to which the 
 prohibition positively and particularly refers!" 
 
 Thus he followed his opponent in all his wanderings, 
 as he promises to do in the beginning of the reply from 
 which the above is taken "lest he should 'pervert the 
 truth' and 'darken counsel by words without knowl- 
 edge.'' " And while pursuing him," he continues, "it 
 will afford me no small degree of satisfaction and delight 
 to observe the mists of error which he has spread around 
 him, dissipated by the clear light of the gospel, and to 
 behold the fair flowers of Paradise rising again unhurt in 
 all their native beauty, from beneath the ruthless tread 
 of his unhallowed feet." 
 
 Despite all the opposition that raged against him, 
 Elder Taylor found a goodly number who were seeking 
 for the truth, and sufficiently susceptible to the influence 
 of God's Holy Spirit to receive his testimony and be bap- 
 tized. These he organized into a branch of the Church, 
 and, having placed the work in this island on a substan- 
 tial footing, he returned to Liverpool. 
 
96 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 RETURN TO NAUVOO SICKNESS OF LEONORA -SAVED BY THE 
 
 POWER OF GOD FOUNDS " NAUVOO NEIGHBOR" EDITS 
 
 ' 'TIMES AND SEASONS" NOMINATES THE PROPHET FOR 
 
 PRESIDENT REASONS INTRODUCTION OF CELESTIAL 
 
 MARRIAGE HIS CONDUCT IN REGARD TO IT. 
 
 THE remainder of Elder Taylor's time while on his 
 first mission to England was employed mostly in preach- 
 ing in Liverpool and in assisting the Saints who were 
 beginning to emigrate to Nauvoo. 
 
 There was something singular in this movement 
 among the British Saints. When the Apostles started 
 on their missions, the Prophet Joseph had instructed 
 them to say nothing, for the present, in relation to the 
 gathering of the people. It was doubtless the unsettled 
 state of the Church at that time which led him to give 
 such counsel. The instructions were, of course, followed 
 by the Apostles ; but no sooner were the people baptized 
 than they were seized with a desire to gather with the 
 main body of the Church. "I find it is difficult to keep 
 anything from the Saints," writes Elder Taylor, "for the 
 Spirit of God reveals it to them. Some 
 
 time ago Sister Mitchel dreamed that she, her husband 
 and a number of others were on board a vessel, and that 
 there were other vessels, loaded with Saints, going some- 
 where. She felt very happy and was rejoicing in the 
 Lord." Another sister had a similar dream, and was 
 informed that all the Saints were going. Neither of these 
 sisters, nor any of the Saints at that time, knew any- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 97 
 
 thing about the principle of gathering, yet all were 
 anxious to leave their homes, their kindred and the asso- 
 ciations of a lifetime, to join the main body of the Church 
 in a distant land, the members of which were total stran- 
 gers to them. 
 
 Not only had this desire to gather with the Church 
 taken hold of them, but those who had means were 
 moved upon to assist those who were poor. Altogether 
 more than eight hundred Saints left England before 
 the Apostles turned their faces homeward, and Elder 
 Taylor was of material service to them in Liverpool, as 
 he secured for them the best possible terms for their 
 passage ; organized them into companies, appointing the 
 most experienced and wisest among them to take charge, 
 that the inexperienced might not be a prey for sharpers 
 and rogues to feast upon. 
 
 In addition to these labors, Elder Taylor visited 
 Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield and many other 
 cities, everywhere preaching the gospel with great suc- 
 cess, converting the unbelieving and strengthening and 
 encouraging the Saints. Thus the autumn and winter 
 of 1840-41 passed away. 
 
 The object for which the Apostles had visited 
 Great Britain was accomplished. They had established 
 the Church there on a sound basis. The Book of Mor- 
 mon and the Hymn Book had been published ; a peri- 
 odical to advocate and defend the faith delivered to 
 the Saints established; a permanent shipping agency 
 founded to aid the Saints in gathering to Zion ; branches 
 had been organized in nearly all the principal towns of 
 the kingdom, and some eight thousand souls had been 
 baptized. In all this labor Elder Taylor had taken an 
 active, prominent part; and now, in company with his 
 fellow Apostles, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, 
 
9 - LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith and 
 Willard Richards, he sailed on the ship Rochester for 
 America. 
 
 Elder Taylor arrived in Nauvoo on the ist of July, 
 1841. Here a great sorrow was awaiting him his faith- 
 ful, patient Leonora was sick nigh unto death. The 
 hardships in Missouri, the separation from her husband, 
 on whose strong arm and steadfast courage she was 
 wont to lean, and the consequent increase of care in 
 watching over her family, had at last broken down her 
 strength; and hence he found her pale and wan, and 
 death clutching at her precious life. He called in twenty 
 Elders, who prayed for her ; she was anointed with oil, 
 hands were laid upon her, and, in fulfillment of God's 
 promise, the prayer of faith healed the sick the Lord 
 raised her up. 
 
 It was shortly after the return of the Twelve from 
 England that the Prophet Joseph made known to them 
 the doctrine of celestial marriage the marriage system 
 that obtains in the celestial worlds where the Gods dwell, 
 marriage that is to endure for time and for eternity, the 
 ceremony being performed by one holding that power 
 which binds on earth and binds in heaven. Celestial 
 marriage also includes a plurality of wives. 
 
 This system of marriage had been revealed to the 
 Prophet a number of years before, but he had kept the 
 matter in his own heart. The time had come, however, 
 when the principles of this marriage system must be 
 made known to others and the practice thereof entered 
 into by the faithful in the Priesthood. Hitherto the Saints, 
 in common with the so-called Christian world, had mar- 
 ried until death did them part ; but now, through the 
 introduction of celestial marriage, the covenants between 
 men and their wives were to be made for eternity as well 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 99 
 
 as for time. In this marriage system the great truth is 
 revealed that the association of husband and wife, with all 
 its endearing associations is to continue forever ; and that 
 to paraphrase the words of one who spake as if inspired 
 on this theme* as long as there is room in infinite space, 
 or matter in the exh?ustless storehouse of nature, or as 
 long as the bosoms of the Gods glow with affection, just 
 so long will new worlds be created and filled with the 
 ever increasing posterity of the righteous, and new king, 
 doms added to the dominions of the Fathers ! 
 
 The plurality of wives included in this system of 
 marriage is what gave rise to grave concern in the minds 
 of the faithful men to whom it was revealed. The world 
 never made a greater mistake than when it supposed 
 that plural marriage was hailed with delight by the Elders 
 who were commanded of the Lord to introduce its prac- 
 tice in this generation. They saw clearly that it would 
 bring additional reproach upon them from the world ; 
 that it would run counter to the traditions and prejudices 
 of society, as, indeed, it was contrary to their own tradi- 
 tions ; that their motives would be misunderstood or 
 misconstrued. All this they saw, and naturally shrank 
 from the undertaking required of them by the revelation 
 of God. How Elder Taylor looked upon this matter and 
 how he received it is best told in his own words : 
 
 "Joseph Smith told the Twelve that if this law was 
 not practiced, if they would not enter into this covenant, 
 then the Kingdom of God could not go one step further. 
 Now, we did not feel like preventing the Kingdom of 
 God from going forward. We professed to be the Apos- 
 tles of the Lord, and did not feel like putting ourselves 
 in a position to retard the progress of the Kingdom of 
 
 * Parley P. Pratt's Key to Theology. 
 
IOO LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 God. The revelation says that ' All those who have this 
 law revealed unto them must obey the same.' Now, 
 that is not my word. I did not make it. It was the 
 Prophet of God who revealed that to us in Nauvoo, 
 and I bear witness of this solemn fact before God, that 
 He did reveal this sacred principle to me and others of 
 the Twelve, and in this revelation it is stated that it 
 is the will and law of God that 'all those who have 
 this law revealed unto them must obey the same.' 
 
 "I had always entertained strict ideas of virtue, 
 and I felt as a married man that this was to me, out- 
 side of this principle, an appalling thing to do. The 
 idea of going and asking a young lady to be married 
 to me when I had already a wife ! It was a thing cal- 
 culated to stir up feelings from the innermost depths 
 of the human soul. I had always entertained the 
 strictest regard of chastity. I had never in my life 
 seen the time when I have known of a man deceiving 
 a woman and it is often done in the world, where, 
 notwithstanding the crime, the man is received into soci- 
 ety and the poor woman is looked upon as a pariah and 
 an outcast I have always looked upon such a thing as 
 infamous, and upon such a man as a villain. 
 Hence, with the feelings I had entertained, nothing but a 
 knowledge of God, and the revelations of God, and the 
 truth of them, could have induced me to embrace such a 
 principle as this. 
 
 "We [the Twelve] seemed to put off, as far as we 
 could, what might be termed the evil day. 
 
 "Some time after these things were made known 
 unto us, I was riding out of Nauvoo on horseback, and 
 met Joseph Smith coming in, he, too, being on horse- 
 back. * * * I bowed to Joseph, and having 
 done the same to me, he said: 'Stop;' and he looked 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. IOI 
 
 at me very intently. 'Look here,' said he, 'those things 
 that have been spoken of must be fulfilled, and if they 
 are not entered into right away the keys will be turned.' 
 
 "Well, what did I do? Did I feel to stand in the 
 way of this great, eternal principle, and treat lightly the 
 things of God? No. I replied: 'Brother Joseph, I will 
 try and carry these things out.' ' 
 
 So indeed he did, for within two years, in Nauvoo, he 
 married Elizabeth Haigham, Jane B. Ballantyne and Mary 
 A. Oakley. Subsequently, in Utah, he married Harriet 
 Whitaker, Sophia Whitaker and Margaret Young.* 
 
 By tongue and pen, as well as by the force of exam- 
 ple, he defended this celestial order of marriage against 
 all who assailed it ; and among all who have advocated it 
 in the face of the fierce opposition it provoked, or who 
 spoke out in its defense both at home and abroad, there 
 was not one whose arguments carried more weight than 
 did his. 
 
 Meantime Nauvoo had arisen from the bogs of 
 Commerce, and was now an incorporated city, divided 
 into four wards, with a population of nearly five thousand. 
 A glorious temple and other public buildings were in 
 course of construction, a periodical the Times and Sea- 
 sons was being publised, and there was every prospect 
 of the city becoming a commercial and manufacturing 
 center as well as the headquarters of the Church. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that the Twelve were 
 heartily welcomed home by the Prophet. He at once 
 rolled on their shoulders much of the responsibility he 
 had carried during their absence ; and called upon them 
 to assist in gathering the people to Nauvoo and to build 
 up the Stakes of Zion. 
 
 For dates of these marriages, birth of children, etc., see Appendix. 
 
IO2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 The Twelve forthwith published a proclamation to the 
 Saints in the British Isles, calling upon them to gather to 
 Zion and to assist in founding manufactories and other 
 enterprises. Another was issued denouncing thieves 
 who began to infest Nauvoo, and whose villainy was 
 charged to the Saints; another calling for aid in the con- 
 struction of the temple. In all these labors Elder Taylor 
 took a prominent part He was also elected a member 
 of the City Council, made a member of the Board of 
 Regents for the Nauvoo University, and chosen Judge 
 Advocate with the rank of colonel in the Nauvoo Legion, 
 a position that made him the responsible adviser of the 
 court and also the public prosecutor in affairs military. 
 
 These labors, in connection with his private business, 
 occupied his attention after his return from England until 
 February, 1842, when he was chosen associate editor of 
 the Times and Seasons, the Prophet Joseph being editor- 
 in-chief. This appointment introduced him into a field of 
 labor for which he was admirably adapted, and in which, 
 during his lifetime notwithstanding his labors in that 
 sphere were frequently interrupted by the drivings of the 
 Church and calls to other kinds of employments he 
 accomplished much good, and became well known as a 
 powerful writer. 
 
 He occupied the position of associate editor on the 
 Times and Seasons for about a year, when the Prophet's 
 increasing cares made it necessary for him to resign his 
 place as editor-in-chief. Elder Taylor was appointed to 
 take his place. He continued to edit and publish that 
 periodical until the Church was driven out of Nauvoo in 
 the spring of 1846. 
 
 In addition to his labors on the Times and Seasons, 
 within a year he became the editor and proprietor of 
 another paper, the Nauvoo Neighbor, a large imperial 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 1 03 
 
 sheet issued weekly, and devoted "to the dissemination 
 of useful knowledge of every description the arts, sci- 
 ence, religion, literature, agriculture, manufactures, trade, 
 commerce and the general news of the day." In both 
 these periodicals he ably defended the truth against all 
 comers, and did much to stem the flood of falsehood that 
 set in against the character of the Prophet Joseph. 
 
 The progress of Nauvoo was now by leaps and 
 bounds, rapidly increasing in trade, commerce and popu- 
 lation. The Prophet Joseph's career, too, was approach- 
 ing its zenith. He was the most prominent man in the 
 State of Illinois, and much courted because of his sup- 
 posed political influence. Some of the most prominent 
 men in the State sought his friendship, but it too fre- 
 quently happened that it was for selfish purposes they 
 courted him. No one was more sensitively aware of that 
 fact than Elder Taylor. He knew them to be flatterers 
 of the Prophet, that political thrift might follow fawning. 
 They were heartless parasites, clinging to him in his hour 
 of prosperity, but ready to fall away from and even 
 betray him should the tide of his fortunes begin to ebb, 
 or their interests require his immolation to satisfy the 
 clamor of a prejudiced populace. 
 
 It was to remove the Prophet out of the filthy slough 
 of party politics, that he and his people might not be the 
 shuttle-cock for the battledoors of political demagogues 
 that he and they might not be the subjects of fulsome 
 praise on the one hand, nor of fierce denunciation or 
 unseemly vituperation on the other, that Elder Taylor 
 urged the Prophet's nomination for the presidency of the 
 United States, in February, 1844. 
 
 In a long editorial in the Neighbor, in which he nomi- 
 nates the Prophet for President, he represents that as 
 Henry Clay then one of the prominent candidates for 
 
IO4 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 President inclined strongly to the old school of federal- 
 ists, his political principles were diametrically opposed to 
 those entertained by the people of Nauvoo, and hence 
 they could not conscientiously vote for him ; and they 
 had even stronger objections to Mr. Van Buren, who, 
 when the Saints appealed to him to redress the outrages 
 put upon them in Missouri, admitted the justice of their 
 cause, but claimed that he was powerless to assist them ; 
 he also held that Congress was powerless to redress 
 their grievances. 
 
 "But all these things are tolerable to what we have 
 yet to state," says Elder Taylor. "We have been 
 informed from a respectable source, that there is an un- 
 derstanding between Mr. Benton [Senator], of Missouri, 
 and Mr. Van Buren, and a conditional compact entered 
 into that if Mr. Benton will use his influence to get Mr. 
 Van Buren elected, that Mr. Van Buren, when elected, 
 shall use his executive influence to wipe away the stain 
 from Missouri by a further persecution of the Mormons, 
 wreaking vengeance on their heads, either by extermina- 
 tion or by some other summary process. We could 
 scarcely credit the statement, and we hope yet, for the 
 sake of humanity, that the suggestion is false ; but we 
 have too good reason to believe that we are correctly 
 informed." 
 
 Then, after enlarging upon the fitness of the Prophet 
 for the high office of President of the United States, he 
 adds : 
 
 "One great reason that we have for pursuing our 
 present course is that at every election we have been 
 made a political target for the filthy demagogues in the 
 country to shoot their loathsome arrows at. And every 
 story has been put into circulation to blast our fame, 
 from the old fabrication of 'walk on the water' down to 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 1 05 
 
 the 'murder of Governor Boggs.' The journals have 
 teemed with this filthy trash, and even men who ought 
 to have more respect for themselves men contending 
 for the gubernatorial chair have made use of terms so 
 degrading, so mean, so humiliating, that a Billingsgate 
 fisherwoman would have considered herself disgraced 
 with. We refuse any longer to be thus bedaubed for 
 either party ; we tell all such to let their filth flow in its 
 own legitimate channel, for we are sick of the loathsome 
 smell. Under existing circumstances 
 
 we have no other alternative [than that of withdrawing 
 from both political parties,] and if we can accomplish our 
 object, well ; if not we shall have the satisfaction of know- 
 ing we have acted conscientiously and have used our best 
 judgment ; and if we have to throw away our votes, we 
 had better do so upon a worthy, rather than upon an 
 unworthy individual, who might make use of the weapon 
 we put in his hand to destroy us. 
 
 Then the Prophet was put before the country for 
 President of the United States. He published his views 
 on the powers and policy of the government, and called 
 upon his friends to support him. 
 
 By adopting this policy there was a candidate in the 
 field the Saints could vote for conscientiously ; and if 
 their candidate from the beginning was sure of defeat, 
 they had at least removed themselves and their religion 
 from the filthy vortex of political controversy. 
 
IO6 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A RETROSPECT- A STATED CRIME TROUBLE BREWING. 
 
 THUS far I have spoken only of those prosperous 
 events which befell the Saints at Nauvoo from the return 
 of the Twelve from England, in July, 1841, to the nomi- 
 nation of the Prophet Joseph for president of the Unit- 
 ed States, February, 1843. ^ now becomes necessary 
 to note some of those unfortunate events which befell 
 them during the same period, with all of which Elder 
 Taylor had more or less to do. 
 
 Missouri was not satisfied with robbing the Saints 
 wholesale and expelling them from her borders, her 
 hatred followed them to Illinois. Of course the Prophet 
 Joseph was the chief object of their fury. In the fall of 
 1841 he was arrested upon a requisition from the Gov- 
 ernor of Missouri on the old charge of " theft, arson 
 and murder," assumed to have been committed .in Cald- 
 well and Daviess Counties, in the autumn of 1838. He 
 obtained a writ of habeas corpus and the case came up 
 before Judge Stephen A. Douglass, at Monmouth, who 
 found the writ on which he was held illegal, and dis- 
 charged the prisoner. 
 
 In the spring of 1 842 an attempt was made to assas- 
 sinate ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri, and as soon as he 
 recovered from the injuries received, he charged Joseph 
 Smith with being accessory before the fact to the 
 attempted murder. Again the Prophet was arrested 
 under a requisition from the Governor of Missouri, and 
 again he obtained a writ of habeas corpus and went 
 before the circuit court of the United States, Judge Pope 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 1 07 
 
 of Springfield, Illinois, presiding. Elder Taylor and a few 
 others accompanied him. The Prophet was anxious to 
 have the case tried on its merits, but this Judge Pope held 
 to be unnecessary as he was entitled to be discharged be- 
 cause of defects in the affidavit on which the demand for 
 his surrender to Missouri was made. 
 
 As the state legislature at the time was in session, 
 there were gathered in Springfield the principal men of 
 the state ; and as they were all anxious to learn some- 
 thing of "Mormonism," the Representatives' Hall was 
 tendered the brethren for holding religious service, on 
 Sunday, and Elder Taylor and Orson Hyde were ap- 
 pointed by the Prophet to preach, the latter in the 
 forenoon, the former in the afternoon. 
 
 In all these vexatious prosecutions Elder Taylor 
 stood very near the Prophet, and ably defended him 
 through the editorial columns of the Times and Seasons 
 and the Neighbor. 
 
 In the meantime the phenomenal growth of the 
 Church, the prosperity of the Saints in Nauvoo, and the 
 rapid progress of the city, while very gratifying to the 
 founders of both Church and city, attracted to the body 
 religious and municipal a class of men that were very 
 undesirable. Adventurers seeking for place and power 
 and wealth ; demagogues who by fulsome flattery of the 
 people hoped to attain through their political influence a 
 realization of their ambitious dreams ; knaves who by 
 falsely professing conversion, thought to cover up cor- 
 rupt, licentious lives, and thrive by villainy ; thieves and 
 counterfeiters who saw their opportunity to live by 
 roguery, and steal on the credit of the Mormons, ot 
 whom the people of Illinois were too ready to believe 
 anything that savored of evtl, because prejudiced against 
 their religion all these characters were attracted to 
 
IO8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Nauvoo by the prosperity that reigned there ; and their 
 ungodly conduct hastened the evil day of the city's de- 
 struction. 
 
 Chief among these reckless adventurers was John 
 C. Bennett, a man of learning and intellectual ability but 
 a moral leper. He was guilty of the most infamous, 
 licentious practices, and seduced several women by rep- 
 resenting that promiscuous intercourse of the sexes was 
 a doctrine believed in by the Latter-day Saints and that 
 there was no harm in it. He also said that Joseph Smith 
 and other Church leaders both sanctioned and practiced 
 such wickedness ; that Joseph only denounced such things 
 in public so vehemently because of the prejudice of the 
 people, and the trouble that might arise in his own house. 
 
 For this conduct he was excommunicated from the 
 Church, compelled to resign the Mayorship of the city, 
 expelled from the Masonic Lodge, chastised by the 
 Legion, and his infamy published to the world and de- 
 nounced. 
 
 This filled him with bitterness against the Saints, 
 and especially against the Prophet. He at once set on 
 foot measures that he hoped would bring him a terrible 
 revenge. He succeeded in getting the Missourians to 
 issue a new warrant for his arrest on the old charge of 
 " theft, arson and murder," and a new requisition for his 
 arrest was granted by Governor Ford, of Illinois. 
 
 The warrants were served on the Prophet in Lee 
 County, some two hundred miles from Nauvoo. The 
 officers who arrested him sought to drag him immediately 
 into Missouri, but in this they failed, as Joseph through 
 some friends obtained a writ of habeas corpus, and the 
 legality of the warrant was enquired into by the muni- 
 cipal court of Nauvoo. The court also went behind the 
 writ and tried the case exparte on its merits, and dis- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 1 09 
 
 charged the accused for want of subsistence in the war- 
 rant on which he was arrested, as well as upon the merits 
 of the case. 
 
 Elder Taylor in an editorial in the Neighbor of July 
 5th 1843, ^us deals with the course pursued by Mis- 
 souri in these several instances of persecution against 
 the Prophet : 
 
 "It has fallen to our lot of late years to keep an 
 account of any remarkable circumstances that might 
 transpire in and about this and adjoining states ; as well 
 as of distant provinces and nations. Among the many 
 robberies, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, 
 fires, mobs, wars, etc., which we have had to record, 
 there is one circumstance of annual occurrence which it 
 has always fallen to our lot to chronicle. We allude not 
 to the yearly inundation of the Nile, nor the frequent 
 eruptions of Vesuvius or ^Etna, but to the boiling over 
 of Tophet, alias the annual overflow of the excrescence 
 of Missouri. Not indeed, like the Nile, over-flowing its 
 parched banks, invigorating its alluvial soil and causing 
 vegetation to teem forth in its richest attire; but like 
 the sulphurous flame that burns unnoticed in the bowels 
 of a volcano ; kept alive by the combustion of its own 
 native element, until it can contain itself no longer 
 within the limits of its crater ; it bursts beyond its natural 
 bounds ; spreads its sulphurous lava all around, leaving 
 naught but desolation in its path, destroying alike the 
 cot of the husbandman, and the palace of the noble, in one 
 grand sweep ; covering vegetation with its fiery lava, and 
 turning the garden into a bed of cinders. So Missouri 
 has her annual ebulitions, and must belch forth her sul- 
 phurous lava and seek to overwhelm others ; and as it 
 happens that we are so unfortunate as to live near the 
 borders of this monster, we must ever and anon, be 
 
HO LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 smutted with the soot that flies off from her burning 
 crater. 
 
 4 'Without entering here into the particulars of the 
 bloody deeds, the high-handed oppression, the uncon- 
 stitutional acts,, the deadly and malicious hate, the 
 numerous murders and the wholesale robberies of that 
 people, we will proceed to notice one of the late acts of 
 Missouri, or of the governor of that state, towards us. 
 We allude to the late arrest of Joseph Smith." 
 
 Then follows an account of the arrests of the 
 Prophet and the manner in which he was released from 
 the officers as already briefly stated in this chapter ; he 
 dwells at some length on the events of the last arrest 
 made near Dixon, detailing the cruelty and brutality of 
 the officers. He then concludes : 
 
 "Why Governor Ford should lend his assistance in 
 a vexatious prosecution of this kind we are at a loss to 
 determine. He possesses a discretionary power in such 
 cases, and has a right to use his judgment, as the chief 
 magistrate of this state ; and knowing, as he does, that 
 the whole proceedings connected with this affair are 
 illegal, we think that in justice he ought to have leaned 
 to the side of the oppressed and innocent, particularly 
 when the persecuted and prosecuted were citizens of his 
 own state who had a right to his sympathies and to be 
 shielded by his paternal care, as the father of this state. 
 Does not his excellency know, and do not all the citizens 
 of the state know, that the Mormons have been robbed, 
 pillaged and plundered in Missouri without any redress? 
 That the Mormons en masse were exterminated from that 
 state without any legal pretext whatever? How, then, 
 could they have any legal claim upon Joseph Smith or 
 any Mormon? Have the Mormons ever obtained 
 any redress for injuries received in Missouri? No. Is 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. Ill 
 
 there any prospect of their receiving any remuneration 
 for their loss, or redress for their grievances? No. 
 When a demand was make upon the governor of Mis- 
 souri, by Governor Carlin of this state for the persons 
 who kidnapped several Mormons, were they given up 
 by that state? No. Why then should our executive 
 feel so tenacious in fulfilling all the nice punctillios 01 
 law, when the very state that is making these demands 
 has robbed, murdered and exterminated by wholesale, 
 without law, and is merely making use of it at present 
 as a cat's paw to destroy the innocent and murder those 
 that they have already persecuted nearly to the death. 
 
 "It is impossible that the State of Missouri should 
 do justice with her coffers groaning with the spoils of 
 the oppressed, and her hands yet reeking with the blood 
 of the innocent. Shall she yet gorge her bloody maw 
 with other victims? Shall Joseph Smith be given into 
 her hands illegally? Nevef-! No, never!! No, NEVER!!!" 
 
 He afterwards published in the Neighbor full details 
 of this exparte trial with the affidavits of the several 
 witnesses given in extenso. Those affidavits make up 
 an indictment against the State of Missouri which brings 
 the hot blush of shame to the cheek of every lover ot 
 his country's institutions. In their treatment of the 
 Latter-day Saints the leading officials of Missouri were 
 guilty not only of high-handed oppression, but of such 
 high crimes and misdemeanors as would have hung them 
 had they met the just penalty of their misdeeds. But as 
 those who suffered were members of an unpopular 
 Church, the atrocious and bloody deeds of that state 
 were passed by and no one felt called upon to demand 
 justice in behalf of the oppressed ; and those powers 
 that were appealed to for redress of grievances the 
 President and congress of the United States claimed to 
 
I I 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 have no power to interfere. Mobocracy had triumphed 
 in Missouri, and there was no power in the government 
 to call Missouri to an account for her wrong doing. 
 
 At the time of the Prophet's arrest at Dixon there 
 was an exciting political campaign in progress in that 
 part of Illinois where Nauvoo was located, for representa- 
 tive to congress, and also for county officers. Two 
 parties were in the field, Whigs and Democrats ; each 
 anxious to obtain the Mormon vote. The Democrats 
 accused the Whigs of being the instigators of this last 
 arrest of Joseph Smith, at that particular juncture, that 
 Governor Ford, a Democrat, might be compelled to 
 issue a warrant for his arrest and thus influence the 
 Saints against the Democrats ; and in proof of this 
 referred to the fact that John C. Bennett, at whose 
 instance, doubtless, this last warrant for the arrest of the 
 Prophet was gotten up in Missouri, was the special pet 
 of what was called the "Whig junto" in Springfield; 
 that a special session of the circuit court was called in 
 Daviess County, Missouri, in order to have the warrant 
 act at the proper juncture; that Cyrus Walker, the Whig 
 candidate for Congress, was within six miles of Dixon 
 when the Prophet was arrested ; that he refused to act 
 as council for him only on the condition that he pledged 
 him his vote (that pledge Walker was pleased to con- 
 sider as binding to his interest the entire Mormon vote); 
 that on this pledge being given he cancelled all his 
 appointments to speak in that part of the state and 
 repaired to Nauvoo where the validity of the arrest and 
 warrants on which it was made were investigated. 
 
 This charge the Whigs vehemently denied and 
 in turn accused the Democrats with having made it to 
 influence the Mormon vote in favor of themselves. Thus 
 crimination and recrimination went on, and whichever 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. I 1 3 
 
 party the people of Nauvoo voted for, they were sure 
 to incur the wrath of the other. 
 
 The Prophet Joseph kept his pledge with Cyrus 
 Walker and voted for him, but the Democratic ticket 
 was overwhelmingly successful in Nauvoo, and in the 
 county and district. As soon as the result was made 
 known the disappointed candidates and their friends 
 were enraged. They began plotting against the people of 
 Nauvoo, and started an agitation that had for its object 
 the expulsion of the Saints from the state. Public 
 meetings were called and committees appointed to 
 correspond with surrounding counties to ascertain how 
 much assistance they would render in expelling the 
 Mormons from the state. 
 
 No effort whatever was made to conceal their inten- 
 tions. The banishment of the citizens of Nauvoo from 
 the state was openly discussed and advocated in public 
 meetings and through the press. Bitter fruit, this, to be 
 found growing on the tree of liberty, in the land of the 
 free in the asylum' for the oppressed of all nations ! 
 
114 LIF E OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AN IMPORTANT YEAR APOSTATES AGITATION OF THE MOR- 
 MON QUESTIONTHE NAUVOO ' "EXPOSITOR" ITS SUP- 
 PRESSION EFFECT OF SUPPRESSION GOVERNOR FORD'S 
 
 ORDER NAUVOO UNDER MARTIAL LAW. 
 
 WE have now reached the eventful year of 1844, the 
 year of the great tragedy, the martyrdom of the Prophets 
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith a martyrdom which Elder 
 Taylor shared. 
 
 The situation of the Saints at that time was, to say 
 the least, remarkable. Besides the arch fiend Bennett, 
 the Church had warmed within her bosom a number of 
 other snakes that turned and stung her. Among these 
 was William Law, Counselor to the Prophet Joseph, 
 and yet his most bitter maligner and enemy. A smooth, 
 dissembling villain ! The kind that can look like the 
 innocent flower and yet be the serpent under it. Not 
 only was he guilty of the grossest immorality, but he con- 
 spired with assassins from Missouri, to take the life of 
 the Prophet ; and even conducted them himself to the 
 house of Joseph. They were only prevented from accom- 
 plishing the foul murder that was in their hearts, by the 
 faithfulness of two guards, Josiah Arnold and David 
 Garn, who refused to admit them to the Prophet's pres- 
 ence. 
 
 Second to him in treachery and villainy was his nat- 
 ural brother, Wilson Law, a general in the Nauvoo 
 Legion. Dr. R. D. Foster, a man not only inclined to 
 profligacy, but one who had the means to indulge hfs incli- 
 nation to the top of his bent, as he was wealthy. Besides 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. I 1 5 
 
 these men there were the two Higbees, Francis and 
 Chauncy, the latter a young lawyer. They were both 
 sons of Judge Elias Higbee, a man highly respected by 
 the Church for his upright life and sterling integrity. All 
 the above named apostates were excommunicated from 
 the Church for their wickedness, chiefly for seduction and 
 adultery ; and so abandoned and shameful were their 
 crimes that the High Council which tried them had to sit 
 with closed doors. Besides these leaders in wickedness 
 there were a large number of apostates in Nauvoo and 
 vicinity that had been expelled from the Church. They 
 were recreant to every principle of righteousness, and full 
 of bitterness. Fitful anger rankled in their breasts. 
 They seemed to have lost the power to repent, and even 
 the desire for forgiveness. They were possessed wholly 
 with a fierce determination to destroy the structure 
 the Church where in the days of their righteousness 
 they were wont to find spiritual repose. 
 
 In addition to these enemies, the sectarian relig- 
 ionists, maddened to frenzy because unable to cope suc- 
 cessfully with Mormonism, stood ready to persecute to 
 the death those whom they could not convert. Then 
 there were the two political parties, Whigs and Demo- 
 crats, so equally balanced that whichever party the 
 Saints voted with gained the victory. It often happened 
 that candidates for office made an issue of the Mor- 
 mon question promising to exterminate them, or lend 
 their influence to that end if elected. As often as this 
 was done the Saints were compelled in self-defense to 
 vote against them, and their opponents were generally 
 defeated. But whichever party the Saints voted with the 
 other was sure to be offended, and would heap unstinted 
 abuse on their uncovered heads, filling their press with 
 accounts of "the enormities of Nauvoo, and of the awful 
 
I 1 6 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 wickedness of a party which would consent to receive the 
 support of such miscreants." 
 
 There was also another class of people that did no 
 end of mischief to the character of the Saints at Nau- 
 voo. They were counterfeiters, horse-thieves, cut-throats 
 and all-round scoundrels, which not only infested Nauvoo 
 and vicinity, but the whole western country. "In some 
 districts", says Elder Taylor, "their influence was so 
 great as to control important state and county offices." 
 Of these Governor Ford bears witness, saying 
 
 "Then again, the northern part of the state was not 
 destitute of its organized bands of rogues, engaged in 
 murders, robberies, horse-stealing, and in making and 
 passing counterfeit money. These rogues were scattered 
 all over the north, but most of them were located in the 
 counties of Ogle, Winnebago, Lee and DeKalb."* 
 
 They extended into other counties, however, and 
 even judges, sheriffs, constables, jailors and professional 
 men were privy to their deeds and sharers in the fruits 
 of their robberies. "Their object in persecuting the 
 Mormons," says Elder Taylor and these characters did 
 persecute them "was in part to cover their own ras- 
 cality, and in part to prevent the people of Nauvoo from 
 exposing and prosecuting them ; but the principal reason 
 was plunder, believing if the Saints could be removed 
 or driven they would be made fat on Mormon spoils, 
 besides having in the deserted city a good asylum for the 
 prosecution of their diabolical pursuits." 
 
 All these elements found it convenient to combine 
 against the Church for its destruction, the overthrow 
 of the Prophet and those who stood near him. A reg- 
 ular system of agitation was began, having for its avowed 
 
 * Ford's History of Illinois, p. 246. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 117 
 
 object the extermination of the Saints from the city 
 founded by their industry. Meetings were held in 
 various parts of Hancock and surrounding counties, at 
 which speeches the most intemperate, resolutions the 
 most inflammatory, and accusations the most vile and false 
 were fulminated against Nauvoo and her inhabitants. 
 The press supported the actions of these meetings, pub- 
 lishing their proceedings, and encouraging them by com- 
 mendatory comments. Especially was this the case 
 with the Warsaw Signal, edited by one Thomas Sharp, 
 whom Elder Taylor alludes to as "a violent, unprinci- 
 pled man, who shrunk not at any enormity." 
 
 Such were the elements that combined against the 
 peace of Nauvoo and the destruction of her leading cit- 
 izens. Seeing mischief afoot and an ever growing popu- 
 lar sentiment against the Mormons and in favor of the 
 reckless, not to say lawless, course of the anti-Mormon 
 agitators, the apostates in Nauvoo ventured to publish 
 the most infamous sheet ever issued from the press the 
 Nauvoo Expositor. Its mendatious slanders were aimed 
 at the most prominent and virtuous of Nauvoo's citizens. 
 No sooner did it appear than a storm of indignation 
 passed through the city ; and the people threatened to 
 annihilate it. Wishing to avoid any unlawful procedure, 
 the city council was convened to consider what steps 
 should be taken to suppress the unclean and untruthful 
 thing. 
 
 The Expositor was produced and read in the council. 
 It was held by some that the purpose for which it was 
 published was to provoke the people to some overt act 
 which would make them amenable to the law, and increase 
 the bitterness of the outside prejudice against them. This 
 was doubtless the case. Such it seems was the under- 
 
I I 8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 standing of the council. In relation to this circumstance 
 Elder Taylor remarks : 
 
 "With a perfect knowledge, therefore, of the de- 
 signs of these infernal scoundrels who were in our midst, 
 as well as those who surrounded us, the city council 
 entered upon an investigation of the matter. They felt 
 that they were in a critical position, and that any move 
 made for the abating of that press would be looked 
 upon, or at least represented, as a direct attack upon the 
 liberty of speech, and that, so far from displeasing our 
 enemies, it would be looked upon by them as one of the 
 best circumstances that could transpire to assist them in 
 their nefarious and bloody designs." 
 
 After spending nearly a whole night in considering 
 the best plan to pursue, it was finally decided to declare 
 the Expositor a nuisance, and order its abatement. 
 Elder Taylor made the motion and it was carried unani- 
 mously, with the exception of one vote, and that person 
 acknowledged the righteousness of the movement, but 
 feared it would afford the enemies of the city too great 
 an advantage by giving some ground for the cry that would 
 be raised, that the freedom of the press had been over- 
 thrown in Nauvoo. It is quite certain, however, that if the 
 city council had not taken this means of suppressing the 
 Expositor, the citizens would have risen en masse and a mob 
 would have destroyed it : and that would have given the 
 enemies of the Saints as good ground for agitation 
 against Nauvoo and her people as the action of the city 
 council did. So Elder Taylor's motion prevailed. 
 
 The Expositor Press was destroyed by the city mar- 
 shal, John P. Green, and a small posse of men he called 
 to his assistance. The type was pied in the streets and 
 the papers in the office taken out and burned. The 
 whole proceeding was done quietly but determinedly. The 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. I 19 
 
 only force employed was the breaking in of the doors to the 
 Expositor office when admittance was denied. Some of 
 the leading apostates set fire to their houses and fled to 
 Carthage, the county seat of Hancock County, with the 
 lie on their lips that their lives were in danger. Fortu- 
 nately the police in Nauvoo discovered the houses of 
 these men on fire and extinguished the flames before 
 any material harm was done, so that they had no black- 
 ened ruins to point to as a witness of Mormon 
 atrocity. 
 
 All the mischief anticipated from suppressing tbe Ex- 
 positor nuisance came to pass. ''The Mormons had laid 
 unhallowed hands upon the press !" "They opposed the 
 freedom of speech!" "The laws were no longer a pro- 
 tection to life and property in Nauvoo!" "A mob at 
 Nauvoo under a city ordinance had violated the highest 
 privilege in the government !" Such were the sentences 
 that flew as if on the wings of the wind to all parts of 
 Illinois. 
 
 A mass meeting was held at Warsaw, the prevailing 
 sentiment of which was that "to seek redress in the ordi- 
 nary mode would be utterly ineffectual." The meeting 
 therefore adopted resolutions announcing that those 
 present were at all times ready to co-operate with their 
 fellow citizens in Missouri and Iowa to exterminate 
 utterly exterminate the Mormon leaders the authors 
 their troubles. Another mass meeting was held at 
 Carthage at which the Warsaw resolutions were adopted. 
 
 The anti-Mormon press teemed with intemperate 
 articles, outrageously false accusations and frantic 
 appeals to the very worst passions of human nature. 
 The citizens of Nauvoo were represented as a horde of 
 lawless ruffians and brigands ; anti-American and anti- 
 republican ; steeped in crime and iniquity ; opposed to 
 
120 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 freedom of speech and to progress ; among whom neither 
 persons nor property were secure. They were accused 
 also of having designs upon the citizens of Illinois and 
 of the United States; and for these things the people 
 were called upon to rise en masse and utterly exterminate 
 them. 
 
 While these falsehoods were being extensively cir- 
 culated through Illinois and the surrounding states, it 
 was the most difficult thing, almost impossible to get a 
 true statement of the case before the country. True 
 accounts of the proceedingso f the city council in the 
 Expositor affair were published in the Times and Seasons 
 and also in the Neighbor-, but it was impossible to circu- 
 late them in Hancock and surrounding counties, as they 
 were destroyed at the post offices. To get them abroad 
 Elder Taylor had to send them a distance of thirty or 
 forty miles from Nauvoo before posting them. In some 
 instances they had to be taken to St. Louis, a distance 
 of two hundred miles, to ensure their reaching their 
 destination. 
 
 The systematic circulation of falsehood on the one 
 hand, and the suppression of the truth on the other, 
 resulted in a tremendous storm of indignation against 
 the Saints especially against the leading Elders that 
 threatened to overwhelm them. 
 
 In the midst of this excitement, complaint was made 
 by Francis M. Higbee, and a warrant issued against the 
 members of the city council for riot in destroying the 
 Expositor press and fixtures. The warrant was issued 
 by Mr. Morrison, a justice of the peace in Carthage, 
 and required the constable, Mr. Bettisworth, to bring 
 the parties named in it before him, "or some other jus- 
 tice of the peace," to be dealt with according to law. 
 When the writ was served on the members of the coun- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 121 
 
 cil they expressed a perfect willingness to submit to an 
 investigation of their proceedings ; but as the law of the 
 state made it the privilege of the accused to "appear 
 before the issuer of the writ or any other justice of the 
 peace," they desired to avail themselves of this privilege, 
 and go before some other magistrate than Justice Mor- 
 rison, alleging as their reason for this that it was unsafe 
 for them to go to Carthage. The constable refused to 
 grant their request, whereupon they sued for a writ of 
 habeas corpus before the municipal court of Nauvoo, and 
 on a hearing of the. case they were dismissed.* 
 
 This was declared to be resistance to the law, and 
 made use of to further influence the public mind against 
 the Mormons. Mobs were therefore assembled and 
 the work of violence inaugurated by kidnapping, whip- 
 ing and otherwise abusing the Saints living in out-lying 
 districts of Nauvoo. For protection the people thus 
 abused fled to Nauvoo, and this was heralded abroad as 
 the massing of the Mormon forces. 
 
 Governor Ford was kept informed of 'all that was 
 transpiring in Nauvoo by the city authorities, and in an- 
 swer to the question, "What course shall we pursue in 
 the event of an armed mob coming against the city," 
 he replied that Joseph Smith was Lieutenant-General of 
 the Nauvoo Legion ; it was his duty to protect the city 
 and surrounding country, and issued orders to him to 
 that effect. Thus qualified to act, by the Governor of the 
 state, the Legion was called together and measures were 
 taken for the defense of the city : as the mob forces 
 grew bolder every day, Nauvoo was at last placed under 
 martial law. 
 
 Subsequently, at the instance of Judge Thomas, the circuit judge of the judicial 
 district in which Nauvoo was located, the city council submitted to a new trial, on the 
 same charge, before Squire Wells and were again acquitted. 
 
122 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR FORD IN CARTHAGE MOB CONVERTED 
 
 INTO MILITIA ELDER TAYLOR AND DR. BERNHISEL 
 
 GO TO CARTHAGE DEMANDS OF GOVERNOR FORD 
 
 PLEDGES THE HONOR OF THE STATE FOR JOSEPH'S PRO- 
 TECTION JOSEPH STARTS FOR THE WEST RETURNS- 
 ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION AT CARTHAGE. 
 
 MEANTIME the mobocrats were active in making their 
 misrepresentations to the governor. He finally deter- 
 mined to visit the scenes of the difficulty. He went from 
 Springfield to Carthage, the head-quarters of the mob 
 forces, and received them as the militia of the state. 
 
 His first move was to send a message to Nauvoo 
 asking that a committee be appointed to represent to him 
 the state of affairs in the county. Elder Taylor and Dr. 
 J. M. Bernhisel were appointed that committee. Armed 
 with affidavits and duplicates of documents which had been 
 sent to the Governor at Springfield he had missed the 
 messengers bearing them by starting for Carthage 
 they left on the evening of the 2ist of June, to wait upon 
 the Governor, arriving in Carthage about eleven o'clock at 
 night. The town was filled with a rabble more or less 
 under the influence of liquor. The yelling and swearing 
 would justify them in the belief that they had arrived in 
 pandemonium. 
 
 Elder Taylor and companion put up at the Hamilton 
 House ; the Governor also had his rooms there. On 
 retiring they had to pass through another bed-room to 
 get to their own, and stretched out on the bed was one 
 Jackson, a vicious cut-throat and desperado, one of the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 123 
 
 chief enemies of the Saints. On reaching the chamber 
 assigned them, Elder Taylor hinted to his companion 
 that things looked suspicious, and took the precaution to 
 see that his weapons were in order. 
 
 No sooner had they retired than the young apostate 
 Chauncy Higbee came to their door, and stated that 
 Daniel Garn was under arrest and was about to be com- 
 mitted to prison ; that as he believed him to be an honest 
 man, one who had done wrong only through the instiga- 
 tion of others, he thought it a pity for him to be com- 
 mitted to prison, and he had come to ask Dr. Bernhisel 
 to be his bail. Touched by this appeal the doctor said 
 he would go, and Higbee left him while he dressed, say- 
 ing he would call for him in a few minutes. 
 
 After the departure of Higbee, Elder Taylor ex- 
 pressed his fear that this was but a ruse to separate them. 
 They had important documents to submit to the Gov- 
 ernor, and it was his opinion that the object was to sep- 
 arate them and get possession of those papers, and per- 
 haps murder one or both of them. The doctor admitted 
 the probability of this and informed Higbee that Elder 
 Taylor and himself would wait upon the justice in the 
 morning. That night Elder Taylor laid awake with his 
 pistols under his pillow, ready for any emergency. 
 
 The light of morning came at last, and with the 
 darkness fled their apprehensions. They waited upon the 
 justice who held Daniel Garn in custody, and offered to 
 be his bail. The justice answered that he doubted if 
 property in Nauvoo would be worth anything in a few 
 days, and therefore refused to accept them as bondsmen. 
 They both had property outside of Nauvoo which they 
 offered as security. The justice then told them that such 
 was the nature of the accusation against Mr. Garn, that 
 he would not feel justified in admitting him to bail. 
 
124 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 This confirmed Elder Taylor's suspicion that the request 
 for them to be his bail the night before was only a ruse to 
 separate them. 
 
 That morning they had an interview with the 
 Governor. "And such an interview!" exclaimed Elder 
 Taylor. He was surrounded by the very vilest of 
 apostate Mormons and desperadoes, bent on the 
 destruction of the Saints. As he opened and read aloud 
 some of the documents submitted to him, he was fre- 
 quently interrupted with such expressions as, "that's a 
 
 lie!" "that's a G d d d lie!" "that's an infernal 
 
 falsehood!" etc. 
 
 After the whole case was stated to the Governor, 
 and all the documents submitted, he insisted that in 
 order to prove to the people that they were willing to 
 submit to the law, it would be best for Joseph Smith and 
 all concerned in the destruction of the Expositor press 
 to come to Carthage for examination. Elder Taylor 
 represented that they had already been examined before 
 two competent courts on that charge, the municipal court 
 of Nauvoo and before Squire Wells, a justice of the peace, 
 and each time acquitted ; that they had fulfilled the law in 
 every particular and that their enemies had murderous 
 designs and were only making use of this matter to get 
 Joseph Smith and other leading men into their power. 
 The Governor, however, insisted that the proper thing 
 for them to do wolud be to come to Carthage. 
 
 Elder Taylor then stated that in consequence of the 
 excitement prevailing, it would be extremely unsafe for 
 Joseph to come to Carthage ; that they had men and arms 
 to defend themselves, but if their forces and those of 
 their enemies should be brought into close proximity the 
 most probable result would be a collision. In reply to 
 this the Governor "strenuously advised us," says Elder 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 125 
 
 Taylor, ''not to bring our arms, and pledged his faith as 
 Governor, and the faith of the state, that we should be pro- 
 tected, and that he would guarantee our perfect safety" 
 
 After waiting until evening for a communication 
 which the Governor prepared for Joseph, Elder Taylor 
 and companion started for Nauvoo in company with 
 Captain Gates and a squad of mounted men sent by the 
 Governor to escort the Prophet to Carthage, should he 
 conclude to act on his advice. They reached Nauvoo 
 about nine o'clock, and at once delivered the Governor's 
 message to Joseph with a report of their labors. Joseph 
 was much displeased with the spirit manifested in the 
 Governor's letter and with his whole course. The little 
 group of friends that met in council were much perplexed 
 as to what course to pursue, and various plans of action 
 were discussed. Among others the feasibility of Joseph 
 going to Washington to lay the case before President 
 Tyler. At this juncture the council was interrupted by 
 the withdrawal of Joseph to give an interview to two 
 gentlemen, one of whom was a son of John C. 
 Calhoun, who had arrived at the mansion and were 
 anxious to meet with the Prophet. He was detained 
 sometime, and between two and three o'clock in the 
 morning, having had no rest the night before, and think- 
 ing that Joseph would not return, Elder Taylor left the 
 mansion for his home, to rest. 
 
 Shortly after he retired, however, the Prophet 
 returned and the informal council meeting was resumed. 
 The project of laying the case before President Tyler 
 was abandoned. Joseph had received an inspiration to 
 go west, and all would be well. He said : 4< The way is 
 open. It is clear to my mind what to do. All they want 
 is Hyrum and myself ; then tell everybody to go about 
 their business, and not collect in groups, but scatter 
 
126 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 about. There is no danger ; they will come here and 
 search for us. Let them search ; they will not harm you 
 in person or in property, and not even a hair of your 
 head. We will cross the river tonight and go away to 
 the west." 
 
 The Prophet and his brother Hyrum at once crossed 
 the river and their friends were instructed to procure 
 horses for them and make all necessary preparations to 
 start for "the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains." 
 
 The next morning a Mrs. Thompson entered Elder 
 Taylor's house about seven o'clock. 
 
 "What, you here!" she exclaimed, very much sur- 
 prised, "the brethren have crossed the river some time 
 since." 
 
 " What brethren ?" 
 
 "Brother Joseph and Hyrum, and Brother Richards." 
 
 Elder Taylor at once concluded that those brethren 
 had determined finally to leave for the East for a season, 
 as had been talked of the night before, instead of going 
 to Carthage. He knew what a storm of rage and disap- 
 pointment that would arouse in the breasts of the mob mi- 
 litia at Carthage, who were waiting with ill-concealed 
 impatience for the coming of their prey. Being satisfied 
 that if the mob forces which Governor Ford had exalted 
 to the dignity of "state militia" should come to Nauvoo, 
 and find their victims gone, the first thing they would do 
 would be to destroy the printing office. He therefore 
 called to his assistance a few brethren in whom he had 
 confidence and removed the type, the stereotyped 
 plates of the Book of Mormon and the fixtures that 
 were the most valuable. 
 
 This done he made arrangements for the adjust- 
 ment of his accounts, having determined, in the event of 
 not finding Joseph and his companions, to go to Upper 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 127 
 
 Canada for a season. In caring for the valuables in the 
 printing office, and in making his preparations to leave 
 Nauvoo, he had been materially assisted by Cyrus H. 
 Wheelock. He was an active, enterprising man, just 
 such a man as Elder Taylor would need if he went to 
 Canada, so he said to him : 
 
 "Brother Wheelock, can you, go with me ten or 
 fifteen hundred miles? 
 
 -Yes." 
 
 "Can you start in half an hour? 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Those were times and circumstances that required 
 prompt action, and Brother Wheelock had evidently 
 drunk deeply into the spirit of the times. Brother 
 Wheelock lived on the Montrose side of the river ; and 
 Elder Taylor told him to go and visit his family, procure 
 horses and the necessary equipage for the journey, and 
 if they heard nothing from Joseph they would start by 
 night fall. He also arranged for Brother Wheelock 
 and a Brother Bell- to row him across the river during 
 the afternoon. That he might not be recognized while 
 leaving Nauvoo, he went to the house of a Brother 
 Eddy on the banks of the river, and there disguised 
 himself as an old man. He went down to the boat 
 while the brethren were sauntering along on the banks 
 just below it. Brother Bell did not recognize him and 
 at last remarked to Brother Wheelock "I wish that 
 old gentleman would go away ; he has been pottering 
 around that boat for some time, and I am afraid that 
 Elder Taylor will be coming." His mistake, when 
 discovered, afforded them considerable merriment. 
 
 At Montrose he was taken by the brethren to a 
 house surrounded by timber, and there made arrange- 
 ments to take the stereotyped plates of the Book of 
 
128 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants with him, thinking 
 he could supply the publishing company at Nauvoo 
 subsistence money through the sale of these books in 
 the east. 
 
 Meantime Elias Smith, cousin to the Prophet, had 
 procured him some money for his journey; his horses 
 were reported ready, the friendly night which would 
 cover him from the eyes of his enemies was approach- 
 ing, when word was brought to him from Joseph to meet 
 him in Montrose. The Prophet had suddenly changed 
 his mind and had determined on going to Carthage to 
 give himself up ; and he wished Elder Taylor to ac- 
 company him. 
 
 " I must confess that I felt a good deal disappointed 
 at the news," says Elder Taylor, "but I immediately 
 made preparations to go." 
 
 The facts in the case were that some of Joseph's 
 friends, learning that he was intending to leave Nauvoo, 
 instead of rendering him all possible assistance to escape 
 from his enemies, complained of his conduct as most 
 cowardly, and entreated him to return to the city and 
 not leave them like a false shepherd leaves his flock 
 when the wolves attack it. The parties most forward 
 in making this charge of cowardice were, Reynolds 
 Cahoon, L. D. Wasson and Hiram Kimball. His wife 
 Emma also sent a letter by the hand of Reynolds 
 Cahoon, entreating him to return and give himself up, 
 trusting to the pledges of the governor for a fair trial. 
 Influenced by these entreaties to return, and stung by 
 the taunts of cowardice from those who should have been 
 his friends, the Prophet said: "If my life is of no value 
 to my friends, it is of none to myself." And against his 
 better judgment, and with the conviction fixed in his 
 soul that he would be killed, he resolved to return. He 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 129 
 
 crossed over the river to Nauvoo, and sent a message 
 to Governor Ford that night that he would be in 
 Carthage the next day. 
 
 Early the following morning Elder Taylor started in 
 company with the Prophet and others for Carthage. 
 Within four miles of that place they met Captain Dunn 
 en route to Nauvoo, with a requisition from the Governor 
 for the state arms.* At the solicitation of Captain Dunn 
 and his command, the party from Nauvoo returned with 
 him to assist by their influence to obtain the arms 
 belonging to the state. This accomplished, the whole 
 party again started for Carthage. 
 
 It was midnight when they entered the town, but a 
 militia company encamped on the public square the 
 Carthage Greys were aroused and gave vent to 
 profane threats as the company passed, of which the 
 
 following is a specimen : " Where's the d d prophet? 
 
 Stand away you McDonough boys and let us shoot the 
 
 d d Mormons ! G d d n you, old Joe, we've 
 
 got you now ! Clear the way, and let us have a view of 
 
 * It was on the occasion of meeting Captain Dunn and his company that Joseph 
 uttered those prophetic words " I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm 
 as a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward 
 all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me, 'he was murdered in cold 
 blood.' " Hyrum Smith that morning, before leaving Nauvoo, and in spite of an 
 assumed cheerfulness, had also left evidence that the fate awaiting himself and brother 
 at Carthage had been foreshadowed in his mind. He read a passage in the Book of 
 Mormon, near the close of the izth Chapter of Ether : 
 
 " And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the 
 Gentiles grace that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said 
 unto me, if they have not charity, it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful ; 
 wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness 
 thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have 
 
 prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I bid farewell unto the Gentiles, 
 
 yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your 
 blood." 
 
 On this passage he turned down the leaf, and there it is, a silent witness that he, too, 
 knew he was going "like a lamb to the slaughter." 
 
13 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Joe Smith, the prophet of God! He has seen the last 
 of Nauvoo! We'll use him up now." 
 
 A crowd followed the party from the public square, 
 and hung round the Hamilton House yelling and cursing 
 like demons. Governor Ford pushed up a window and 
 thus addressed them: " Gentlemen, I know your 
 anxiety to see Mr. Smith, which is natural enough, but 
 it is quite too late tonight for you to have that opportuni- 
 ty ; but I assure you, gentlemen, you shall have that 
 privilege tomorrow morning, as I will cause him to 
 pass before the troops upon the square, and I now wish 
 you, with this assurance, quietly and peaceably to return 
 to your quarters." There was a faint " Hurrah for Tom 
 Ford," and the crowd withdrew. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE MARTYRDOM. 
 
 THE next morning the 25th of June the city 
 authorities of Nauvoo and some persons who had assisted 
 the marshal to remove the Expositor press, appeared 
 before Robert F. Smith, a justice of the peace, to answer 
 again to the charge of riot. Owing to the excitement 
 prevailing, the aforesaid parties consented to be bound 
 over to appear before the circuit court at its next session ; 
 and became security for each other in $500 bonds each. 
 
 No sooner was this matter thus disposed of than one 
 Henry O. Norton and Augustine Spencer two worth- 
 less scoundrels whose words were utterly unreliable, 
 

LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 13! 
 
 went before the justice of the peace who had just dis- 
 missed the brethren, and charged Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith with having committed the crime of treason. The 
 warrant for their arrest was placed in the hands of Con- 
 stable Bettisworth, an over-bearing, insolent officer. He 
 went'to the Hamilton House, where the Messrs. Smith 
 and their friends were staying : he arrested them and was 
 for dragging them off to jail. They demanded to see the 
 mittimus committing them to prison, a request which 
 at first was denied, but finally the instrument was pro- 
 duced. 
 
 It recited that the parties under arrest had been 
 before the justice for trial, but that said trial had been 
 necessarily postponed because of the absence of material 
 witnesses. That was an infamously false statement, 
 unless the accused could have appeared before the jus- 
 tice without being present in person or by counsel. It 
 afforded Constable Bettisworth an excuse, however, to 
 drag these men off to jail, and this he was determined to 
 do, their vigorous protest to the contrary notwithstand- 
 ing- 
 Seeing his friends thus illegally and brutally dealt 
 
 with aroused the righteous indignation of Elder Taylor. 
 He sought out the governor, informed him of what 
 was going on, and the character of the men who had 
 made the charge. The governor regretted that the 
 thing had occurred, he did not believe the charges, but 
 thought the best thing to do was to let the law take its 
 course. All this was unsatisfactory to Elder Taylor. 
 He reminded the governor that they had all come to 
 Carthage at his instance, not to satisfy the law, for that 
 had no claim upon them; but to manifest a willingness to 
 meet their action in relation to the Expositor affair ; that 
 at his suggestion they had given bonds to appear before 
 
132 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the circuit court; that they had come without arms at his 
 request, and relied upon him to shield them from insult ; 
 that after his solemn pledge to Doctor Bernhisel and him- 
 self he thought they had a right to expect protection 
 from him : but if in his very presence they were to be 
 subject to mob rule, and, contrary to law, be dragged 
 into prison at the instance of every infernal scoundrel 
 whose oath could be bought for a dram of whiskey, his 
 protection did not amount to much and they had miscal- 
 culated his promises. 
 
 Leaving the presence of the governor he hurried 
 back to his friends. A great rabble, a mixture of soldiers 
 and citizens and partly under the influence of liquor, had 
 gathered in the street about the hotel, and rowdyism and 
 excitement were running high. Fearing a design was on 
 foot to kill the prisoners on the way to the jail, Elder 
 Taylor hailed a soldier and said: "I am afraid there is a 
 design against the lives of the Messrs. Smith ; will you 
 go immediately and bring your captain, and if not con- 
 venient, any other captain of a company, and I will pay 
 you well for your trouble." 
 
 The man departed and soon returned with his cap- 
 tain, who, when Elder Taylor told him of his fears, went 
 after his company and brought them up just as the con- 
 stable was hurrying off his victims to jail ; this company 
 of militia guarded them to the prison. 
 
 The next day the 26th of June there was a long 
 interview between Governor Ford and the Prophet, at 
 which Elder Taylor was present. All the difficulties that 
 had arisen were related by the Prophet and the action of 
 himself and associates explained and defended. In con- 
 cluding that conversation the Prophet said: "Governor 
 Ford, I ask nothing but what is legal ; I have a right to 
 expect protection, at least from you ; for independent of 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 133 
 
 law, you have pledged your faith and that of the state for 
 my protection, and I wish to go to Nauvoo." 
 
 "And you shall have protection, General Smith," 
 replied the governor. "I did not make this promise 
 without consulting my officers, who all pledged their 
 honor to its fulfillment. I do not know that I shall go 
 tomorrow to Nauvoo, but if I do, I will take you along." 
 
 In the afternoon of the same day Joseph and Hyrum 
 were as illegally dragged out of prison as they had been 
 unlawfully thrust into it ; for the justice having committed 
 them to prison, "there to remain until discharged by due 
 process of law," had no more power over them. But 
 notwithstanding this fact, he ordered the constable to 
 bring them from jail into his court ; and when the pris- 
 oners refused to go at the bidding of this autocratic jus- 
 tice, the constable, under instructions from the magis- 
 trate, called to his assistance a detachment of the Carth- 
 age Greys under Frank Worrell, and again presented 
 himself at the jail., and in spite of the protests of the 
 prisoners and the jailer, they forced them to go before 
 Justice Smith. 
 
 On arraignment before the justice, counsel for the 
 accused asked for a continuation until the next day to 
 procure witnesses. This was granted ; a new mittimus 
 was made out and they were again committed to prison. 
 After the departure of the accused, and without con- 
 sulting them or their counsel, the time for the hearing of 
 the case was further postponed until the 29th. 
 
 The following day the ever-memorable 27th of 
 June the governor broke the promise he had made to 
 Joseph Smith the day previous, viz.: that if he went to 
 Nauvoo he would take him along. He disbanded the 
 mob militia except a small company he detailed to accom- 
 pany him to Nauvoo, and the Carthage Greys, a com- 
 
134 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 pany of the very worst enemies the Smiths and their 
 friends had these he left to guard the prisoners ! 
 
 The mob-militia, after receiving their discharge, 
 before leaving the public square in Carthage, publicly 
 boasted that they would only go a short distance from 
 town, and after the governor left they would return and 
 kill the Smiths and their friends if they had "to tear 
 down the jail to do it." Captain Dan Jones, one of the 
 brethren, heard this threat and informed the governor of 
 it. The only answer he received was that he was too 
 anxious for the safety of his friends. 
 
 Later in the day Captain Jones was dispatched to 
 Hon. O. H. Browning, a prominent lawyer of Quincy, to 
 secure his professional services in the pending trial. 
 Cyrus Wheelock left for Nauvoo a little after noon to 
 obtain witnesses. Before going he left a six-shooting 
 revolver belonging to Elder Taylor with the Prophet. 
 Stephen Markham being seen on the street was captured, 
 put on his horse and compelled to leave town at the 
 point of the bayonet. The departure of these brethren 
 left only John Taylor and Willard Richards with the 
 Prophet and his brother Hyrum. 
 
 The afternoon drew its slow length along. The four 
 friends carried on a desultory conversation, in which 
 Elder Richards remarked : "Brother Joseph, if it is neces- 
 sary that you die in this matter, and if they will take 
 me in your stead, I will suffer for you." 
 
 Other thoughts were passing through the mind of 
 Elder Taylor. He regarded the whole thing as an out- 
 rage on their liberties and rights ; and the mob proceed- 
 ings under the forms of law a legal farce. As he con- 
 templated these acts of injustice he broke out with 
 "Brother Joseph, if you will permit it, and say the word, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 135 
 
 I will have you out of this prison in five hours, if the jail 
 has to come down to do it." His idea was to go to 
 Nauvoo, collect a sufficient force of the brethren to lib- 
 erate his friends. Joseph refused to sanction such a 
 course. 
 
 The four friends were sitting in a large, square 
 room in the prison, usually occupied by men imprisoned 
 for the lighter offenses. The afternoon was warm and 
 the spirits of the brethren extremely dull and depressed 
 did the shadow of their impending fate begin to fall upon 
 them ? Elder Taylor sang the following song, which had 
 recently been introduced into Nauvoo. The tune is the 
 one to which he sang it on that melancholy occasion : 
 
 
 
 A poor, way-far - ing man of grief Hath oft-en crossed me on my way ; 
 
 
 Who sued so hum-bly for re - lief, That I could nev - er answer "Nay." 
 
 I had not power to ask his name, Whither he went, or whence he came ; 
 
 Yet there was something, in his eye That won my love, I knew not why. 
 
 Once when my scanty meal was spread, 
 He entered not a word he spake! 
 Just perishing for want of bread; 
 I gave him all; he blessed it, brake, 
 
136 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 And ate, but gave me part again; 
 Mine was an angel's portion then; 
 For while I fed with eager haste 
 The crust was manna to my taste. 
 
 I spied him where a fountain burst 
 
 Clear from the rock; his strength was gone; 
 
 The heedless water mocked his thirst; 
 
 He heard it, saw it hurrying on 
 
 I ran and raised the sufferer up; 
 
 Thrice from the stream he drained my cup ; 
 
 Dipped, and returned it running o'er; 
 
 I drank, and never thirsted more. 
 
 'Twas night; the floods were out; it blew 
 
 A winter-hurricane aloof; 
 
 I heard his voice abroad, and flew 
 
 To bid him welcome to my roof. 
 
 I warmed and clothed and cheered my guest ; 
 
 I laid him on my couch to rest; 
 
 Then made the earth my bed, and seemed 
 
 In Eden's garden while I dreamed. 
 
 Stripped, wounded, beaten nigh to death, 
 
 I found him by the highway side ; 
 
 I roused his pulse, brought back his breath, 
 
 Revived his spirit and supplied 
 
 Wine, oil, refreshment he was healed; 
 
 I had myself a wound concealed ; 
 
 But from that hour forgot the smart, 
 
 And peace bound up my broken heart. 
 
 In prison I saw him next, condemned 
 To meet a traitor's doom at morn; 
 The tide of lying tongues I stemmed, 
 And honored him 'mid shame and scorn. 
 My friendship's utmost zeal to try, 
 He asked if I for him would die; ( 
 The flesh was weak, my blood ran chill, 
 But the free spirit cried, "I will." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 137 
 
 Then in a moment to my view, 
 The stranger darted from disguise ; 
 The tokens in his hands I knew; 
 The Savior stood before mine eyes. 
 He spake, and my poor name he named 
 "Of me thou hast not been ashamed ; 
 These deeds shall my memorial be ; 
 Fear not, thou didst them unto me." 
 
 Shortly Hyrum asked him to sing the song again, 
 to which he replied : 
 
 "Brother Hyrum, I do not feel like singing." 
 
 "Oh, nevermind; commence singing and you will 
 get the spirit of it." 
 
 Soon after finishing the song the second time, as he 
 was sitting at one of the front windows of the jail, he 
 saw a number of men, with painted faces, rushing round 
 the corner towards the stairs. The brethren must have 
 seen this mob simultaneously, for as Elder Taylor started 
 for the door to secure it, he found Hyrum Smith and 
 Doctor Richards leaning against it to prevent its being 
 opened, as the lock and latch were of little use. The 
 mob reaching the landing in front of the door, and think- 
 ing it was locked, fired a shot through the key hole. 
 Hyrum and Doctor Richards sprang back, when instantly 
 another ball crashed through the panel of the door and 
 struck Hyrum in the face ; at the same instant a ball from 
 the window facing the public square where the main 
 body of the Carthage Greys was stationed, entered his 
 back, and he fell exclaiming, "I am a dead man!" With 
 an expression of deep sympathy in his face, Joseph bent 
 over the prostrate body of the murdered man and ex- 
 claimed, "Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum!" Then 
 instantly rising to his feet he drew the pistol Cyrus 
 Wheelock had left, and with a quick, firm step, and a 
 
138 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 determined expression in his face he advanced to the 
 door and snapped the pistol six successive times ; only 
 three of the loads, however, were discharged.* 
 
 While Joseph was firing the pistol Elder Taylor 
 stood close behind him, and as soon as he discharged it 
 and stepped back, Elder Taylor took his place next the 
 door, and with a heavy walking stick left there by 
 Brother Markham parried the guns as they were thrust 
 through the doorway and discharged. 
 
 The firing from within made the mob pause, but it 
 was only for an instant, and then the attack was more 
 furious than ever. The scene was terrible ! Streams of 
 fire as thick as a man's arm belched forth from the ever 
 increasing number of guns in the door-way, yet calm, 
 energetic and determined, Elder Taylor beat down the 
 muzzles of those murderous guns. 
 
 " That's right, Brother Taylor, parry them off as 
 well as you can," said Joseph, as he stood behind him. 
 Those were the last words he heard the Prophet speak 
 on earth in the flesh. 
 
 Meantime the crowd on the landing grew more 
 dense and were forced to the door by the pressure of 
 those below crowding their way up the stairs. The guns 
 of the assailants were pushed further and further into 
 the room the firing was more rapid and accompanied 
 with demoniac yells and horrid oaths and execrations. 
 Certain that they would be overpowered in a moment if 
 
 * It was understood that these shots wounded several of the mob, and that two of 
 them died from the effects of their wounds. The widow of a Mr. Lawn, captain of one 
 of the companies of McDonough County militia, meeting with Elder Parley P. Pratt in 
 California in 1856, told him that a man by the name of Townsend, living in Iowa, near 
 Fort Madison, was one of the mob who forced the door of Carthage jail on the above 
 occasion. One of the pistol shots fired by Joseph wounded him in the arm near the 
 shoulder, and it continued to rot until taken off, and then it did nol heal, but continued 
 to rot, and about nine months after he was wounded he died. About six months after 
 he was shot Mrs. Lawn saw his arm and dressed it. Auto. P. P. Pratt, p. 475-6. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 139 
 
 he remained longer at the door, and thinking that they 
 might have some friends outside, Elder Taylor sprang 
 for the open window directly in front of the prison door, 
 and also exposed to the fire of the Carthage Greys from 
 the public square. As he was in the act of leaping from 
 the window, a ball fired from the door-way struck him 
 about midway of his left thigh. He fell helpless on the 
 window sill and would have dropped on the outside of 
 the jail when another shot from the outside, striking the 
 watch in his vest pocket, threw him back into the room. 
 As soon as he struck the floor his animation returned, 
 and, in order to avoid the range of fire from the door 
 way, he drew himself as rapidly as possible in his crippled 
 condition under the bedstead that stood near the window. 
 
 While on his way three other bullets struck him ; 
 one a little below the left knee it was never extracted ; 
 another tore away the flesh to the size of a man's hand 
 from his left hip and spattered the wall with blood and 
 the mangled fragments ; another entered the forepart of 
 his left arm, a little above the wrist, and, passing down by 
 the joint, lodged in the palm of his left hand. 
 
 As he laid there weltering in his blood, he heard the 
 mob at the door shout: "He has leaped from the 
 window!" There was a cessation of the firing, and a 
 general rush down stairs. At the same instant Dr. 
 Richards crossed the room and looked out of the 
 window. 
 
 It would seem that the Prophet Joseph also 
 attempted to leap from the window, but on reaching it he 
 was instantly shot and fell to the ground by the side of 
 an old well-curb. It was this that gave rise to the cry, 
 4 'He has leaped from the window!" which attracted the 
 attention of Elder Taylor. 
 
 Brother Richards remained but a moment at the 
 
140 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 window ; and then started for the inner prison, the door 
 of which opened on the landing in front of the door to 
 the room the brethren had occupied. As he passed him 
 Elder Taylor said : 
 
 "Stop, doctor, and take me along." 
 
 Ascertaining that the iron door to the criminals' cell 
 was open, he returned and dragged his wounded com- 
 panion into it. Inside the cell he exclaimed : 
 
 "Oh! Brother Taylor, is it possible that they have 
 killed Brothers Joseph and Hyrum? It cannot surely be, 
 and yet I saw them shoot them ! Oh Lord, my God, 
 spare Thy servants !" he exclaimed several times, raising 
 his hands to heaven with each exclamation. "Brother 
 Taylor, this is a terrible event," he went on; and then 
 dragged him still further into the cell. 
 
 Taking up an old filthy mattress he threw it over 
 the wounded man saying: "I am sorry I cannot do 
 better for you ; but that may hide you, and you may yet 
 live to tell the tale, but I expect they will kill me in a few 
 moments." 
 
 The doctor then went out to learn for certain the 
 fate which had befallen the Prophet. While he was gone 
 Elder Taylor suffered the most excruciating pain. Dr. 
 Richards returned in a few minutes, and confirmed his 
 worst fears the Prophet was dead ! 
 
 "I felt," says Elder Taylor, "a dull, lonely, sickening 
 sensation at the news." 
 
 "When I reflected that our noble chieftain, the 
 Prophet of the living God, had fallen, and that I had 
 seen his brother in the cold embrace of death, it seemed 
 as though there was a void or vacuum in the great field 
 of human existence to me, and a dark, gloomy chasm in 
 the kingdom, and that we were left alone. Oh, how 
 lonely was that feeling! How cold, barren and desolate! 
 

 
 SCENE IN CARTHAGE JAIL 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 141 
 
 In the midst of difficulties he was always the first in 
 motion ; in critical positions his counsel was always 
 sought. As our Prophet he approached our God, and 
 obtained for us His will ; but now our Prophet, our 
 counselor, our general, our leader was gone, and amid 
 the fiery ordeal that we then had to pass through, we 
 were left alone without his aid, and as our future guide 
 for things spiritual or temporal, and for all things per- 
 taining to this world or the next, he had spoken for the 
 last time on earth!" 
 
 "These reflections and a thousand others flashed 
 upon my mind. I thought, Why must the good perish, 
 and the virtuous be destroyed? Why must God's 
 nobility, the salt of the earth, the most exalted of the 
 human family, and the most perfect types of all excel- 
 lence, fall victims to the cruel, fiendish hate of incarnate 
 devils?" 
 
 Ah, why? 
 
142 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 FLIGHT OF THE MOB EXCITEMENT OF THE GOVERNOR 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR'S SUFFERING HYPOCRISY STILL IN 
 
 DANGER THE RETURN TO NAUVOO GRATITUDE 
 
 "WITH THE GREATEST OF PROPHETS HE SUFFERED 
 
 AND BLED." 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after the terrible tragedy was ended, 
 fear seized upon the perpetrators of it, and they precipi- 
 tately fled. A number of the inhabitants of Carthage 
 gathered about the jail, and some of these went to the 
 head of the stairs to see the work that had been done. 
 
 Elder Taylor was brought out of the cell to the 
 landing at the head of the stairs. Through the open 
 door leading into the room that he and his friends had 
 occupied when the assault was made, he had a full view 
 of Hyrum Smith. 
 
 " There he lay as I had left him," he writes. " He 
 had not moved a limb ; he lay placid and calm, a monu- 
 ment of greatness even in death : but his noble spirit had 
 left its tenement and had gone to dwell in regions more 
 congenial to its exalted nature. Poor Hyrum ! he was a 
 great and good man, and my soul was cemented to his. 
 If ever there was an exemplary, honest and virtuous 
 man, an embodiment of all that is noble in the human 
 form, Hyrum Smith was its representative." Such were 
 his thoughts on the character of his friend, even while 
 suffering excruciating pains from his wounds. 
 
 Among those who stood about him on the landing 
 was a, doctor, and feeling the ball that had lodged in the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 143 
 
 palm of Elder Taylor's left hand, he took a pen knife, 
 made an incision and then with a pair of carpenter's 
 compasses pried out the half-ounce ball. The alternate 
 sawing with a dull pen knife and prying with the com- 
 passes was simply surgical butchery. The doctor after- 
 wards said that Elder Taylor had nerves "like the devil" 
 to stand that operation. 
 
 The crowd now urged him to consent to be removed 
 to Hamilton's hotel, where he could be cared for, to 
 which he replied: "I don't know you. Who am I 
 among? I am surrounded by assassins and murderers ; 
 witness your deeds! Don't talk to me of kindness and 
 comfort; look at your murdered victims ! Look at me! I 
 want none of your counsel nor comfort. There may be 
 some safety here; I can be assured of none anywhere." 
 
 They protested that he was safe with them ; it was a 
 shame that he and his friends had been treated in the 
 manner they had ; they swore by all the oaths known to 
 the damned that they would stand by him to the death. 
 "In half an hour every one of them had fled from the 
 town," says Elder Taylor. 
 
 Meantime a coroner's inquest was being held over 
 the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum. Robert F. Smith, the 
 justice of the peace who had issued the warrant for the 
 arrest of the murdered men on the charge of treason^ 
 who without a hearing had illegally committed them to 
 prison and then in a few hours as unlawfully dragged 
 them out to appear before his court, who was captain 
 of the Carthage Greys and who had helped to murder 
 them, was the coroner! During the investigation the 
 name of Francis Higbee was mentioned as being in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 "Captain Smith, you are a justice of the peace I 
 want to swear my life against that man," said Elder 
 
144 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Taylor. Word was immediately sent to Higbee and he 
 left Carthage. 
 
 Through the persuasions of Doctor Richards Elder 
 Taylor was at last removed to Hamilton's hotel, though 
 it was difficult to obtain sufficient help to move him, as a 
 great fear fell upon the people and they had fled the 
 place as though a plague had fallen upon it. It was 
 feared that the Mormons being incensed at the murder 
 of Joseph and Hyrum would call out the Legion and 
 take summary vengeance on the people of Carthage. It 
 was only by earnest entreaty that Doctor Richards could 
 prevail upon the Hamiltons to remain. 
 
 All the inhabitants of Carthage knew that a terrible 
 outrage had been perpetrated ; that the pledged faith of 
 the state had been broken ; that the martyrs had volun- 
 tarily gone to Carthage and placed themselves in the 
 power of their enemies at a time when they were amply 
 able to protect themselves against the mob thrice told, 
 and against the governor's troops besides. No wonder 
 the people of Carthage expected that the Mormons 
 would take a terrible vengeance. 
 
 Doctor Richards was also afraid that the Saints in 
 their just indignation would rise in their wrath and take 
 vengeance into their own hands. He took counsel with 
 Elder Taylor and concluded to send a note to Nauvoo. 
 " Brother Richards, say that I am slightly wounded," said 
 Elder Taylor. And when the note* making the awful 
 
 * Following is a copy of it : 
 
 CARTHAGE JAIL, 
 
 8 o'clock 5 min. p. m., June 27, 1844. 
 
 Joseph and Hyrum are dead. Taylor wounded, not very badly. I am well. Our 
 guard was forced, as we believe, by a band of Missourians from 100 to 200. The job 
 was done in an instant, and the party fled towards Nauvoo instantly. This is as I believe 
 it. The citizens here are afraid of the Mormons attacking them ; I promise them no. 
 
 W. RICHARDS. 
 
 N. B. The citizens promise us protection. Alarm guns have been fired. 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 145 
 
 announcement of the murder of the prophets to the 
 Saints was brought to him, he signed his name as quickly 
 as possible lest the tremor of his hand should be noticed, 
 and the fears of his family aroused. 
 
 This note was entrusted to George D. Grant, who 
 at once started for Nauvoo. He was met within three 
 miles of the city by the governor and his escort, who, on 
 hearing a cannon fired in the direction of Carthage, 
 had immediately left Nauvoo. Governor Ford had gone 
 to Nauvoo that morning, and during the day delivered a 
 speech to the people. In it he had insulted them by 
 assuming that all their enemies had said of them was true. 
 At this, according to his own account of the matter, the 
 people manifested some impatience and anger, as well 
 they might, for baser slanders were never circulated of 
 any community, nor a grosser insult ever offered to one 
 than for the governor to assume, without investigation, 
 that all that had been said against them was true. 
 
 The governor compelled George D. Grant to return 
 to Carthage with him, that he might have time to remove 
 the county records from the court house and give the 
 citizens a chance to escape before the people of Nauvoo 
 should learn of the murder ; for he, too, expected the 
 Mormons would wreak a terrible vengeance. He 
 reached Carthage about midnight, and having conferred 
 with Dr. Richards, and promising that all things should 
 be inquired into, and telling what few people remained 
 in Carthage to flee for their lives, Governor Ford listened 
 to the voice of his own fears and with his posse fled in 
 the direction of Quincy. 
 
 It was morning before Elder Taylor's wounds could 
 be dressed and he made in any way comfortable. The 
 day following, the 29th, his wife Leonora came to him, 
 and also his father and mother, as well as a number of 
 
 10 
 
146 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the brethren who had come to render assistance in re- 
 moving the remains of the martyrs to Nauvoo. 
 
 General Demming of the Hancock County militia 
 and also Colonel Jones, treated Elder Taylor with marked 
 courtesy, and seemed solicitous for his welfare. There 
 were also a number of gentlemen from Quincy and other 
 places, among them Judge Ralston, who called to inquire 
 after his welfare. Among them was a doctor who 
 extracted a ball that was giving him great pain from his 
 thigh. 
 
 "Will you be tied during the operation, Mr. Tay- 
 lor?" 
 
 1 'Oh, no ; I shall endure the cutting all right," was 
 the reply, and he did. 
 
 The ball was buried in the flesh, and flattened 
 against the bone to the size of a 25 cent piece, and the 
 thigh was badly swollen; but the cutting was a relief 
 from the pain he had endured. 
 
 During the performance of the operation" Sister 
 Taylor retired to another room to pray for him, that he 
 might have strength to endure it and be restored to her 
 and her family. While thus engaged an old Methodist 
 lady of the name of Bedell entered the room and seeing 
 Sister Taylor on her knees, approvingly patted her on 
 the back, saying, "There's a good lady, pray for God to 
 forgive your sins ; pray that you may be converted, and 
 the Lord may have mercy on your soul ! " 
 
 While in that house, where the inmates talked of 
 praying for the forgiveness of sins and for mercy, Sister 
 Taylor had heard the murder of the prophets approved 
 of; at least by the old gentleman Hamilton, father of the 
 one who kept the house, and she expressed her belief 
 that the other branches of the family approved of it. 
 
 "These were the associates of the old lady referred 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 147 
 
 to," says Elder Taylor, "and yet she could talk of con- 
 version and saving souls in the midst of blood and mur- 
 der: such is man and such consistency!" 
 
 Some of the brethren had considerable anxiety for 
 the safety of Elder Taylor. They by no means thought 
 him secure from the attack of the mob, some of whom 
 hung about Carthage, and others who began to return 
 there when they saw the Mormons did not rise en 
 masse and destroy their neighbors. A brother of the 
 name of Alexander Williams feared his enemies had 
 some motive in keeping Elder Taylor in Carthage, and 
 one day he remarked to him that he had fifty men at a 
 given point in some woods adjacent, and he would soon 
 raise another fifty and take him to Nauvoo if he would 
 go. Elder Taylor thanked Brother Williams but thought 
 there was no need of his going. 
 
 He did seem to be in some danger, however, for 
 the before mentioned Colonel Jones when compelled to be 
 absent from his room would leave a pair of pistols on 
 the table, in case an attack should be made. Some time 
 after his recovery, too, when publishing an account of 
 the assault upon the jail, a lawyer of the name of Back- 
 man stated that he prevented the desperado Jackson, 
 before mentioned, from ascending the stairs of the jail 
 and dispatching him while he lay there unable to move. 
 Backman at the time of making the statement expressed 
 his regrets at having prevented the deed. There were 
 others also who said that he ought to be killed ; but that 
 
 it "was too d d cowardly to shoot a wounded man." 
 
 "And thus," remarks the Elder, "by the chivalry of 
 murderers, I was prevented from being a second time 
 mutilated or killed." 
 
 The motive prompting such a deed, apart from the 
 murderous spirit of the wretches who contemplated it, 
 
148 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 would be found in the fact that Elder Taylor had been 
 a witness of their damning deed, and it was uncertain 
 how many and whom among them he had recognized. 
 It was important to the mob that such a witness should 
 be silenced. 
 
 How many days Elder Taylor remained in Carthage 
 after he was wounded is not certain, but it was not 
 many; from three to five only. The people at Carthage 
 were anxious for him to remain, since they looked upon 
 him as a sort of hostage ; and thought his removal would 
 doubtless be the signal for the uprising of the Mor- 
 mons. 
 
 At last Brother Marks, the President of the Nauvoo 
 Stake, Doctor Ellis, a number of brethren on horseback, 
 and James Allred with a wagon, came to Carthage to 
 remove him to Nauvoo. When asked if he could talk, 
 he could but barely whisper, "No;" so weak was he from 
 the loss of blood and the discharge of his wounds. The 
 physicians and people of Carthage protested that it would 
 be his death if he were removed ; but his friends were 
 anxious for his removal if possible. 
 
 Being unable to ride in a wagon or carriage, a litter 
 was prepared for him, and a number of men living in 
 Carthage, some of whom had been engaged in the mob, 
 assisted in carrying him. Once on the way, word was 
 sent to some of the Saints living along the route, not 
 far from Carthage, to come and meet them. Meantime 
 the men from Carthage made one excuse after another 
 for leaving until all were gone, much to the relief of the 
 wounded man, who expressed himself as glad to get rid 
 of them. 
 
 The tramping of those who carried him at last pro- 
 duced violent pain. A sleigh was therefore obtained 
 and hitched to the back of James Allred's wagon. A 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 149 
 
 bed was made on the sleigh, and with Sister Taylor by 
 his side to bathe his wounds with ice-water, the company 
 moved on towards Nauvoo. The sleigh slipped along 
 over the grass of the prairie almost without a jar. 
 Five or six miles from Nauvoo the Saints who had 
 learned of his coming turned out to meet him, and they 
 increased in numbers as the party with the wounded man 
 drew nearer, until soon there were troops of friends 
 about him on every hand. 
 
 With what joy the storm-tossed, ship-wrecked sailor 
 enters the port from whence he sailed! How buoyant 
 with delight is the soldier who, after many a hard-fought 
 field, and a thousand dangers past, returns at last, weary 
 and worn perhaps, to his native village! But more grateful, 
 and more joyous than either of these was Elder Taylor 
 to return into the midst of his friends, after passing 
 through the fearful ordeal at Carthage jail. 
 
 "Never shall I forget the difference of feeling," he 
 writes, "that I experienced between the place that I had 
 left and the one that I had now arrived at. I had left a 
 lot of reckless, blood-thirsty murderers, and had come 
 to the city of the Saints, the people of the living God; 
 friends of truth and righteousness, all of whom stood 
 there with warm, true hearts to offer their friendship and 
 services, arid to welcome my return." 
 
 One thing only cast a shadow upon his happiness 
 the recollection that Joseph and Hyrum were not there 
 that they were dead ! 
 
 When Doctor Richards left Carthage with the bod- 
 ies of the prophets to convey them to Nauvoo, Elder 
 Taylor suggested that he had better take his purse and 
 watch as he feared the people might steal them. At this 
 suggestion the doctor put the purse and watch into one 
 of the owner's pantaloon pockets, then cutting it off tied 
 
I5O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 a string around the top. It was thus returned to him 
 after he reached Nauvoo. On opening the pocket it 
 was found that the crystal to the watch was literally 
 smashed to powder by the ball that had struck it at the 
 time he had felt himself falling from the jail window. Up 
 to that time, however, his being thrown back into the 
 room when he felt himself falling out had been a mystery; 
 but now it was all clear to him. Had he fallen on the 
 outside he would have dropped into the very midst of his 
 enemies and would have been instantly dispatched ; but 
 the bullet aimed at his heart was turned by an over-rul- 
 ing Providence into a messenger of mercy it saved 
 his life. 
 
 "I shall never forget the feelings of gratitude that I 
 then experienced towards my Heavenly Father," he 
 writes in speaking of the discovery of how his life was 
 saved; "the whole scene was vividly portrayed before 
 me, and my heart melted before the Lord. I felt that 
 the Lord had preserved me by a special act of mercy ; 
 that my time had not yet come, and that I had still a 
 work to perform upon the earth." The hands of the 
 watch stood at five o'clock, sixteen minutes, and twenty- 
 six seconds, thus marking the moment when its pos- 
 sessor stood between time and eternity. 
 
 The trying ordeal through which he had passed 
 with the martyrs, his devotion and faithfulness to them 
 in those fearful scenes in the jail, his undaunted courage, 
 the cruel wounds he himself had received, and the 
 patience with which he endured his suffering all bound 
 Elder Taylor in still stronger bands of affection to the 
 Saints in Nauvoo and throughout the world. 
 
 Shortly after his return to Nauvoo, Eliza R. Snow 
 addressed the following lines to him : 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 151 
 
 Thou chieftain of Zion, henceforward thy name 
 
 Will be classed with the martyrs, and share in their fame ; 
 
 Thro' ages eternal, of thee 'twill be said, 
 
 With the greatest of prophets he suffered and bled. 
 
 When the shafts of injustice were pointed at him, 
 When the cup of his suffring was fill'd to the brim, 
 When his innocent blood was inhumanly shed, 
 You shar'd his afflictions and with him you bled. 
 
 When around you like hailstones, the rifle balls flew, 
 When the passage of death opened wide to your view, 
 When the prophet's free'd spirit thro' martyrdom fled, 
 In your gore you lay welt' ring with martyrs you bled. 
 
 All the scars from your wounds, like the trophies of yore, 
 Shall be ensigns of HONOR, till you are no more; 
 And by all generations of thee shall be said, 
 With the best of the prophets, in prison, he bled. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WAS GOVERNOR FORD A PARTY TO THE MASSACRE? SUS- 
 PICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 RELATIVE to Governor Ford's complicity in this 
 awful tragedy, Elder Taylor has the following : 
 
 1 'There had been various opinions about the com- 
 plicity of the governor in the murder, some supposing 
 that he knew all about it, and assisted or winked at its 
 execution. It is somewhat difficult to form a correct 
 opinion ; from the facts presented it is very certain that 
 things looked more than suspicious against him." 
 
152 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 "In the first place, he positively knew that we had 
 broken no law. 
 
 "Secondly. He knew that the mob had not only 
 passed inflammatory resolutions, threatening extermina- 
 tion to the Mormons, but that they had actually assembled 
 armed mobs and commenced hostilities against us. 
 
 "Thirdly. He took those very mobs that had been 
 arrayed against us, and enrolled them as his troops, thus 
 legalizing their acts. 
 
 "Fourthly. He disbanded the Nauvoo Legion, 
 which had never violated law, and disarmed them, and 
 had about his person in the shape of militia known mob- 
 ocrats and violators of the law. 
 
 "Fifthly. He requested us to come to Carthage 
 without arms, promising protection, and then refused to 
 interfere in delivering us from prison, although Joseph 
 and Hyrum were put there contrary to law. 
 
 "Sixthly. Although he refused to interfere in our 
 behalf, yet, when Captain Smith went to him and in- 
 formed him that the prisoners refused to come out, he told 
 him that he had a command and knew what to do, thus 
 sanctioning the use of force in the violation of law when 
 opposed to us, whereas he would not for us interpose 
 his executive authority to free us from being incarcerated 
 contrary to law, although he was fully informed of all the 
 facts of the case, as we kept him posted in the affairs all 
 the time. 
 
 "Seventhly. He left the prisoners in Carthage jail 
 contrary to his plighted faith. 
 
 "Eightly. Before he went he dismissed all the 
 troops that could be relied upon, as well as many of the 
 mob, and left us in charge of the "Carthage Greys," a 
 company that he knew were mobocratic, our most bitter 
 enemies, and who had passed resolutions to exterminate 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 153 
 
 us, and who had been placed under guard by General 
 Demming only the day before. 
 
 " Ninthly. He was informed of the intended mur- 
 der, both before he left and while on the road, by sev- 
 eral different parties. 
 
 "Tenthly. When the cannon was fired in Carthage, 
 signifying that the deed was done, he immediately took 
 up his line of march and fled. How did he know this 
 signal portended their death, if he was not in the secret? 
 It may be said some of the party told him. How could 
 he believe what the party said about the gun signal if he 
 could not believe the testimony of several individuals 
 who told him in positive terms about the contemplated 
 murder? 
 
 "He has I believe, stated that he left the "Carthage 
 Greys" there because he considered that, as their town 
 was contiguous to ours, and as the responsibility of our 
 safety rested solely upon them, they would not dare 
 suffer any indignity to befall us. This very admission 
 shows that he did really expect danger; and then he 
 knew that these people had published to the world that 
 they would exterminate us, and his leaving us in their 
 hands and taking off their responsibilities was like leaving 
 a lamb in charge of a wolf, and trusting to its humanity 
 and honor for its safe-keeping. 
 
 "It is said again that he would not have gone to 
 Nauvoo, and thus placed himself in the hands of the 
 Mormons, if he had anticipated any such event, as he 
 would be exposed to their wrath. To this it may be 
 answered that the Mormons did not know their signals, 
 while he did ; and they were also known in Warsaw, as 
 well as in other places ; and as soon as a gun was fired, a 
 merchant of Warsaw jumped upon his horse and rode 
 directly to Quincy, and reported 'Joseph and Hyrum 
 
154 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 killed, and those who were with them in jail.' He re- 
 ported further that ' they were attempting to break jail, 
 and were all killed by the guard.' This was their story ; 
 it was anticipated to kill all, and the gun was to be the 
 signal that the deed was accomplished. This was known 
 in Warsaw. The governor also knew it and fled ; and 
 he could really be in no danger in Nauvoo, for the Mor- 
 mons did not know it, and he had plenty of time to 
 escape, which he did. 
 
 "It is said that he made all his officers promise sol- 
 emnly that they would help him to protect the Smiths ; 
 this may or may not be. At any rate, some of these 
 same officers helped to murder them. 
 
 "The strongest argument in the governor's favor, 
 and one that would bear more weight with us than all the 
 rest put together, would be that he could not believe 
 them capable of such atrocity; and, thinking that their 
 talk and threatenings were a mere ebullition of feeling, a 
 kind of braggadocio, and that ther ewas enough of good, 
 moral feeling to control the more violent passions, he 
 trusted to their faith. There is, indeed, a degree of 
 plausibility about this, but when we put it in juxtaposition 
 to the amount of evidence that he was in possession of, it 
 weighs very little. He had nothing to inspire confidence 
 in them, and everything to make him mistrust them. 
 Besides, why his broken faith? why his disregard of what 
 was told him by several parties? Again, if he knew not 
 the plan, how did he understand the signal? Why so 
 oblivious to everything pertaining to the Mormon inter- 
 est, and so alive and interested about the mobocrats? 
 At any rate, be this as it may, he stands responsible for 
 their blood, and it is dripping on his garments. If it had 
 not been for his promises of protection, they would have 
 protected themselves ; it was plighted faith that led them 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 155 
 
 to the slaughter ; and, to make the best of it, it was a 
 breach of that faith and a non-fulfillment of that promise, 
 after repeated warning-, that led to their death. 
 
 "Having said so much, I must leave the governor 
 with my readers and with his God. Justice, I conceive, 
 demanded this much, and truth could not be told with 
 less ; as I have said before, my opinion is that the gov- 
 ernor would not have planned this murder, but he had 
 not sufficient energy to resist popular opinion, even if 
 that opinion led to blood and death." 
 
 Governor Ford admits, in his History of Illinois, that 
 he heard of some threats made against the prisoners. 
 He writes; "I had heard of some threats being made, 
 but none of an attack upon the prisoners whilst in jail. 
 These threats seemed to be made by individuals not acting 
 in concert. They were no more than the bluster which 
 might have been expected, and furnished no indication 
 of numbers combining for this or any other purpose." 
 
 The day previous to the assault on the jail, the gov- 
 ernor was planning to march all his forces into Nauvoo. 
 This military expedition, not to say semi-military inva- 
 sion, was expected to accomplish two purposes: first, it 
 would gratify the clamors of the anti-Mormons ; second, 
 it was intended to strike terror to the hearts of the citi- 
 zens of Nauvoo. Speaking of this intended military dis- 
 play the governor remarks: 
 
 "I observed that some of the people became more 
 and more excited and inflammatory the further the pre- 
 parations were advanced. Occasional threats came to my 
 ears of destroying the city and murdering or expelling 
 the inhabitants. I had no objection to ease the terrors of 
 the people by this display of force, and was most anxious 
 also to search for the alleged apparatus for making coun- 
 terfeit money ; and, in fact, to inquire into all the charges 
 
156 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 made against that people, if I could have been assured 
 of my command against mutiny and insubordination. 
 But I gradually learned to my entire satisfaction that 
 there was a plan to get the troops into Nauvoo, and 
 there to begin the war, probably by some of our own 
 party, or some of the seceding Mormons, taking advan- 
 tage of the night to fire on our own force, and then lay 
 it on the Mormons. I was satisfied that there were those 
 amongst us fully capable of such an act, hoping that in 
 the alarm, bustle and confusion of a militia camp, the 
 truth would not be discovered, and that it might lead to 
 the desired collision." 
 
 Such are the reasons assigned by Governor Ford for 
 abandoning his plan of marching all his forces into Nau- 
 voo. If he could persuade himself to believe that he 
 had those under his command who would resort to the 
 means he himself alludes to in the foregoing, to bring 
 about a collision with the citizens of Nauvoo, and that he 
 was fearful that his whole command would mutiny when 
 once in the city of the Saints, it is unfortunate for the 
 fame of Governor Ford that his fears could not be 
 aroused for the safety of his prisoners, who were left at 
 the mercy of those same militia forces of which he him- 
 self was distrustful, especially since the only barrier 
 between them and the fury of this mob militia was a 
 guard made up of their bitterest enemies the Carthage 
 Greys. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF AFFAIRS IN NAUVOO ARRIVAL OF SIDNEY 
 
 RIGDON ARRIVAL OF THE TWELVE RIGDON REJECTED 
 
 AS LEADER THE TWELVE CHOSEN PROSPERITY 
 
 UNIQUE ORGANIZATION MOBBINGS AGREEMENT TO 
 
 LEAVE NAUVOO BOLD SPEECHES OF ELDER TAYLOR 
 
 4 'THE LORD WAS WITH ME." 
 
 SOON after the return of Elder Taylor to Nauvoo, 
 he, in connection with Willard Richards and W. W. 
 Phelps, issued an address to the Saints, beseeching them 
 to hold fast to the faith and to be peaceable citizens, 
 doing the works of righteousness. The address also 
 stated that as soon as the Twelve and other authorities 
 could assemble, or a majority of them, the onward 
 course for the great gathering of Israel, and the final 
 consummation of -the Dispensation of the Fullness of 
 Times, would be pointed out. 
 
 Elders Taylor and Richards were the only members 
 of the quorum of the Twelve in Nauvoo at the time, the 
 others all being absent in the East on Missions. 
 
 In a few days Parley P. Pratt arrived and united with 
 these brethren in directing the affairs of the Church. 
 The council meetings of these apostles were held at the 
 house of Elder Taylor, in order that he might take part 
 in them, being still confined to his room by his wounds. 
 
 About the time Elder Pratt reached Nauvoo Sidney 
 Rigdon, one of the counselors to the martyred Prophet, 
 arrived from Pennsylvania. He was invited to join them 
 in their movements, but this he declined, as he had his 
 own selfish ambition to gratify. He was determined to 
 
158 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 become the leader of the Church ; and to accomplish this, 
 he began in an underhanded way to work up a feeling in 
 his own favor. 
 
 Afraid to put in a claim to be made President out- 
 right, he sought to be appointed ''guardian' 'to the Church, 
 to build it up to Joseph. He held secret meetings among 
 those favorable to his plans, circulated wonderful " revela- 
 tions" among them, and ordained men to offices hereto- 
 fore unheard of in the Church ; and at last appointed a 
 day for the Church to assemble and select a "guardian." 
 The day appointed was the 8th of August. 
 
 By that time President Young and a majority of the 
 Twelve had arrived. Elder Rigdon had full opportunity 
 to present his claims to the people, but they rejected 
 him, and almost unanimously chose the apostles to pre- 
 side over the whole Church. 
 
 Disappointed in his ambitious designs, Elder Rigdon 
 sought to divide the people; but as his influence in 
 Nauvoo was limited, he did not succeed further than to 
 induce a very few to accompany him to Pittsburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, where he gathered about him a few other fol- 
 lowers. He was shortly afterwards excommunicated 
 from the Church, as he manifested no disposition to re- 
 pent of his course. 
 
 Other restless, ambitious characters, among them 
 James J. Strang and James Emmet sought to divide the 
 Church, since they could not preside over it, and did lead 
 some away; their vaulting ambition overleaped itself, 
 however, and they miserably failed. 
 
 The Twelve being sustained as the presiding au- 
 thority, they took the direction of affairs and issued a 
 general epistle to the Church, in which they expressed a 
 determination to carry on the work so well begun by the 
 Prophet Joseph. Nauvoo must be enlarged, the temple 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 159 
 
 completed and the gathering of Israel go on. "The 
 gospel in its fullness must now roll forth," said they, 
 "through every neighborhood of this wide-spread 
 country, and to all the world, until 
 
 the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our 
 Lord and of His Christ." 
 
 Capitalists were invited to Nauvoo to establish 
 manufactories, and were assured that the people there 
 had sufficient skill and ingenuity among them to carry on 
 nearly all kinds of industry. Elder Taylor took a prom- 
 inent part in these temporal affairs as well as in things 
 spiritual. On his recommendation and under his super- 
 vision a <( Trades Union "was formed, an organization 
 having for its object the establishment of industries that 
 would produce, as far as possible, everything needed by 
 the people of Nauvoo, and a surplus for exportation. 
 
 Suggestions were made to secure a charter for the 
 association, but as there was every prospect that the city 
 and other charters granted to the people of Nauvoo 
 would be repealed by the state legislature, Elder Taylor 
 proposed a plan of organization that was at once novel 
 and not likely to be interfered with by the state: 
 
 First, Twelve men to be appointed, forming a Living 
 Constitution, with a president, secretary, etc., to take the 
 lead in all the affairs of the association. 
 
 Second. Separate trustees to organize themselves 
 and have their own laws, but to be subject to the living 
 constitution. 
 
 These movements gave an impetus to industry, and 
 an era of prosperity dawned upon Nauvoo such as she 
 had never before witnessed. Immigration rapidly in- 
 creased her population, factories of various kinds sprang 
 into existence, and the diversity of industries thus ere- 
 
I6O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ated, made an exchange of home productions possible 
 and very profitable. 
 
 After the ruthless murder of the prophets there 
 was a cessation of active hostilities against the Saints, 
 and even a reaction of popular sentiment in their favor. 
 This, however, was but momentary. It grew out of the 
 awe inspired by the dastardly murder committed at 
 Carthage, sufficient in atrocity to make hell itself stand 
 aghast and tremble. It was sufficient, also, to silence the 
 tongue of slander in Illinois for the moment ; and even 
 fired some with boldness enough to denounce the deed 
 and call for the enforcement of the law against the mur- 
 derers. 
 
 Brave souls! Kind hearts, to weep over the wounded 
 honor of the state ! Their tears were gracious drops ! 
 But at the first cry of ^thieves, thieves, thieves in Nauvoo!" 
 a cry raised by the men whose hands were red with the 
 innocent blood of God's servants Illinois forgot her 
 horror at the atrocious murder of innocent men while 
 under her protection ; and clapped her hands with joy at 
 the prospect of finding even the slightest shaddpw of 
 palliation for the monstrous crime which dragged her 
 honor in the dust, and stamped the brand of infamy for- 
 ever on her brow. 
 
 The murderers of the prophets were so industrious 
 in crying "thieves" and charging the Mormons with 
 crimes which were never committed, that soon they not 
 only made Illinois forget her shame in permitting the 
 prophets of God to be murdered, but had her applaud- 
 ing the deed. So bold were the mob in their determina- 
 tion not to be brought to justice* that they threatened 
 Governor Ford, and said if he insisted on pushing the 
 investigation they would make him an accessory to the 
 crime. Nine of the mob, however were finally brought to 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. l6l 
 
 trial ; and such a trial ! it was but a travesty on the term. 
 The testimony of the chief witnesses for the prosecution 
 was thrown out of evidence ; and though the accused 
 were notoriously guilty, they were acquitted. 
 
 Made bold by the impunity with which scoundrels 
 had preyed upon the Saints, there was a further gather- 
 ing of thieves, blacklegs and counterfeiters into Hancock 
 County, and all their desperate crimes were credited to 
 the Mormon people, together with many which had no 
 existence, except as they were coined by the lying 
 tougues -of men bent on the destruction of the Saints. 
 The city council of Nauvoo took up the matter, investi- 
 gated it, and defied the world to substantiate a single 
 instance where they had screened criminals from the law. 
 The citizens in mass meeting assembled denied the 
 slanderous allegations; the deputy sheriff of Hancock 
 County denied them over his signature ; Governor Ford 
 investigated them, and in his annual message to the 
 legislature, said: "I have investigated the charge of 
 promiscuous stealing and find it to be greatly exag- 
 gerated. I could not ascertain that there were a greater 
 proportion of thieves in that community than in any 
 other of the same number of inhabitants, and perhaps it 
 the city of Nauvoo were compared with St. Louis, or any 
 other western city, the proportion would not be so 
 great." 
 
 Regardless of these denials the charges of thieving, 
 counterfeiting and shielding criminals were repeated until 
 popular prejudice was thoroughly aroused against the 
 inhabitants of Nauvoo, and began to demand their 
 extermination. Made utterly reckless by the success of 
 their misrepresentations, the anti-Mormons held a meet- 
 ing to devise means for getting rid of the Saints. A 
 number of their own crowd fired upon the house where 
 11 
 
1 62 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the meeting was being held. This was charged to the 
 Mormons, and made a pretext for burning the houses 
 and stacks of grain belonging to the Saints in Morley 
 settlement, near which the aforesaid meeting was held. 
 
 This outrage was not avenged by the citizens of 
 Nauvoo, though their means of doing so were ample. 
 They laid the matter before the authorities and there let 
 it rest. Meantime the mob was making similar assaults 
 on all the out-lying settlements. Houses and stacks of 
 grain were burned, the sick and helpless driven 
 from their homes to the open prairie. Mr. Backenstos, 
 sheriff of Hancock County, called for a posse of the law- 
 abiding citizens outside to put down mob violence. He 
 thought it best to call upon citizens outside of Nauvoo 
 to quell the disturbance lest the operations of a posse 
 from Nauvoo should be made a pretext for the opening 
 of civil war. There was no response to the sheriff's 
 call, and house-burning and other acts of violence went 
 on unchecked. 
 
 In the midst of these exciting scenes a mass meet- 
 ing in Quincy resolved that the only hope for peace was 
 in the removal of the Mormons from the state, and 
 they appointed a committee to wait upon the Church 
 authorities to lay these conclusions before them, and 
 request them to leave. Weary with being continually 
 harrassed with illegal prosecutions and mob violence, the 
 Saints agreed to leave the state in the spring, providing 
 the citizens in Hancock and surrounding counties would 
 use their influence in assisting them to rent or sell their 
 property, that they might have means with which to 
 remove; and further that they would cease vexatious 
 lawsuits against them, as they had violated no law. This 
 proposition was accepted by the people of Quincy and 
 also by the anti-Mormons in Hancock County. The 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 163 
 
 civil authorities were largely superceded by the military, 
 Major Warren being sent into Hancock County with a 
 company of militia to keep the peace. 
 
 These events occurred in the fall of 1845 J a d the 
 Saints the winter following began extensive and active 
 preparations for their departure in the spring. Mean- 
 time the anti-Mormons were breaking their part of the 
 treaty almost daily. Illegal writs were issued for the 
 arrest of the Twelve, and efforts made to serve them. 
 House-burning and even murder went right on under 
 the very eyes of Major Warren. At last, being exasper- 
 ated beyond endurance, Elder Taylor declared he would 
 submit no longer to the injustice being heaped upon him- 
 self and the people. President Young made a similar 
 declaration. This led Major Warren to seek an 
 interview with the authorities in which he upbraided them 
 for their declared "resistance tojaw." In the course of 
 that interview Elder Taylor made the following answer 
 to the remarks of the major: 
 
 " Major Warren, I stand before you as a man who 
 has received deep injury from the citizens of this state, 
 and consequently have some feelings. You talk, sir, 
 about 'the majesty of the law, and maintaining the law:' 
 why, sir, the law to us is a mere farce. For years past 
 the law has been made use of only as an engine of 
 oppression. We have received no protection from it. 
 I have suffered under its cruel influence. You talk about 
 your troops being efficient, supporting law and preserv- 
 ing peace. This tale may do to tell some, but it fails to 
 charm us. I stand before you as a victim of such pro- 
 tection. I went from this place some time ago in a time 
 of difficulty like the present, as one of a committee by 
 the special request of Governor Ford, who solemnly 
 pledged his honor for my protection ; but how was I pro- 
 
164 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tected ? I was shot nearly to pieces, and two of the best 
 men in the world were shot dead at my side. This is a 
 specimen of your protection!" 
 
 Warren doubtless saw the storm that was coming 
 and at this point interrupted to say that he did not wish 
 to enter upon this exciting subject, but wished to speak 
 relative to the present. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR: "I will touch upon the things of the 
 present in a moment. You may think this outrage was an 
 outbreak a sudden ebullition of feeling that the gov- 
 ernor could not control ; but who was it that did this 
 deed? The governor's troops, sir, were among the fore- 
 most of that bloody gang. And where, sir tell me 
 where is our redress? You talk about the majesty of 
 the law! What has become of those murderers? Have 
 they been hung or shot, or in any way punished? No, 
 sir, you know they have not. With their hands yet 
 reeking in blood, having become hardened in their deeds 
 of infamy, knowing that they will not be punished, they 
 are now applying the torch to the houses of those they 
 have already so deeply injured. What has been done 
 to them under your administration? Have they been 
 brought to justice, have they been punished for their 
 infamous proceedings? No, sir; not one of them. They 
 are still burning houses under your supervision ; and 
 you have either been unwilling or unable to stop them. 
 Houses have been burned since your arrival here ; men 
 have been kidnapped, cattle stolen, our brethren abused 
 and robbed when going after their corn. Are we to 
 stand still and let marauders and house-burners come 
 into our city under the real or assumed name of ''gov- 
 ernor's troops," and yet offer no resistance to their 
 nefarious deeds? Are we to be held still by you, sir, 
 while they thrust the hot iron into us? I tell you plainly 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 165 
 
 for one I will not do it. I speak now on my own 
 responsibility, and I tell you, sir, I will not stand it. I 
 care nothing for your decrees, your martial law or any 
 other law, I mean to protect myself; and if my brethren 
 are to be insulted and abused in going after their own 
 corn, and pursuing their lawful business if nobody else 
 will go to protect them I will. They shall not be abused 
 under pretext of l?w or anything else ; and there is not 
 a patriot in the world but what would bear me out 
 in it. 
 
 " Where is the spirit of '76? Where is the fire that 
 burned in the bosoms of those who fought and bled for 
 liberty ? Is there no one who will stand up in defense 
 of the oppressed ? If a man had the least spark of 
 humanity burning in his bosom if he were not hardened 
 and desperate, he would be ashamed to oppress a people 
 already goaded by a yoke too intolerable to be borne, 
 and that, too, in a boasted land of liberty. Talk about 
 law! Sir, I stand before you as a victim of law. I feel 
 warm on this subject who would not ? I have seen my 
 best friends shot down while under legal protection. 
 What is our governor? These scenes have been enacted 
 under his supervision. What are our generals and 
 judges? They have aided in these matters. If an honor- 
 able jury is legally selected, a house-burner or perhaps 
 a murderer makes affidavit that he has reason to believe 
 they are partial and the judge will order a mobocratic 
 sheriff and jury for the purpose of acquitting the guilty 
 and condemning the innocent. What are all these legal 
 men but a pack of scoundrels? And you will talk to us 
 of law and order, and threaten us with punishment for 
 disobeying your commands and protecting our rights ! 
 What are we ? Are we beasts ? I tell you for one, sir, 
 I shall protect myself, law or no law, judge or no judge, 
 
1 66 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 governor or no governor. I will not stand such infernal 
 rascality, and if I have to fight it out, I will sell my life 
 as dearly as I can." 
 
 A few days after this, Major Warren again rode 
 into Nauvoo with his troops. It was reported that he 
 had writs for the Twelve, but he sent word that he 
 wanted an interview with them and pledged his word 
 that no writs should be served. In the interview which 
 followed he read a letter from Mr. Brayman, attorney- 
 general of the state pro tern., asking if the statement 
 made by Mr. Young and Mr. Taylor to the effect that 
 they would not be subject to any law and would resist all 
 civil process, was to be looked upon as sincere. 
 
 They denied having made such statement. What 
 they complained of was mal-administration and illegal 
 prosecution. They had always been subject to law. 
 They had always sustained it and still felt disposed to do 
 so. "But I wish to make a few remarks concerning my 
 own individual feelings," said Elder Taylor. "I have 
 endured as much as I feel willing to endure under this 
 government. I feel myself oppressed and wronged. I 
 have never violated any law in the United States, and 
 to be vexed and annoyed continually with vexatious law- 
 suits and illegal prosecutions I do not feel disposed 
 tamely to submit to. If it is not enough for me to be 
 deprived of my rights and my liberty ; if it is not enough 
 for me to sacrifice my property and to become an exile I 
 if I cannot have the short space of six months to dispose 
 of my effects and to leave the state if the governor 
 will only tell me, I will leave now ; but I cannot and will 
 not endure a continuation of these wrongs. I do not 
 mean to be taken by any unjust requisition and thrust 
 into prison ; if I am, I must go there dead ; for they shall 
 not take me there alive. I have no personal feelings 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 167 
 
 against you, Major Warren, but I will not put up with 
 these accumulated wrongs." 
 
 The Warsaw Signal in speaking of this affair said 
 that the troops had writs to serve on the Twelve, and 
 although Major Warren had pledged his honor to the 
 Twelve that no writs should be served, yet he was under 
 promise to assist those holding them the day following ; 
 but after hearing the remarks of Elder Taylor fear 
 seized upon them and they were afraid to make any 
 attempt at serving them. Judge Purple also advised 
 them not to serve them as he had no doubt there would 
 be blood shed. Warren accordingly left with his troops- 
 
 "I had felt surprised at myself at the manner in 
 which I had spoken," remarks Elder Taylor, "but I have 
 no doubt I was directed by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING NAUVOO LABORS IN THE TEM- 
 PLEELDER TAYLOR'S SACRIFICE- JOURNEY THROUGH 
 
 THE WILDERNESS ARRIVAL AT COUNCIL BLUFFS 
 
 HELPS TO RAISE THE MORMON BATTALION "WHO 
 
 CANNOT TRUST THE UNITED STATES?" RUMORS OF 
 
 TROUBLE IN ENGLAND CALLED TO A MISSION IN 
 ENGLAND THE DEPARTURE. 
 
 ALL through the winter of 1845-6 the Saints in 
 Nauvoo were busy making their preparations for the 
 contemplated exodus. Early dawn and the latest twi- 
 
1 68 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 light saw them hurrying to and fro gathering together 
 provisions, cattle, carriages, wagons, seeds, farming im- 
 plements everything that was likely to be of service to 
 them in the new homes they were going to make some- 
 where in the wilderness. Nor did their labors end with 
 the light of day. Often it happened that the dingy 
 smithies were illuminated through the night by the blaz- 
 ing forge, and the stillness of midnight was broken by 
 the merry ring of anvils, while others sat in council devis- 
 ing the best methods of traveling and organizing into 
 companies those whose arrangements were nearing com- 
 pletion. 
 
 Meantime the temple had been so far completed 
 that endowments could be given to the faithful ; and in 
 this work Elder Taylor with others of his quorum was 
 employed during that eventful winter. He also contin- 
 ued to publish the Times and Seasons up to the time of 
 his departure for the wilderness. The Neighbor was 
 discontinued shortly after the Quincy Committee re- 
 quested the Saints to leave the state. 
 
 While making every effort to fill his part of the 
 agreement with said committee to leave the state in the 
 spring, he was continually harassed by his enemies seek- 
 ing to arrest him on illegal writs. The whole commun- 
 ity, in fact, was frequently threatened with mob violence. 
 Their enemies were as impatient for Nauvoo to fall into 
 their hands as hungry tigers are for their prey. The 
 wheels of time moved altogether too slowly for them. 
 They sought to make the people of other counties believe 
 that the Mormons had no intention of leaving in the 
 spring, and therefore to wait for spring to come before 
 driving them out was only a waste of time, for to that 
 issue it would come at last. Their ingenuity exhausted 
 itself in concocting schemes to justify an invasion of 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 169 
 
 Nauvoo. Finally, that all doubts as to the settled inten- 
 tion of the Saints to leave the United States might 
 be put at rest, a large company, four hundred families 
 all told, including nearly all the leaders of the Church 
 and their families, left Nauvoo on the nth of February, 
 crossing the Mississippi on the ice. The exodus was not 
 commenced so early, and at such an inclement season of 
 the year because there was anything in the treaty the 
 Saints had entered into that demanded it, but the move- 
 ment was made to give proof that it was their intention 
 to leave, and to take away from the mob all excuse for 
 violence or bloodshed. 
 
 Elder Taylor and his family crossed the river on the 
 1 6th of February, and joined the Camp of Israel in the 
 wilderness of the Territory of Iowa. For his own family 
 and those who had lived with him in Nauvoo, he had 
 eight wagons and a carriage, with the necessary force of 
 teams. Snow was on the ground when he left Nauvoo, 
 and shortly after crossing the river a thaw set in, which 
 made traveling difficult. An encampment was made at 
 a place where wood was plentiful, and there the exiles 
 made themselves as comfortable as possible, until travel- 
 ing should become less disagreeable. 
 
 There they lay, exposed to the inclement season, 
 while only a short distance away almost in view were 
 their comfortable houses, their beautiful city and magni- 
 ficent temple ! These homes which they had left, and 
 that city were still theirs, for so hurried had been their 
 departure that they had no time to dispose of pro- 
 perty. 
 
 Elder Taylor had left a large, two-story brick house 
 well furnished, with a brick store on one side and a new 
 brick building that he had erected for a printing office on 
 the other, and a large barn in the rear. This lot and the 
 
I7O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 buildings were worth $10,000. In addition to this prop- 
 erty, a short distance east of Nauvoo he had a farm of 
 1 06 acres of unimproved land, another of 80 acres, 40 
 of which was under cultivation and the remaining 40 
 timber. He also had a corner lot 101 x 85 feet on Main 
 and Water street, opposite the Nauvoo Mansion. All 
 this to say nothing of breaking up his printing and 
 book-binding establishment he had been compelled to 
 leave with but small hope of ever receiving anything for 
 it; while he himself was driven forth an exile to wander, 
 perhaps to perish, in the wilderness, a victim of religious 
 intolerance. 
 
 This was in an age of boasted enlightenment in 
 the i Qth century! In the great American Republic the 
 vaunted asylum of the oppressed ! 
 
 To facilitate travel and for the better regulation of 
 the people, the exiles were divided into companies of 
 from seventy to a hundred wagons; but these companies 
 followed each other so closely that they formed an almost 
 unbroken procession across the Territory of Iowa. 
 
 To tell in detail the story of that journey from Nau- 
 voo to Council Bluffs how the Saints struggled on 
 through trackless prairies converted into vast bogs by 
 the spring thaws and rain and sleet which seemed to fall 
 continuously ; how the bleak winds from the pitiless 
 northwest were more cruel than the sharpest frosts ; how 
 the young and strong left the main companies to go into 
 Missouri and districts in Iowa remote from their line of 
 march to exchange household furniture for corn or flour; 
 how those who had merely enough provisions for them- 
 selves no one had a surplus divided with those who 
 had none ; how heroically they struggled against weak- 
 ness and disease brought on through exposure; how 
 they laid away their dead in nameless graves to tell all 
 

LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. I 71 
 
 this would fill a volume of itself, and belongs rather to a 
 history of the whole people than to this biography. 
 
 The 5th of June found Elder Taylor with his com- 
 pany at Mount Pisgah, in Iowa, about one hundred and 
 sixty miles from Nauvoo, where the companies under 
 Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball had encamped 
 and were putting in crops for those who would come 
 on later to harvest. 
 
 From Mount Pisgah to the " Bluffs " he met numer- 
 ous squads of Pottawattomie Indians, 'all of whom he 
 treated kindly, and generally distributed tobacco among 
 them, a thing with which they were highly pleased. 
 These Indians had been removed from their lands east 
 of the Mississippi some years before, and were them- 
 selves exiles. Perhaps it was that fact which led them to 
 treat kindly the exiled Saints. At any rate they gave 
 them permission to pass through their reservation, and 
 finally permitted them to settle for a time upon their 
 lands and use what timber they needed to build tempor- 
 ary abodes. 
 
 Elder Taylor brought his company up to the main 
 encampment* at Council Bluffs on the i7th of June. 
 Soon afterwards he was busily engaged with his brethren 
 in raising a company of pioneers to go to the Rocky 
 Mountains in advance of the main body of the people. 
 
 * The encampment is thus described by Thomas L. Kane, who visited it shortly 
 after the arrival of Elder Taylor : " They were collected a little distance above the Pot- 
 tawatamie Agency. The hills of the high prairie crowding in upon the river at this 
 point and overhanging it, appear of an unusual and commanding elevation. They are 
 called the 'Council Bluffs.' * * * To the south of them, a rich alluvial flat 
 of considerable width follows down the Missouri some eight miles, to where it is lost 
 from view by a turn, which forms the site of an Indian town of Point aux Poules* 
 Across the river from this spot the hills recur again, but are skirted at their base by as 
 much low ground as suffices for a landing. This landing, and the large flat or bottom 
 on the east side of the river, were covered with covered carts and wagons ; and each 
 one of the Council Bluff hills opposite was crowded with its own great camp, gay with 
 bright white canvas, and alive with the busy stir of swarming occupants. In the clear. 
 
172 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 He was going as one of this company and began putting 
 his wagons in order. 
 
 It was in the midst of these preparations that Cap- 
 tain Allen of the United States army came to the en- 
 campment and called upon the Saints in the name of the 
 United States for five hundred volunteers to march to 
 California. The strained relations which for some time 
 had existed between the United States and Mexico had 
 resulted in a declaration of war, and an actual beginning 
 of hostilities in May. It was part of General Scott's 
 plan of campaign for the "Army of the West" to ren- 
 dezvous at Fort Leavenworth, invade New Mexico and 
 co-operate with a fleet which was to sweep around Cape 
 Horn and attack the enemy on the Pacific coast of his 
 territory. It was to assist in carrying out this part of the 
 campaign that the exiled Saints were called upon to fur- 
 nish five hundred men. 
 
 In that moment of supreme trial the leaders of the 
 Church did not permit the memory of their wrongs to 
 outweigh their patriotism. They resolved to raise the 
 number of men required. For this purpose meetings 
 were called and the proposition of enlistment made to 
 the brethren. It was not at first received with much 
 enthusiasm by the people. Perhaps they could not for- 
 get that the general government had witnessed without 
 protest their expatriation and expulsion from the confines 
 of the United States. They also remembered that their 
 repeated appeals for justice had been met with repeated 
 
 blue morning air the smoke streamed up from more than a thousand cooking fires. 
 Countless roads and by-paths checkered all manner of geometric figures on the hill-sides. 
 Herd boys were dozing upon the slopes; sheep and horses, cows and oxen were feeding 
 round them, and other herds in the luxuriant meadows of the then swollen river. From 
 a single point I counted four thousand head of cattle in view at one time. As I ap- 
 proached, it seemed to me the children there were to prove still more numerous." His- 
 torical Address. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 173 
 
 and increasing indifference, and it required no small 
 amount of persuasion at the first to induce men to 
 enlist. 
 
 In this work of arousing the people to trust the 
 government of the United States to deal justly by them, 
 no one was more earnest than Elder Taylor. In a speech 
 he made at a meeting held in George A. Smith's camp, 
 he said: 
 
 "Many have felt something like rebelling against 
 the government of the United States. I have myself 
 felt swearing mad at the government for the treatment 
 we have received at the hands of those in authority, 
 although I don't know that I ever swore much. We 
 have had cause to feel as we have, and any man having 
 a spark of the love of liberty in him would have felt like- 
 wise. We are now something like Abraham was, wan- 
 dering about we'Jtnow not whither, but fleeing from a land 
 of tyranny and oppression." 
 
 He then explained that it was the present intention 
 to settle in some part of California, which at that time 
 belonged to Mexico; but to go there they must have a 
 legal pretext else they would be regarded as interlopers. 
 As the United States was at war with Mexico, they had 
 a right, according to the law of nations, to invade her 
 territory ; and if they enlisted in the service of the 
 United States they would have a right to go there ; and 
 as the stipulations offered by the government provided 
 for their being disbanded in California, they would be at 
 or near the place of their proposed destination, with a 
 right to remain. There they would be the "old set- 
 tlers," and bringing in some thirty thousand people, there 
 was a prospect of obtaining a state or territorial govern- 
 ment, where they could live in peace. Their children 
 could boast, too, that their fathers had fought and bled 
 
174 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 for their country. " Although," he remarked, "I do not 
 think you will have much fighting to do. Still, I do not 
 say this to encourage cowards to go on this expedition. 
 
 "A great many seem to distrust the government," 
 he continued, "and are afraid they will not be carried to 
 California, but be sent to Texas or somewhere else. 
 They will not be they need not fear. Who cannot 
 trust the United States? Her flag floats over every 
 ocean, and her ministry are in every nation. I know it 
 is a great journey for a man to undertake and leave his 
 family ; but Captain Allen says he will give absolute per- 
 mission for the families to remain here. He has also 
 obtained a writing from the Pottawatamie sub-agency j 
 signed by the chiefs and braves to that etfect, so that 
 everything is straightforward." 
 
 He concluded by making a motion that a body of 
 five hundred men be raised, and make Captain Allen 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, a promotion he had been promised 
 providing he raised the battalion. That motion was 
 carried. 
 
 It was the 3Oth of June that Captain Allen arrived 
 at Council Bluffs and asked for the battalion, and by the 
 1 6th of July the men were organized and placed under 
 his command, ready to start for Fort Leavenworth. 
 
 About the time the battalion was made up, the men 
 Elder Taylor had sent out from his company to trade for 
 corn and flour and to swap horses for cattle returned 
 without having met with any success. "I now found 
 myself in the wilderness without the means of procuring 
 the necessary provisions for a year and a half;" and then 
 he adds, half reflectively, " Twelve months prior to this 
 time, I had ten thousand dollars' worth of property at my 
 disposal!" 
 
 The day following the return of his men, however, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. I 75 
 
 a brother named Stewart called upon him , for counsel ; 
 and before leaving loaned him a sum of money sufficient 
 to relieve him of his embarrassments, and we have him 
 saying joyfully, "I felt thankful to the Lord that He had 
 opened my way, as He always does in time of need." 
 
 Meantime from England reports of transgression, 
 wild financial schemes, chicanery and fraud reached the 
 authorities reports which were confirmed by manifes- 
 tations of the Spirit to President Young. 
 
 After the Twelve took the direction of the affairs of 
 the Church, in August, 1844, they sent Wilford Wood- 
 ruff to preside over the British Mission, a post he filled 
 until called away to join the Saints in their exodus from 
 the United States. On his departure Reuben Hedlock 
 was appointed to preside over the mission with Thomas 
 Ward and John Banks for counselors. Soon after the 
 departure of Apostle Woodruff an agitation was set on 
 foot to found what was called "The British and American 
 Joint Stock Company." The ostensible purposes for 
 which this company was organized were to engage in 
 commercial enterprises with a view of enriching the 
 Church, emigrating the poor Saints to America, shipping 
 machinery, etc., and founding manufactures in the new 
 gathering place in the wilderness, and to operate in 
 building up the kingdom of God generally. 
 
 Announcing these as the objects to be accomplished, 
 it was not difficult to induce the Saints to take stock in 
 the concern, and hundreds of pounds were subscribed 
 and paid to Hedlock and his coadjutors. Much of this 
 means was squandered by Hedlock and his associates 
 instead of being used for the purposes for which the 
 company had been organized. 
 
 Upon hearing these reports Elder Taylor, in con- 
 nection with Orson Hyde and Parley P. Pratt, was sent 
 
176 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 to England to correct these abuses and set in order all 
 the affairs of the Church in that land. He left his family 
 in the wilderness with the other exiled Saints, and with 
 his companions took passage in an open flat boat that 
 was passing down the Missouri River about the time 
 they were ready to start. This boat was owned by a 
 party of Presbyterian missionaries who had been labor- 
 ing among the Pawnee Indians, and were now returning, 
 with their families, to St. Joseph, Missouri. 
 
 At St. Joseph the brethren purchased the boat and 
 continued their journey, rowing all day and tying up the 
 boat and sleeping on shore at night. They reached Fort 
 Leavenworth before the departure of the Battalion for 
 the west and from those brethren just then drawing 
 their bounty of forty dollars each from the government 
 received some assistance to help them on their journey. 
 The brethren of the Battalion were also desirous of 
 sending some means to their families in the wilderness* 
 and Parley P. Pratt was chosen to carry it to them. 
 While he returned to the encampment of the Saints, 
 Elder Taylor and Orson Hyde continued their journey 
 to England, arriving in Liverpool on the 3rd of October. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE UNJUST STEWARDS CALLED TO ACCOUNT DISPOSED OF 
 
 -TOUR THROUGH THE CHURCHES OVATIONS ARTICLES 
 
 FOR THE STAR MODERATE SPIRIT OF THEM WORK 
 
 ACCOMPLISHED START FOR HOME STORM BEATEN 
 
 RETURN TO LIVERPOOL SECOND START SUCCESSFUL 
 
 VOYAGE FAREWELL FROM AMERICA IN THE NICK 
 
 OF TIME. 
 
 THE very day of arrival in Liverpool Elders Hyde 
 and Taylor issued a circular to the Saints in which they 
 stated that the Joint Stock Company was an institution 
 wholly independent of the Church. The circular also 
 appointed a conference to convene at Manchester, on 
 the 1 7th of the month October. 
 
 By that time Elder Pratt had arrived. The unfaith- 
 ful stewards were, called to account, severely reproved 
 and the chief 'offenders, excepting Hedlock, disfellow- 
 shipped until they could appear before the authorities in 
 the camp of Israel to be further dealt with. Hedlock 
 would not meet the American deputation of Elders ; 
 but fled to London where he lived in obscurity in com- 
 pany with a dissolute woman. He was excommunicated 
 at once. On the fall of this man Elder Taylor wrote the 
 following reflections : 
 
 " Elder Hedlock might have occupied a high and 
 exalted situation in the Church, both in time and in 
 eternity ; but he has cast from his head the crown he has 
 dashed from him the cup of mercy, and has bartered the 
 hope of eternal life with crowns, principalities, powers, 
 thrones and dominions, for the gratification of his own 
 
 12 
 
J78 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 sensual appetite ; to feed on husks and straw to wallow 
 in filth and mire !" 
 
 It was arranged that Elder Hyde should take charge 
 of the Star and the office at Liverpool, while Elders 
 Taylor and Pratt visited the various conferences and 
 branches of the Church. Everywhere they were re- 
 ceived with demonstrations of joy. Elder Taylor trav- 
 eled sometimes alone and sometimes in company with 
 Elder Pratt ; but whether alone or with his companion, 
 he was always made welcome by the Saints. He labored 
 in season and out of season, and God worked with him 
 and his associates. 
 
 Through their promptness in dealing with the un- 
 faithful stewards, and the power which attended their 
 administrations, confidence was restored, the Saints were 
 re-baptized, many new members were added to the 
 Church, and it was a general time of refreshing from the 
 presence of the Lord. Social gatherings were frequent, 
 and while he fed the Saints the bread of life, they admin- 
 istered to his necessities and made his heart glad with 
 their songs and rejoicing. His reception in Wales was 
 especially enthusiastic, it amounted to an ovation ; in- 
 deed the same may be said of his reception throughout 
 the British Mission. 
 
 Still in the midst of these busy scenes he found time 
 to write a number of articles for the Star, one of which 
 is especially worthy of mention his Address to the Saints 
 in Great Britain. In that address he writes the very 
 best sketches I have yet seen of the evacuation of Nau- 
 voo and the journey of the Saints to Winter Quarters. 
 Its chief value consists in its accuracy and temperate 
 tone much more temperate than one could reasonably 
 expect it to be from a writer who was a participator in 
 those cruel scenes, and one of the chief sufferers. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 179 
 
 He makes prominent the fact that even if the per- 
 secution which expelled the Saints from Nauvoo had not 
 arisen, their destiny would have led them to the moun- 
 tain valleys of the great West. " Many living witnesses/' 
 he writes, " can testify that we proposed moving to Cali- 
 fornia,* leaving the land of our oppression, preaching 
 the gospel to the Lamanites, building up other temples 
 to the living God, establishing '.ourselves in the far dis- 
 tant West. The cruel and perfidious persecutions that 
 we endured, tended to hasten our departure, but did not 
 dictate it. It jeopardized our lives, property and liberty, 
 but was not the cause of our removal." 
 
 " Many a time " he continues, " have I listened to 
 the voice of our beloved Prophet, while in council, dwell 
 on this subject [the removal of the Saints to the Rocky 
 Mountains] with delight ; his eyes sparkling with ani- 
 mation, and his soul fired with the inspiration of the 
 Spirit of the living God. It was a theme that caused the 
 bosoms of all who were privileged to listen, to thrill with 
 delight; intimately connected with this, were themes upon 
 which prophets, patriarchs, priests and kings dwelt with 
 pleasure and delight : of them they prophesied, sung, 
 wrote, spoke and desired to see, but died without the 
 sight. My spirit glows with sacred fire while I reflect 
 upon these scenes, and I say, O Lord, hasten the day ! 
 Let Zion be established! Let the mountain of the Lord's 
 house be established in the tops of the mountains !" a 
 thing, I may add, and which he plainly intimates, could 
 not have been done had the Saints remained in Nauvoo. 
 The Saints did not come to these mountain valleys 
 because they were compelled to by their enemies, they 
 came here because it was their destiny to come ; because 
 
 Then the general name for the great West, including what is now Utah. 
 
l8o LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the Lord 4 would have them here ; and because there were 
 problems to work out in connection with the work of 
 God which could be worked out nowhere else. 
 
 While he admits that the Saints had suffered great 
 loss by being driven from Illinois that they had been 
 obliged to make a great sacrifice yet, speaking rela- 
 tively, he held that the Saints were better off than if they 
 had remained in Nauvoo, a remark that then seemed 
 paradoxical, but its truth is now confirmed by history ; for 
 the little one has become a great people, occupying an 
 immense area of country, and they have attained a 
 strength they never could have known in Nauvoo. 
 
 In this article, while he dwells at some length on the 
 sufferings of the Saints from the fury of the pitiless 
 storm the drifting snow, the pelting hail and the icy 
 chills of storm and tempest, Elder Taylor does not for- 
 get to vindicate God whose part it was to stand very 
 near to His people in such trying times. In continuing 
 his remarks on the exposure of the Saints to cold and 
 storm he says: 
 
 "We sustained no injury therefrom ; our health and 
 our lives were preserved we outlived the trying scene 
 we felt contented and happy the songs of Zion re 
 sounded from wagon to wagon from tent to tent ; the 
 sound reverberated through the woods, and its echo was 
 returned from the distant hills; peace, harmony, and con- 
 tentment reigned in the habitations of the Saints." 
 
 So, too, in speaking of the privations of camp life : 
 "It is true that in our sojourning we do not possess 
 all the luxuries and delicacies of old established coun- 
 tries and cities, but we have an abundance of the staple 
 commodities, such as flour, meal, beef, mutton, pork, 
 milk, butter and in some instances cheese, sugar, coffee, 
 tea, etc., etc. We feel contented and happy in the wil- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. l8l 
 
 derness. The God of Israel is with us union and peace 
 prevail; and as we journey, as did Abraham of old, with 
 our flocks and herds to a distant land, we feel that like 
 him, we are doing the will of our Heavenly Father and 
 relying upon His word and promises; and having His 
 blessing, we feel that we are children of the same 
 promise and hope, and that the great Jehovah is our 
 God." 
 
 Such remarks as these lighten the rather sombre 
 picture that is usually drawn by writers who relate the 
 story of the evacuation of Nauvoo and the subsequent 
 journey in the wilderness ; and who in their anxiety to 
 give a vivid picture of the sufferings of the Saints, forget 
 to vindicate the goodness of God who was with His peo- 
 ple in those trying times, and who, by opening the way 
 before them to obtain food and lands to dwell upon, and 
 giving them strength as their day, made their afflictions 
 light as air. These things, Elder Taylor in his sketches 
 does not fail to recognize. 
 
 At the time, of Elder Taylor's visit, great distress 
 existed among the laboring classes in England, and as 
 the Saints were chiefly of that class, they suffered with 
 the rest. The trouble arose very largely from over-popu- 
 lation. This being the case, the queen was memorialized 
 by the Saints to adopt a system of emigration to Oregon, 
 a general name given to an immense but indefinite tract 
 of country in the western part of the British possessions, 
 Vancouver's Island forming part of it. To return the 
 means that government was asked to expend in emigrat- 
 ing the people, it was proposed that in a tract of country 
 divided into sections of six hundred and forty acres, and 
 numbered, that each emigrant be entitled to settle on the 
 sections bearing even numbers, and that government 
 retain the odd sections. The presence of the settlers and 
 
1 82 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 their improvements on the even sections would give a 
 value to the odd sections and bring them into market, 
 and through the sale of these lands government would 
 soon be repaid the sum expended for emigration. 
 
 In the interest of this scheme, Elder Taylor called 
 upon, and obtained an interview with the Earl of Dart- 
 mouth, but the government refused to engage in the 
 business. 
 
 Having accomplished the object of his mission to 
 England, Elder Taylor's heart turned to his family in the 
 wilderness. He left the port of Liverpool in the ship 
 America, in company with Elder Pratt, and a few Saints 
 fourteen in all. ' No ship ever left that port with brighter 
 prospects, but no sooner were they fairly out into the Irish 
 Sea, than they met a heavy gale and for nine days were 
 tempest-tossed and utterly unable to reach the broad 
 Atlantic. At last they were compelled to return to Liver 
 pool. 
 
 "I had strange presentiments," says Elder Taylor, 
 " before we went on board, of danger or ship-wreck the 
 spirit did not manifest which ; and I was glad when we 
 safely returned to Liverpool." 
 
 A second start was made on the seventh of Feb- 
 ruary, and after a pleasant voyage of thirty-six days, the 
 vessel made the port of New Orleans. Here Elder 
 Taylor wrote to the editor of the Star, his farewell 
 address to the Saints, which virtually is a review of his 
 brief mission among them. Following are extracts from it: 
 
 " As I had no time before I left England, I now wish 
 to say a few words to the Saints. When I was there, in 
 consequence of having so many places to visit, and to 
 travel so extensively, my stay was necessarily ' short at 
 the various branches ; and it made it impossible for me to 
 visit so many places, to form so extensive an acquaint- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 183 
 
 ance with the Saints as I should gladly have done had 
 time permitted. If my stay had been longer, I should 
 gladly have spent two, three, or six months more, in order 
 to have visited all the branches and seen the Saints at their 
 homes, for I love the people of God, and delight in the 
 habitations of the righteous. There peace reigns there 
 reigns the spirit of God and there is my home. And 
 here I wish to say, that although very much pressed and 
 hurried, I have seldom enjoyed myself better than I did 
 on my late visit to the British churches. I saw an hon- 
 esty and simplicity which I admired. The Saints seemed 
 to vie with each other in many little acts of kindness and 
 charity which were duly appreciated by me, and which I 
 have taken pleasure in acknowledging. They were 
 esteemed not so much on account of their intrinsic value 
 as for the feelings of those who administered them. 
 
 " Our arrival in England was very opportune. * * 
 Before we left [Council Bluffs], it was revealed to the 
 authorities that the presidency in England was in trans- 
 gression, and that it was necessary that some of the 
 Twelve should proceed immediately to England. * * * 
 When Elder Hyde and myself were in New York, and 
 Elder Pratt in Boston, we thought it expedient, rather 
 than to wait two or three days for him, to proceed im- 
 mediately to Liverpool. We found on our arrival that 
 we had not come any too soon. The teachers of the 
 people were under transgression ; they were corrupt ; 
 they were acting dishonorably, and dishonestly ; stripping 
 the poor of their last pittance, and yet those wanton 
 profligates professed that they were doing the will of 
 God, while they, under a cloak of religion, were reveling 
 in debauchery, drunkenness and fraud ! But they have 
 their reward. 
 
 "Many of the Elders were at a loss what to do. 
 
184 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 They saw that things were out of order, but how to reg- 
 ulate them they knew not. * * * They felt a dispo- 
 sition to hope for the best, but it seemed to be hoping 
 against hope ; in fact the whole head was sick and the 
 whole heart faint; and had it not been that the Saints 
 were in possession of the eternal principles of truth, and 
 had the testimony of the Spirit, giving them assurance of 
 the truth and verity of this work, they might all have 
 made ship-wreck of faith. 
 
 "As Elder Pratt and myself journeyed among the 
 churches, we found them generally doing well, rejoiced 
 to see us, and expressing a willingness to follow our 
 advice in all things. * * * I would here say a word 
 or two to the Saints by way of caution. Because you 
 have been deceived by your former leaders, do not mis- 
 trust those * you have now, but let them have your con- 
 fidence and your prayers. * * * I say again have 
 confidence in your presidency ; neither condemn one man 
 for what another has done, neither be afraid of him. 
 Give all good men your confidence ; if they betray it, 
 judge them according to that which they have done not 
 what they may or may not do. It is a devilish principle 
 to be jealous of men who have done no wrong, and to 
 withhold our confidence from those who ought to have our 
 support, merely because it is possible they may abuse it. 
 
 "Now brethren, as I had not time before I left, I 
 must take the liberty from this side of the ocean, of say- 
 ing farewell farewell ! and God bless you for ever and 
 ever, worlds without end. Amen. It is a longdistance to 
 salute you from, as I am now six thousand miles from 
 you, but I know it will be welcome, for I came more 
 
 * Elder Orson Spencer was left in charge of the mission after the departure of the 
 Apostles, and Elder Franklin D. Richards was his counselor. 
 
JO, 
 
 fl 
 
 Mau-v 
 -& 
 
 ?^^ 
 
 v V <v^w" 
 
 SSNpS 
 
 s^ 
 
 
 COUNCIL BLUFFS FERRY AND GROUP OF COTTONWOOD TREES. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 185 
 
 than six thousand miles to see you, and I had to salute 
 my family from your homes. We have yet two thousand 
 miles to go to see our families, and part of that through 
 mobbers, black-legs and murderers, who would gladly 
 take our lives, but we trust in the God of Israel, that He 
 will take us safely through, and that we shall arrive in the 
 camp of Israel in peace, and rejoice in once more meet- 
 ing our families and friends. 
 
 "I left the camp in company with my brethren, July 
 3rd, 1846, and when I return shall have traveled up- 
 wards of seventeen thousand miles, three thousand of 
 this was in England, Scotland and Wales. I now feel 
 well in health and spirits, am thankful that so much of 
 my mission is completed, and I bless the name of the 
 God of Israel." 
 
 From New Orleans he took passage in the steam- 
 packet, Patrick Henry, for St. Louis, where he arrived 
 on the 25th of March. Here he parted company with 
 Elder Pratt, who made his way through the country to 
 the camp ; while Elder Taylor in charge of the small 
 company of Saints took steamer up the Missouri for the 
 same point ; but on reaching St. Joseph he left the boat 
 and took carriage, as he desired to reach the camp be- 
 fore the pioneer company left for the West, as he had 
 with him some surveying and scientific instruments pur- 
 chased in England for them. Those instruments con- 
 sisted of two sextants, two barometers, two artificial hor- 
 izons, one circular reflector, several thermometers and a 
 telescope. 
 
 He arrived in time to meet President Young and 
 deliver these instruments* and some money sent from 
 
 It was with those instruments that Orson Pratt, a few months later, laid out Salt 
 Lake City. 
 
1 86 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 England to aid the Church. The pioneer camp had left 
 Winter Quarters a day or two before, and was then 
 camped on the Elk Horn, some twenty or thirty miles 
 distant, so that he had returned just in time. 
 
 The labors of Elder Taylor and companions were 
 highly approved by President Young, and he heartily 
 welcomed them back to their families and the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY INTO THE WILDERNESS THE 
 
 OUTFIT THE RENDEZVOUS ORGANIZATION MANNER 
 
 OF TRAVELING MEETING THE PIONEERS A SYLVAN 
 
 FEAST ARRIVAL IN SALT LAKE VALLEY " WORK 
 
 ENOUGH FOR ONE FALL" SOCIAL FEAST CHARACTER 
 
 OF PRIMITIVE SOCIETY. 
 
 THE Saints at Winter Quarters had been instructed 
 to organize into companies and follow the pioneers into 
 the mountains as soon as practicable. As Elders Taylor 
 and Pratt did not arrive in time to fit out and accom- 
 pany the pioneers ; and as they were members of the 
 quorum presiding over the Church at the time, Elder 
 Taylor was associated with Elder Pratt in a general 
 superintendency of affairs at Winter Quarters and espe- 
 cially in organizing the companies destined to follow the 
 Pioneers that summer. 
 
 The plan of organization for traveling was to divide 
 the people into companies of one hundred wagons, 
 subdivided into companies of fifty wagons, and ten 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 187 
 
 wagons, with captains over each division, the captains of 
 fifties being subordinate to captains of hundreds, and 
 captains of tens being subordinate to captains of fifties 
 all being subject to the direction of the Apostles. Each 
 fifty had a blacksmith with tools for repairing wagons 
 and shoeing animals. Three hundred pounds of bread- 
 stuff were required for each person. Every man had to 
 have a gun with one hundred rounds of ammunition ; 
 and each family was expected to take along its pro- 
 portion of seed grain and agricultural implements. 
 
 As fast as individuals and families were found who 
 had the required outfit, or could obtain it, they rendez- 
 voused at a point on the Elk Horn River, where the 
 organization for the journey to the mountains was per- 
 fected. 
 
 The families who had traveled with Elder Taylor 
 from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs, desired to be again 
 enrolled in the company in which he traveled. That 
 request was granted, and they were chiefly enrolled in 
 the first fifty of the hundred of which Edward Hunter, 
 afterwards Presiding Bishop of the Church, was the cap- 
 tain, and Joseph Home was captain of the fifty. 
 
 In preparing for this journey Elder Taylor was kept 
 extremely busy. Wagons had to be overhauled, tires 
 re-set, horses and oxen to be collected and shod, supplies 
 obtained, and only a limited number of hands with which 
 to accomplish it all ; for five hundred able-bodied men, it 
 will be remembered, had been taken into the service of 
 the United States, and about one hundred and forty more 
 had gone as pioneers, and those who from their circum- 
 stances had to remain at Winter Quarters were busily 
 engaged in putting in crops for supplies for another 
 season. 
 
 During the early part of June, however, some six 
 
1 88 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 hundred wagons gathered on the Elk Horn ready to 
 start. There were 1553 souls in the company, 2213 
 oxen, 124 horses, 887 cows, many of which had to do 
 service under the yoke, 358 sheep, 716 chickens and a 
 number of pigs. 
 
 On the 2ist and 22nd of June this large company 
 began its journey. It was late in the season for starting 
 on such an expedition. It was too late for them to put 
 in crops that season, even if they stopped far short of the 
 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. They barely had 
 provisions to last them a year and a half, and if their first 
 crop failed, starvation must follow, for they would be 
 from ten to fifteen hundred miles from the nearest point 
 where food could be obtained, and no swifter means of 
 transportation than horse or ox teams ! 
 
 It was a bold undertaking, this moving over fifteen 
 hundred souls more than half of whom were women 
 and children into an unknown country, through hostile 
 tribes of savages. Had it not been for the assurance of 
 the support and protection of Jehovah, it would have 
 been not only a bold but a reckless movement the 
 action of madmen. But as it was, the undertaking was 
 a sublime evidence of their faith in God and their 
 leaders. 
 
 This company differed from the pioneers. The lat- 
 ter was made up of able-bodied men, excepting three 
 women none were helpless. They had the best of 
 teams, and if they failed in finding a place of settlement 
 they could return to the place of starting. Meantime 
 their families were not endangered. They were secure at 
 Winter Quarters. Not so with the Pratt and Taylor 
 company. They had their all upon the altar, including 
 their wives and children, who must share their hardships 
 and their fate. They knew not their destination, they 
 
urn 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 189 
 
 entrusted all on a single venture, from which there was 
 no chance of retreat. If they should fail to find a suita- 
 ble location and raise a crop the first season, there was no 
 getting provisions to them, nor them to provisions. 
 They must succeed, or perish in the wilderness to which 
 they had started. With a faith that has never been sur- 
 passed, they placed themselves under the guidance and 
 protection of their God, and we shall see in the sequel 
 that they trusted not in vain. 
 
 Usually on the journey this great camp traveled in 
 sections of one hundred wagons each. The company 
 in which Apostle Pratt traveled took the lead, and the 
 one in which Elder Taylor traveled followed next, and 
 then the others in their order. Between the hundreds in 
 which Elders Taylor and Pratt traveled was a com- 
 pany of artillery, commanded by Charles C. Rich. 
 When feed for the cattle was scarce, or roads bad, or 
 water not abundant, then they traveled fifty wagons in a 
 section, but always sufficiently near each other to readily 
 unite for protection in case of an assault from the 
 Indians. When the prairies were wide and the ground 
 unbroken, two companies often traveled abreast. Cross- 
 ing the level plains that now form the state of Nebraska, 
 they came in contact with immense herds of buffalo, 
 which supplied them with plenty of beef. Public prayer 
 was offered up daily in the camps. Sunday was observed 
 as a day of rest, religious services were held in each camp, 
 and the stillness of the great wilderness of the west was 
 broken by Saints singing the songs of Zion. 
 
 Thus day after day, week after week, the sections of 
 the great company drew their slow length along, until 
 the wide spreading plains of La Platte are behind them, 
 they enter the Black Hills and at last approach the 
 Rocky Mountains. 
 
I9O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 On what was known as the Upper Crossing of the 
 Sweetwater, east of the South Pass, between three and 
 four hundred miles east of Salt Lake, Elder Taylor's 
 division met the returning pioneers. That band of men 
 had entered the Salt Lake Valley, selected a site for a 
 city, commenced the erection of a fort, plowed several 
 acres of land and planted late crops ; and having left a 
 few of their number with some members of the Mormon 
 Battalion who had joined them there to continue the 
 work, they were now on their way back to Winter Quar- 
 ters with the glad news that a gathering place had been 
 selected for Israel. 
 
 The morning that Elder Taylor's division met the 
 returning pioneers, there was a flurry of snow. The 
 heavens were darkened, the bright sunshine which they 
 had enjoyed without a cloud to obscure it for weeks 
 together, was now shut out from view, and snow fell two 
 or three inches deep. Snow! and in September, too! 
 Was that the kind of climate they were going to? The 
 hearts of some sank within them, and the prospect 
 looked gloomy enough. But that which produced fears 
 in the breasts of the timid, only provoked laughter from 
 Elder Taylor. He bade them be of good cheer, and 
 laughingly proposed to insure the lives of the whole 
 company at five dollars per head. 
 
 Elder Taylor and other leading brethren in his 
 division met in council with the Apostles in the pioneer 
 company. What a weight of responsibility rested upon 
 these men ! They had selected a location for a great 
 people in an unknown climate; they had planted seed 
 in an untried soil ; they knew they would have to depend 
 upon new methods of agriculture to mature their crops 
 irrigation would it succeed? There were tens of 
 thousands of people on the banks of the Missouri wait- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 19 1 
 
 ing for them to return to lead them forth into the 
 wilderness, to the new home ; the means of getting them 
 there this body of men in council must devise ; they 
 were founding a commonwealth in the wilderness ; the 
 whole world was watching their movements and would 
 hold them morally responsible for any disasters that 
 might occur. With this burden upon them, they might 
 well hold council meetings, whenever convenient, in 
 order to discuss their present situation and future 
 prospects. 
 
 But while the brethren were in council the clouds 
 cleared away, and before the warm sunshine the snow 
 soon disappeared. There was a nervous activity in the 
 camp, mysterious movements among the sisters. Trunks 
 that had been undisturbed on the journey were opened, 
 their contents investigated and certain articles hurriedly 
 conveyed to a beautiful, natural lawn enclosed by a dense 
 growth of bushes. Several improvised tables of 
 uncommon length, covered with snow-white linen, and 
 fast being burdened with glittering tableware, gave 
 evidence that a surprise was in store for the weary 
 pioneers. The "fatted calf" was killed; game and fish 
 were prepared in abundance ; fruits, jellies and relishes 
 reserved for special occasions were brought out until 
 truly it was a royal feast. 
 
 Moreover, though the place selected for the spread 
 was adjacent to the camp, it was successful as a surprise. 
 The pioneers knew nothing of what had taken place 
 until they were led by Elder Taylor through a natural 
 opening in the bushes fringing the enclosure, and the 
 grand feast burst upon their astonished vision. 
 
 One hundred and thirty sat down at the supper; 
 and if for a moment rising emotions at this manifestation 
 of love choked their utterance and threatened to blunt 
 
192 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the edge of appetite, the danger soon passed under the 
 genial influence of the sisters who waited upon the 
 tables and pressed their guests to eat : in the end they 
 paid a full and hearty compliment to the culinary skill 
 of the sisters. 
 
 Supper over and cleared away, preparations were 
 made for dancing ; and soon was added to the sweet 
 confusion of laughter and cheerful conversation the 
 merry strains of the violin, and the strong, clear voice 
 .of the prompter directing the dancers through the 
 mazes of quadrilles, Scotch-reels, French-fours and other 
 figures of harmless dances suitable to the guileless 
 manners and the religious character of the participants. 
 Dancing was interspersed with songs and recitations. 
 "We felt mutually edified and blessed," writes Elder 
 Taylor, "we praised the Lord and blessed one another." 
 So closed a pleasant day, though the morning with its 
 clouds and snow looked very unpromising. 
 
 The morning following they separated, the pioneers 
 going towards the rising, the others towards the setting 
 sun. 
 
 On the 5th of October, Elder Taylor reached Salt 
 Lake Valley. 
 
 After so long and so tedious a journey, a few days' 
 rest would have been the proper thing, but there was 
 no time for that. They must prepare for the winter, of 
 the mildness or severity of which they knew nothing 
 only through report. The pioneers and members of the 
 battalion had made some progress in erecting a square 
 fort, enclosing ten acres of ground ; this was known as 
 the Old Fort. On the arrival of the Pratt and Taylor 
 encampment, they commenced the erection of a fort on 
 the south side of it, the same width but twice its length. 
 Each family had its allotment of ground according to the 
 
\ 
 
 
 
 - 
 
194 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 evenings of week days to be taught in their duties. All 
 through that winter Elder Taylor was diligent in that 
 labor, going from house to house to instruct the Saints. 
 Meetings for his own family were frequently called, and 
 there he taught them how to live in peace, to be court- 
 eous, kind and considerate of each other's feelings ; and 
 there, doubtless, was laid the foundation of that kindly 
 feeling and courteous deportment toward each other, and 
 that union which today is a characteristic of his large 
 family. 
 
 The condition of the Church during that first winter 
 in the valley of Salt Lake was very similar to that of the 
 Nephite Church in the first years of the Nephite Repub- 
 lic, of which the historian says; "wfien the priests left 
 their labor to impart the word of God unto the people, 
 the people also left their labors to hear the word of 
 God, and when the priest had imparted unto them the 
 word of God, they all returned again diligently unto 
 their labors; and the priest, not esteeming himself above 
 his hearers ; for the preacher was no better than the 
 hearer ; and thus they were all equal, and they did all 
 labor, every man according to his strength."* 
 
 So Elder Taylor labored through that winter. His 
 days were spent in the saw-pit, where he manufactured 
 lumber by hand with a whip saw; his evenings and the 
 Sabbaths were spent in councils with his brethren and in 
 the meetings of the Saints, where he taught them the 
 way of life. 
 
 Occasionally a social party broke the monotony of 
 their life in the wilderness, and for several reasons I give 
 Elder Taylor's description of one of these parties held at 
 his own house. It seems there had been an order or 
 
 * Alma, I, 26. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 195 
 
 agreement entered into by the Saints that they would have 
 no dancing until after their first harvest in the valley 
 such an agreement was law to this primitive community 
 so originated all their laws ; but when new year's 
 came, and with it the recollection of the merriment of 
 former years, they seemed to repent of the strictures 
 they had placed upon themselves, and it was rumored as 
 New Year's day approached that license had been 
 given by the president of the stake for dancing on the 
 evening of that day, but there was to be no more until 
 harvest so much is necessary to the understanding of 
 the following: 
 
 January ist, 1847: 
 
 "As today was New Year's day, several of my 
 family spoke to me about having a party as usual upon 
 that day. The plan they proposed getting it up on was 
 that every one should bring his own provisions. The 
 principle itself was repugnant to me, but still under the 
 circumstances, if we had a party, this must be the principle 
 we must have it on, as I could not possibly spare provisions 
 for so large a company as we must necessarily have ; and 
 upon this plan there was one gotten up. We had an 
 excellent supper, sixty-nine sat down and we enjoyed 
 ourselves very much. I gave the presidency to Brother 
 Sherwood. I sat at the head of one table, Brother 
 Hunter at another, Brother Home and Shurtliff at 
 others. After the tables were cleared, the order was 
 given for dancing. My reasons for indulging in this 
 recreation were that Brother Shurtlift went up and saw 
 Uncle John Smith (the president of the stake) and told 
 him that we had made calculations upon having a dance; 
 but when I heard there was a law against it, I was 
 resolved not to have any unless Uncle John should say I 
 
196 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 was justified in doing it. He said if he was me he 
 would have the dance as it had been arranged for. 
 
 "I sent to Uncle John to see about this, not because 
 I thought there was any harm in dancing, but because 
 I did not wish to encourage law-breaking by my example 
 in this thing. There was an intermission in the dancing 
 when we had some singing and a comic sermon from 
 Brother Sherwood, after which dancing was resumed 
 and continued until a little after eleven o'clock. 
 Brother Sherwood called the house to order and told 
 them the time had come to separate ; but before parting 
 he had a few remarks to make. He spoke on a variety 
 of principles and made some very good remarks. Upon 
 his concluding I arose and made some remarks upon the 
 object of our meeting, my object in having dancing, on 
 the principles of power existing in the kingdom, and the 
 active part we are destined to take in the affairs of 
 kingdoms." 
 
 In the above appears the large and generous 
 nature of Elder Taylor which shrank with repugnance, 
 even in those days of scarcity, from the idea of having 
 his guests bring their provisions with them to a 
 feast in his house. There is also manifested his re- 
 spect for law. There was no assumed airs because 
 he was an Apostle, followed by a haughty disregard of a 
 rule established by the president of the stake but a 
 humble disposition to submit to it. 
 
 The conclusion of his description of this party gives 
 us to understand that although he, with the rest of the 
 Saints, had been expatriated, and driven into exile in the 
 wilderness, and well nigh stripped of all their earthly pos- 
 sessions he had lost none of his faith in the future high 
 destiny of the people of God, they were yet to be 
 active in the affairs of kingdoms ! Lastly his description 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 197 
 
 of this party enables one to see something of social life 
 in the infant commonwealth of Deseret the homely 
 joys of the people ; their simple, guileless ways ; their 
 unfeigned enjoyment of innocent, natural pleasures : 
 
 Yes ! let the rich deride, the proud disdain 
 These simple blessings of the lowly train ; 
 To me more dear congenial to my heart, 
 One native charm than all the gloss of art; 
 Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, 
 The soul adopts and owns their first-born sway ! 
 
 Far better this than 
 
 The long pomp, the midnight masquerade, 
 With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed, 
 In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain, 
 The toiling pleasure sickens into pain ; 
 And e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, 
 The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy ! 
 
198 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MISTAKE IN BUILDING SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS TAXED 
 
 THE CRICKET WAR CROPS SAVED HARVEST FEAST 
 
 DEPUTATION FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
 
 STATES ELDER TAYLOR CONFERS WITH IT CALLED 
 
 TO FRANCE FROM SAWPIT TO PULPIT THE LIFE OF 
 
 AN APOSTLE. 
 
 So THE winter passed away, and the spring came, 
 and with it came frequent rain storms. " We made one 
 mistake in building," remarks Elder Taylor ; having been 
 informed there was no rain, or very little, in the valley, 
 we made our roofs too flat, which, when the spring rains 
 commenced, caused considerable trouble." It was with 
 great difficulty that their beds could be kept dry. But 
 this was not their chief difficulty food was getting 
 scarce, and a number of the improvident ones were with- 
 out. 
 
 At a public meeting, Elder Taylor proposed that a 
 tax be laid upon the people according to their means to 
 pay it, to supply those who were in need ; and that the 
 High Council be authorized to levy it, and have discre- 
 tionary power to determine who should be taxed, and 
 who should be assisted. The motion was carried unani- 
 mously. 
 
 Elder Taylor and his family, in common with the 
 whole people, made every effort to get in extensive crops 
 of grain and large gardens. In this they were quite 
 successful ; but when early summer brought flattering 
 promises of a bountiful harvest, then from the mountains 
 came myriads of black crickets into their grain fields 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 199 
 
 and threatened to destroy them. The people, even to the 
 women and children, turned out, to stay, if possible, the 
 ravages of the destroyer. They devised various ways to 
 rid themselves of the terrible insect, but in vain they 
 labored ; the crickets were rapidly making green fields 
 bare. When it is remembered that the colonists were 
 dependent on that crop for food for the ensuing year, it is 
 not surprising that hope sank within them, or that they 
 became alarmed and talked of sending an express to 
 President Young, begging him not to bring in any more 
 people, as there was a famine in prospect. But in the 
 midst of their calamity a wonderful deliverance was at 
 hand ; untold thousands of snow-white sea-gulls came in 
 clouds from the direction of the lake, and settling down 
 upon the fields of grain, began devouring the crickets. 
 Day after day did these white-winged messengers of 
 mercy continue the work of devouring crickets, until the 
 pests were destroyed and the fields of growing grain 
 saved. 
 
 In August an abundant harvest was gathered, and a 
 public harvest feast proclaimed. In the midst of the 
 feasting and dancing, singing and rejoicing, the Saints 
 did not forget to thank and praise the Power which had 
 given them the rich fruits of the earth ; and expressions 
 of gratitude soul-felt and universal in prayer and 
 speech, occurred as frequently as song or dance. 
 
 In all these anxieties, labors, fears, hopes and re- 
 joicings, Elder Taylor took part. Many leaned on his 
 strength in those days. When despair settled over the 
 colony he infused it with hope ; when the weak faltered, 
 he strengthened them ; when the fearful trembled, he 
 encouraged them ; those cast down with sorrow, he com- 
 forted and cheered. His faith and trust in God, and in 
 His power to preserve and deliver His people were as 
 
2OO LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 unshaken in the midst of the difficulties they encoun- 
 tered in settling the desert valleys of Utah, as it had 
 been in the midst of mob violence in Missouri and 
 Illinois ; as unmoved as it was amid the confused shouts 
 and curses, groans and shriekings, and murderous bullets 
 which, all mingled together, made up that scene of hell 
 and death in Carthage jail. 
 
 Though much of his time was occupied in teaching 
 and encouraging others, he was also active in farming* 
 gardening, fencing fields, etc.; and during the summer of 
 1849, constructed a bridge over the Jordan River, the 
 first that ever spanned that stream. With Parley P. Pratt 
 and others he went on several exploring expeditions. 
 In one of these he visited Utah Valley and Lake. He 
 built the first boat that was launched on that beautiful 
 sheet of water, and ascertaining that there was an abun- 
 dance of fish in the lake he manufactured a sein a hun- 
 dred feet long, for which his wives spun the material. 
 The fish caught in this manner materially assisted in 
 eking out the scant supplies of the colonists. 
 
 In August, 1849, General John Wilson, with a small 
 military escort, visited the colonists. He was on a pri- 
 vate mission from the President of the United States, 
 Zachary Taylor, to the Saints. The object of that mis- 
 sion was this : 
 
 There was trouble anticipated in the then approach- 
 ing congress, about the territorial question, involving 
 as it did, at that time, the extension of slavery. General 
 Wilson, therefore, was sent to request the settlers in 
 Salt Lake Valley to unite with California and form a 
 state, which it was proposed to admit into the Union, and 
 thus, for the time being, remove the slavery question 
 from congress. The pro-slavery party had been gain- 
 ing ground rapidly for a few years previous to this time. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2OI 
 
 Texas had been annexed, and was a slave state. So 
 extensive was its territory, that it was capable of being 
 divided into several states, all of which, of course, would 
 tolerate slavery. 
 
 The treaty which closed the war with Mexico had 
 resulted in the United States obtaining an immense area 
 of country, out of which new states and territories would 
 be carved ; and of course there was in prospect a ter- 
 rible struggle betwen the pro-slavery and anti-slavery 
 parties, the former seeking to establish slavery in, and 
 the latter to exclude it from the states and territories to 
 be made out of this new accession of country. It was 
 thought by the administration, that if a large state 
 extending from the Pacific ocean eastward to Salt Lake, 
 with slavery prohibited by its constitution, was admitted 
 into the Union, it would offset the then late accession of 
 Texas, and calm the rising storm over that question. 
 
 General Wilson stated, that so eager was the Presi- 
 dent of the United States in regard to the subject, that 
 if he [Wilson] found any difficulty in the way, his 
 instructions were to appeal to the patriotism of the Mor- 
 mon people. 
 
 Elder Taylor, Charles C. Rich and Daniel Spencer 
 were appointed to confer with General Wilson upon the 
 subject of his mission. The result of those deliber- 
 ations was a proposal by the people of Salt Lake Valley, 
 California agreeing therewith, to form a state unitedly, 
 and continue in that condition two years ; after which the 
 eastern part of the state was to be formed into a state 
 by itself. 
 
 With this as a basic proposition, General Wilson 
 started for California, to confer with another gentleman 
 who had been sent out on a like mission to that place ; 
 but he encountered very severe weather in the mountains, 
 
2O2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 by which he was delayed. After many severe hardships 
 he reached the coast, only to find that his coadjutor had 
 become tired of waiting and had sailed for the East, so 
 that they did not meet to confer upon the matter proposed 
 to the Saints. 
 
 Senator Truman Smith, of Connecticut, in a speech 
 he delivered in the United States Senate, July 8th, 1850, 
 after having read some statements furnished him by Dr. 
 John M. Bernhisel, thus alludes to the presence of Gen- 
 eral Wilson in Salt Lake Valley : 
 
 11 The statement of Dr. Bernhisel touching the won- 
 derful progress made by the people of Deseret within a 
 space of time incredibly brief, is abundantly confirmed 
 by a letter which I received from General John Wilson, 
 dated at Salt Lake City, September 6th, 1849, from 
 which I submit the following extract : 
 
 "A more orderly, earnest, industrious and civil 
 people, I have never been among than these, and it is 
 incredible how much they have done, here in the wilder- 
 ness in so short a time. In this city which contains 
 about from four to five thousand inhabitants, I have not 
 met in a citizen a single idler, or any person who looks 
 like a loafer. Their prospects for crops are fair, and 
 there is a spirit and energy in all that you see that cannot 
 be equaled in any city of any size that I have ever been 
 in, and I will add, not even in old Connecticut." 
 
 Elder Taylor having labored for two years in laying 
 the foundation of a future great commonwealth, was 
 then called upon to leave that kind of labor and introduce 
 the gospel into France. 
 
 What a change is here ! from the desert wilds of the 
 Rocky Mountains, in the interior of America, to France 
 to proud, beautiful France, first in all that pertains to 
 modern civilization ! From a city of adobe huts, log 
 
FIRST SAW MILL IN UTAH, 1847. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2O3 
 
 cabins and board shanties, to the glittering splendors 
 and sumptuous palaces of splendid Paris ! From the saw- 
 pit to the pulpit, and lecture-platform such is the life of 
 an apostle! 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 DREARY JOURNEY ACROSS THE PLAINS CHARGED BY A 
 
 TROOP OF INDIANS PEACE OR WAR? SUSPENSE A 
 
 FEAST INSTEAD OF A MASSACRE ARRIVAL AT KANES- 
 
 VILLE ST. LOUIS LETTER TO FAMILY ARRIVAL IN 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 IT WAS at the October conference of 1849 that 
 Elder Taylor was called to go to France, and the iQth of 
 the same month saw him leave his home for that distant 
 land. In the same company were Lorenzo Snow, bound 
 for Italy ; Erastus Snow, for Denmark ; Franklin D. 
 Richards, for England ; besides some eight or ten other 
 Elders for various fields of labor, and a number of 
 brethren for the Eastern States on business. 
 
 The journey across the plains was a tedious one ; the 
 cold, pitiless winds swept over them from the north-west, 
 which made the traveler think of the pleasant fireside 
 he had left in the Salt Lake Valley. 
 
 The Indians, too, especially the Crow tribe, 'mani- 
 fested something of a hostile disposition. Between the 
 upper crossing of the Platte and Independence Rock, 
 they met with four men carrying the mail to Fort Hall, 
 whom the Indians had partly robbed, or "tithed" as 
 
' 2O4 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Elder Taylor put it, of their blankets, clothes and pro- 
 visions. This circumstance made our travelers more 
 vigilant in guarding their horses "As we rather pre- 
 ferred to be tithed by our own bishops, whom we had 
 with us, than be subjected to the ordeal by those who 
 officiate without authority" remarks Elder Taylor. 
 
 The circumstance also put a rather serious phase at 
 first, upon the following : Two days after passing Fort 
 Laramie, while our travelers were baiting their horses at 
 noon on the banks of the Platte, they saw a large force 
 of Indians suddenly come over the crest of a hill east of 
 them. From the crest of the hill, or swell of the prairie 
 to the river was about three-quarters of a mile, and 
 down the gentle slope came the troop at break-neck 
 speed, clad in all the paraphernalia of "feathers, paints 
 and brooches," that delights the savage heart. The 
 horses were as gaily ornamented as their riders, and 
 seemed to partake of the same free, wild spirit. 
 
 As on they came like a whirlwind, some could be 
 seen shaking out the priming of their fire-arms and 
 priming them afresh; others were putting arrows to bow- 
 strings, and others setting their lances at rest. Did this 
 mean war, or what was more likely a massacre for the 
 approaching troop numbered two hundred ? Our trav- 
 elers had little time to prepare for either an attack or 
 friendly visit ; but they made good use of what they had. 
 As soon as the approaching troop was discovered, sev- 
 eral of the brethren were ordered to secure the horses to 
 the wagons, while the rest, seizing their arms, were 
 drawn up into line to receive the shock of conflict. 
 
 On came the Indians in silence, their faces betraying 
 no emotion by which it could be determined whether they 
 meant war or peace. Meantime our travelers were in 
 anxious suspense. To fire on them first would, perhaps, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2O5 
 
 turn what was intended for a frolic into a massacre, and 
 yet they must needs do something soon or be run over. 
 Meanwhile they stood their ground undaunted. On 
 came the savage troop, determined apparently, to break 
 their line, but as it stood unmoved they came to a dead 
 halt within a rod and a half of it, setting their horses 
 back on their haunches by a sudden jerk of the rein. 
 Even after this, some of them made a show of preparing 
 their arms. 
 
 Presently their chief came up and showed signs of 
 peace. But as the Indians neither understood French 
 nor English, and none of our travelers understood the 
 Indian dialect, communication was difficult. One of the 
 chiefs at last, produced a paper, stating that their tribe, 
 the Gheyennes, was friendly to the whites. This being 
 learned, the scene which looked so much like war a few 
 moments before, was changed to one of feasting, the 
 Indians, to their great delight, being treated to crackers, 
 dried meat and tobacco. 
 
 The same evening Elder Taylor, with Lorenzo Snow 
 and Bishop Hunter, visited their encampment, some 
 three or four miles distant. They were informed by a 
 Frenchman living with them that the tribe numbered six 
 hundred warriors, and they were quite wealthy well 
 armed and mounted. The brethren visited a number of 
 lodges and were well treated, though the Indians seemed 
 a little chagrined at the occurrence of the morning. 
 They undoubtedly intended their semi-warlike demon- 
 stration to frighten our travelers, perhaps make them 
 take to the river ; but as the rather practical joke failed, 
 it left the jokers subject to ridicule. 
 
 On arriving at Kanesville the party were received 
 by the Saints still remaining there with every demonstra- 
 tion of joy ; and from thence Elder Taylor and several 
 
2O6 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 of the company made their way to St. Louis, where 
 there were several strong branches of the Church, num- 
 bering upwards of three thousand members all told. 
 
 Here I insert a letter addressed by Elder Taylor 
 from St. Louis to his family, not so much for items of 
 history that it contains, as for the expression of his 
 appreciation of family associations and enjoyments. We 
 so frequently have seen him sacrifice the association of 
 family and the comforts of home to carry the gospel to 
 distant lands, and doing it so cheerfully, that it is just 
 possible that those acquainted only with his public career 
 may regard him as being indifferent to the fond endear- 
 ments of home life. If such there be, let them read the 
 following letter and learn that Elder Taylor possessed 
 strong native attachments for his home and its holy rela- 
 tionships ; and that his love for wives and children was 
 not less intense because he sacrificed their companion- 
 ship for the gospel's sake. It was not because he loved 
 home and wives and children less, but that he loved the 
 gospel more that he left them for its sake : 
 
 "My Dear Family: 
 
 ''After a long absence I now sit down to write to 
 you. I have been in this city about three weeks, and 
 stayed in Kanesville about as long. I have been going 
 leisurely along for the purpose of studying French, that 
 I might be the better prepared to enter on my mission 
 on my arrival in France. I have made some progress in 
 the language and hope to be able to speak it on my 
 arrival there. The Saints wherever I go treat me with the 
 greatest kindness and hospitality. 
 
 "The latter part of our journey over the plains was 
 a cold and dreary one, but the Lord was with us and 
 protected us, and opened out our way before us. The 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2OJ 
 
 snows fell on our right and left, before and behind, but 
 we never encountered a snow storm until the last day. 
 We arrived safe, however, and all is well. 
 
 "At Kanesville we were saluted with the firing of 
 guns on our arrival, and the greatest manifestations of 
 rejoicing, and parties, musical entertainments, etc., were 
 gotten up. This has also been the case in St. Louis. 
 Here the Saints have a magnificent hall and a splendid 
 band and do things up in good style. 
 But these outward tokens of friendship are very little to 
 me, when compared with the heart-felt joy, the kindly 
 feeling, the sympathetic and warm-hearted brotherhood 
 manifested by many of my old friends, hundreds of 
 whom seem anxious in every possible way to promote 
 my happiness, secure my company and have my blessing 
 and friendship. On my arrival both here and in Kanes- 
 ville the Saints flocked around me like bees ; and the 
 greatest trouble I have is that of not being able to fulfill 
 the many engagements that have pressed themselves 
 upon me. 
 
 "'But,' say you, 'do you not think of us and home? 
 and do you never think of me, and of me ? ' This is 
 what I have been wanting to get at for some time, and 
 this long, tedious preface has become wearisome to me 
 let me tell my feelings if I can. Home! Home! Home! 
 What shall I say? can I tell it? No, a thousand times 
 no! Your forms, your countenances, your bodies and 
 your spirits are all portrayed before me as in living char- 
 acters. You are with me in my imaginations, thoughts, 
 dreams, feelings ; true our bodies are separated, but 
 there you live you dwell in my bosom, in my heart and 
 affections, and will remain there forever. Our covenants, 
 our hopes, our joys are all eternal and will live when 
 our bodies moulder in the dust. Oceans, seas, moun- 
 
2O8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tains, deserts and plains may separate us but in my 
 heart you dwell. 
 
 "Do I see an amiable, lovely woman my feelings are 
 not there, they fly to my home. Do I see a beautiful 
 infant hear the prattle of lovely innocents, or the sym- 
 metry and intelligence of those more advanced in years? 
 My mind flies to my home there I gaze upon my wives, 
 there I fondle and kiss my children and revel for a time 
 in this mental delight ; but I awake from my reverie and 
 find that it is but a dream, and that mountains, deserts 
 and plains separate us ! Do I murmur? No! Do you? 
 I hope not shall I not say for you, No? 
 
 "I am engaged in my Master's business; lama 
 minister of Jehovah to proclaim His will to the nations. 
 I go to unlock the door of life to a mighty nation, to 
 publish to millions the principles of life, light and truth, 
 intelligence and salvation, to burst their fetters, liberate 
 the oppressed, reclaim the wandering, correct their views, 
 improve their morals, save them from degradation, ruin 
 and misery, and lead them to light, life, truth and celes- 
 tial glory. Do not your spirits co-operate with mine? I 
 know they do. Do you not say, 'Go, my husband, go, 
 my father ; fulfill your mission, and let God and angels 
 protect you and restore you safe to our bosoms ? ' I 
 know you do. Well, our feelings are reciprocal, I love 
 my family and they love me;. but shall that love be so 
 contracted, so narrow, so earthly and sensual as to pre- 
 vent my doing the will of my Father in heaven ? No, 
 say I, and you echo, No. No ! our thoughts and feelings 
 soar in another atmosphere. We live for time, and we 
 live for eternity; we love here and we will love for- 
 ever 
 
 While life or thought or being last, 
 Or immortality endures! 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2Og 
 
 "Our separations here tend to make us more appre- 
 ciative of each other's society. A few more separations 
 and trials, a few more tears, a few more afflictions, and 
 the victory will be ours ! We'll gain the kingdom, pos- 
 sess the crown, inherit eternal glory, associate with the 
 Gods, soar amidst the intelligences of heaven ; and with 
 the noble, the great, the intellectual, the virtuous, the 
 amiable, the holy, possess the reward held in reserve for 
 the righteous, and live and love forever. * * 
 May the spirit of peace be and abide with you forever ; 
 and when you bow before the Throne of Grace remem- 
 ber your affectionate husband, father and friend." 
 
 From St, Louis to New York the journey was 
 uneventful. In company with Elders Curtis E. Bolton 
 and John Pack he took passage in the Westervelt, a 
 splendid vessel of fifteen hundred tons' burden, and 
 arrived in Liverpool on the 2yth of May, 1850. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ARRIVAL IN FRANCE PREPARATIONS FOR WORK MONSIEUR 
 
 LE MAIRE PERMISSION TO LECTURE MEETINGS IN 
 
 BOULOGNE-SUR-MER IMPUDENT PRIESTS A CHALLENGE 
 
 GREAT DISCUSSION MINISTERS FLY THEIR COLORS 
 
 UNFAIR CHAIRMAN DEFENSE OF ELDER TAYLOR. 
 
 AFTER a brief stay in England Elder Taylor sailed 
 for France, arriving in Boulogne-sur-Mer a fortified 
 seaport town in the North of France on the i8th of 
 June. He was accompanied by Elder Bolton and 
 William Howell, from Wales. The latter had preached 
 
210 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the gospel in various places in the Jersey Islands and on 
 the coast of France, and had baptized a few into the 
 Church. 
 
 Elder Taylor's first step was to call upon the mayor 
 of the city and find out the extent of his privileges in 
 preaching. He explained to that officer that the object 
 of his visit to France was religious not political ; that he 
 wished to preach the gospel, and that his principles 
 taught him to uphold the laws and government where- 
 ever his lot might be cast ; and that he might not infringe 
 upon the laws of France or of that city, he called upon 
 him as the chief officer in the place for information. 
 
 Monsieur le Maire was all politeness and attention. 
 He first inquired if Monsieur Taylor had any papers, and 
 upon having placed in his hand a letter of recommenda- 
 tion from the Governor of Deseret, signed by the 
 Secretary of State, he expressed himself as satisfied; 
 and informed the Elder that if he preached in a con- 
 secrated church nothing more would be required ; but if 
 he preached in a hall not consecrated, it would be 
 necessary to address a note to him, specifying his inten- 
 tion and the doctrines he would preach ; naming the hall 
 and his place of residence, and he would then give him 
 the necessary liberty. Such was the law at the time, 
 that if this routine was not observed, the person 
 attempting to hold the public meeting was liable to be 
 imprisoned or banished from the country. 
 
 At first the conversation was carried on by Elder 
 Bolton acting as interpreter ; but the mayor either wish- 
 ing to display his learning or accommodate Monsieur 
 Taylor, undertook to make his replies in English. Elder 
 Taylor observing the mayor's imperfect English, and 
 not to be outdone in politeness, was soon trying to 
 answer his grace in equally bad French. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2 I I 
 
 Elder Pack joined the little party in Boulogne on 
 the 26th of June, and the same evening they walked 
 down on the sea-shore, and as the friendly shades of 
 night shut them out from the rest of the world, they 
 bowed down in prayer, in which Elder Taylor was 
 mouth. He thanked the Lord for preserving them in 
 their travels over mountains, deserts, plains, oceans and 
 seas ; and solemnly dedicated himself and his brethren 
 to the labors to which they had been called by His own 
 voice through His servants. He prayed for wisdom, for 
 intelligence in short, for the co-operation of God in 
 their efforts to introduce the gospel in that land. 
 
 His next step was to secure a hall for preaching, 
 near the center of the city, and announce a course of 
 lectures on the principles of the gospel He also wrote 
 a number of letters to the editor of the Interpreter 
 Anglais et Francois, in which he explained the object of 
 his mission, and gave a brief account of the restoration 
 of the gospel, with an explanation of its leading 
 principles. These letters were published both in French 
 and English. 
 
 The lectures were not very largely attended. The 
 French people are notoriously indifferent to religion. 
 They are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ; are 
 gay, volatile, careless, happy, intelligent. Anything in 
 fact but religious. Therefore the announcement of these 
 religious lectures did not create much interest. 
 
 There were a number of Protestant ministers in 
 the town and they not only attended his lectures, but 
 made themselves particularly obnoxious by their impu- 
 dence. The evening of his first lecture a Mr. Robertson, 
 an Independent minister, arose in the meeting and 
 wanted the privilege of asking a few questions. Fear- 
 ing, however, that to grant such a request might lead to 
 
2 I 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 disorder, and the mayor under those circumstances 
 might withdraw his permission for holding the meetings, 
 Elder Taylor told the reverend gentleman that he would 
 answer as many questions as he might think proper to 
 ask at his lodgings, or he would call on the gentleman 
 at his house and answer them there, but could not admit 
 of anything that might lead to a disturbance. Mr. 
 Robertson pleaded that it was for the good of the public, 
 and his friends who were there, that he wished to ask 
 the questions. Elder Taylor replied that he might bring 
 his friends with him, or he would meet them at his house. 
 
 Not satisfied with this, Mr. Robertson followed him 
 out into the street and being joined by a Baptist minister, 
 began to abuse " Joe Smith," calling him an impostor, etc. 
 
 "Whom do you speak of," said Elder Taylor, "I 
 was personally acquainted with Mr. Joseph Smith; he 
 was a gentleman, and would not treat a stranger as you 
 do me." They still followed him, but he paid no more 
 attention to them. 
 
 A few days after this occurrence, he received a chal- 
 lenge to a public discussion from the Revs. C. W. Cleeve, 
 James Robertson and Philip Cater. This challenge he 
 enclosed to the mayor, with a note, asking if there would 
 be any objection to such a meeting. Being informed 
 there would be no objection, the challenge was accepted, 
 and the preliminaries arranged. 
 
 The questions for disscussion were stated as follows : 
 First, the late Joseph Smith ; his public and pretended 
 religious career. Second, the Book of Mormon ; is it a 
 revelation from God ? Third, are the ministers of that 
 people [the Mormons] sent of God by direct appoint- 
 ment ? The fourth article of the agreement stated that 
 "Mr. Taylor will have the privilege of discussing the 
 validity of the faith and calling of his opponents." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 213 
 
 The discussion began on the evening of the nth of 
 July, and continued three nights, from seven until ten, 
 each party having thirty minutes alternately. The first 
 two nights, and one hour of the third evening were taken 
 up on the first three questions, leaving Elder Taylor 
 only an hour in which to enquire into the doctrines and 
 callings of his opponents ; yet, as we shall see, that was 
 sufficient. 
 
 In discussing the character of Joseph Smith, Elder 
 Taylor's opponents introduced the infamous statements 
 of Doctor Bennett, the Rev. Henry Caswell and others, 
 charging Joseph with a number of crimes and immor- 
 alities. Elder Taylor had no documentary evidence to 
 rebutt these slanders, but he offered his own testimony 
 to the character of the Prophet: and as Elders Bolton 
 and Pack both knew him personally, he called upon them 
 to testify, which they did. Elder Taylor's own testimony 
 was especially strong. Burning with just indignation at 
 the slanders against his friend, repeated by these priests 
 of a dead theology, he said: 
 
 "I testify that I was acquainted with Joseph Smith 
 for years. I have traveled with him ; I have been with 
 him in private and in public ; I have associated with him 
 in councils of all kinds ; I have listened hundreds of 
 times to his public teachings, and his advice to his friends 
 and associates of a more private nature. I have been at 
 his house and seen his deportment in his family. I have 
 seen him arraigned before the courts of his country, and 
 seen him honorably acquitted, and delivered from the 
 pernicious breath of slander, and the machinations and 
 falsehoods of wicked and corrupt men. I was with him 
 living, and with him when he died ; when he was mur- 
 dered in Carthage jail by a ruthless mob with their 
 faces painted, and headed by a Methodist minister, named 
 
214 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Williams I was there, and was myself wounded. I, at 
 that time, received four balls in my body. I have seen 
 him, then, under these various circumstances, and I tes- 
 tify before God, angels and men, that he was a good, 
 honorable, virtuous man that his doctrines were good, 
 scriptural and wholesome that his precepts were such 
 as became a man of God that his private and public 
 character was unimpeachable and that he lived and 
 died as a man of God and a gentleman. This is my 
 testimony ; if it is disputed bring me a person authorized 
 to receive an affidavit, and I will make one to this 
 effect." 
 
 In another part of the debate, he remarked on 
 the testimony of himself and brethren: "We have heard 
 from our opponents about testimony that would be 
 received in a court. The testimony of three living wit- 
 nesses against a criminal, if his crime was murder, 
 would hang him." 
 
 CHAIRMAN : Oh, no ! oh, no ! 
 
 A GENTLEMAN IN THE AUDIENCE: (a barrister) "It 
 would." 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR : "I say Mr Chairman, that it would. 
 Let three respectable men make affidavit before a court, 
 that they had seen one man murder another, and if their 
 testimony was unimpeached the man would hang their 
 testimony would be conclusive." 
 
 Replying to his opponents remarks about not com- 
 ing prepared with documents to answer their scurrilous 
 charges, and about his testimony being that of an inter- 
 ested party, or of a particular friend, Elder Taylor 
 said : 
 
 " Mr. Cleeve * * * thinks I ought to bring 
 documents to be accredited, as if it were necessary for us 
 to bring replies to all the trash ever published against us ! 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 215 
 
 Now, what testimony had St. Paul when he preached at 
 Athens, at Rome or at Antioch? He said that he had 
 seen a vision, the people, of course, could believe him or 
 not, as they thought proper. The wicked Jews were 
 sent after him and his colleagues to testify evil. How 
 could he rebutt it ? Where were his documents? The 
 Jews could state that he had been found guilty in several 
 places, and whipped and imprisoned. Could he deny it? 
 Assuredly not. They could testify that Jesus whom he 
 preached, was crucified, as a blasphemer and an im- 
 postor, by the Jews, his own people. Could he say that 
 this was not a legal decision ? It seems to me that these 
 gentlemen have never studied their Bibles, or they would 
 have known more about such things ; they must see that 
 they are taking the same stand that the Pharisees and 
 chief priests did formerly." 
 
 He then showed his opponents what position they 
 would be in providing they were transplanted to a nation 
 that did not believe in Jesus or the Bible. As the pass- 
 age is both instructive and amusing, I quote it in 
 full:- 
 
 "Now, I will speak a little about the position of my 
 opponents. I suppose they are considered gentlemen 
 here; their doctrines are believed, at least, by their respec- 
 tive flocks, if they have any. The Bible is believed by all. 
 Suppose we transplant them to Hindostan or China. 
 What evidence would they have to present before the 
 people? They present the scriptures, and tell the peo- 
 ple they are true. But how are we to know it, say the 
 people. We tell you so. That is all very well, but we 
 want some proof. Well, say you, they speak of Jesus 
 coming to atone for the sins of the world. 
 
 " Yes, but the Jews tell us he was an impostor and 
 a wicked man." 
 
2 1 6 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 "But we believe Him to be a good man, and the son 
 of God." 
 
 " Did you ever see Him?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Did you ever see anybody that had seen him ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " How do you know anything about Him then?" 
 
 "We believe Him to be good." 
 
 " Who wrote this book ?" 
 
 " His apostles." 
 
 " Oh, his particular friends /" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Did you ever see them?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Did you ever see anybody that did ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Well, we don't put much confidence in your 
 remarks ; but we will read your book." 
 
 Having read it they say: 
 
 " Oh, I perceive that certain signs are to follow 
 them that believe the sick are to be healed, devils cast 
 out, they are to speak in other tongues, have the gift of 
 prophecy, etc. Do these signs follow you ? 
 
 " Oh, no !" 
 
 " But you say you are believers, and your Bible 
 says these signs shall follow them that believe." 
 
 " Oh, they are done away with and not necessary. " 
 
 " But one of your apostles says, * follow after 
 charity and desire spiritual gifts.' ' 
 
 " But they are not needed." 
 
 "Strange! Your Apostle St. Paul says, 'the eye 
 cannot cay to the ear, I have no need of thee ; nor the 
 head to the foot, I have no need of thee.' But shall we 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 217 
 
 not receive these gifts if we believe in Jesus, repent and 
 are baptized?" 
 
 -No." 
 
 "Oh, you have a friend here, I see who is also a 
 Christian minister. Do you believe in the same book, 
 sir?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 44 Do you believe in the same doctrine?" 
 
 44 No." 
 
 44 But do you get yours from the same book ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And does it teach you differently?" 
 
 "We believe differently." 
 
 "But you have, we perceive, another friend here; is 
 he also a minister?" 
 
 ''Yes." 
 
 "Which of your doctrines does he believe? " 
 
 "Neither." 
 
 "Do you all believe the Bible?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Do you believe it to be true or false?" 
 
 "True." 
 
 "Does a true book teach three different ways [of sal- 
 vation] ?" 
 
 "Those are our opinions." 
 
 "Oh, I thought you had come to teach us truth; if 
 opinions are all, we have plenty of them already and can 
 dispense with your services. " 
 
 When the discussion turned upon the doctrines and 
 authority of his opponents, he made short work of it. 
 He proved very clearly that they were without authority 
 to act in the name of God ; that their doctrines were out 
 of harmony with the scriptures and their religion a mere 
 form of Godliness without the power thereof. To his 
 
2l8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 statements and arguments they refused to reply, but still 
 continued harping on the character of Joseph Smith. 
 Paying no heed to their vain repetition of the slanderous 
 charges against the Prophet, to which he had once made 
 answer, he continued to unmercifully bombard their relig- 
 ious citadels, until, seeing them tumbling about their ears, 
 the reverend gentlemen sought safety in flight. 
 
 The following is, in part, the bombardment before 
 which they finally fled : 
 
 4 'What about their calling? Are we to have no 
 answer to this subject? I have positively proved and 
 demonstrated that they have no authority to preach, and 
 they never attempted to disprove it, but have given us 
 another rehearsal of the old ditty [the character of Jo- 
 seph Smith]. Gentlemen, you sit down very quietly 
 under the appellation of false teachers; of course we 
 must believe that you are such unless you can prove to 
 the contrary. Mr. Robertson, indeed, honestly says that 
 he has no authority. Then God has nothing to do with 
 him or his calling. He, of course, acknowledges that he 
 is administering in the name of one who never sent him. 
 We shall take him at his word, and set him down as a 
 teacher whom God has not sent. In France or England 
 they would punish persons as imposters for committing 
 an act of forgery. But the judgment of those who 
 administer falsely in the name of Jesus has not yet come; 
 but the time will come when some will come and say, we 
 have preached in thy name ; and He will answer, depart 
 from me, I never knew you (confusion). We shall set 
 Mr. Cater on the stool with Mr. Robertson. Mr. Cleeve 
 will not degrade himself by investigating the matter! 
 Will he tell me why he, as a gentleman, undertook to 
 discuss a subject, and published that engagement, which 
 he is now disgusted with? And why he did not express 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 219 
 
 his feelings of disgust before he heard the argument? I 
 presume a criminal would express his disgust at an exe- 
 cutioner for being so impolite as to put a noose round a 
 gentleman's neck. But it is there, and there it will 
 remain, Mr. Cleeve, until it is removed by you. It needs 
 more formidable weapons than disgust or contempt to 
 remove it ; and we shall still say you have no authority, 
 that you are a false teacher, and that God has not sent 
 you, unless you can show some reason to the contrary." 
 (Confusion.) 
 
 Elder Taylor, amid considerable confusion, hastily 
 sketched the outlines of the doctrines of Christ as con- 
 tained in the New Testament, the organization of the 
 Church and the gifts and powers that attended the prim- 
 itive Saints, all of which was to be perpetuated in the 
 Church. 
 
 "Now let us examine how this doctrine agrees with 
 that of these gentlemen ; for be it remembered that St. 
 John says, ' He that transgresseth and abideth not in the 
 doctrines of Christ hath not God, but he that abideth in 
 the doctrines of Christ hath both the Father and the 
 Son.' (n. John, 9.) Now, have they apostles? No. 
 they ridicule the idea of them. Have they prophets ? 
 No. They tell us there is to be no more prophecy. 
 Have they evangelists, pastors and teachers inspired 
 men? No. They don't believe in inspiration, and tell 
 us the cause of inspiration has ceased. Do they speak 
 in tongues? No: you have heard it turned into ridicule 
 time and again. Do they have prophets among them 
 who prophesy? No. This they call a delusion. If any 
 are sick, do they do as St. James says, 'send for the Elders 
 of the Church that they may pray for them, and anoint 
 them with oil in the name of. the Lord?' No. That they 
 call fanaticism. Do they baptize in the name of the Lord 
 
22O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 for the remission of sins? No. Do they lay on hands 
 for the gift of the Holy Ghost? No. What have they 
 got that in the least resembles the gospel? They have 
 not even a clumsy counterfeit. How will they stand the 
 test? 'He that abideth not in the doctrines of Christ 
 hath not God.' I will not, however, call them imposters, 
 that I shall leave, and go on to examine their doctrines 
 more in detail. 
 
 ''First, I will commence with Mr. Cleeve. He pro- 
 fesses to be a Methodist minister. I am somewhat 
 acquainted with their doctrines. Their ministers are not 
 all ordained as Mr. Cleeve is; they have their class 
 leaders, local preachers, exhorters and itinerant preach- 
 ers, made just at random, according to convenience. But 
 I will here take Mr. Cleeve and Mr. Cater and compare 
 their doctrines. Mr. Cleeve believes in sprinkling ; Mr. 
 Cater in immersion ; neither of them believing in bap- 
 tism as Peter did, for remission of sins. (Interrup- 
 tion.) But the Methodists have arranged the matter 
 more conveniently, for according to the discipline of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in America, they have three 
 different modes of baptism they will baptize either by 
 sprinkling, pouring or immersion. This is the doctrine 
 of the Episcopal Methodist Church in America; so that 
 after teaching a person what they call the plan of salva- 
 tion, they do not know as teachers how to baptize, but 
 must apply to the person whom they are teaching. Thus 
 Mr. Cleeve would " 
 
 MR. CLEEVE. I am not a Methodist, sir. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. I certainly understood you were a 
 Wesleyan Methodist. 
 
 MR. CLEEVE. I have nothing to do with the Wes- 
 leyan Methodists, either directly or indirectly.* 
 
 *Elder Taylor in a postscript to a letter to the Editor of the Boulogne Interpreter, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 221 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. Then I must say that I am laboring 
 under a mistake ; this was certainly my understanding. I 
 will therefore turn to Mr. Cater. I understand that he is 
 a Baptist minister. 
 
 MR. CATER. I am not a member of the Baptist 
 Association.* 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. I was certainly told and understood 
 until now that you were, sir. Pray, gentlemen, what are 
 you? (Great laughter and no answer.) 
 
 At this point the Rev. Mr. Long, evidently ashamed 
 of the cowardice of the ministers that were flying from 
 their colors, arose in the audience and exclaimed, "I am 
 not ashamed of my profession, sir ; I am a clergyman of 
 the Church of England." (Great laughter.) 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. I certainly think the gentlemen 
 have taken a strange position, they seem to be afraid of 
 acknowledging what their profession is. However, I will 
 proceed. I have three different ministers to do with of 
 some persuasion, for they all call themselves Reverends. 
 Now, do their doctrines agree with the scriptures? Have 
 they the organization, ordinances, gifts, prophecy, reve- 
 lations, visions, tongues, apostles, prophets? No. This 
 they cannot deny, for they have all of them opposed 
 these things ; yet all of these things were associated with 
 primitive Christianity. Their offices, their doctrines, 
 their calling, their teaching, their ordinances are all in- 
 correct, they are devoid of the blessings, powers, unity, 
 
 in which a condensed report of the debate was published, writes: " Mr. Cleeve denied 
 publicly being a Wesleyan minister, or being in any way connected with the Wesleyan 
 Society. What means the following sign over the door of his chapel* Wesleyan 
 Chapel? ' And also the following: notice inside: 'Wesleyan Station at Boulogne ? ' '' 
 
 * Subsequent to the discussion, when in Bath, Elder Taylor was informed that Mr. 
 Cater had officiated for ten years in Yorfc Street Chapel, in Bath, as a Baptist minister. 
 Inquiring indirectly about the matter of a Mr. Cox, a Baptist minister in Bath, he said 
 that Mr. Cater was a Baptist minister, and was then preaching in Boulogne. 
 
222 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 certainty and revelation, and are left struggling in the 
 mazes of confusion, division, strife, uncertainty and error. 
 They know not God nor the power of God. (Interrup- 
 tion.) There is scarcely a principle that these gentlemen 
 have that is correct, even the doctrine of baptism for the 
 remission of sins they treat lightly; yet Philip baptized 
 the Ethiopian eunuch when he believed, he immersed 
 him in water; John baptized in ^Enon because there was 
 much water there ; St. Paul was told to arise and wash 
 away his sins, and Jesus says that except a man be born 
 of water and of the spirit, he can in no wise enter the 
 kingdom of God. 
 
 CHAIRMAN. (to Elder Taylor) Do you wish to con- 
 tinue, the gentlemen on the opposite side are satisfied 
 that it rest here ? 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. I certainly did not anticipate this. 
 I expected to investigate their principles further, accord- 
 ing to agreement. 
 
 CHAIRMAN. They do not wish to say any more. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. If they have no reply to make, of 
 course I must let it rest. 
 
 Here the debate closed, and the Champion of Truth 
 was triumphant. 
 
 The chairmen of the meetings, Mr. Luddy, Dr. 
 Townley and Mr. Groves made some remarks at the 
 close of the debate, and very unfairly, as Elder Taylor 
 could have no opportunity to reply to them, undertook 
 to rescue the vanquished ministers. In the published 
 report of the discussion, however, he wrote out his 
 replies to their strictures, and very effectually answered 
 them. 
 
 There is one item connected with this discussion 
 that should be dealt with, since it is a matter that the 
 enemies of Elder Taylor have sought to make much of 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 223 
 
 in casting reproach upon his veracity and moral courage. 
 In the course of the discussion his opponents rehearsed 
 all the charges of crime and immorality made in the 
 writings and lectures of John C. Bennett after he was 
 excommunicated from the Church; and accused the 
 Saints with practicing the grave immoralities described 
 by this arch apostate. Among the immoralities charged 
 were those of promiscuous sexual intercourse, a com- 
 munity of wives, the keeping of seraglios, polygamy, 
 illicit intercourse by permission of the Prophet, and the 
 keeping of spiritual wives. 
 
 To all this Elder Taylor made a general and em- 
 phatic denial, and read from an article then published in 
 the Appendix of the Doctrine and Covenants, expressing 
 the belief of the Church on the subject of marriage; and 
 inasmuch as he knew of and had obeyed the law of 
 celestial marriage, including as it does a plurality of 
 wives, he has been accused of falsehood, and of seeking 
 to deceive by denying the charges then brought against 
 the Church. 
 
 The polygamy and gross sensuality charged by 
 Bennett and repeated by those ministers in France, had 
 no resemblance to celestial or patriarchal marriage 
 which Elder Taylor knew existed at Nauvoo, and which 
 he had obeyed. Hence in denying the false charges of 
 Bennett he did not deny the existence of that system of 
 marriage that God had revealed ; no more than a man 
 would be guilty of denying the legal, genuine currency 
 of his country, by denying the genuineness and denounc- 
 ing what he knew to be a mere counterfeit of it. 
 
 Another illustration : Jesus took Peter, James and 
 John into the mountain and there met with Moses and 
 Elias, and the glory of God shone about them, and these 
 two angels talked with Jesus, and the voice of God was 
 
224 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 heard proclaiming Him to be the Son of God. .After the 
 glorious vision, as Jesus and His companions were 
 descending the mountain, the former said: "Tell the 
 vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen again 
 from the dead."* Suppose one of these apostles had 
 turned from the truth before the Son of Man was risen 
 from the dead; and under the influence of a wicked, 
 lying spirit should charge that Jesus and some of His 
 favorite apostles went up into a mountain, and there met 
 with Moses and Elias, or some persons pretending 
 to represent them, together with a group of voluptuous 
 courtesans with whom they spent the day in licentious 
 pleasure. If the other apostles denounce that as an 
 infamous falsehood, would .they be untruthful? No; 
 they would not. Or would they be under any obliga- 
 tions when denying the falsehoods of the apostate to 
 break the commandment the Lord had given them by 
 relating just what had happened in the mountain ? No ; 
 it would have been a breech of the Master's strict com- 
 mandment for them to do that. So with Elder Taylor. 
 While he was perfectly right and truthful in denying the 
 infamous charges repeated by his opponents, he was 
 under no obligation and had no right to announce to the 
 world, at that time, the doctrine of celestial marriage. It 
 was not then the law of the Church, or even the law to 
 the Priesthood of the Church : the body thereof at the 
 time knew little or nothing of it, though it had been 
 revealed to the Prophet and made known to some of his 
 most trusted followers. But today, now that the revela- 
 tion on celestial marriage is published to the world, if 
 the slanderous charges contained in the writings of John 
 C. Bennett should be repeated, every Elder in the 
 
 Matthew xvii. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 225 
 
 Church could truthfully and consistently do just what 
 Elder Taylor did in France he could deny their 
 existence. 
 
 That Elder Taylor neither lacked the courage of his 
 convictions on this subject, nor the boldness to proclaim 
 them, nor the skill to defend, was amply proven in sub- 
 sequent years, when, after the law of celestial marriage 
 was proclaimed to be the law of the Church, he went to 
 the city of New York to publish a paper, and there in 
 the metropolis and center of civilization of America, 
 fearlessly proclaimed that doctrine, and successfully 
 defended it against all comers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE WORK INTRODUCED INTO PARIS INTERVIEW WITH 
 
 M. KROLOKOSKI "WHICH IS BEST, YOUR PHILOSOPHY 
 
 OR OUR RELIGION?" FRENCH PHILOSOPHY OR FRIED 
 
 FROTH TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON INTO 
 
 FRENCH CHARACTERISTIC LETTER UNSETTLED STATE 
 
 OF AFFAIRS IN FRANCE FRENCH LIBERTY GOSPEL 
 
 INTRODUCED INTO GERMANY TRANSLATION OF THE 
 
 BOOK OF MORMON INTO THE GERMAN ZION's PANIER 
 
 A CONFERENCE UNDER DIFFICULTIES DEPARTURE 
 
 FROM FRANCE A KNOWING OFFICER AND A TRUE 
 
 FRIEND. 
 
 SHORTLY after the discussion Elder Taylor left 
 Boulogne for Paris, where he began studying the French 
 language, and teaching the gospel. Among the interest- 
 ing people whom he met there was M. Krolokoski, a 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. ' 
 
 disciple of M. Fourier, the distinguished French socialist. 
 M. Krolokoski was a gentleman of some standing, being 
 the editor of a paper published in Paris in support of 
 Fourier's views. Another thing which makes the visit of 
 this gentleman to Elder Taylor interesting is the fact 
 that it was the society to which he belonged that sent M. 
 Cabet to Nauvoo with the French Icarians, to establish a 
 community on Fourier's principles. At his request 
 Elder Taylor explained to him the leading principles of 
 the gospel. At the conclusion of that explanation the 
 following conversation occurred : 
 
 M. KROLOKOSKI. " Mr. Taylor, do you propose no 
 other plan to ameliorate the condition of mankind than 
 that of baptism for the remission of sins?" 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "This is all I propose about the 
 matter." 
 
 M. KROLOKOSKI. "Well, I wish you every success |; 
 but I am afraid you will not succeed." 
 
 * ELDER TAYLOR. "Monsieur Krolokoski, you sent 
 Monsieur Cabet to Nauvoo, some time ago. He was 
 considered your leader the most talented man you had. 
 He went to Nauvoo shortly after we had deserted it. 
 Houses and lands could be obtained at a mere nominal 
 sum. Rich farms were deserted, and thousands of us 
 had left our houses and furniture in them, and almost 
 everything calculated to promote the happiness of man 
 was there. Never could a person go to a place under 
 more happy circumstances. Besides all the advantages 
 of having everything made ready to his hand, M. Cabet 
 had a select company of colonists. He and his company 
 went to Nauvoo what is the result? I read in all your 
 reports from there published in your own paper here, 
 in Paris, a continued cry for help. The cry is money, 
 money! We want money to help us carry out our 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 227 
 
 designs.* While your colony in Nauvoo with all the 
 advantages of our deserted fields and homes that they 
 had only to move into have been dragging out a 
 miserable existence, the Latter-day Saints, though 
 stripped of their all and banished from civilized society 
 into the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, to seek that 
 protection among savages among the peau rouges as 
 you call our Indians which Christian civilization denied 
 us there our people have built houses, enclosed lands, 
 cultivated gardens, built school-houses, and have 
 organized a government and are prospering in all the 
 blessings of civilized life. Not only this, but they have 
 sent thousands and thousands of dollars over to Europe 
 to assist the suffering poor to go to America, where they 
 might find an asylum. 
 
 "The society I represent, M. Krolokoski," he con- 
 tinued, "comes with the fear of God the worship of 
 the Great Eloheim ; we offer the simple plan ordained of 
 God, viz: repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, 
 and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost. Our people have not been seeking the 
 influence of the world, nor the power of government, 
 but they have obtained both. Whilst you, with your 
 philosophy, independent of God, have been seeking to 
 build up a system of communism and a government 
 which is, according to your own accounts, the way to 
 introduce the Millennial reign. Now, which is the best, 
 our religion, or your philosophy?" 
 
 M. KROLOKOSKI. "Well, Mr. Taylor, I can say 
 nothing." 
 
 " Philosophy" has always been a passion with the 
 French ; but Elder Taylor seems not to have had a very 
 
 * A year or two after this conversation, the Icarian society at Nauvoo miserably 
 failed. It also failed in France. 
 
228 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 high regard for what he saw of it among them. He held 
 it in the same esteem that Paul did the " science "of the 
 Greeks he considered it a misnomer philosophy, 
 falsely so called. 
 
 One day in walking through the splendid grounds 
 of the Jardin des Plantes with a number of friends, one 
 of the party purchased a curious kind of cake, so thin 
 and light, that you could blow it away, and eat all day of 
 it and still not be satisfied. Some one of the company 
 asked Elder Taylor if he knew the name of it. "No," 
 he replied, "I don't know the proper name ; but in the 
 absence of one, I can give it a name I will call it French 
 philosophy, or fried froth, which ever you like." 
 
 During his stay in Paris he visited the Palace Ven- 
 dome, and with a number of friends ascended Napo- 
 leon's Column of Victory. His companions scratched 
 their names on the column as thousands had done before 
 them. Seeing that Elder Taylor had not written his 
 name, they asked him to write it with theirs. "No" he 
 replied, " I will not write my name there ; but I will yet 
 write it in living, imperishable characters ! " 
 
 Having baptized a number of people in Paris, he 
 organized a branch of the Church in that city early in 
 December. During the summer, too, he had made 
 arrangements for translating the Book of Mormon into 
 the French language, and publishing a monthly 
 periodical, also in French, called Etoile Du Deseret The 
 Star of Deseret, a royal octavo sheet, the first number 
 of which appeared in May, 1851. 
 
 In the work of translating the Book of Mormon he 
 was greatly assisted by the patient labors of Elder Curtis 
 E. Bolton, Brother Louis Bertrand and several highly 
 educated gentlemen whom he baptized in Paris, but 
 whose names unfortunately cannot be obtained. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 2 29 
 
 When he announced his intention of publishing the 
 Book of Mormon in French, Elder Franklin D. Richards 
 called upon the conferences of the British Mission to 
 come to his assistance with means ; but he made other 
 arrangements to meet his engagements with the publish- 
 ing house ; and wrote the following characteristic letter 
 to Elder Richards : 
 
 "I feel very much obliged to you for the remarks 
 you made on the subject of the French mission, a short 
 time ago, wherein you requested the presiding Elders, 
 of the conferences, to raise means for publishing the 
 Book of Mormon in French. In noticing, however, the 
 position of the churches in this country, and the many 
 calls that have been made upon the brethren, I have 
 been seeking to make other arrangements without 
 troubling them, which I am very happy to inform you, 
 I have accomplished, and therefore shall not be neces- 
 sitated to make any calls upon the conferences. * * * 
 The scriptures say, that, 'it is more blessed to give than 
 to receive,' and if in making the above move, I may 
 have deprived some of an anticipated blessing, I hope 
 they will excuse me ; for perhaps there may be an 
 opportunity afforded them of assisting some of my 
 brethren in another way. If not, the world is large, 
 and there is ample opportunity to do good." 
 
 A few wealthy members of the Church in England 
 had privately furnished him the means, and he made 
 such arrangements with the publishers that when copies 
 of the book were sold a certain amount of the proceeds 
 was put away for printing another edition. "And thus 
 it can be continued from time to time," writes Elder 
 Taylor, "as necessity shall require, until 200,000 copies 
 are printed without any additional expense." 
 
 The translation is said to be a very correct one, the 
 
230 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 original simplicity of the Nephite writers is retained, and 
 it is as literal as the genius and idiom of the French 
 language will admit. 
 
 In addition to these literary labors Elder Taylor 
 applied to the government authorities for permission for 
 himself and the Elders to preach throughout France ; 
 and the prospects were fair for obtaining it ; but at that 
 juncture, a mob arose against the Saints in Denmark, their 
 meeting house where they assembled was torn down and 
 much excitement created. It was this circumstance 
 which doubtless led the French ministry to prohibit the 
 Elders from preaching altogether, instead of granting 
 them the liberty for which they asked. 
 
 The political situation in France at the time was 
 precarious, and did much to prevent Elder Taylor and 
 his companions from spreading the gospel among that 
 people. In 1848 Louis Philippe had been compelled to 
 abdicate the throne of France by an insurrection of the 
 people ; the provisional government that succeeded was 
 soon supplanted by the republic which was proclaimed 
 by the voice of the people; of which Louis Napoleon, 
 the nephew of the great Napoleon, was elected presi- 
 dent for four years, as provided for in the constitution. 
 This term of office was altogether too brief and too 
 precarious for a Bonaparte, and the newly elected 
 President soon set on foot secret measures for an 
 increase of power and an extension of time in office. 
 
 Having won over the army to his views, he boldly 
 seized such members of the National Assembly, and 
 other prominent citizens, who were opposed to his 
 interests and imprisoned them, suppressed the news- 
 papers and proclaimed the dissolution of the assembly 
 and council of state. He hastily sketched a new and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 231 
 
 more despotic constitution, which was accepted by the 
 people, and had himself elected president for ten years. 
 
 These movements were soon followed by even 
 bolder acts of usurpation. He secured the passage of 
 a decree by the new senate, making him hereditary 
 Emperor with the title of Napoleon III. And thus 
 an empire was erected on the ruins of the fallen republic. 
 
 Such were the agitations and revolutions going on 
 in France during the time that Elder Taylor was there 
 introducing the gospel ; and with such an irreligious and 
 excitable people as the French, it is not to be expected 
 that they will turn away from excited multitudes shout- 
 ing now vive la Republique, and then vive Vempereur, 
 with the whole country on the verge of civil war it is 
 not to be expected, I say, that a people, and especially 
 the French people, are going to turn from all this to 
 listen to a stranger preach on the peaceable things of the 
 kingdom of heaven ! 
 
 Still, meetings were held in Paris twice a week, and 
 the work spread into Havre, Calais, Boulogne and other 
 places. In the three cities named, as well as in Paris, 
 branches of the Church were organized. In June, 1851, 
 the Channel Islands, hitherto belonging to the British 
 mission in which there were several branches of the 
 Church, were added to the French mission and of course 
 considerably increased its strength. 
 
 In the latter part of July or about the first of 
 August, 1851, Elder Taylor accompanied by Elder Viet, 
 a German, and a teacher of that language in France, and 
 Elder George P. Dykes, went to the city of Hamburg, 
 Germany. Here, with the aid of Elder Viet, a Mr. 
 Charles Miller, whom he baptized shortly after his arrival 
 there, and George P. Dykes, he made arrangements for 
 and supervised the translation of the Book of Mormon 
 
232 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 into the German language. The work was finally com- 
 pleted and stereotyped ; and the text so arranged that 
 the French and German would face each other, each 
 page containing the same matter in the same opening, 
 and thus both could be bound together. 
 
 In Hamburg as in Paris, he published a monthly 
 periodical, a royal octavo sheet, which was called Ziori s 
 Panier Zion's Banner. The first number was issued 
 November ist, 1851. He also preached the gospel and 
 raised up a branch of the Church in Hamburg; after 
 which he returned to Paris, to attend a conference of the 
 French mission appointed to convene there. 
 
 He ran considerable risk in appointing this con- 
 ference, for the law prohibited more than twenty persons 
 assembling together, and a number of times the meet- 
 ings of the Saints in Paris were entered by the police, 
 and the number present counted to see if they were 
 violators of the law. Referring to this cramped situation 
 of affairs Elder Taylor remarks : "' Liberty,' 'Equality,' 
 ' Fraternity,' were written upon almost every door. You 
 had liberty to speak, but might be put in prison for 
 doing so. You had liberty to print, but they might burn 
 what you had printed, and put you in confinement for 
 it" such was French liberty! 
 
 Elder Taylor arrived in Paris about the i8th or I9th 
 of December. On the 2nd of the same month Louis 
 Napoleon by his famous coup d'etat had overthrown the 
 first republic succeeding the government of Louis 
 Philippe ; and in the meantime had sketched the more 
 despotic constitution which was to succeed it, with him- 
 self elected President for ten years. Paris was in the 
 hands of the soldiers; her streets had recently been 
 soaked with blood ; many of the buildings had been bat- 
 tered down into shapeless ruins ; and about five hundred 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 233 
 
 prisoners, untried before any tribunal even that of a 
 drum-head court martial had been shipped off to Cay- 
 enne. 
 
 It happened, too, that the day appointed for the 
 holding of this conference was the very day on which 
 the people were to vote for Napoleon for president it 
 would evidently be a day of excitement ; and altogether 
 the circumstances would have been considered sufficient, 
 by ordinary men, to have postponed the conference 
 indefinitely. Not so with Elder Taylor. A French rev- 
 olution was not to hinder him in his work. The 
 revolution would give the authorities of Paris something 
 else to do than to look after him. So the conference 
 was held. 
 
 There were about four hundred represented at the 
 conference. A number of elders, priests and teachers 
 were ordained; a conference was regularly organized 
 and a presidency appointed over the Church in France. 
 "At the very time they [the French people] were voting 
 for their president," Elder Taylor remarks, "we were 
 voting for our president ; and building up the kingdom 
 of God; and I prophesied that our cause would stand 
 when theirs is crushed to pieces ; and the kingdom of 
 God will roll on and spread from nation to nation, and 
 from kingdom to kingdom." 
 
 It scarcely need be said that the prophecy has been, 
 or is being fulfilled. The work the French people did 
 that day was undone in less than a year by the usurping 
 "Prince President" becoming Emperor, and crushing 
 out the life of the republic by founding a despotism as 
 absolute as any kingdom of the middle ages ; and which 
 in its turn was violently overthrown, a few years after- 
 wards, by another revolution. Meantime the kingdom 
 of God goes steadily forward slowly, perhaps, but 
 
234 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 none the less surely on that account. The Almighty 
 is not anxious to reap results today from promises He 
 laid down yesterday. The oak grows slowly ; but every 
 year adds something to its size ; the winds which beat 
 upon it only fix its mighty roots deeper in the earth and 
 increase the strength of its fiber ; and at last, in spite of 
 slowness of growth, in spite of howling tempest and the 
 thunder-bolt, the grand oak stands monarch of the forest. 
 So shall it be with the kingdom of God among the nations 
 of the earth. 
 
 Elder Taylor's mission in France and Germany was 
 now completed ; and he began making his arrangements 
 for returning home. It was the day after the conference 
 in Paris that he started for England, intending to call at 
 the Channel Islands en route \ 
 
 It was not more than ten minutes after he had taken 
 the cab and started to the railway station to take his de- 
 parture from France, when one of the high police officials 
 came to inquire for him. The gentleman with whom he 
 had stayed in Paris, M, Ducloux, was a very affectionate 
 friend to him, and he, with his sister-in-law, kept the 
 officer in conversation for two hours, speaking very 
 highly of their late guest, maintaining that he was a 
 respectable, high-minded gentleman. In turn the officer 
 told him every place Elder Taylor had been since his 
 arrival in Paris ; when he came to France, what hotel he 
 stayed at; when he went to England, and how long he 
 remained; when he went to Germany, and how long 
 he stayed there; what books he had printed, etc. In 
 fact he gave a most minute account of all his move- 
 ments, all of which were recorded in the police records. 
 
 Whether an attempt to intercept Elder Taylor was 
 made or not is unknown. It might have been done by 
 telegraphing their police agents, which were so numerous 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 235 
 
 as to be ubiquitous, but without any design on his part to 
 avoid them, for he did not know they were after him, he 
 turned off the main route to England, to visit a little sea- 
 shore town where he remained a week, and thus missed 
 what might have been something more serious than a 
 mere annoyance. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 BUSTS OF THE MARTYRS THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD MAN- 
 UFACTURING COMPANY ORGANIZED FAREWELL TO 
 
 FRANCE TO EUROPE A BIGOTED CAPTAIN VISIT TO 
 
 WASHINGTON MEETING AN OLD FRIEND COLONEL 
 
 KANE ARRIVAL IN SALT LAKE GREETINGS. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR took advantage of his visit to 
 England and Europe, where skill in the fine arts was 
 more perfect than in the United States, to get out the 
 busts of his friends and fellow-martyrs, Joseph and 
 Hyrum Smith. He evidently contemplated this work 
 before leaving home, since he had with him in England 
 casts taken from the faces of the martyrs immediately 
 after their death. He also had with him the various 
 drawings made of them during their lives, to assist the 
 artist in his work. The modeller, Mr. Gahagan, was 
 one of the first artists of England, in proof of which it 
 is only necessary to say that he had taken the busts of 
 the duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson, Sir Robert Peel, 
 the emperor of Russia and a number of the principal 
 nobility and gentry of England. The work was done 
 under the personal direction of Elder Taylor, and he 
 was successful in obtaining for himself and future gen- 
 erations a correct outline of the heads and features of 
 
236 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the two martys, and as perfect a likeness of them as it 
 was possible to obtain so long after their death. 
 
 It was while he was on this French and German 
 mission, too, that he wrote his admirable work "The 
 Government of God,"* a book of some two hundred 
 pages. The author defines the kingdom of God to be 
 the government of God, on the earth, or in the heavens; 
 and then in his first two chapters proceeds to place the 
 magnificence, harmony, beauty and strength of the gov- 
 ernment of God, as seen throughout the universe, in con- 
 trast with the meanness, confusion and weakness of the 
 government of men. 
 
 It is a bold picture he draws in each case; one 
 displaying the intelligence, the light, the glory, the 
 beneficence and power of God ; the other the ignorance, 
 the folly, the littleness and imbecility of man. The great 
 evils, both national and individual which He depicts with 
 such vividness, the author maintains are beyond the 
 power of human agency to correct. "They are dis- 
 eases," he remarks, "that have been generating for 
 centuries ; that have entered into the vitals of all institu- 
 tions, religious and political, that have prostrated the 
 powers and energies of all bodies politic, and left the 
 world to groan under them, for they are evils that exist 
 in church and state, at home and abroad ; among Jew 
 and Gentile, Christian, Pagan and Mahometan ; king, 
 prince, courtier and peasant; like the deadly simoon, 
 they have paralyzed the energies, broken the spirits, 
 damped the enterprise, corrupted the morals and 
 
 * Of this work the historian, Hurbert H. Bancroft says : " As a dissertation on a 
 general and abstract subject it probably has not its equal in point of ability within the 
 range of Mormon literature. The style is lofty and clear, and every page betokens the 
 great learning of the author. As a student of ancient and modern history, theologian, 
 and moral philosopher, President Taylor is justly entitled to the front rank. History of 
 Utah, 433 note. 
 
BUST OF JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
BUST OF HYRUM SMITH. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 237 
 
 crushed the hopes of the world. No 
 
 power on this side of heaven can correct this evil. It 
 is a world that is degenerated, and it requires a God to 
 put it right." 
 
 The author then rather hurriedly reviews the incom- 
 petency of the means made use of by man to regenerate 
 the world; showing that neither the Roman Catholic 
 nor Greek churches, though having full sway in some 
 countries, and backed by national and even international 
 power, have been able to make happy, prosperous, 
 unselfish and righteous those countries whose destinies 
 they have directed ; and being unable to accomplish these 
 desirable objects in the nations where their power has 
 been supreme, the author argues that they would be 
 unsuccessful in regenerating the world should their 
 dominion be universal. 
 
 Nor is our author more hopeful that the reformed 
 churches, the Protestants, would be any more successful 
 than the Greek and Roman churches have been. So far 
 Protestantism has but increased division, and multiplied 
 strife without changing materially the moral and spiritual 
 condition of the world. 
 
 Turning from those who would regenerate the world 
 through the medium of Christianity a false, a corrupted 
 Christianity, for such is the so-called Christian religion of 
 the churches above mentioned turning from these to 
 those who would take their destiny into their own hands, 
 and who, either denying the existence of God or ignoring 
 His right to direct in the affairs of men, seek by their own 
 wisdom to establish institutions for the amelioration of 
 mankind, our author remarks: 
 
 "If skepticism is to be the basis of the happiness of 
 man, we shall be in a poor situation to improve the world. 
 It is practical infidelity that has placed the world in 
 
238 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 its present condition ; how far the unblushing profes- 
 sion of it will lead to restoration and happiness, I must 
 leave my readers to judge. It is our departure from God 
 that has brought upon us all our misery. It is not a 
 very reasonable way to alleviate it by confirming man- 
 kind in skepticism." 
 
 Neither has man been able to devise any form of 
 government that is a panacea for the numerous ills with 
 which the world is cursed. Poverty, iniquity, crime, 
 injustice, greed, pride, lust, oppression, exist in republics 
 as well as in kingdoms or empires ; in limited monarchies 
 as well as in those that are absolute. Our author 
 maintains that neither religion nor philosophy, the 
 church nor the state, nor education nor all of these 
 combined, as they exist among men, are sufficient to 
 regenerate the world; "our past failures," he writes, 
 "make it evident that any future effort, with the same 
 means, would be useless." 
 
 The author then proceeds to discuss the questions 
 What is man? What his destiny and relationship to 
 God? The object of his existence on the earth, his 
 relationship thereto ; and his accountability to God. To 
 say that Elder Taylor treats these grave questions with 
 marked ability is unnecessary. 
 
 He then deals with God's course in the moral 
 government of the world ; and then of the question 
 "Whose right is it to govern the world ? " He clearly 
 proves that it is God's right, basing that right on the fact 
 that God created it that it is His ; and He, and they to 
 whom He delegates His power are the only ones who have 
 legitimate authority to govern it. But men have usurped 
 authority ; they have taken the management of affairs, so 
 far as they have the power into their own hands ; they 
 have rejected God and his counsels ; and, as a conse- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 239 
 
 quence, the evils and corruptions of which all nations and 
 peoples are sick follow. 
 
 This leads him to the question : Will man always be 
 permitted to usurp authority over his fellow-men, and 
 over the works of God ? He answers in the negative. 
 It would be unreasonable, -unjust, unscriptural contrary 
 to the promises of God and would frustrate His designs 
 in the creation of the world. No, the time must come 
 when the moral world, like the physical universe, shall be 
 under the direction of the Almighty, and God's will be 
 done on earth as it is done in heaven. The manner in 
 which this is to be brought about, the peace, prosperity, 
 happiness and general blessedness which are to follow the 
 establishment of the government of God on earth, are 
 the subjects of his concluding chapters. 
 
 Such, in brief, is an outline of this fine work Elder 
 Taylor's masterpiece! A work which is sufficient at 
 once to establish both his literary ability and his power 
 as a moral philosopher. One can only regret that in 
 the later years of his life he did not find time to 
 enlarge it. The, flight is splendid, but one wishes he had 
 remained longer on the wing. He wrote this work, as 
 he tells us in his foot-note on the first page, to believers 
 in the Bible. I regret that he did not so add to it that 
 its sublime truths would appeal with equal force to those 
 who reject the Jewish Scriptures. No writer in the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has yet, in 
 any manner worth mentioning, undertaken to establish 
 the divinity of the Jewish Scriptures, or made answer to 
 the indictments brought against the Bible by infidels ; 
 but no one can read the "Government of God" without 
 being convinced that its author was pre-eminently 
 qualified for such an undertaking. 
 
 While in France Elder Taylor became somewhat 
 
240 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. , 
 
 acquainted with the process of manufacturing sugar 
 from the sugar-beet, and being convinced that both 
 climate and soil in Utah were favorable to the production 
 of the beets, he organized a company to found that 
 industry in the distant vales of Deseret. The company 
 was to be known as the " Deseret Manufacturing Com- 
 pany," and while its purposes were not confined to the 
 establishment of one industry alone, sugar was to be its 
 first venture. 
 
 The company was composed of four partners with 
 equal shares, of which Elder Taylor was one. The 
 capital stock was put at fifty thousand pounds sterling, 
 equal to a quarter of a million dollars. 
 
 Elder Taylor had the machinery for the intended 
 sugar works made in Liverpool by Faucett, Preston & 
 Co., at a cost of twelve thousand five hundred dollars. It 
 was first class machinery, the very best that could be 
 obtained, and such was its weight that it would require 
 fifty-two teams to carry it from Council ^Bluffs to Salt 
 Lake. It was an immense undertaking. 
 
 Having fulfilled his mission and accomplished in 
 addition these miscellaneous but important labors, Elder 
 Taylor set sail from England on the 6th of March, 1852, 
 on board the steam-ship Niagara. There were about 
 twenty emigrating Saints who accompanied him. 
 
 The first Sunday out the passengers, composed 
 principally of the English aristocracy, were anxious to- 
 have Elder Taylor preach to them in the cabin ; but the 
 law, alias the captain, a narrow-minded, bigoted man 
 refused to accede to their request. 
 
 The Niagara reached Boston harbor on the eigh- 
 teenth of the same month, and Elder Taylor proceeded 
 to Philadelphia, where he visited Colonel Thomas L. 
 Kane, then confined to his bed by sickness. After preach- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 24! 
 
 ing to the Saints in that city, he proceeded to Washing- 
 ton, where he met his old friend, Dr. John M. Bernhisel, 
 Utah's delegate to Congress. He also met with Senator 
 Stephen A. Douglas and a number of other senators 
 and members of the lower house. 
 
 From Washington he went to St. Louis and there 
 remained a week or more, awaiting the arrival of the 
 ship Rockaway, at New Orleans, having on board a 
 company of emigrating Saints, and his sugar manu- 
 facturing plant. While waiting the arrival of this vessel 
 he was actively engaged in preaching the gospel. The 
 Rockaway arrived in port in the latter part of April ; 
 and having made arrangements for the shipment of his 
 machinery, Elder Taylor again turned his face home- 
 ward. 
 
 After a tedious journey across the plains, he arrived 
 in Salt Lake City on the 2oth of August, where he was 
 welcomed by his family, and by his brethren of the 
 priesthood, who heartily approved of all his labors, 
 blessed him for his faithfulness, his untiring zeal and 
 the energy he had manifested. 
 
 How sweet to the ear ! how joyous to the soul ! 
 how gratifying to the heart is that grandest of all salu- 
 tions "Well done thou good and faithful servant!" 
 and when spoken by those holding the holy priesthood, 
 backed by the warm grasp of the hand, and confirmed 
 by the countenance lit up with unfeigned brotherly love, 
 it certainly is a fore-taste of the joy that shall fill the 
 hearts of the faithful who hear the same salutation from 
 the Master, who will add: "Enter thou into the joy of 
 thy Lord!" 
 
 16 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 LABORS AT HOME CALLED TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN 
 
 THE SETTLEMENTS OF THE SAINTS A MISSION TO 
 
 NEW YORK MORMONISM TO, REPRESENT ITSELF "I 
 
 CAN CALL SPIRITS FROM THE VASTY DEEP" WILL 
 
 THEY COME? PUBLISHING A PAPER WITHOUT PURSE 
 
 OR SCRIP. 
 
 IT MAY well be imagined that after an absence of 
 three years, Elder Taylor found plenty of employment in 
 looking after his own affairs for a season, and putting 
 in motion enterprises that would have for their object the 
 accumulation of wealth. But Elder Taylor's affections 
 were not given to the wealth of this world that perishes 
 with the using. Other things than those that please the 
 children of this world had taken hold of him ; and hence 
 it happened that although the state of his finances on his 
 return from this protracted mission to Europe, would have 
 induced most men to devote themselves exclusively to 
 the betterment of their personal affairs, Elder Taylor 
 was to be found taking part in the councils of the Church, 
 and devoting a considerable amount of time to preach- 
 ing the gospel. 
 
 The machinery for the manufacturing of sugar 
 arrived in due time and was put in operation; but owing 
 to a lack of skilled workmen to take charge of the vari- 
 ous branches of the business, the production of sugar 
 was unsatisfactory, and at the instance of President 
 Young the enterprise was abandoned. 
 
 He took part in the ceremonies connected with lay- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 243 
 
 ing the corner stones of the Salt Lake Temple, on the 6th 
 of April, 1853; and during that conference, with several 
 other members of his quorum and the First Seven Pres- 
 idents of Seventies, was called and sustained as a mis- 
 sionary "to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the val- 
 leys of the mountains." In fulfilling that mission he 
 visited nearly all the settlements of Utah, and everywhere 
 was made welcome by the people, who knew so well his 
 manner of life, his untiring zeal and devotion to the great 
 cause he had espoused. 
 
 The Saints, no less than sinners, have a habit of as- 
 sessing the value of pulpit precepts by the test of per- 
 sonal example ; and one of the things which made Elder 
 Taylor a welcome visitor or missionary among them was 
 the fact that in this matter of personal example he did 
 not break down. On the contrary, his daily life reflected 
 the precepts he taught in the pulpit and in private ; and 
 hence the people believed in him and respected his 
 counsels. 
 
 'The year following he was elected a member of the 
 Territorial Legislature; but before the Legislature 
 assembled he was again called upon a mission. This 
 time he was called to preside over the churches in the 
 eastern states, supervise the emigration and publish a 
 paper in the interest of the Church. He promptly re- 
 signed his position as a member elect of the Legislature, 
 and in the fall of 1854 started for New York, accompan- 
 ied by Elder Jeter Clinton, Nathaniel H. Felt, Alexander 
 Robbins, Angus M. Cannon, and his son, George J. 
 Taylor. His being called to publish a paper in New 
 York was but part of a general movement by which 
 Mormonism and the Saints were to be represented by 
 their own accredited agents. Orson Pratt was in Wash- 
 ington publishing the Seer ; Erastus Snow and Orson 
 
244 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Spencer were to publish a paper in St. Louis; and George 
 Q. Cannon one in San Francisco. 
 
 The object in starting these publications was to dis- 
 abuse the public mind, then fast being prejudiced against 
 the Church by the tongue of slander. When the Saints 
 disappeared in the great western wilderness of America 
 there were a variety of opinions as to what would be 
 their fate. Few, however, thought they would survive 
 the terrible ordeal through which they passed in their 
 expulsion from the United States and the subsequent 
 perils and hardships of the great desert. But when the 
 miracle of their preservation was forced upon their atten- 
 tion, and not only their preservation, but the fact, also, 
 that they were more numerous and in possession of more 
 power than when driven from Nauvoo when it was 
 known that they had laid the foundation of a common- 
 wealth which was soon to be knocking at the gate of the 
 capital for admission into the Union as a sovereign state 
 when all this was known, their enemies, who flattered 
 themselves that they had seen the last of the hated Mor- 
 mons, suddenly aroused themselves for a renewal of the 
 suspended conflict. 
 
 Meantime the Church had publicly announced as a 
 principle of its faith the doctrine of celestial marriage, 
 including as it does, a plurality of wives. 
 
 No sooner was the announcement made than mis- 
 representation distorted this doctrine into everything that 
 was vile and impure. The old stories of licentious prac- 
 tices among the Saints in Nauvoo, fulminated by John C. 
 Bennett and other apostates but which had no existence 
 except as these same apostates and a few other corrupt 
 men practiced them, and for which they were expelled 
 from the Church were revived and believed with avidity 
 by a credulous public, until Utah was looked upon as a 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 245 
 
 hot-bed of impurity, and the Mormon religion as a veil 
 under which -was hidden all the ungodliness of man's 
 baser and degrading passions. 
 
 It was to stem the constantly increasing tide of prej- 
 udice, set in motion by this flood of falsehood, that the 
 movement by the Church to establish publications in the 
 cities I have named, was made. 
 
 It was a difficult task that had been assigned Elder 
 Taylor. Both the pulpit and the press were against 
 him; and there could be no question as to what course 
 political parties would take respecting the question. 
 What the populace condemned, they would condemn. 
 Besides, he found himself cramped financially for such 
 an enterprise. The Church in Utah was unable to fur- 
 nish the necessary means. The people there were having 
 a severe struggle for existence with the unpropitious ele- 
 ments of the wilderness, and money there was none, or, 
 at least, very little. 
 
 It is true there were many members of the Church 
 in the eastern states at the time, but they were unorgan- 
 ized, and indifferent to the progress or defense of the 
 work of God. Elder Taylor called upon the Saints to 
 come to his assistance in publishing a paper, but it re- 
 minded him of a man, he humorously said, in describing 
 the result to President Young, who said, "I can call 
 spirits from the vasty deep;" "So can I," shouted an- 
 other, "but they won't come." Still there were a few 
 who responded, and with what they furnished and the 
 money obtained for the teams and wagons he had 
 brought with him from Utah, and a few hundred dollars 
 which he and those with him could borrow, a paper was 
 started, the first number bearing the date of the 1 7th of 
 February, 1855. 
 
 "We commenced our publication," writes Elder 
 
246 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Taylor to President Young, "not because we had means 
 to do it, but because we were determined to fulfill our 
 mission, and either make a spoon or spoil a horn. 
 * * * How long we shall be able to continue, I don't 
 know. We are doing as well as we can, and shall con- 
 tinue to do so ; but I find it one thing to preach the gos- 
 pal without purse or scrip, and another thing to publish 
 a paper on the same terms." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 "THE MORMON" THE FIRST ISSUE IN THE FRONT OF 
 
 THE BATTLE BOLDNESS OF DEFENSE CHALLENGES 
 
 ACCEPTED THE ACTS OF COWARDS "THE MORMONS 
 
 DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY, NOR CANKERED GOLD" 
 A TERTULLIAN. 
 
 "THE MORMON" was the title which Elder Taylor 
 gave his paper. It was a handsome, well printed, twenty- 
 eight columned weekly. It had a very striking and 
 significant heading, filling up at least one fourth of the 
 first page. It represented an immense American eagle 
 with out-stretched wings poised defiant above a bee-hive, 
 and two American flags. Above the eagle was an all- 
 seeing eye surrounded by a blaze of glory, and the 
 words: " Let there be light ; and there was light." On 
 the stripes of the flag on the left was written: "Truth, 
 Intelligence, Virtue and Faith;" signed, "John Taylor;" 
 upon those on the right; "Truth will prevail; " signed, 
 " H. C. Kimball ;" while in the blue fields of one of the 
 
cxi 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 247 
 
 flags, the star of Utah shone resplendently. Two 
 scrolls on either side of the eagle bore the following 
 inscriptions: "Mormon creed mind your own business," 
 Brigham Young; and "Constitution of the United 
 States, given by inspiration of God," Joseph Smith. 
 
 On the inside, at the head of the editorial column was 
 the American eagle standing on a bee-hive with an 
 American flag on either side. Upon the bee-hive, on 
 one side, leaned the Doctrine and Covenants, Book of 
 Mormon and Bible; on the other a tablet on which was 
 written: "Peace and good will to man." The eagle 
 held in its beak a scroll on which was written: "Holiness 
 to the Lord." 
 
 The Mormon office was situated on the corner of 
 Nassau and Ann streets, with the offices of the New 
 York Herald on one side, and those of the Tribune on 
 the other. Elder Taylor was thus in the very heart of 
 Gotham's newspaper world. Selecting such a stand is 
 evidence enough that he did not intend to hide his light 
 under a bushel. On the contrary he had taken a promi- 
 nent position with a determination to keep it. He 
 stationed himself in the front rank, unfurled his colors 
 and we shall see that with the bold, dashing courage of 
 a Henry of Navarre, how well he held his place. 
 
 It was the custom at the time to distribute the first 
 issue of newspapers free to the news boys, and let them 
 sell them for what they pleased. Accordingly on the 
 first day of its publication hundreds of news boys filled 
 the lower offices and thronged the stairway leading to the 
 upper rooms, clamoring for The Mormon. As they were 
 promptly supplied, the paper with its conspicuous head- 
 ing was waved in the face of the public and all through 
 the principal thoroughfares "the cry of " Mormon" " Mor- 
 
248 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 mon" ''Here's yer Mormon'' was heard ringing and 
 echoing on every side. 
 
 To say that this first springing of the batteries 
 created a sensation but feebly expresses the effect pro- 
 duced. 
 
 The prospectus of The Mormon announced that it 
 would be devoted to the cause and interests of the Church 
 of Jesus Christ ot Latter-day Saints; "and will be the 
 advocate of its claims, social, moral, political and 
 religious ; and will also treat upon all subjects which 
 the editor may deem instructive or edifying to his 
 readers, among which will be science, literature and the 
 general news of the day. Further than this he has no 
 pretensions, nor does he propose to be bound to any 
 particular party or interest." 
 
 Subsequently, though in an early number of The 
 Mormon, Elder Taylor made a further announcement of 
 his principles, and what he meant to sustain, as follows : 
 
 "We believe in good, sound, healthy morals, in 
 matter of fact philosophy, in politics uncorrupted, and 
 that secure the greatest good to all. We believe in the 
 God of heaven and certainly in religion. We believe 
 in a religion that will make a man go down to the grave 
 with a clear conscience, and an unfaltering step, to meet 
 his God as a Father and a Friend without fear." 
 
 During the two years and a half that he continued 
 to edit The Mormon, he kept free from all entangling 
 alliances in party politics, but criticised all parties and 
 measures with a fearlessness and intelligence that is 
 truly refreshing at a time when party prejudice or ve- 
 nality controlled the utterances of the press. 
 
 But it is as a defender of the faith and character of 
 the Saints that Elder Taylor in The Mormon is most con- 
 spicuous. He leaped into the public arena, threw down 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 249 
 
 his gage of battle and dared the traducers of the Saints 
 of God to take it up. The very name Mormon which 
 they had derided and made the synonym for all that was 
 absurd in religion, impure in social life, or disloyal to 
 government, he took up and made the title of his paper 
 wrote it in bold letters and surrounded it with the 
 symbols of liberty, intelligence and truth, and defied its 
 slanderers to pluck from it the emblems in which he 
 enshrined it. 
 
 " We are Mormon," he writes in the first number, 
 "inside and outside; at home or abroad, in public and 
 private everywhere. We are so, however, from princi- 
 ple. We are such, not because we believe it to be the 
 most popular, lucrative, or honorable (as the world has 
 it); but because we believe it to be true, and more 
 reasonable and scriptural, moral and philosophic; be- 
 cause we conscientiously believe it is more calculated to 
 promote the happiness and well-being of humanity, in 
 time and throughout all eternity, than any other system 
 which we have met with." 
 
 A short time afterward we have him saying : " We 
 have said before and say now, that we defy all the editors 
 and writers in the United States to prove that Mormon- 
 ism is less moral, scriptural, philosophical ; or that there 
 is less patriotism in Utah than in any other part of the 
 United States. We call for proof; bring on your 
 reasons, gentlemen, if you have any; we shrink not 
 from the investigation, and dare you to the encounter. 
 If you don't do it, and you publish any more of your 
 stuff, we shall brand you as poor, mean, cowardly liars ; 
 as men publishing falsehoods knowing them to be so, 
 and shrinking from the light of truth and investigation." 
 
 The New York Mirror, in calling attention to his 
 presence in the city and the spread of Mormonism, said : 
 
250 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 " While our public moralists and reformers are making 
 war upon the hotels and taverns and private property of 
 our citizens, a hideous system an immoral excrescence 
 is allowed to spring up and overtop the Constitution 
 itself. Why are there no public meetings convened in 
 the tabernacle to denounce Mormonism? The evil has 
 become a notorious fact its existence cannot be any 
 longer ignored and it is not therefore prudent that the 
 eyes of the public should be closed to its effects." 
 
 To this Elder Taylor replied: "We are ready to 
 meet Mr. Fuller in the tabernacle on this question at any 
 time. We court investigation and have nothing to hide." 
 Mr. Fuller did not accept the challenge; and when, 
 some time afterwards, he repeated his abuse, Elder 
 Taylor taunted him with cowardice and charged him with 
 being guilty of willful falsehood ; but the editor of the 
 Mirror shrank from the investigation in the tabernacle 
 which he had proposed. His act was truly that of a 
 blustering coward who had raised the cane over the head 
 of his enemy, but was afraid to strike the blow.* 
 
 The New York Herald was as bitter and unfair in 
 its attacks upon the Saints and Mormonism as the 
 Mirror ; and Elder Taylor was as incisive and fearless 
 in his rejoinders to the former as to the latter. The 
 Herald proposed that a meeting be called in Tammany 
 Hall and that the ministers of the several churches should 
 make an expose of the absurdities and wickedness of 
 Mormonism. Elder Taylor promptly announced his 
 willingness to meet those ministers in such a gathering 
 
 * There were two men named Fuller connected with the Mirror while Elder Taylor 
 was publishing The Mormon. The first was a very courteous gentleman. He had visited 
 Utah and spoke very highly in the Mirror of her people. But shortly after the advent 
 of the Mormon, there arose a controversy about the ownership of the Mirror, and it 
 fell into the hands of the second Mr. Fuller, who was as bitter in his feelings against 
 the Saints as his methods of opposing them were cowardly. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 251 
 
 and defend the character and doctrine of the Saints. 
 The meeting was not called. The ministers of the sev- 
 eral churches were not fighting Mormonism that way. 
 Slander, vituperation, denunciation, falsehood uttered at 
 times and places where no answer could be made, not 
 discussion open and manly has ever been the methods 
 of Christian ministers against Mormonism. 
 
 The New York Sun was also in the field against 
 Mormonism, and was behind none of its contemporaries 
 in the bitterness of its attacks. So bitter, indeed, was 
 the press generally, that the Woman s Advocate, touched 
 with pity for a people so universally denounced, deplored 
 the lack of charity manifested in the discussion of the 
 Utah question; and when the famine of 1855 threat- 
 ened the destruction of the Saints in Utah, and the press 
 of the east but ill concealed its rejoicing at the prospect 
 of the solution of the Mormon problem by such a 
 calamity, the same journal lamented the lack of sym- 
 pathy manifested toward the Mormon people in their 
 trying circumstances, In reply the Sun said : 
 
 "As to the alleged want of sympathy, it is enough to 
 say that there has yet been no appeal for help from Utah. 
 If an appeal were made in the name of humanity, the 
 degrading and disgusting doctrines of Brigham Young, 
 and others of the priesthood, promulgated as articles of 
 faith, would not hinder the American people from 
 responding to it." 
 
 To which Elder Taylor with some warmth answered: 
 
 "The Sun says there has been no appeal from Utah 
 for help. An appeal for help indeed ! They have called 
 for their own, but their rights have been continually 
 withheld, though your statesmen owned their cause was 
 just. And shall they now ask charity of those that 
 robbed and despoiled them of their goods and murdered 
 
252 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 their best men ? We have been robbed of millions and 
 driven from our own firesides into the cold, wintry blasts 
 of the desert, to starve by your charitable institutions, 
 and shall we now crave your paltry sixpences? Talk to 
 us with your hypocritical cant about charity ! Pshaw ! 
 it's nauseating to everyone not eaten up with your cor- 
 rupt humbuggery and pharisaical egotism. You forgot 
 you were talking to Americans, born upon the soil of 
 freedom, suckled in liberty, who have inhaled it from 
 their fathers' lips their ears yet tingling with the tales 
 of a nation's birth sons of fathers who fought for rights 
 which you, in your bigotry and self-conceit, would fain 
 wrench from them. Intolerance has thrice driven them 
 from their homes, but the wild burst of liberty of '76, 
 now reverberates through the mountain passes of Utah, 
 bidding defiance to mobocracy and its leaders; and 
 hurling mock charity and pretended patriotism back to 
 the fount of corruption from which it issues. The Mor- 
 mons neither need your sympathy nor your cankered 
 gold. Your malicious slanders only excite contempt for 
 those base enough to utter them. Your contemptible 
 falsehoods fail to ruffle a feather in our caps. * * 
 The God of Jacob in whom the Mormons trust He who 
 brought up Israel out of Egypt He it is who sustained 
 the Mormons in their tedious journeyings over the bar- 
 ren deserts and wild mountain passes of this continent. 
 In the dark hour of trial, amid all their distresses, without 
 friends or home God upheld and sustained them ; He 
 sustains them still, and will cause them to shine forth 
 with the bright radiance of eternal truth over the wide 
 world, long after their malicious slanderers shall have sunk 
 to oblivion in the filth of their own corruptions." 
 
 This boldness in rejoinder to all opponents reminds 
 one of the tone of Tertullian's defense of the early 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 253 
 
 Christians. Of him it is said: "His was not the tone 
 of a supplicant pleading for toleration. He demanded 
 justice." So with Elder Taylor. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 DEFENSE OF CELESTIAL MARRIAGE BIBLE SOCIETY'S WAR 
 
 ON MORMONISM ELDER TAYLOR'S BIBLE STRANGE 
 
 SOLUTION OF THE MORMON PROBLEM THE ARMY TO THE 
 
 RESCUE. 
 
 AND what of the question of polygamy, which, 
 during the years that The Mormon was published, was 
 the slogan of the enemies of the people of Utah the 
 head and front of Mormon offending? To understand 
 the amount of bitterness infused into the remarks of the 
 press discussion would be too dignified a term for the 
 denunciation and invectives found in it the reader must 
 remember that besides being a religious controversy, 
 Mormon plural marriage was also dragged into the 
 politics of the country. 
 
 The Democratic party at that period took the 
 ground that the territories were to be free to regulate 
 their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 
 to the Constitution of the United States. This was the 
 celebrated " Popular Sovereignty" doctrine, which grew 
 up out of the slavery controversy ; and was the manner 
 in which certain sections of the pro-slavery party pro- 
 posed to settle the question of the existence of slavery 
 in the territories that is by leaving it to the inhabitants 
 of the Territory to establish or reject it on becoming 
 
254 LIp E OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 states. The Abolition Party promptly took advantage of 
 their opponents who accepted the "Popular Sovereignty" 
 doctrine, by saying that if the Territories were to be free 
 to regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, 
 then Utah had a right to establish polygamy as well as 
 slavery if she so elected, and thus threw the odium of 
 sustaining polygamy as well as slavery which they de- 
 nominated the "Twin relics of barbarism" upon the 
 popular sovereignty division of the pro-slavery party. 
 
 To escape this odium of sustaining a Territory in the 
 right to establish polygamy, if the inhabitants thereof 
 should so desired, the pro-slavery party was more 
 vindictive in its denunciations of Mormon plural 
 marriage than the abolitionists themselves and thus all 
 parties, with all the bitterness which characterized 
 political discussions in those days were arrayed against 
 Mormonism especially against plural marriage: and 
 finally, when the Republican Party was organized, in 
 1856, and adopted the doctrines of the abolitionists, it 
 incorporated in its platform the following: 
 
 "Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon 
 Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the 
 United States for their government, and that in the 
 exercise of this power it is both the right and the 
 imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories 
 those twin relics of barbarism, slavery and polygamy." 
 
 In the midst of the agitation and bitterness which 
 led up to such a conclusion as this, though unaided and 
 alone sustained only by his own conviction of the truth 
 of the system of marriage that God had revealed, and 
 conscious of the support and approval of Almighty God 
 Elder Taylor stood unmoved and fearlessly sustained 
 the rightfulness of Mormon plural marriage against all 
 who opposed it. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 255 
 
 In the very first issue of the Mormon, under the 
 caption "Polygamy," he said: 
 
 "Since this doctrine has been promulgated by us as 
 a part of our religious creed, every variety of opinion 
 has been expressed by men in all classes of society. It 
 has been talked about by religious and irreligious, pro- 
 fessors and profane. It has been the theme in the 
 legislative hall, the pulpit, the bar-room and the press. 
 Polygamy and the Mormons, Mormons and polygamy 
 have resounded everywhere. In this 
 
 our first issue it may be expected that something would 
 be said in relation to this matter. This we undertake as 
 cheerfully as any other task ; for we are not ashamed 
 here in this great metropolis of America 
 to declare that we are polygamists. We are not 
 ashamed to proclaim to this great nation, to rulers and 
 people, to the president, senators, legislators, judges ; to 
 high and low, rich and poor, priests and people, that we 
 are firm, conscientious believers in polygamy, and that it 
 is part and parcel of our religious creed. We do this 
 calmly, seriously and understandingly, after due delibera- 
 tion, careful examination and close investigation of its 
 principles and bearings religiously, socially, morally, 
 physically and politically ! We unhesitatingly pronounce 
 our full and implicit faith in the principle as emanating 
 from God, and that under His direction it would be a 
 blessing to the human family." 
 
 After drawing a vivid picture of the immoral state 
 of the world, and allowing that some who opposed 
 polygamy did so because they considered it as a scheme 
 devised to still further plunge humanity into licentious- 
 ness, he continues: 
 
 "We are not surprised, then, that men of reflection 
 and virtue, and having a knowledge of the world should 
 
256 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 feel indignant at polygamy. They look upon it as some- 
 thing pandering to the brutal passions of man; and 
 from the exceedingly low standard of virtue, can scarcely 
 conceive of anything but lasciviousness associated with 
 the sex. We respect the conscientious feelings of such 
 men ; for we know that with their ideas of such things, 
 they must be extremely revolting. But we would 
 respectfully ask such persons if they ever seriously 
 reflected upon the matter? and further: Is it prejudice, 
 education and the corrupt state of society that has led 
 them to these conclusions [respecting plural marriage] ; 
 or matters of fact deduced from scripture, reason, 
 history or precedence? Did they ever think that 
 Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and a host of other 
 good men mentioned in the scriptures were polygamists ? 
 That the Twelve Tribes of Israel, to whom belong the 
 covenants and promises, descended from four women, 
 the wives of one man? Did they ever reflect that those 
 men were more virtuous than this generation ; and that 
 for such things that are practiced here every day with 
 impunity adultery; a man would be stoned to death 
 by all Israel ? Did they ever reflect that it might be 
 possible for the Lord to be unchangeable? That He 
 had not learned much from man in a few thousand years; 
 and that possibly He was not in error then ; and if not 
 then, the same principles might probably be as correct 
 now as they were at that time ? It is well for us not 
 to be too hasty." 
 
 Referring again to the sexual corruption everywhere 
 prevalent, and the vain endeavors of philanthropists, 
 statesmen, kings and presidents to check it, he concludes 
 by saying: "The Lord's way [plural marriage] as 
 practiced by ancient men of God the restitution of 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 257 
 
 which has lately taken place we think will stop it 
 among us." 
 
 Upon these lines he continued to defend the mar- 
 riage system which God revealed ; and when the press, 
 for want of better argument, denounced it as immoral, 
 and pretended to be shocked at Mormon wickedness, 
 because they believed it right under certain conditions 
 for a man to have more wives than one ; Elder Taylor 
 drew aside the flimsy veil covering the licentious prac- 
 tices of monogamous "Christian" communities, and re- 
 minded his opponents that the cities and towns and 
 states in which they themselves lived, were not so 
 immaculate in their purity that ministers, editors and 
 moralists must needs cross the plains and the mountains, 
 in order to find impurity to suppress. He reminded 
 them that the demon of licentiousness stalked abroad 
 unchallenged in their own midst ; that he was to be found 
 in their guilded ball-rooms and opera houses ; met them 
 upon their streets, mingled in their best society and even 
 sat in their pews. 
 
 This was no attempt to justify the practice of one 
 evil by pointing to the existence of another; but to 
 remind them of the fact that even if Mormon polygamy 
 was as bad as they represented it to be, there were evils 
 infinitely worse rotting and festering in their very 
 midst, and which they sought in vain to ignore, as they 
 met them at every street corner, flaunted in their public 
 highways, and were "disgustingly placarded on their 
 walls ; while the victims thereof filled their poor houses, 
 shrieked out their madness in their asylums, lay slowly 
 rotting in their hospitals or sought relief in self-destruc- 
 tion. He referred to these things to show up the hypoc- 
 risy of a generation that could live in the midst of such 
 social corruption, without an effort to check its ravages ; 
 
258 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 and at the same time pretend to be horrified at supposed 
 social evils existing in distant Utah. In this he further 
 resembled Tertullian, of whom it is said, that being 
 arraigned as a criminal at the bar, he accused and con- 
 demned his judges. 
 
 But while he uncovered for an instant the corrup- 
 tions of monogamous Christian communities, in order to 
 reprove their hypocrisy, he by no means regarded that 
 exposure as a defense of plural marriage. His defense 
 of that doctrine he based upon the $ sanction which 
 Almighty God gave to it, as clearly demonstrated in 
 holy writ ; upon well known physiological facts ; upon 
 moral and social necessities, and his defense was unas- 
 sailable. 
 
 While he was in New York a number of plans were 
 suggested for the overthrow of Mormonism. Among 
 the more humane ones was that of the American Bible 
 Society, which proposed flooding the settlements of Utah 
 with Bibles, being under the impression, doubtless, that 
 the Mormon people did not accept the Bible as the word 
 of God. Hearing of the project Elder Taylor called at 
 the office of the society and offered his assistance in the 
 enterprise, urging them to send well bound books, and 
 gave them the following advice through The Mormon : 
 
 "Our mountaineers never do things by halves or for 
 appearance ; if they carry Bibles they mean to use them ; 
 they'll read them frequently and thoroughly, too. We 
 have a Bible that has kept us company many years on 
 our pilgrimage through life; it has dangled in our 
 pockets many "a thousand miles, when, for the gospel's 
 sake, we have visited towns, cities and hamlets. We 
 have had to patch it together frequently, and in fact our 
 friend has got so covered over with our own notes and 
 references, that a white spot is scarcely discernible. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 259 
 
 We would, therefore, respectfully suggest to the managers 
 of the American Bible Society if they propose doing 
 real good to the inhabitants of Utah in the Bible line do 
 it, gentlemen, respectably, for the inhabitants of that Ter- 
 ritory will probably use them as we have ours." 
 
 Whether his visit and these remarks dashed the 
 ardor of the Bible Society in the undertaking or not, or 
 convinced them of its uselessness, I do not know, but 
 certain it is that the project failed. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the Sun, seized with a sudden 
 spasm of confidence that Christianity could overwhelm 
 Mormonisn, called upon the churches of New York to 
 send out ministers to convert the Mormons from the 
 error of their ways. Elder Taylor approved of the 
 undertaking, and gave assurance that they would be well 
 treated and receive respectful attention ; but he at the 
 same time expressed his doubts as to their going, and 
 referred to the failure of the Bible Society, saying: 
 
 "The Bible Society got up a report about two 
 months ago, that they were going to send a Bible agent 
 to Utah. We then hastened to offer them our co-oper- 
 ation, but as we advanced to receive the precious gifts, 
 they vanished into their original element gas!" 
 
 But of all the schemes for the suppression of Mor- 
 monism, there was one suggested by the New York 
 Herald, which for vileness, stood pre-eminent. In Au- 
 gust, 1854, Lieutenant-Colonel E. J. Steptoe arrived in 
 Salt Lake, with a detachment of United States troops 
 en route for California, but remained in Utah until the 
 following spring. During their stay, it is said, that 
 members of the command prostituted a number of 
 squaws and also seduced and betrayed several white 
 women. The latter, having lost caste among their for- 
 mer associates, followed their betrayers to California. 
 
26O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 When this item of news reached the East, the New 
 York Herald made the following comments and recom- 
 mendations : 
 
 "This is momentous news, and very significant 
 withal. It shows that the Mormon women are ripe for 
 rebellion, and that a detachment of the regular army is 
 a greater terror to the patriarchs of the Mormon Jeru- 
 salem than Indians or drouth or grasshoppers. It indi- 
 cates the way, too, for the abolishment of the peculiar 
 institution of Utah. The astonishing results of the ex- 
 pedition of Colonel Steptoe, in this view, do most dis- 
 tinctly suggest the future policy of the government, 
 touching this nest of Mormons. It is to send out to the 
 Great Salt Lake, a fresh detachment of young, good- 
 looking soldiers, and at the end of two or three months, 
 order them off to California and replace them by a new 
 detachment at Salt Lake City and so on until those 
 Turks of the desert are reduced, by female desertions, to 
 the standard Christian regulation of one wife apiece. 
 Unquestionably, if, with a taking detachment of the 
 army in a new and showy uniform, the President were to 
 send out to Utah at this crisis of impending famine, a 
 corps of regular disciplined woman's rights women, to 
 lay down the law to their sisters among the Mormons, 
 they would soon compel the patriarchal authorities of 
 Salt Lake to an exodus to some other region beyond the 
 reach of our gallant army, and our heroic warriors in 
 petticoats, who know their rights, and knowing, dare 
 maintain them. * * * The hint should be appropri- 
 ated by the administration, for, if under the doctrine of 
 squatters' sovereignty, we cannot constitutionally reach 
 this crying evil of polygamy at Salt Lake, we must reach 
 it by stratagem. We recommend, therefore, to the Pres- 
 ident and Secretary of the Interior, the policy of detail- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 26 1 
 
 ing another detachment of troops for "Great Salt Lake 
 City with the auxiliary force of half a dozen regular 
 woman's rights women whatever the cost ; and thus even 
 should the grasshoppers fail to conquer the Territory in 
 the expulsion of the Saints, the work may be done by a 
 revolution among the wives of the apostles." * 
 
 To this shameless gloating over the downfall of 
 innocence, and still more infamous recommendation, 
 Elder Taylor remarked : 
 
 "Such then is the modus operandi proposed! Gen- 
 tlemenly debauchee officers are to be sent out 'good 
 looking ones/ that they may be the better able to take 
 away from vice the horrid appearance it would have 
 dressed in another garb. After these shall have per- 
 formed their work of misery and death, they are to be 
 recruited by others fine, dashing, young, good-looking 
 fellows, who will be quite competent to deceive and 
 destroy; real Christian gentlemen with 'new, showy 
 uniforms,' who will be able to corrupt the daughters of 
 Utah; and introduce Christianity in all its beauty as 
 practiced in the United States. They are to take with 
 them a number of pals, 'woman's rights women,' who 
 are to assist in their conversion, and to show them their 
 rights, that the inhabitants of Utah may have ocular 
 demonstration of the beautiful workings of monogamous 
 Christianity, and be brought back to the standard 
 Christian regulation of one wife apiece and as many 
 misses or fast young women as suits our convenience, 
 that a deadly blow'may be struck at the virtue of Utah : 
 and that she may be crowded with voluptuaries, and 
 prostitutes like all other good Christian states and cities ; 
 that debauchery and corruption may run riot, that we 
 
 New York Herald, i5th Sept., 1855. 
 
262 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 may have our procuresses, pimps, cyprians, hotel ac- 
 commodations, and houses of assignation ; that virtue, 
 chastity and purity may be banished from Utah; that 
 our daughters may be prostituted and our wives 
 debauched ; that we may have our nymphis du pave, our 
 'Five points/ our Randall's Island,* our infanticides, our 
 Maisons d' accouchment, our diseases, doctors and 
 hospitals and all the other appliances of a good Christian 
 community. That when officers, lawyers, judges, 
 soldiers and Gentiles in general go to Utah they can find 
 the same conveniences and accommodations that are to 
 be met with everywhere among the virtuous Gentile 
 monogamous Christians! And all this glory is to be 
 achieved by the gallant officers and soldiers of our army, 
 under the auspices and direction of James Gordon 
 Bennettf ****** 
 
 " What are we to think of a man who is publishing 
 a popular journal, and who publicly and unblushingly ad- 
 vocates seduction, and openly proposes the introduction 
 of debased characters into a Territory for the avowed 
 purpose of seduction, prostitution and infamy, for the 
 purpose of corrupting the Mormons and reducing them 
 to our standard previous to their overthrow ?" 
 
 * Famous in those years for its hospital for the unfortunate victims of man's 
 licentiousness. 
 
 f Proprietor and manager of the New York Herald. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 "THE MORMON" FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNION THE 
 
 U. P. RAILWAY INTERVIEWS WITH PRESIDENT FRANKLIN 
 
 PIERCE U. S. OFFICIALS INVASION OF UTAH DE- 
 PARTURE FOR SALT LAKE. 
 
 BESIDES defending the character of the Saints in 
 Utah and their religion, The Mormon raised its voice for 
 the preservation of the Union. In those years disunion 
 sentiments were rife and schemes for splitting up the 
 country into two or more nations were openly discussed. 
 The Mormon sounded a warning to those engaged in 
 such discussions, and called upon the degenerate sons of 
 noble sires to cease such wrangling and preserve the 
 nation bequeathed to them by their fathers. 
 
 'The Mormon also urged the construction of a rail- 
 road to the Pacific coast, and, in short, discussed in an 
 intelligent spirit the general questions then agitating the 
 public mind. 
 
 Elder Taylor occasionally visited Washington, and 
 assisted in watching over the interests of the inchoate 
 state of Deseret. He was introduced to and had several 
 interviews with Mr. Franklin Pierce, then the President 
 of the United States. The first of these interviews 
 occurred in the spring of 1855, when President Pierce, 
 following a mistaken popular sentiment, rather than acting 
 from any relish he had for the undertaking, was persuaded 
 to remove Brigham Young from the office of Governor of 
 Utah. In this interview President Pierce submitted the 
 proposition to Elder Taylor and spoke very highly of the 
 
264 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 urbanity, wise conservatism and honor of Colonel Step- 
 toe, the man he had in his mind to appoint as Governor 
 Young's successor. 
 
 Elder Taylor expressed his pleasure at learning that 
 Colonel Steptoe was so honorable a gentleman, and took 
 occasion to tell the President that the people of Utah 
 had been so frequently abused by incompetent men who 
 seemed determined to make a hobby of the Mormon 
 question whereon to ride into power, that they began to 
 think their rights were infringed upon and that they were 
 used as a convenience for unprincipled political aspirants, 
 who frequently not only interfered with their political but 
 with their religious rights. 
 
 The President assured him that Colonel Steptoe 
 would not resort to such meanness. 
 
 Elder Taylor then referred to the circumstances 
 under which Utah had been settled, in all of which Brig- 
 ham Young was their trusted leader ; that if any man 
 had a claim upon that position it was Governor Young. 
 Besides, accepting the doctrine of popular sovereignty, 
 the people of Utah considered that their wishes as to 
 who should govern them ought to be somewhat con- 
 sulted, and if that were done, Brigham Young would be 
 the universal choice of the people. Still he assured the 
 President that he need have no anxiety as to any dif- 
 ficulty arising from his appointing another man : for while 
 the people would think it an act going to the extent of 
 his authority, they of course recognized the authority of 
 the President of the United States, and would submit to 
 any legal or constitutional enactment. 
 
 Colonel Steptoe during his stay in Utah was ten- 
 dered the governorship of Utah by the President, but he 
 refused to accept it, and joined in a petition to President 
 Pierce praying for the re-appointment of Brigham Young, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 265 
 
 both as Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. 
 Governor Young was accordingly re-appointed. 
 
 In March, 1856, a Constitutional Convention was 
 held in Salt Lake City, and a constitution, republican in 
 spirit and liberal in its provisions, was adopted. John 
 Taylor and George A. Smith, appointed delegates to pre- 
 sent Utah's request for admission into the sisterhood of 
 states. Elder Taylor joined his colleague in Washington 
 during the 1 summer of 1856, and labored among the 
 members of Congress with a view of having a bill intro- 
 duced for the admission of Utah. The Republican party, 
 however, was already in the field with its platform that 
 denominated polygamy and slavery as "twin relics" of 
 barbarism. This marshaled all the Republicans against 
 the admission of Utah ; and so desirous were the Demo- 
 crats to cast off the odium of befriending a polygamous 
 people, that they were more bitter in their denunciation of 
 the Mormons, if possible, than the Republicans. Even 
 Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who had been a professed 
 friend of the Mormon people, and who had been inti- 
 mately acquainted with the Prophet Joseph, and in addi- 
 tion to that was recognized as the champion of the Pop- 
 ular Sovereignty doctrine, turned against them, and in a 
 speech delivered in Springfield, Illinois, early in 1856, 
 referred to Mormonism as "the loathsome ulcer of the 
 body politic."* 
 
 Under such circumstances it would have been folly 
 to have pushed the claims of Utah in Congress ; it would 
 
 *It may be of interest to note in passing that once in conversation with Senator 
 Douglas, early in the forties the Senator then being a judge in one of the judicial dis- 
 tricts of Illinois the Prophet Joseph said to him in substance : "Judge Douglas, you 
 will yet aspire to the Presidency of the United States ; but if you ever turn against me 
 or my people, you will fail." When Senator Douglas forgot the warning of the Pro- 
 phet and advocated cutting "the loathsome ulcer out of the body politic," he sounded 
 the death knell to his ambitious hopes. 
 
266 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 only have invited defeat, therefore the delegates decided 
 to withhold any introduction of the matter at that time. 
 
 In addition to all these labors, Elder Taylor rendered 
 considerable valuable assistance in looking after the emi- 
 gration business of the Church, especially in caring for 
 the poor, who, having started from England, could get 
 no further than New York. These he found employ- 
 ment for and watched over them with all the interest of a 
 brother and a friend. He also directed the labors of the 
 brethren who were preaching the gospel in the east and 
 presided over all the churches. When he first went to the 
 east to preside, the branches were disorganized, the 
 Saints were scattered and like sheep without shepherds. 
 But his assuming control of affairs was the signal for 
 activity everywhere, and the work of the Lord revived. 
 In reporting the progress of the work, early in 1856, we 
 have him saying in The Mormon : 
 
 "It affords me very much pleasure to have to state 
 that since the arrival of myself and brethren in these 
 eastern states, Mormonism assumes quite another aspect: 
 we have large and flourishing churches in different parts 
 of this state, [New York] which are continually increas- 
 ing, not only by emigration but by baptisms. The Spirit 
 of the Lord rests among the assemblies of the Saints ; the 
 inquiries after truth are many; the floods of falsehood 
 with which this country was deluged before our arrival 
 are being dissipated, and the light of eternal truth is 
 bursting forth with resplendence and glory." 
 
 The spirit of reformation which in those days moved 
 on in such mighty power among the Saints in Utah, 
 extended its operations among the Saints in the east, 
 and there was a general awakening to a sense of duty 
 and responsibility. President Young in a letter to Elder 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 267 
 
 Taylor under date of October 3Oth, 1856, urged him to 
 take up the work of reformation. He said : 
 
 '* Brother Taylor, we are arousing the people of this 
 Territory to a sense of their obligations and their duties ; 
 great and thorough reformations are pervading every 
 quorum, every family, neighborhood and settlement. 
 The power of the Highest is resting down upon us, and 
 blessing our exertions. We wish to suggest to you 
 that probably a reformation might transpire in New 
 York among the Saints, and in other states, and in 
 Europe and other places where there are any Saints. 
 Arouse you, then, first getting the Holy 
 Ghost, and be ye filled with it, and pour it out upon the 
 people. Preach evenings, make appointments in the 
 various branches and fill them. Make the Elders feel 
 the fire in you, and make them labor." 
 
 With many such words did he urge him forward to 
 this work. But long before the slow mails brought the 
 letter to hand, Elder Taylor had been seized with the 
 spirit that the words of President Young were calculated 
 to arouse within him ; and the work of reformation was 
 well advanced on the arrival of the letter. The speed 
 of the Spirit of God out-ran the tardy mails, and com- 
 municated the will of the Lord to His servant. 
 
 Meantime the adversary was not idle. A number 
 of United States officials that had been sent to Utah 
 turned out to be the vilest of characters. Vain, ambitious, 
 corrupt, revengeful, hypocritical ; and evidently regarding 
 the Mormons as their legitimate prey as a people 
 having no rights which they were under obligations to 
 respect. As the time-serving, villainous Oswald, in 
 King Lear, looked upon the eyeless head of the unfortu- 
 nate, traitor-proclaimed and yet innocent Gloucester, as 
 being framed to raise his fortunes, so did these impudent, 
 
268 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 corrupt officials regard the Mormon people ; and hoped 
 by opposing their unpopular religion, and social customs 
 with which they had, of right, nothing to do to ride 
 into popular favor and good fortune. Utah was to be a 
 convenient stepping-stone to higher political preferment. 
 
 The outrages of these officials reached a climax in 
 the conduct of Associate Judge W. W. Drummond; 
 who, having deserted his wife in Illinois, brought with 
 him a prostitute who sat by him on the judicial bench in 
 open court; and in various ways insulted the people by 
 unwarranted assaults upon institutions religious and 
 social which they held to be most sacred ; and even 
 their territorial laws, to which the government at 
 Washington had taken no exceptions whatever, were 
 threatened by this gambler and black-leg, upon whose 
 unworthy shoulders the ermine had been unwisely 
 thrown. To the honor of the Mormon community, he 
 did not long remain in the Territory to disgrace her 
 judiciary, but fled in fear from Utah to California, from 
 which place he wrote his resignation and falsely reported 
 to the Attorney-General that the Mormons were in open 
 rebellion to the government ; that the records and 
 papers of the supreme court had been destroyed by 
 order of the Church; that Brigham Young and other 
 leading Church officials were responsible for the murder 
 of a number of U. S. officials who had died in the 
 Territory, and others who had been massacred by Indians. 
 
 Upon receiving these statements from Judge Drum- 
 mond, President Buchanan, without taking the pains to 
 ascertain the truth or falsehood of them, about the latter 
 part of May, 1857, ordered an army into Utah to sup- 
 press this imaginary rebellion. 
 
 Many criticisms were made upon the evident incon- 
 siderate action of President Buchanan in this affair. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 269 
 
 Elder Taylor, in a discussion he had some years later on 
 the "Mormon Question" with Vice-President Schuyler 
 Colfax, in referring to this action on the part of the gov- 
 ernment, says: "Mr. Buchanan had another object in 
 view, [than that of suppressing the "Mormon Rebellion"] 
 and Mr. J. B. Floyd, Secretary of War, had also his 
 ax to grind, and the whole combined was considered 
 a grand coup d'etat. It is hardly necessary to inform 
 Mr. Colfax that this army, under pretense of subjugating 
 the Mormons, was intended to coerce the people of 
 Kansas to his views, and that they were not detained, as 
 stated by Mr. Colfax's history, which said: 'The troops 
 necessarily moving slowly were overtaken by the snows 
 of November and wintered at Bridger.' I need not 
 inform Mr Colfax that another part of this grand tableau 
 originated in the desire of Secretary Floyd to scatter the 
 U. S. forces and arms preparatory to the Confederate 
 Rebellion. Such is history and such are facts." 
 
 John B. Floyd, Secretary of War in Buchanan's 
 cabinet, was from Virginia, and favored the southern 
 cause, as indeed the whole administration and the party 
 that elected it did; so that Elder Taylor's charge 
 respecting the scattering of United States forces, rests 
 upon the ground of strong probability. Relative to the 
 charge that under pretence of subjugating Utah the 
 President intended to coerce the people of Kansas to 
 an acceptance of his views, it is true that part of the 
 army for Utah left Fort Leavenworth before the last of 
 July ; but Brigadier-General Harney, to whom the com- 
 mand of the expedition had been given, remained with 
 several squadrons of the second dragoons in Kansas, 
 until after the elections in that Territory in October; and 
 President Buchanan was involved in an intrigue to defeat 
 the popular will in Kansas! 
 
270 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 There is, however, another consideration which I 
 doubt not influenced the action of the administration in 
 sending an army to Utah. The party that supported 
 the administration was anxious to give proof to the 
 country that it was no more favorable to the unpopular 
 Mormons than the Republican party was; and seized 
 upon the false reports of Judge Drummond as a golden 
 opportunity to out-herod Herod, hoping by that move- 
 ment to throw off the odium its opponents had fastened 
 upon it in charging that its doctrines of popular sover- 
 eignty would permit the people of Utah to establish 
 polygamy as well as slavery if they so elected. 
 
 It was in May, 1857, that Elder Taylor left New 
 York for the west. Judge William I. Appleby and T. B. 
 H. Stenhouse were left in charge of The Mormon, and 
 continued its publication until September igth, when it 
 was discontinued, principally on account of the threatened 
 " Mormon War." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 "THE MORMON" COMMENDED BY BRIGHAM YOUNG TRYING 
 
 TIMES COURAGE ELDER TAYLOR IN THE FRONT 
 
 "LET THE TRIAL COME" SPEECH ON THE RIGHTS OF 
 
 THE PEOPLE IN THE TERRITORIES. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR arrived in Salt Lake City from his 
 mission to the eastern states on the 7th of August, 1857. 
 Two days later, in the bowery on the Temple square, he 
 preached a powerful discourse, in which he represented 
 what the spirit of the people of the east was in respect 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 271 
 
 to Mormonism, and dwelt at some length on the gran- 
 deur of the mission in which the Saints had engaged. 
 
 He was followed by President Young, who took 
 occasion to commend the labors of the committee 
 appointed to present Utah's claims for admission into the 
 Union (Elder Taylor was one of the committee, it will 
 be remembered), and respecting the individual labors of 
 Elder Taylor, expressed himself as follows : 
 
 4 'With regard to the labors of Brother Taylor in 
 editing the paper called The Mormon, published in the 
 city of New York, I have heard many remarks concern- 
 ing the editorials in that paper, not only from the Saints, 
 but from those who do not profess to believe the religion 
 we have embraced ; and it is probably one of the strong- 
 est edited papers that is now published. I can say, as 
 to its editorials, that it is one of the strongest papers 
 ever published, so far as my information extends ; and I 
 have never read one sentence in them but what my heart 
 could bid success to it, and beat a happy response to 
 every sentence that I have read or heard read. Brother 
 Taylor, that is for you ; and I believe that these are the 
 feelings and the sentiments of all in this community who 
 have perused that paper." 
 
 It was a critical time in Utah when he returned. 
 For several years the crops, through excessive drouth 
 and grass-hoppers, had been at least a partial failure ; 
 the isolation of the people from manufacturing and com- 
 mercial centers, with very limited and very slow means of 
 transportation, had left them almost destitute of clothing; 
 an army was enroute for the Territory, but as to its 
 mission the governor received no definite information, 
 though there was a general and a fairly accurate under- 
 standing that its mission was not one of intended peace 
 and good will to the people 'of Utah. If its mission was 
 
272 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 to be judged by the boasts of its officers and men, there 
 was to be a sort of "Mormon conquest," and Mormon 
 houses, gardens, orchards, vineyards, fields, and also 
 Mormon wives and daughters were to be the spoils. The 
 very houses were picked out that certain persons were 
 to inhabit ; farms, property and women were to be dis- 
 tributed. "Beauty and booty" were their very watch- 
 words. 
 
 It had already been determined by Governor Young 
 and his associates that such an army with such objects in 
 view should not enter the Territory, even if it had to be pre- 
 vented by force of arms. It had further been determined 
 that before their enemies should again revel in the 
 homes which their industry had builded, they would burn 
 them to ashes ; cut down every fruit-tree and shrub, 
 burn the fences, and leave the country behind them a 
 ruined, blackened waste, while they fled again to the 
 wilderness. These were bold measures. The "army 
 of Utah," as the invading force was called, marched 
 under the United States flag ; it was commanded by 
 United States officers ; it had been ordered to Utah by 
 the President of the United States ; and to resist it might 
 be construed into rebellion or even treason that meant 
 hanging, to the leaders, who opposed it. Yet bold as 
 these measures were, and fraught with such serious 
 consequences to the leaders who adopted them, they 
 were fearlessly proclaimed, and would have been as 
 promptly executed on occasion. 
 
 Among that brave band of men who had the 
 courage to thus proclaim their rights, and dared to main- 
 tain them even against the United States, none were 
 more bold or fearless than John Taylor. In speech and 
 action he went as far as he who went farthest. In the 
 council chamber and in the field he was in the front rank ; 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 273 
 
 shoulder to shoulder he stood with President Young 
 and his brethren, and his public discourses in those times 
 glow with a soul-stirring eloquence that reminds one of 
 the spirit of the Revolutionary patriots of '76. In the 
 very discourse delivered two days after his return from 
 the east, he said : 
 
 " So far as I am concerned, I say let everything 
 come as God has ordained it. I do not desire trials ; I 
 do not desire affliction ; I would pray to God to leave 
 me not in temptation ; but if the 
 
 earthquake bellows, the lightnings flash, the thunders 
 roll and the powers of darkness are let loose, and the 
 spirit of evil is permitted to rage and an evil influence 
 is brought to bear on the Saints, and my life with theirs, 
 is put to the test let it come. * I 
 
 know that President Young and those associated with 
 him are full of the spirit of revelation, and they know 
 what they are doing; I feel to acquiesce and put my 
 shoulder to the work, whatever it is. If it is for peace, 
 let it be peace; if it is for war, let it be to the hilt." 
 
 Speaking again in the latter part of the same month, 
 he stated and expounded the principles which justified 
 the resistance of the people of Utah to the proceedings 
 of the administration at Washington. His speech on 
 that occasion was a sound exposition of the rights of the 
 people inhabiting the Territories as against the encroach- 
 ments of the general government, and should be pre- 
 served as a valuable addition to the political literature 
 extant upon that subject. After disclaiming any disposi- 
 tion on his own or on the part of his brethren to commit 
 the act of treason, Elder Taylor said : 
 
 "There are thousands of you who are Americans, 
 who have been born in this land, whose fathers fought 
 for the liberties we used to enjoy, but have not enjoyed 
 
 18 
 
274 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 for some years past. There are thousands of such men 
 here who feel the same spirit that used to burn in their 
 father's bosoms the spirit of liberty and equal rights 
 the spirit of according to every man that which belongs 
 to him, and of robbing no man of his rights. Your 
 fathers and grandfathers met the tyrant when he sought 
 to put a yoke on their necks ; as men and true patriots, 
 they came forward and fought for their rights and in 
 defense of that liberty which we, as their children, ought 
 to enjoy. You feel the same spirit that inspired them ; 
 the same blood that coursed through their veins flows 
 in yours ; you feel true patriotism and a strong attach- 
 ment to the Constitution and institutions bought by the 
 blood of your fathers, and bequeathed to you by them 
 as your richest patrimony. There are others of you that 
 have taken the oath of allegiance to the United States; 
 and some of you not understanding correct principles, 
 may, perhaps, feel qualms of conscience, and think, 
 probably, that if we undertake to resist the powers that 
 are seeking to make aggression upon us, we are doing 
 wrong. No such thing. You let your conscience sleep 
 at ease; let it be quiet; it is not we who are doing 
 wrong; it is others who are committing wrong upon us." 
 
 He then referred to the circumstance of the Saints 
 being driven from Missouri, and of their expulsion from 
 Nauvoo not for any ill that they had done, not that 
 they had interfered with the rights of others ; but because 
 there was not virtue enough either in state or general 
 government to protect an innocent, helpless people in 
 the enjoyment of their Constitutional rights ; because, 
 for sooth, they were unpopular friendless. The speaker 
 then asked: 
 
 " What did we do when we came here? We framed 
 a Constitution, a provisional government, and reported 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 275 
 
 our doings to the United States. Right on the back of 
 all the insults, robbery and fraud which we had endured, 
 we still went Constitutionally to work. Afterwards they 
 gave us a territorial government. Is there any step 
 that we have taken that is contrary to law? There is 
 not. They have appointed our governor, our secretaries, 
 our judges, our marshals ; they have done to us the 
 same in this matter as they have done with other Terri- 
 tories. * I do not believe in their right Constitutionally to 
 appoint our officers. Still they have done it, and we 
 have submitted to it. And they have sent some of the 
 worst scoundrels here that ever existed on the earth. 
 Instead of being fathers, they have tried every influence 
 they could bring to bear in order to destroy us. Such 
 have been our protectors ! Those have been the men 
 who have been sworn to fulfill their public duties ; but 
 they have foresworn themselves in the face of high 
 heaven. We have submitted to their 
 
 sending officers here ; that is all right enough if we have 
 a mind to. We are citizens of the United States, and 
 profess to support the Constitution of the United States; 
 and wherein that binds us we are bound; wherein it 
 does not, we are not bound. If there 
 
 is any man in this congregation, or anywhere else, that 
 will show me any principle or authority in the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States that authorizes the Presi- 
 dent of the United States to send out governors and 
 judges to this Territory, I would like to see it. I cannot 
 find such authority. I will admit that a usage of that 
 kind has obtained that it is quite customary for the 
 President of the United States, by and with the consent 
 of the senate to appoint governors, judges, marshals, 
 secretaries, and all of those officers that you have had here. 
 But it is a thing that is not authorized by the Constitu- 
 
276 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tion, much less to force them upon us by an armed 
 soldiery. There is no such authority existing. 
 
 "I will quote to you from the Constitution if I had 
 the Constitution here I would read it to you it is to the 
 effect 'that the powers not delegated to the United 
 States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
 states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the 
 people.' No matter, therefore, whether the people live 
 in the states or territories, they possess constitutional 
 privileges alike. The most that is said in regard to Ter- 
 ritories and the authority of the President or Congress 
 is, that 'The Congress shall have power to dispose of 
 and make all needful rules and regulations respecting 
 the territory or other property of the United States,' 
 that is speaking of it as land ; and some of the most 
 prominent statesmen of the United States have so con- 
 strued it. It is property as land territory as land they 
 have a right to interfere with, not territory as regards 
 people. I published this in The Mormon long ago, and 
 said the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.* 
 By and by the United States judges gave the same 
 decision. I gave mine, however, before they gave theirs. 
 It is a true principle they have not the authority. If 
 they have it at all, it is in the people ceding it to them, and 
 not what they possess by the Constitution of the United 
 States. So far as right is concerned, 
 
 * This Missouri Compromise was the adjustment of the Territorial question respect- 
 ing slavery, by which it was agreed in Congress that slavery should not be introduced 
 in the territory ceded by France to the United States north of 36 30' north latitude. 
 The anti-slavery party in Congress, when Missouri applied for admissionin to the Union, 
 in 1820, sought to prohibit slavery in that state ; this they could not do ; but as a com- 
 promise between them and the pro-slavery party, they accepted the provision restricting 
 slavery in the territory above indicated. This was the Missouri Compromise; and it was 
 this compromise which Elder Taylor held to be unconstitutional and which the supreme 
 court of the United States decided was unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision, 
 given in 1857; in which it was held that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in 
 any of the territories of the Union. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 277 
 
 then, they have no right to appoint officers for this or 
 any other Territory ; and I will defy any man to prove 
 that there is any such right in the Constitution. 
 
 "I conversed with a judge Black who was coming 
 up to Nebraska Territory on a steam boat an intelligent 
 man, a Democrat, of course. When talking about these 
 principles to him, which he acceeded to, I said : 'Judge, 
 what are you doing here? ' 
 
 'I am here/ said he, 'according to the usage that 
 has obtained ; but if the people do not want me, all they 
 have to do is to express it, and I will go away again.' 
 I wish we had only half such decent men as that sent 
 here. 
 
 We are not lacking for men in 
 
 the United States, at the present time who want to make 
 it appear that the United States have a right to lord it 
 over the Territories, the same as the British government 
 used to over their colonies. Thousands of you before 
 me were citizens of the United States, where you came 
 from. You had the right of franchise had a right to 
 say who should be your governor and who should be 
 municipal and state officers. You came out here by 
 thousands or by tens of thousands. By what right or 
 upon what principle are you disfranchised? Can any- 
 body tell me? Say some: 'You need not have come 
 out here unless you had a mind to.' Of course not. 
 But we had a mind to ; we were American citizens before 
 we came out, and we have transgressed no law in 
 coming ; and by what rule are we deprived of our citizen- 
 ship. If we had a right then to vote for anything, we 
 have a right now ; and nobody has a right to crowd this 
 or that man upon us without our consent, much less 
 have they a right to dragoon us into servility to their 
 unconstitutional exactions. 
 
278 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 In the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, it is stated [as one of the just causes of complaint 
 against the English government] that the people had 
 rulers placed over them, and they had no voice in their 
 election. Read that instrument. It describes our 
 wrongs as plainly as it did the wrongs the people then 
 labored under and discarded. Our government is doing 
 the very things against us that our fathers complained 
 of 'They send armed mercenaries among us to subju- 
 gate us.' What is our government doing? The same 
 thing." 
 
 "As American citizens and patriots, and as sons of 
 those venerable sires can we, without disgracing our- 
 selves, our fathers and our nation, submit to these 
 insults, and tamely bow to such tyranny? We cannot 
 do it, and we will not do it. We will rally round the 
 Constitution, and declare our rights as American citi- 
 izens ; and we will sustain them in the face of high 
 heaven and the world. 
 
 "No man need have any qualms of conscience that he 
 is doing wrong. You are patriots, standing by your 
 rights and opposing the wrong which affects all lovers of 
 freedom as well as you; for those acts of aggression 
 have a withering, deadly effect, and are gnawing like a 
 canker worm at the very vitals of civil and religious 
 liberty, You are standing by the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, and sustaining the Constitution which was 
 given by inspiration of God ; and you are the only peo- 
 ple in the United States at this time that are doing it. 
 You dare do it, and you feel right about the matter. 
 
 "* We are not taking any steps 
 
 contrary to the laws and the Constitution of the United 
 States, but in everything we are upholding and sustain- 
 ing them. Gentlemen, hands off! We are free men ; 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 279 
 
 we possess equal rights with other men ; and if you 
 send your sealed orders* here, we may break the seal, 
 and it shall be the opening of the first seal!" 
 
 Such, then, were the principles which justified the 
 resistance of Utah to the encroachments of the general 
 government. The Mormons were not religious enthu- 
 siasts fanatics rebels seeking to become a law unto 
 themselves ; but patriots demanding their rights rights 
 based upon the broad principles of liberty as set forth in 
 the Declaration of Independence, and guaranteed in the 
 Constitution of their country. They were contending 
 for the right to regulate their own local affairs in their 
 own way, and to be governed by men of their own 
 choosing they were but walking in the footsteps of 
 their Revolutionary Fathers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN VAN VLIET IN SALT LAKE ELDER 
 
 TAYLOR ON THE APPROACHING ARMY HOW IT WOULD 
 
 BE MET VAN VLIET's SURPRISE AND PERPLEXITY 
 
 HIS REPORT TO SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR CAP- 
 TAIN MARCY'S LETTER ELDER TAYLOR'S REPLY. 
 
 THE advanced companies of the "Army of Utah," 
 having reached Ham's Fork, a tributary of Green River, 
 late in the autumn of 1857, Captain Van Vliet was sent 
 to Salt Lake to purchase forage and lumber and assure 
 the people of Utah that the troops would not harm or 
 molest them. The captain arrived on the 8th of Sep- 
 
 * The army approaching Utah was coming with sealed orders. 
 
28O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tember and was cordially received by the leading Elders 
 of the Church, among others by Elder Taylor. 
 
 His mission as to forage and lumber was unsuccess- 
 ful, neither did he make the people believe the statement 
 that the troops would not harm them. The very natural 
 question was, Why are they coming to Utah, then ? An 
 army naturally suggests the idea of war, and war means 
 violence. 
 
 The captain's visit, however, was not in vain. He 
 learned that the Mormons had much to justify them in 
 the stand they had taken, and, moreover, that they were 
 very determined in it. He attended service the Sabbath 
 after his arrival, and that day Elder Taylor addressed 
 the assembly. In the course of his remarks he asked the 
 people : 
 
 " What would be your feelings if the United States 
 wanted to have the honor of driving us from our homes, 
 and bringing us subject to their depraved standard of 
 moral and religious truth? Would you, if necessary, 
 brethren, put the torch to your buildings and lay them in 
 ashes and wander houseless into these mountains? I 
 know what you would say and what you would do." 
 
 PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG. "Try the vote." 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "All you that are willing to set fire 
 to your property and lay it in ashes rather than submit 
 to their military rule and oppression, manifest it by rais- 
 ing your hands." 
 
 The congregation, numbering more than four.,thou- 
 sand, unanimously raised their hands. 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "I know what your feelings are. 
 We have been persecuted and robbed long enough ; and 
 in the name of Israel's God, we will be free !" 
 
 Congregation responded "Amen!" 
 
 PRESIDENT YOUNG. "I say amen all the time to that." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 28 1 
 
 ELDER TAYLOR. "I feel to thank God that I am asso- 
 ciated with such men, with such people, where honesty 
 and truth dwell in the heart where men have a religion 
 that they are not afraid to live by, and that they are not 
 afraid to die by ; and I would not give a straw for any- 
 thing short of that." 
 
 Captain Van Vliet's surprise was little short of 
 astonishment. He was not prepared to expect such 
 unanimity of sentiment nor such determination of pur- 
 pose. He admired their courage, but trembled for their 
 safety in a conflict with the government. He pointed 
 out the fact that if they successfully resisted the army 
 then on their borders, the next year would see an over- 
 whelming force sent to suppress and punish them. His 
 remonstrance was answered: 
 
 "We know that will be the case; but when these 
 troops arrive they will find Utah a desert ; every house 
 will be burned to the ground ; every tree cut down and 
 every field laid waste. We have three years' provisions 
 on ha'nd, which we will cache, and then take to the 
 mountains and bid defiance to all the powers of the gov- 
 ernment." 
 
 The captain returned to the army on Ham's Fork 
 deeply impressed with the seriousness and perhaps with 
 the absurdity of the government's movement against 
 Utah. Moreover he had become the friend of the Mor- 
 mon people, and his report to the Secretary of War, 
 made at Washington the November following, did much, 
 doubtless, in paving the way for an amicable adjustment 
 of the Utah difficulties. 
 
 Shortly after the departure of the captain, Elder 
 Taylor received a letter from Captain Marcy, of the 5th 
 Infantry, camped with the army on Ham's Fork ; and as 
 Elder Taylor's reply to that letter is a thoughtful exposi- 
 
282 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tion of the causes which led up to the Utah expedition, 
 and a scathing rebuke to the administration that inaugur- 
 ated it, as well as a fair sample of Elder Taylor's literary 
 style and gentlemanly sensibility, I give the correspon- 
 dence in extenso : 
 
 CAPTAIN MARCY S LETTER. 
 U CAMPOF THE 5TH INFANTRY ON HAM'S FORK, 
 
 "October i3th, 1857. 
 
 "Herewith I take the liberty of sending you a letter 
 of introduction from our mutual friend, W. J. A. Fuller, 
 of New York City. I also beg leave to trouble you with 
 the accompanying note of introduction to Governor 
 Young from Mr. W. I. Appleby, which I will thank you 
 to read to the governor at your convenience. 
 
 "When I left the states I expected to have the 
 honor of delivering these letters in person, but as our 
 movements are so slow, I have thought it better to trans- 
 mit them by the bearer, hoping that the opportunity may 
 be afforded me of paying my personal respects at some 
 future time. 
 
 "In the meantime, suffer me to assure you that 
 within the circle of my observation among the officers of 
 this army, there has not been the slightest disposition to 
 meddle with or in any way interfere with the religious or 
 social customs of your people; on the contrary, there 
 has, from the commencement of our march, been an 
 almost universal manifestation of a desire for a kind and 
 friendly intercourse: and I most sincerely hope that this 
 desirable result may be brought about. 
 
 "I verily believe that all the officers entertain the 
 same feelings towards the Mormons as Captain Van 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 283 
 
 Vliet, and I entertain no doubt that an acquaintance 
 with them would satisfy you that such is the fact. 
 "I am very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 "R. B. MARCY. 
 "Rev. John Taylor, 
 
 " Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory:' 
 
 ELDER TAYLORS REPLY. 
 
 " GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, 
 
 " October 21, 1857. 
 " Captain Marcy. 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR: I embrace this the earliest oppor- 
 tunity of answering your communication to me, embrac- 
 ing a letter from Mr. Fuller, New York, to you, an intro- 
 ductory letter to me, and also one from W. I. Appleby 
 to Governor Young ; the latter immediately on its receipt 
 I forwarded to His Excellency. And here let me state, 
 sir, that I sincerely regret that circumstances now exist- 
 ing have hitherto prevented a personal interview. 
 
 "I can readily believe your statement that it is very 
 far from your feelings and most of the command that 
 are with you to interfere with our social habits or relig- 
 ious views. One must naturally suppose that among 
 gentlemen educated for the army alone, who have been 
 occupied by the study of the art of war, whose pulses 
 have throbbed with pleasure at the contemplation of the 
 deeds of our venerated fathers, whose minds have been 
 elated by the recital of the heroic deeds of other nations, 
 and who have listened almost exclusively to the declama- 
 tions of patriots and heroes, that there is not much time 
 and less inclination to listen to the low party bickerings 
 of political demagogues, the interested twaddle of sec- 
 tional declaimers, or the throes and contortions of con- 
 
284 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tracted religious bigots. You are supposed to stand on 
 elevated ground, representing the power and securing 
 the interests of the whole of a great and mighty nation. 
 That many of you are thus honorable, I am proud as an 
 American citizen to acknowledge, but you must excuse 
 me, my dear sir, if I cannot concede with you that all 
 your officials are so high-toned, disinterested, humane 
 and gentlemanly, as a knowledge of some of their ante- 
 cedents would expressly demonstrate. However, it is 
 not with the personal character, the amiable qualities, 
 high-toned feelings, or gentlemanly deportment of the 
 officers in your expedition that we at present have to do. 
 The question that concerns us is one that is independent 
 of your personal, generous, friendly and humane feeling, 
 or any individual predilection of yours ; it is one that 
 involves the dearest rights of American citizens, strikes 
 at the root of our social and political existence, if it does 
 not threaten our entire annihilation from the earth. Ex- 
 cuse me, sir, when I say that you are merely the servants 
 of a lamentably corrupt administration, that your primary 
 law is obedience to orders, and that you come here with 
 armed foreigners, with cannons, rifles, bayonets and 
 broadswords, expressly and for the openly avowed pur- 
 pose of ' cutting out the loathsome ulcer from the body 
 politic.' 
 
 " I am aware what our friend Fuller says in relation 
 to this matter, and I entertain no doubt of his generous 
 and humane feelings, nor do I of yours, sir, but I do 
 know that he is mistaken in relation to the rabid tone 
 and false, furious attacks of a venal and corrupt press. I 
 do know that they are merely the mouthpiece, the tools, 
 the barking dogs of a corrupt administration. I do 
 know that Mr. Buchanan was well apprised of the nature 
 of the testimony adduced against us by ex-Judge Drum- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 285 
 
 mond and others, for he was informed of it to my knowl- 
 edge by a member of his own cabinet. And I further 
 know from personal intercourse with members ' of the 
 Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
 States, that there have been various plans concocted at 
 headquarters for some time past for the overthrow of 
 this people. Captain, Mr. Fuller informs me that you 
 are a politician. If so, you must know that in the last 
 presidential campaign that the Republican party had 
 opposition to slavery and polygamy as two of the princi- 
 pal planks in their platform. You may know, sir, that 
 Utah was picked out, and the only Territory excluded 
 from a participation in pre-emption rights to land. You 
 may also be aware that bills were introduced into Con- 
 gress for the prosecution of the Mormons, but other 
 business was too pressing at that time for them to 
 receive attention. You may be aware that measures 
 were also set on foot and bills prepared to divide up 
 Utah among the Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, Ore- 
 gon and New Mexico, (giving a slice to California) for 
 the purpose of bringing us into collision with the people 
 of those Territories. 
 
 "I might enumerate injuries by the score not to 
 say anything about thousands of our letters detained at 
 the post office at Independence and if these things are 
 not so, why is it that Utah is so knotty a question? If 
 people were no more ready to interfere with us and our 
 institutions than we are with them and theirs, these diffi- 
 culties would vanish into thin air. Why, again I ask, 
 could Drummond and a host of other mean scribblers, 
 palm orf their bare-faced lies with such impunity and have 
 their infamous slanders swallowed with such gusto? 
 Was it not that the administration and their satellites 
 having planned our destruction, were eager to catch at 
 
286 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 anything to render specious their contemplated acts of 
 blood? Or, in plain terms, the Democrats advocated 
 strongly popular sovereignty. The Republicans tell 
 them that if they join in maintaining inviolate the domes- 
 tic institutions of the south, they must also swallow 
 polygamy. The Democrats thought* this would not do, 
 as it would interfere with the religious scruples of many 
 of their supporters, and they looked about for some 
 means to dispose of the knotty question. Buchanan, 
 with Douglas, Cass, Thompson and others of his ad- 
 visers, after failing to devise legal means, hit upon the 
 expedient of an armed force against Utah, and thus 
 thought by the sacrifice of the Mormons to untie the 
 knotty question ; do a thousand times worse than the 
 Republicans ever meant, fairly out-Herod Herod, and by 
 religiously expatriating, destroying or killing a hundred 
 thousand innocent American citizens satisfy the pious, 
 humane, patriotic feeling of their, constituents, take the 
 wind out of the sails of the Republicans, and gain to 
 themselves immortal laurels. Captain, I have heard of a 
 pious Presbyterian doctrine that would inculcate thank- 
 fulness to the all-wise Creator for the privilege of being 
 damned. Now, as we are not Presbyterians nor 
 believers in this kind of self-abnegation, you will, I am 
 sure, excuse us for finding fault at being thus summarily 
 dealt with, no matter how agreeable the excision or expa- 
 triation might be to our political, patriotic, or very pious 
 friends. We have lived long enough in the world to 
 know that we are a portion of the body politic, that we 
 have some rights as well as other people, and that if 
 othersdo not respect us, we at least have manhood 
 enough to respect ourselves. 
 
 "Permit me here to refer to a remark made by our 
 friend, Mr. Fuller, to you viz., 'that he had rendered me 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 287 
 
 certain services in the city of New York, and that he had 
 no doubt that when you had seen and known us as he 
 had, that you would report as favorably as he had 
 unflinchingly done.' Now those favors, to which Mr. 
 Fuller refers, were simply telling a few plain matters of 
 fact, that had come under his own observation during a 
 short sojourn at Salt Lake. This, of course, I could duly 
 appreciate, for I always admire a man who dare tell the 
 truth. But, Captain, does it not strike you as humiliat- 
 ing to manhood and to the pride of all honorable Ameri- 
 can citizens, when among the thousands that have passed 
 through and sojourned among us, and know as well as 
 Mr. Fuller did, our true social and moral position, that 
 perhaps only one in ten thousand dare state his honest 
 convictions? and further, that Mr. Fuller with his know- 
 ledge of human nature, should look upon you as a rare 
 avis, possessing the moral courage and integrity to 
 declare the truth in opposition to the floods of falsehood 
 that have deluged our nation? Surely we have fallen on 
 unlucky times when honesty is avowed to be at so great 
 a premium ! 
 
 "In regard to our religion, it is perhaps, unnecessary 
 to say much, yet whatever others' feelings may be about 
 it, with us it is honestly a matter of conscience. This is 
 a right guaranteed unto us by the Constitution of our 
 country, yet it is on this ground, and this alone, that we 
 have suffered a continued series of persecutions, and 
 that this present crusade is set on foot against us. In 
 regard to this people, I have traveled extensively in the 
 United States, and through Europe, yet have never 
 found so moral, chaste and virtuous a people, nor do I 
 expect to find them. And if let alone, they are the most 
 patriotic and appreciate more fully the blessing of relig- 
 ious, civil, and political freedom than any other portion of 
 
288 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the United States. They have, however, discovered the 
 difference between a blind submission to the caprices of 
 political demagogues, and obedience to the Constitution, 
 laws, and institutions of the United States ; nor can they 
 in the present instance be hood-winked by the cry of 
 'treason.' If it be treason to stand up for our Consti- 
 tutional rights: if it be treason to resist the unconsti- 
 tutional acts of a vitiated and corrupt administration, 
 who by a mercenary armed force would seek to rob us 
 of the rights of franchise, cut our throats to subserve 
 their own party, and seek to force upon us their corrupt 
 tools, and violently invade the rights of American 
 citizens ; if it be treason to maintain inviolate our homes, 
 our firesides, our wives, and our honor, from the corrupt- 
 ing, and withering* blight of a debauched soldiery; if it 
 be treason to maintain inviolate the Constitution and 
 institutions of the United States, when nearly all the 
 states are seeking to trample them under their feet 
 then indeed are we guilty of treason. We have care- 
 fully considered all these matters, and are prepared to 
 meet the * terrible vengeance' we have been very 
 politely informed will be the result of our acts. It is in 
 vain to hide it from you that the people have suffered so 
 much from every kind of official that they will endure it 
 no longer. It is not with them an idle phantom, but a 
 stern reality. It is not as some suppose the 'voice of 
 Brigham ' only, but the universal, deep settled feeling of 
 the whole community. Their cry is ' Give us our Con- 
 stitutional rights ; give us liberty or death.' A strange 
 cry, indeed, in our boasted model republic, but a truth 
 deeply and indelibly graven on the hearts of 100,000 
 American citizens by a series of twenty-seven years 
 unmitigated, and unprovoked, yet unrequited wrongs. 
 Having told you of this, you will not be surprised, that 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 289 
 
 when fifty have been called to assist in repelling our 
 aggressors, hundreds have volunteered; and when a 
 hundred have been called, the number has been more 
 than doubled; the only feeling is, 'don't let us be over- 
 looked or forgotten/ And here let me inform you that I 
 have seen thousands of hands raised simultaneously vot- 
 ing to burn our property rather than let it fall into the 
 hands of our enemies. Our people have been so fre- 
 quently robbed and despoiled without redress, that they 
 have solemnly decreed that if they cannot enjoy their own 
 property nobody else shall. You will see by this that it 
 would be literally madness for your small force to attempt 
 to come into the settlements. It would only be courting 
 destruction. But say you: have you counted the cost? 
 have you considered the wealth and power of the United 
 States and the fearful odds against you? Yes, and here 
 let me inform you that if necessitated we would as soon 
 meet 100,000 as 1,000, and if driven to the necessity, 
 will burn every house, tree, shrub, rail, every patch of 
 grass,, and stack of straw and hay, and flee to the 
 mountains. You will then obtain a barren, desolate 
 wilderness, but will not have conquered the people, and 
 the same principle in regard to other property will be 
 carried out. If this people have to burn their property 
 to save it from the hands of legalized mobs, they will see 
 to it that their enemies shall be without fuel ; they will 
 haunt them by day and by night. Such is in part our 
 plan. The 300,000 dollars worth of our property 
 destroyed already in Green River County is only a faint 
 sample of what will be done throughout the Territory. 
 We have been thrice driven by tamely submitting to the 
 authority of corrupt officials, and left our houses and 
 homes for others to inhabit; but are now determined 
 that if we are again robbed of our possessions, our 
 
 19 
 
2QO LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 enemies shall also feel how pleasant it is to be houseless 
 at least for once, and be permitted as they have sought 
 to do to us, 
 
 " ' To dig their own dark graves, 
 Creep into them and die.' 
 
 "You see we are not backward in showing our 
 hands. Is it not strange to what lengths the human 
 family may be goaded by a continued series of oppres- 
 sion ? The administration may yet find leisure to pause 
 over the consequences of their acts, and it may yet 
 become a question for them to solve whether they have 
 blood and treasure enough to crush out the sacred prin- 
 ciples of liberty from the bosoms of one hundred thous- 
 and freemen, and make them bow in craven servility to 
 the mendacious acts of a perjured, degraded tyrant. 
 
 "You may have learned already that it is anything 
 but pleasant for even a small army to contend with the 
 chilling blasts of this inhospitable climate. How a large 
 army would fare without resources you can picture to 
 yourself. We have weighed those matters ; it is for the 
 administration to post their own accounts. It may not 
 be amiss, however, here to state that if they continue to 
 prosecute this inhuman fratricidal war, and our Nero 
 would light the fires, and, sitting complacently in his chair 
 of state, laugh at burning Rome, there is a day of reck- 
 oning even for Neroes. There are generally two sides 
 to a question. As I before said we wish for peace, but 
 that we are determined on having if we have to fight for 
 it. We will not have officers forced upon us who are 
 so degraded as to submit to be sustained by the bayo- 
 net's point. We cannot be dragooned into servile 
 obedience to any man. 
 
 "These things settled, Captain, and all the little pre- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 29! 
 
 liminaries of etiquette are easily arranged ; and permit 
 me here to state that no man would be more courteous 
 and civil than Governor Young, and neither could you 
 find in your capacity of an officer of the United States 
 a more generous and hearty welcome than at the hands 
 of His Excellency. But when, instead of battling with 
 the enemies of our country, you come (though probably 
 reluctantly) to make war upon my family and friends, our 
 civilities are naturally cooled and we instinctively grasp 
 the sword. Minie rifles, Colt's revolvers, sabres and 
 cannon may display very good workmanship and great 
 artistic skill, but we very much object to having their 
 temper and capabilities tried upon us. We may admire 
 the capabilities, gentlemanly deportment, heroism and 
 patriotism of United States officers ; but in an official 
 capacity as enemies, we would rather see their backs 
 than their faces. The guillotine may be a very pretty 
 instrument and show great artistic skill, but I don't like 
 to try my neck in it. 
 
 4 'Now, Captain, notwithstanding all this, I shall be 
 very happy to see you if circumstances should so trans- 
 pire as to make it convenient for you to come, and to 
 extend to you the courtesies of our city, for I am sure 
 you are not our personal enemy. I shall be happy to 
 render you any information in my power in regard to 
 your contemplated explorations. 
 
 "I am heartily sorry that things are so unpleasant 
 at the present time, and I cannot but realize the awkward- 
 ness of your position and that of your compatriots ; and 
 let me here say that anything that lies in my power 
 compatible with the conduct of a gentleman, you can 
 command. 
 
 "If you have leisure I should be most happy to 
 hear from you. You will, I am sure, excuse me, if I 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 disclaim the prefix of Rev. to my name. Address : John 
 Taylor, Great Salt Lake City. 
 
 "I need not here assure you that personally there 
 can be no feelings of enmity between us and your 
 officers. We regard you as the agents of the adminis- 
 tration only, in the discharge of a probably unpleasant 
 duty, and very likely ignorant of the ultimate designs of 
 the administration. As I left the east this summer you 
 will excuse me when I say I am probably better posted 
 in some of these matters than you are, having been one 
 of a delegation from the citizens of this Territory to apply 
 for admission into the Union. I can only regret that it 
 is not our real enemies that are here instead of you. 
 We do not wish to harm you nor any of the command 
 to which you belong, and I can assure you that in any 
 other capacity than the one you now occupy, you would 
 be received as civilly and treated as courteously as in 
 any other portion of our Union. 
 
 " On my departure from the states the fluctuating tide 
 of popular opinion against us seemed to be on the wane. 
 By this time there may be quite a reaction in the public 
 mind. If so it may probably affect materially the position 
 of the administration, and tend to more constitutional, 
 pacific and humane measures. In such an event our 
 relative positions would be materially changed, and 
 instead of meeting as enemies we could meet as all 
 Americans should, friends to each other, and united 
 against our legitimate enemies only. Such an issue is 
 devoutly to be desired, and I can assure you that no 
 one could more appreciate so happy a result to our 
 present awkward and unpleasant position than 
 
 " Yours Truly, 
 
 "JoHN TAYLOR." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN UTAH THE LEGISLATURE TO 
 
 CONGRESS "WE SHALL NOT ABANDON OUR RELIGION" 
 GIVE US OUR RIGHTS AND WE ARE AT HOME AR- 
 RIVAL OF COL. KANE COMPROMISES ENTRANCE OF 
 
 GOVERNOR GUMMING INTO SALT LAKE REMAINING 
 
 DIFFICULTIES PREPARATIONS FOR AN EXODUS THE 
 
 PEACE COMMISSION DIFFICULTIES ADJUSTED ELDER 
 
 TAYLOR'S PART. 
 
 IT WAS but a few days after the departure of Captain 
 Van Vliet on his return to the army, that Governor 
 Young issued his proclamation forbidding all armed 
 forces from entering the Territory. He called on the 
 territorial militia to enforce the proclamation, and 
 declared martial law to exist throughout Utah. This 
 action was followed by sending a portion of the militia 
 to watch the movements of the army, and prevent its 
 marching into the Territory. 
 
 These military movements were under the im- 
 mediate supervision of Lieutenant-General Daniel H. 
 Wells ; but when he went to the front he was ac- 
 companied by Elders Taylor and Geo. A. Smith. 
 Elder Taylor remained with the militia at the front 
 until about the middle of December, when he re- 
 turned to Salt Lake City, as the legislature, to which he 
 had been elected a member from Salt Lake County, 
 convened in the latter part of that month. He was 
 unanimously chosen Speaker of the House. 
 
294 LI FE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 The most important action of this legislature was 
 the passage of a memorial to the President and Congress 
 of the United States. It called attention to the fact that 
 a previous legislature had memorialized Congress in 
 respect to the situation in Utah, had set forth the 
 grievances of the people and made known their wishes 
 in regard to the appointment of the U. S. officials for 
 the Territory. They had asked that the said officials be 
 selected from the citizens of Utah, whose interests would 
 be identical with those of the people among whom they 
 administered the law. 
 
 The present memorialists reminded the President 
 and Congress that no action had been taken, no answer 
 made to this former memorial, " unless," said they, "it 
 is to be understood that the appointment of a full set of 
 officers for this Territory, backed by an army to enforce 
 them upon us * * * is to be deemed an answer." 
 And then, notwithstanding an army was encamped on 
 their borders, with the prospect of being re-enforced and 
 marched into Salt Lake Valley in the spring, the legis- 
 lature had the spirit to talk to Congress in the following 
 strain : 
 
 "We appeal to you as American citizens who have 
 been wronged, insulted, abused and persecuted ; driven 
 before our relentless foes from city to city from state to 
 state until we were finally expelled from the confines 
 of civilization to seek a shelter in a barren, inhospitable 
 clime, amid the wild, savage tribes of the desert 
 plains. We claim to be a portion of the people, 
 and as such have rights that must be respected, and 
 which we have a right to demand. We claim that in a 
 republican form of government, such as our fathers 
 established, and such as ours still professes to be, the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 295 
 
 officers are and should be the servants of the people 
 not their masters, dictators or tyrants. 
 
 "To the numerous charges of our enemies we 
 plead not guilty, and challenge the world before any 
 just tribunal to the proof. Try on 
 
 the plaster of friendly intercourse and honorable dealing 
 instead of foul aggression and war. Treat us as friends 
 as citizens entitled to and possessing equal rights with 
 our fellows and not as alien enemies, lest you make us 
 such. All we want is the truth and 
 
 fair play. The administration have been imposed upon 
 by false, designing men ; their acts have been precipitate 
 and hasty, perhaps through lack of due consideration. 
 Please to let us know what you want of us before you 
 prepare your halters to hang, or ' apply the knife to cut 
 out the loathsome, disgusting ulcer.' Do you wish us to 
 deny our God and renounce our religion? That we 
 shall not do. Withdraw your troops, 
 
 give us our Constitutional rights and we are at home." 
 This document was signed by Elder Taylor, Speaker 
 of the House ; and Heber C. Kimball, President of the 
 council. 
 
 During the winter of 1857-8 the "army for Utah" 
 was kept encamped on or near Ham's Fork, and about 
 Fort Bridger, unable to move into Salt Lake Valley, as 
 large numbers of its stock had been run off; and a 
 forced march into the Valley was impracticable as the 
 mountain passes were well fortified and guarded by the 
 Utah militia, determined to resist such a movement. 
 Meantime the favorable report given of the Mormons 
 by Captain Van Vliet at Washington, had produced a 
 change in public sentiment; and President Buchanan 
 found himself with his Utah expedition on his hands 
 
296 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 without being able to assign any reasonable cause for 
 having inaugurated it. 
 
 It was at this juncture that Colonel Thomas L. 
 Kane, of Pennsylvania, offered his services to the per- 
 plexed President. Colonel Kane had been a witness of 
 the cruel expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois, and 
 had become their firm and fast friend. It was, therefore, 
 as much the object of the Colonel to render further 
 service to a people to whom he had become attached, as 
 it was to prevent the administration at Washington from 
 making a further blunder, that induced him to offer his 
 services as mediator between the President and the 
 people of Utah. 
 
 The Colonel arrived in Salt Lake City in February, 
 1858, and was heartily welcomed by the Church leaders 
 and the Saints. The result of his mediation was that 
 the people received and acknowledged the President's 
 appointee for Governor of the Territory, Alfred Cum- 
 ming, of Georgia, provided he would agree to come to 
 Salt Lake City without the army conditions which 
 Governor Cumming readily accepted. 
 
 He was escorted to Salt Lake City by Colonel Kane 
 and several companies of the Utah militia; and every- 
 where was met with a hearty welcome and acknowledged 
 Governor of Utah. He notified General Albert Sidney 
 Johnston who had succeeded Harney in the command 
 of the Utah expedition to this effect; and informed him 
 that the presence of the army was not necessary to 
 maintain his authority. 
 
 In his report to the Secretary of State, Governor 
 Cumming denied the charges made againt the Mormon 
 people charges which had been pointed to as justifying 
 the President in sending the army so that there was 
 left not even the shadow of a justification for this in- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 297 
 
 considerate, hostile demonstration. But even before 
 Governor Cumming's report reached Washington, 
 President Buchanan had become so heartily sick of his 
 blunder that he issued a proclamation* pardoning the 
 people for their alleged rebellion and treason. 
 
 Governor Cumming had entered the Territory, his 
 authority had been acknowledged, he was in the full 
 discharge of his official duties and congratulated himself 
 that all the Utah difficulties were approaching a happy 
 termination. His rejoicing was premature. The diffi- 
 culties were not ended. The army was within a few 
 days' march of the capital and other thickly settled 
 portions of the Territory, and might rush in at any time 
 to be quartered in Salt Lake City or encamped in close 
 proximity to other settlements to insult, abuse and 
 oppress the people. Furthermore, with the army and 
 its camp followers once settled in or near Salt Lake City, 
 with judges deeply prejudiced against them, and with an 
 idea that they were judges with a mission, it was more 
 than possible, it was quite probable, that juries composed 
 of teamsters and camp followers would be packed to set 
 in judgment on the old settlers of Utah in respect to 
 events which had occurred during the unsettled state of 
 affairs of the past two years. To these things the 
 leaders of the people had determined not to submit; 
 and rather than brook such treatment, an exodus from 
 the Territory was determined upon. 
 
 Early spring saw the people in the northern settle- 
 ments moving en masse for the south, leaving only enough 
 men in the deserted settlements to fire them and lay 
 waste the country. Alfred Cumming might be Gov- 
 ernor of the Territory, but the people leaving would 
 
 * Governor Cumming's report to Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, bears the date of 
 May 2, 1858 : The President issued his proclamation, on the sixth of April, of the same 
 year. 
 
298 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 make his sceptre a barren one. The army might march 
 into the Territory with all the pomp and circumstance of 
 glorious war, but the country would be a blackened 
 waste not much glory to be reaped on such a field for 
 the army of the great Republic ! 
 
 By June, Salt Lake City and all the settlements 
 north of Lehi were deserted, save by those left to des- 
 troy them. Such was the state of things in Utah when 
 President Buchanan's Peace Commissioners L. W. 
 Powell, Senator-elect from Kentucky, and ex-Governor 
 of that state, and Major-General Ben McCullough 
 arrived. A conference between them and the leaders 
 of the Church, in which Elder Taylor took part, resulted 
 in an adjustment of the Utah difficulties. The past was 
 to be buried. In the language of Commissioner Powell, 
 ''Bygones are to be bygones;" and while the army 
 was to be permitted to enter the Territory it was not to 
 be encamped nearer than forty miles of Salt Lake City, 
 and not adjacent to densely settled districts. 
 
 The location decided upon for its encampment was 
 in Cedar Valley, south-west of Salt Lake City. The 
 troops marched through the deserted city en route for 
 this point, but made no stay in it. Their permanent 
 encampment in Ceder Valley was made at Fairfield, and 
 named Camp Floyd, in honor of the then Secretary of 
 War. 
 
 These stipulations carried out on the part of the 
 Governor, the Commission and the army, and assurances 
 given that they should be faithfully observed, the people 
 returned to their deserted homes in time to reap the 
 volunteer harvest with which their fields were spread ; and 
 affairs in troubled Utah began to settle to normal con- 
 ditions. 
 
 In all these stirring events Elder Taylor took a prom- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 299 
 
 inent part. Having implicit faith in God his glorious 
 hopes for the future, lined the dark and threatening 
 clouds with brightest silver. Confident, as he ever was, 
 that God held the destiny of His people and that of their 
 enemies in His own hands, he was ready for peace or 
 war; or for the abandonment and destruction of his 
 home, if such were the will of God. This spirit of 
 trust and confidence in the Lord he not only possessed 
 himself, but had also the faculty of imbuing others with . 
 it. He encouraged the disheartened, cheered the sor- 
 rowful, strengthened the weak, reproved the fearful, 
 convinced the unbelieving, counseled even the wise ; and 
 throughout those dark and turbulent times, bore himself 
 with dignity, courage and true manliness which intensi- 
 fied the love of the Saints for him, and called forth the 
 admiration of' his brethren. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 LABORS AFTER THE UTAH WAR A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLA- 
 TURE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PROBATE JUDGE 
 
 GREAT DISCUSSION WITH VICE-PRESIDENT SCHUYLER 
 COLFAX. 
 
 AFTER the close of the "Mormon War," Elder Tay- 
 lor's public labors were mostly confined to Utah. Fora 
 number of years he traveled extensively through all the 
 settlements of the Saints, preaching the gospel, usually 
 accompanying President Brigham Young in his annual 
 preaching tours. He also attended all conferences 
 and councils, and assisted in a general way all public 
 enterprises. 
 
300 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 He was a member of the Utah Territorial Legisla- 
 ture from 1857 to 1876; and was elected speaker of the 
 House for five successive sessions, beginning in 1857. 
 As the Speaker of the House he won the esteem of the 
 members by his uniform courtesy and fairness. As a 
 member he sought to promote the interests of his constitu- 
 ents and at the same time to legislate for the welfare of 
 the entire Territory. 
 
 In 1868 he was elected Probate Judge of Utah 
 County, and continued in office until the December term 
 of that court in 1870. As the laws of Utah then pro- 
 vided that the probate courts should "have power to 
 exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, and 
 as well in chancery as in common law," the position was 
 one of considerable importance. Especially in those days 
 when the perverseness of Federal judges led them fre- 
 quently to close the district courts indefinitely, because, 
 forsooth, the grand juries insisted on indicting men only 
 when the facts before them warranted such action, and 
 petit juries insisted on the right to judge the guilt or inno- 
 cence of men accused of crime according to the facts 
 proven in open court, instead of finding them guilty or 
 innocent according as the wishes or prejudices of the 
 judge would have them condemned or liberated. 
 
 During these years, too, he continued to stand up 
 in defense of the rights and liberties of the Saints, miss- 
 ing no opportunity to speak out in his bold, manly style 
 against those who would wrong them. 
 
 In October, 1869, Utah for the second time was 
 visited by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, then vice-President 
 of the United States. On the 5th of the month he deliv- 
 ered a speech from the portico of the Townsend House, 
 now the Continental Hotel. In that speech, which was 
 extensively published in the east, the vice-president made 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 30 1 
 
 an attack on the Mormon religion, and justified Congress 
 in the enactment of laws against the practice of plural 
 marriage. To this speech Elder Taylor, then tempor- 
 arily absent from the Territory, in Boston, replied 
 through the columns of the New York Tribune. 
 
 In his speech the vice-president took the position 
 that the marriage institution of the Saints did not involve 
 the question of religion; his exact words were: " I do 
 not concede that the institution you have established 
 here, and which is condemned by the law, is a question 
 of religion;" and from that basis argued the question. 
 His main point of argument I quote, observing only in 
 passing that it has been the argument of tyrants and 
 persecutors, acting under the cloak of law, ever since 
 liberty had to struggle against oppression : 
 
 "I have no strictures to utter as to your creed on 
 any really religious question. Our land is a land of civil 
 and religious liberty, and the faith of every man is a 
 matter between himself and God alone. You have as 
 much' right to worship the Creator through a President 
 and twelve apostles of your church organization, as I 
 have through the ministers and elders and creed of 
 mine. And this right I would defend for you with as 
 much zeal as the right of every other denomination 
 throughout the land. 
 
 "But our country is governed by law, and no 
 assumed revelation justifies any one in trampling on the 
 law. If it did, every wrong-doer would use that argu- 
 ment to protect himself in his disobedience to it." 
 
 Replying to this part of the Vice-President's argu- 
 ment, Elder Taylor commended the magnanimity and 
 even-handed justice of the first paragraph saying that the 
 sentiments did honor to the author of them and that they 
 
3O2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ought to be engraven on every American heart. To the 
 second paragraph he replied : 
 
 "That our country is governed bylaw all admit; but 
 when it is said that 'no assumed revelation justifies any 
 one in trampling on the law,' I should respectfully ask, 
 What! not if it interferes with my religious faith, which 
 you state 'is a matter between God and myself alone?' 
 Allow me, sir, here to state that the assumed revelation 
 referred to is one of the most vital parts of our religious 
 faith ; it emanated from God and cannot be legislated 
 away; it is part of the 'Everlasting Covenant' which 
 God has given to man. Our marriages are solemnized 
 by proper authority ; a woman is sealed unto a man for 
 time and for eternity, by the power of which Jesus 
 speaks, which 'seals on earth and it is sealed in heaven.' 
 With us it is ' Celestial Marriage ;' take this from us and 
 you rob us of our hopes and associations in the resurrec- 
 tion of the just. This not our religion? You do not 
 see things as we do. I make these 
 
 remarks to show that it is considered, by us, a part of 
 our religious faith, which I have no doubt, did you under- 
 stand it as we do, you would defend, as you state, 'with 
 as much zeal as the right of every other denomination 
 throughout the land.' Permit me here to say, however, 
 that it was the revelation (I will not say assumed) that 
 Joseph and Mary had, which made them look upon Jesus 
 as the Messiah ; which made them flee from the wrath of 
 Herod, who was seeking the young child's life. This 
 they did in contravention of law which was his decree. 
 Did they do wrong in protecting Jesus from the law? 
 But Herod was a tyrant. That makes no difference ; it 
 was the law of the land, and I have yet to learn the 
 difference between a tyrannical king and a tyrannical 
 Congress. When we talk of executing law in either 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 303 
 
 case, that means force, force means an army, and an 
 army means death. Now I am not sufficiently versed in 
 metaphysics to discover the difference in its effects, be- 
 tween the asp of Cleopatra, the dagger of Brutus, the 
 chalice of Lucretia Borgia, or the bullet or sabre of an 
 American soldier. 
 
 "I have, sir, written the above in consequence of 
 some remarks which follow : 
 
 "'I do not concede that the institution you have 
 established here, and which is condemned by the law, is 
 a question of religion/ 
 
 "Now, with all due deference, I do think that if 
 Mr. Colfax had carefully examined our religious faith he 
 would have arrived at other conclusions. In the absence 
 of this I might ask, who constituted Mr. Colfax a judge 
 of my religious faith ? I think he has stated that ' The 
 faith of every man is a matter between himself and God 
 alone' 
 
 "Mr. Colfax has a perfect right to state and feel 
 that he does not believe in the revelation on which my 
 religious faith is based, nor in my faith at all ; but has he 
 the right to dictate my religious faith? I think not; he 
 does not consider it religion, but it is nevertheless mine. 
 
 "If a revelation from God is not a religion, what is? 
 
 " His not believing it from God makes no difference ; 
 I know it is. The Jews did not believe in Jesus but Mr. 
 Colfax and I do ; their unbelief does not alter the 
 revelation." 
 
 Commenting more at length on the Vice- President's 
 assumption that the marriage system of the Saints had 
 nothing to do with religion, he said : 
 
 "Are we to understand that Mr. Colfax is created 
 an umpire to decide upon what is religion and wha,t is 
 not, upon what is true religion and what is false? If so, 
 
304 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 by whom and what authority is he created judge? I am 
 sure he has not reflected upon the bearing of this 
 hypothesis, or he would not have made such an utter- 
 ance. 
 
 " According to this theory no persons ever were 
 persecuted for their religion, there never was such a 
 thing known. Could anybody suppose that that erudite, 
 venerable, and profoundly learned body of men, the 
 great Sanhedrim of the Jews ; or that those holy men, 
 the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, would persecute 
 anybody for religion? Jesus was put to death, not for 
 His religion, but because He was a blasphemer; because 
 He had a devil and cast out devils through Beelzebub 
 the prince of devils; because He, being a carpenter's 
 son, and known among them as such, declared Himself 
 the Son of God. So they said, and they were the then 
 judges. Could anybody be more horrified than those 
 Jews at such pretensions? His disciples were perse- 
 cuted, proscribed and put to death, not for their religion, 
 but because they 'were pestilent fellows and stirrers up 
 of sedition,' and because they believed in an 'assumed 
 revelation' concerning 'one Jesus, who was put to death, 
 and who, they said, had risen again.' It was for false 
 pretensions and a lack of religion that they were perse- 
 cuted. Their religion was not like that of the Jews ; 
 ours, not like that of Mr. Colfax. 
 
 " Loyola did not invent and put into use the faggot, 
 the flame, the sword, the thumbscrews, the rack and 
 gibbet to persecute anybody, it was to purify the Church 
 of heretics, as others would purify Utah. His zeal was 
 for the Holy Mother Church. The Nonconformists of 
 England and Holland, the Huguenots of France and the 
 Scottish non-Covenanters were not persecuted or put to 
 death for their religion ; it was for being schismatics, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 305 
 
 turbulent and unbelievers. All of the above claimed 
 that they were persecuted for their religion. All of the 
 persecutors, as Mr. Colfax said about us, did 'not 
 concede that the institution they had established which 
 was condemned by the law, was religion ;' or, in other 
 terms, it was an imposture or false religion." 
 
 Referring to the injustice and oppression which 
 had been perpetrated on humanity in the name of law, 
 he wrote the following fine vein of sarcasm : 
 
 " When Jesus was plotted against by Herod and the 
 infants were put to death, who could complain ? // was 
 law: we must submit to law. The Lord Jehovah, or Jesus, 
 the Savior of the world, has no right to interfere with 
 law. Jesus was crucified according to law. Who can 
 complain? Daniel was thrown into a den of lions 
 strictly according to law. The king would have saved 
 him, if he could ; but he could not resist law. The 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew was in accordance with 
 law. The guillotine of Robespierre, of France, which 
 cut heads off by the thousand, did it according to law. 
 What right had the victims to complain? But these 
 things were done in barbarous ages. Do not let us, 
 then, who boast of our civilization, follow their example ; 
 let us be more just, more generous, more forbearing, 
 more magnanimous. We are told that we are living in 
 a more enlightened age. Our morals are more pure, (?) 
 our ideas more refined and enlarged, our institutions 
 more liberal. 'Ours,' says Mr. Colfax, 'is a land of 
 civil and religious liberty, and the faith of every man is 
 a matter between himself and God alone,' providing God 
 don't shock our moral ideas by introducing something 
 we don't believe in. If He does, let Him look out. We 
 won't persecute, very far be that from us ; but we will 
 make our platforms, pass Congressional laws and make 
 
306 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 you submit to them. We may, it is true, have to send 
 out an army, and shed the blood of many ; but what of 
 that? It is so much more pleasant to be proscribed and 
 killed according to the laws of the Great Republic, in the 
 'asylum for the oppressed,' than to perish ignobly by the 
 decrees of kings, through their miserable minions, in the 
 barbaric ages." 
 
 The reply of Elder Taylor to the Vice-President's 
 speech brought that gentleman out again in a long 
 article on the Mormon question, published in the New 
 York Independent. In addition to repeating the main 
 argument of his speech, Mr. Colfax, undertook to trace 
 out the history of the Mormons and answer the argu- 
 ments of Elder Taylor. To this second production 
 Elder Taylor made an elaborate and masterly reply that 
 was quite as extensively published in the east as was the 
 Vice-President's article. He followed his opponent 
 through all his meanderings in dealing with the Mormon 
 question ; he corrected his errors, reproved his blunders, 
 answered his arguments, laughed at his folly ; now be- 
 laboring him with the knotty cudgel of unanswerable 
 argument, and now roasting him before the slow fire of 
 his sarcasm ; now honoring him for his zeal, which, how- 
 ever mistaken, had the smack of honesty about it; and 
 now pitying him for being led astray on some historical 
 fact. 
 
 In the opening of his article the Vice-President 
 made a rather ungenerous effort to belittle the achieve- 
 ments of the Mormon people, in redeeming the desert 
 valleys of Utah. "For this," said he, "they claim great 
 credit: and I would not detract one iota from all they 
 are legitimately entitled to. It was a desert when they 
 first emigrated thither. They have made large portions 
 of it fruitful and productive, and their chief city is beau- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 307 
 
 tiful in location and attractive in its gardens and shrub- 
 bery. But the solution of it all is in one word water. 
 What seemed to the eye a desert became fruitful when 
 irrigated ; and the mountains whose crests are clothed 
 in perpetual snow, furnished, in the unfailing supplies of 
 their ravines, the necessary fertilizer."' 
 
 This afforded Elder Taylor a fine opportunity for 
 one of those poetic flights so frequently to be met with 
 both in his writings and sermons. "Water!" he ex- 
 claimed. "Mirabile dictu! Here I must help Mr. C. out." 
 
 "This wonderful little water nymph, after playing 
 with the clouds on our mountain tops, frolicking with the 
 snow and rain in our rugged gorges for generations, 
 coquetting with the sun and dancing to the sheen of the 
 moon, about the time the Mormons came here, took upon 
 herself to perform a great miracle, and descending to the 
 valley with a wave of her magic wand and the mysterious 
 words, 'hiccory, diccory, dock,' cities and streets were 
 laid out, crystal waters flowed in ten thousand rippling 
 streams, fruit trees and shrubbery sprang up, gardens 
 and orchards abounded, cottages and mansions were or-, 
 ganized, fruits, flowers and grain in all their elysian 
 glory appeared and the desert blossomed as the rose ; 
 and this little frolicking elf, so long confined to the 
 mountains and water courses proved herself far more 
 powerful than Cinderella or Aladdin. Oh! Jealousy, 
 thou green-eyed monster! Can no station in life be pro- 
 tected from the shimmer of thy glamour? must our 
 talented and honorable Vice-President be subjected to 
 thy jaundiced touch? But to be serious, did water tun- 
 nel through our mountains, construct dams, canals and 
 ditches, lay out our cities and towns, import and plant 
 choice fruit-trees, shrubs and flowers, cultivate the land 
 and cover it with the cattle on a thousand hills, erect 
 
308 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 churches, school-houses and factories, and transform a 
 
 howling wilderness into a fruitful field and a garden ? 
 ******* 
 
 Unfortunately for Mr. Colfax, it was Mormon polyga- 
 mists who did it. 
 
 What if a stranger on gazing upon the statuary in 
 Washington and our magnificent Capitol, and after rub- 
 bing his eyes were to exclaim, ' Eureka ! it is only rock 
 and mortar and wood !' This discoverer would announce 
 that instead of the development of art, intelligence, in- 
 dustry and enterprise, its component parts were simply 
 stone, mortar and wood. Mr. Colfax has discovered 
 that our improvements are attributable to water!" 
 
 Replying to the Vice-President's arguments and 
 illustrations that the United States was justified in sup- 
 pressing what it considered to be immoral, notwithstand- 
 ing the Mormons claimed it to be part of their religious 
 faith in the course of which Mr. Colfax referred to the 
 now familiar conduct of the English government in 
 suppressing the suttee in India Elder Taylor said : 
 
 "To present Mr. Colfax's argument fairly, it stands 
 thus : The burning of Hindoo widows was considered 
 a religious rite by the Hindoos. The British were 
 horrified at the practice, and suppressed it. The 
 Mormons believe polygamy to be a religious rite. The 
 American nation consider it a scandal, and that they 
 ought to put it down. Without entering into all the 
 details, I think the above a fair statement of the 
 question. He says 'The claim that religious faith com- 
 manded it was powerless, and it went down, as a relic 
 of barbarism.' He says: 'History tells us what a 
 civilized nation, akin to ours, actually did, where they 
 had the power.' I wish to treat this argument with 
 candor: ****** 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 309 
 
 "The British suppressed the suttee in India, and 
 therefore we must be equally moral and suppress polyg- 
 amy in the United States. Hold ! not so fast ; let us 
 state facts as they are and remove the dust. The British 
 suppressed the suttee, but tolerated eighty-three millions 
 of polygamists in India. The suppression of the suttee 
 and that of polygamy are two very different things. If 
 the British are indeed to be our exemplars, Congress 
 had better wait until polygamy is suppressed in India. 
 But it is absurd to compare the suttee to polygamy ; one 
 is murder and the destruction of life, the other is na- 
 tional economy and the increase and perpetuation of life. 
 Suttee ranks truly with infanticide, both of which are 
 destructive of human life. Polygamy is salvation com- 
 pared with either, and tends even more than monogomy 
 to increase and perpetuate the human race." 
 
 Elder Taylor closed the discussion with a vivid ex- 
 pose of the loathsome immorality and crime that existed 
 in the villages, towns and cities of the East ; and called 
 the attention of the Vice-President to the fact that there 
 was work enough for himself, for Congress and also for 
 the moralists and ministers in the United States nearer 
 home, in suppressing the evils by which they were im- 
 mediately surrounded, without plunging into the isolated 
 valleys of Utah to legislate away the religion of the 
 Mormons, under the specious plea of suppressing crime. 
 
 Taking it all in all, this is doubtless the most im- 
 portant discussion in the history of the Church. The 
 great reputation of Mr. Colfax as a speaker and writer; 
 the fact that he had for many years been a member of 
 Congress and accustomed to debate, together with the 
 high station he occupied at the time of the discussipn, 
 gave to it a national importance. It occurred, too, at a 
 critical time in the history of the Church. The Repub- 
 
310 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 lican party had pledged itself to the accomplishment of 
 two objects : the suppression of slavery and polygamy. 
 Slavery it had abolished ; and it was now expected that 
 polygamy would receive its attention. 
 
 There was also, just then, an effort being made by 
 prominent and wealthy members of the Church, to 
 destroy the influence of President Brigham Young, or, if 
 that failed, to weaken it by dividing the Church into 
 parties. Of this movement the Vice-President was 
 aware, as was also the President and the members of his 
 Cabinet; and lent their influence as far as they could, to 
 this scheme of disintegration ; hoping, by fostering it, to 
 solve the Mormon problem. That it failed miserably is 
 notorious ; but these considerations make the discussion 
 between Elder Taylor and the Vice-President all the 
 more important. 
 
 The discussion also serves another purpose. It 
 affords an opportunity of comparing Elder Taylor with a 
 man of acknowledged ability, liberal education and wide 
 experience. In that comparison Elder Taylor loses 
 nothing. In fact he gains by it ; for, maugre the exper- 
 ience and learning and position of his opponent, he sur- 
 passed him not only in the force of argument, but in lit- 
 erary style, in the elegance, ease and beauty of his 
 diction ; while for courtesy, fair dealing and frankness, he 
 was not surpassed by the Vice-President, who was noted 
 for possessing these admirable qualities. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 3 1 I 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 A REIGN OF JUDICIAL TERROR JUDGES WITH A MISSION 
 
 JAMES B. MCKEAN A JUDICIAL CRUSADE A SYSTEM ON 
 
 TRIAL THE HIGH-HANDED MEASURES STOPPED BY THE 
 
 SUPREME COURT " MASTERLY INACTIVITY" ELDER 
 
 TAYLOR ON THE CRUSADE " BE QUIET " THE COUNSEL 
 
 VINDICATED. 
 
 THE years from 1871 to 1875 are notable in the 
 history of Utah for the judicial reign of terror which 
 prevailed. In the spring of 1871, James B. McKean, of 
 New York, arrived in Salt Lake City and entered upon 
 the duties of his office as Cheif Justice of the Ter- 
 ritory. He was a man of moderate capacity, a sectarian 
 bigot, fanatical in his opposition to the Mormon people: 
 in a word, he was "a judge with a mission," and utterly 
 reckless in his methods of executing it. 
 
 His conception of the work appointed to him to 
 perform as Chief Justice of Utah, is best expressed in 
 what are said to be his own words to Judge Louis Dent, 
 brother-in-law to President Grant: 
 
 " Judge Dent, the mission which God has called 
 upon me to perform in Utah, is as much above the duties 
 of other courts and judges as the heavens are above the 
 earth, and whenever or wherever I may find the local or 
 federal laws obstructing or interfering therewith, by God's 
 blessing I shall trample them under my feet." 
 
 While it seems too monstrous for belief that a 
 United States judge should make such remarks as these, 
 it is a stubborn fact, borne out by the records of the 
 
312 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 proceedings of his court, that James B. McKean did all 
 he threatened to do in the above reported conversation. 
 
 His first attack was upon the Territorial attorney- 
 general and marshal, both of whom, without the authority 
 of law, were pushed out of office and their duties per- 
 formed by the United States district attorney and 
 marshal. The next step was to ignore the Territorial 
 statutes providing for the impanelling of grand and petit 
 jurors ; and authorizing the United States marshal to 
 select them at his own pleasure. The result was packed 
 juries of pronounced anti-Mormons, chosen to convict 
 the Church leaders. One more step and the machinery 
 of the court was ready for the evidently contemplated 
 judicial crusade ; the United States prosecuting attorney 
 having resigned, Judge McKean appointed as his suc- 
 cessor R. N. Baskin, a man as bitter in his hatred of the 
 Church of Jesus Christ and its chief officers as the 
 judge himself; and not one whit behind him in reckless- 
 ness. This appointment was made in violation of law, 
 since only the President of the United States with the 
 consent of the senate, has power to appoint that officer. 
 
 The machinery all being ready, a number of indict- 
 ments were found against men high in authority in the 
 Church, under an old Territorial statute defining and 
 punishing adultery. It was notorious throughout the 
 United States that if these men in their polygamous 
 relations were guilty of any offense at all, it must have 
 been the violation of the anti-polygamy laws of Congress, 
 and not the aforesaid Territorial law enacted by a legisla- 
 ture the members of which were chiefly polygamists. 
 
 Among those indicted under this regime was 
 President Brigham Young, against whom an indictment 
 with sixteen separate counts was found. Each count 
 constituting a separate offense. He appeared in court 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 313 
 
 to answer to these charges; and the judge in over- ruling 
 a motion to quash the indictment took occasion to say : 
 
 " Courts are bound to take notice of the political 
 and social condition of the country which they judicially 
 rule. It is therefore proper to say, that while the case 
 at bar is called 'The People versus Brigham Young/ 
 its other and real name is ' Federal Authority versus 
 Polygamous Theocracy.' ' 
 
 Public sentiment was outraged by the high-handed 
 measures of Judge McKean. Popular excitement ran 
 high. For a time there was a threatened collision 
 between the court and the people. It was at this junc- 
 ture that Elder Taylor published five letters in the 
 Deseret News, reviewing the situation in Utah, and 
 denouncing the Territorial government as un-American 
 in principle and oppressive in its operation ; but at the 
 same time warned the people against violent resistance 
 to the court, insolent and oppressive as it was. 
 
 He was in court with President Young when Judge 
 McKean made the statement: "It is therefore proper to 
 say that while the case at bar is called 'The People 
 versus Brigham Young,' its other and real name is 
 'Federal Authority versus Polygamous Theocracy.' 
 A system is on trial in the person of 
 Brigham Young." This he took for his text in the 
 letters above referred to, and interpreted it to mean, 
 which it did, that war was declared against the Church 
 of Jesus Christ. "Stripped of all its tinsel and wrap- 
 pings," said he, "it simply resolves itself into this: that 
 the government of the United States is at war with the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." 
 
 Elder Taylor then proceeds to show that in making 
 war on a system of religion, the great principle of relig- 
 ious liberty itself is threatened, and that such a crusade 
 
3H LI FE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 as that foreshadowed in the declaration of Judge McKean, 
 could but end in disaster to the liberties of the people. 
 
 Giving himself wide latitude in the discussion, he 
 inquired into the principles underlying American institu- 
 tions, and from that inquiry arrives at the following 
 conclusion : 
 
 ''The whole foundation and superstructure of 
 American ethics or jurisprudence is based upon the 
 popular will. That its executive, legislative and judicial 
 powers originate with the people, and that the people 
 having granted to the men of their choice, certain 
 powers, agencies and authorities, to act for and in their 
 behalf; limiting all of them by the provisions of the 
 Constitution which all of them take an oath to support, 
 they reserve to themselves, to their state or to 'the 
 people,' all the remainder. 
 
 "If indeed the above is a correct exposition of our 
 rights and privileges as American citizens," he writes, 
 "how is it that such infamies can transpire as have lately 
 been exhibited in our courts? I may be here met with 
 the statement that we are only a territory ; but we are 
 American citizens, and have never abjured our citizen- 
 ship nor relinquished our Constitutional guarantees. 
 If the above be true, and the axiom of 
 the declarers of Independence be correct, that govern- 
 ments 'derive their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed, 1 what becomes of our federal officers? For 
 not one of our citizens invited them here, or had any vote 
 in their coming, nor was their consent asked. If all 
 just powers are derived from the consent of the gov- 
 erned, then the powers exercised by them [the Territorial 
 officials appointed by the President] must be unjust. 
 
 11 * * * The facts are the people, one 
 hundred thousand American citizens, living in the Ter- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 315 
 
 ritory of Utah, with the full rights of free men, and the 
 protecting guarantees of a written constitution, find in 
 the persons of federal officers 'another government' not 
 of the people, and in violation of Constitutional guaran- 
 tees and authority ; claiming to come from the United 
 States, l imperium in imperio* whose policy and practices 
 are in grave particulars at variance with its own; and I ask 
 by what authority it presumes to set itself up against the 
 legitimately constituted authority of the people of the ter- 
 ritory or state ; by what authority it ignores its laws ; by 
 what authority it over-rides and tears down the safe- 
 guards of society, fosters in our midst drunkenness, 
 gambling and whoredoms, those infamous adjuncts and 
 institutions of professed civilization ; by what authority 
 it repudiates its officers ; by what authority it interferes 
 with the religion of the people, with their social, religious, 
 political and moral rights ?" 
 
 He then proceeds at some length to show that some 
 of the most eminent statesmen of America held to the 
 view that the people of the territories possessed the 
 right to manage their own municipal, social and domestic 
 affairs in that way which to them seemed best, limited 
 only in the exercise of these powers by the Constitution 
 of the United States. 
 
 These letters, however, were most valuable in 
 allaying the excitement of the people, who by the 
 infamous proceedings of the courts were fast approach- 
 ing that condition of mind when men throw off all 
 restraint, and regardless of consequences avenge their 
 own wrongs. He called the attention of the people to 
 the fact that this was probably the object of the crusade, 
 that a pretext might be found for further oppression and 
 robbery. 
 
 "The lamb is drinking below, the wolf is fouling 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the water above. The big boy is strutting about with a 
 chip on his shoulder, daring you to knock it off. Some 
 pretext is needed. Don't give it to them. * * * 
 Let the same wisdom that has governed your acts hith- 
 erto still be continued. They want a cause of quarrel, 
 that they may rob and pillage according to law. Don't 
 give it to them. * * Let them pack 
 
 juries fresh from houses of ill-fame to try you on virtue. 
 Never mind, it is their virtue that suffers, not yours. Let 
 them try you for living with and protecting your wives 
 and providing for your children ; fidelity and virtue are 
 not crimes in the eyes of the Almighty, only in theirs. 
 
 But they are accusing some of 
 
 our best and most honorable men of murder ! ' What of 
 that? Who have they subborned as their accusers? 
 They themselves call them by the mild name of assassins 
 these are their fellow-pirates with whom they hob nob 
 and associate. Be quiet ! 
 
 "'But other aggressions are contemplated; they 
 are bent on provoking a quarrel and mischief.' No 
 matter, it takes two to make a quarrel, don't you be one 
 of them. 
 
 "' They offer themselves to be kicked.' Don't do 
 it, have some respect for your boots. 
 
 "'But they insult us on every hand.' What! they 
 insult you ! Nature has provided for many animals and 
 insects a certain species of aggression and defense. 
 Some snakes crush their victims in their folds ; others 
 carry poison in their teeth ; the wasp and scorpion sting 
 you ; the ant poisons with its bite ; the vampire sucks 
 your blood; while the pole-cat protects itself by its 
 insufferable odor 
 
 " 'Their power to hurt each little creature feels, 
 Bulls use their horns and asses use their heels.' 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 317 
 
 " Now who would consider himself insulted by the 
 hissing of a snake, the attack of the wasp, or the odor 
 of a skunk? You would simply avoid them. It is not 
 in their power to insult you.' 
 
 "There is no law they can place us under which we 
 cannot obey. We must live above all law, and nothing 
 can harm us if we are 'followers of that which is good/ 
 so keep quiet ! ' 
 
 u * There is something heroic in being 
 
 able calmly to view with firm nerves and unblanched 
 cheek the acts of your petty tormentors. Filled with 
 the light of eternal truth, rejoicing in the possession of 
 the favor of God, 'having the promise of the life which 
 now is. and that which is to come," standing on a more 
 elevated platform, you can smile with complacency on 
 their feeble attacks, and 
 
 " ' Like Moses' bush ascend the higher, 
 And flourish unconsumed by fire.' 
 
 ' "But independent of this, it is our very best policy 
 to be quiet. The court can proceed, yet the sun will rise 
 and set, the earth will roll on its axis, potatoes and corn 
 will grow irrespective of the decrees of courts. Hitherto 
 you have been subject to the misrepresentations and 
 manufactured lies from the small fry of this coterie little 
 whelps who lick the hands of their master, and vomit 
 their lies by wholesale, to pervert public opinion ; but 
 they are found out. They have run their erratic race. 
 You have no fear from them. Your cause is before the 
 public. The eyes of the great American nation are now 
 upon you, and men of honor, probity and position 
 represent your acts. (And to their honor be it spoken 
 the intelligent press, irrespective of party, denounce 
 your persecutors.) This clique are not representatives 
 
3l8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 of American sentiment. The majority of strangers in 
 our midst repudiate them ; and there are hundreds of 
 thousands of honest, high-minded, honorable men 
 throughout the land, who despise as much as you do, 
 these infamous acts. We live in the most liberal and 
 enlightened nation in the world; if there are evils, they 
 can be corrected ; but the undercurrent, the vital, strong, 
 living sentiment of America is fair play, justice for all, 
 equal rights, liberty, equality and brotherhood ; they are 
 opposed to hypocrisy, fraud, injustice and piracy, and 
 will sustain republicanism, democracy, equity and the 
 inalienable rights of man. Men of standing and 
 position are now noting your acts, and they will report 
 them truly and correctly ; therefore keep quiet, and do 
 not play into your enemies' hands. For they war, not 
 only against you, but against the liberal, enlightened 
 sentiment of the nation, against the time-honored princi- 
 ples of republicanism and equal rights." 
 
 The wisdom of the policy advised by Elder Taylor 
 was soon vindicated by glorious results. The 
 Supreme Court of the United States decided that the 
 grand and petit jurors summoned by McKean, were both 
 drawn in violation of law, and as "a legal consequence, 
 all the indictments now pending in the courts of Utah 
 are null and void. Brigham Young and his Mormon 
 brethren must be discharged from confinement, and the 
 records 'of this judicial conspiracy expunged." McKean 
 had the mortification of setting in the Supreme Court at 
 Washington during the reading of this decision which so 
 utterly condemned his fanatical and illegal proceedings. 
 
 But the end was not yet. McKean still had sole 
 control of judicial affairs in Utah, in the district courts ; 
 and not being able to prosecute Mormons according to 
 the plan he had first adopted, he determined to follow 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 319 
 
 the policy of "masterly inactivity," by which he hindered 
 and delayed the business of the courts, both civil and 
 criminal, by refusing to empannel either grand or petit 
 juries, hoping by this means to compel Congress to enact 
 such a jury law for Utah as would keep Mormons off all 
 juries, whether they were actual polygamists or only 
 believers in it ; and thus enable him to drag the class of 
 men he had singled out as his victims, before their 
 avowed enemies for trial. In these measures he was 
 partially successful, for Congress passed the Poland Bill in 
 1874, which virtually abolished the office of Territorial 
 marshal and Territorial attorney general, by enlarging 
 the duties and powers of the United States marshal and 
 United States prosecuting attorney. The powers of the 
 probate courts were also cut down, being limited by the 
 Poland Bill to jurisdiction in the settlement of the estates 
 of deceased persons and their descendants, guardianship 
 and other like matters ; but otherwise they were to have 
 no civil, chancery or criminal jurisdiction whatever. 
 They were permitted to hold concurrent jurisdiction in 
 divorce cases with the United States district courts, but 
 an appeal could be taken from them after appearance, 
 before plea or answer. Thus the courts of the people 
 were practically abolished and others set up in their 
 place. Changes were also made in the manner of 
 selecting juries, so that the Gentile population at the 
 time but an insignificant minority of the inhabitants of 
 Utah was given equal representation on the juries with 
 the overwhelming majority of the people. 
 
 The conduct of Judge McKean and the measures 
 introduced into Congress respecting Utah affairs, again 
 brought Elder Taylor out in a series of six letters to the 
 press, in which he made a scathing exposure of federal 
 official corruption in our Territory, and a searching 
 
320 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 criticism of the various measures pending in Congress, 
 previous to the passage of the Poland Bill. In closing 
 one of these letters that reviewed some of the bills in 
 Congress, he made the following stirring appeal to the 
 national legislators: 
 
 "With all the reverence and respect due to the 
 rulers of a mighty nation, from the tops of these distant 
 mountains I call upon you to pause in your career, for I 
 also am a teacher, and have a right to be heard. I speak 
 in behalf of one hundred and fifty thousand citizens of 
 Utah. I speak in behalf of forty millions of free Ameri- 
 can citizens in the United States. I conjure you out of 
 respect for the memory of the dead, as the rightful 
 guardians of the liberties of a vast nation, that stands 
 proudly prominent among the nations of the earth, and 
 in behalf of unborn millions, to pause. I conjure you, 
 in behalf of our honor and integrity, in behalf of repub- 
 lican principles, and the cause of freedom throughout 
 the world. I plead with you in behalf of our common 
 humanity, and the rights of man, to reflect. Would you, 
 to gratify a morbid sentimentality desecrate and tear 
 down one of the most magnificent temples of human 
 liberty, ever erected? Would you wantonly deliver up 
 the sacred principles of liberty, equity and justice, 
 bequeathed by your fathers, to the grim Moloch of party 
 who is crushing, grinding and trampling under foot our 
 God-given rights, and whose sanguinary jaws are 
 extended to gorge and devour the quivering remnants of 
 our feeble, expiring liberty? Have we not had more 
 than enough trouble already with Virginia, North 
 Carolina, Louisana and Utah? Can we ever be satisfied? 
 ' Let us have peace.' ' 
 
 The opening of the "Black Book," as he called his 
 inquiry into the conduct of federal officials in Utah, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 321 
 
 revealed a lamentable state of affairs. Men who had 
 come to the Territory for the ostensible purpose of 
 administering the law were found to be among the chief 
 transgressors thereof, and the aiders and abettors of 
 criminals. But I allow Elder Taylor to make his own 
 indictment against them, only adding that he demon- 
 strated^the truth of every item charged in it, by publishing 
 the time when, the places where, and the names of the 
 criminals they liberated. Elder Taylor writes : 
 
 " While our territorial courts, officers and municipal 
 authorities, have been always foremost in punishing 
 crime, whether committed by Mormons or Gentiles, some 
 of the United States officials have shielded and protected 
 criminals, and for this purpose every subterfuge known 
 to the law has been brought into requisition. Thus, by 
 writs of error, injunctions, habeas corpus, pardons, and 
 officious and indecent interference, they have exhibited 
 themselves as the abettors and protectors of crime. 
 They have liberated felons and murderers, encouraged 
 drunkenness and riot, protected and shielded brothel- 
 houses, winked at and sustained gambling, and so 
 clogged the wheels of justice, in both civil and criminal 
 cases, that they have brought the judiciary into such 
 contempt that it has become a stink in the nostrils of 
 honest men." 
 
 These charges and the facts he published to prove 
 them he prefaced with the following : 
 
 "I am not writing under the very questionable 
 shelter of a nom de plume, and have nothing but facts to 
 relate, for which I hold myself responsible." 
 
 The parties he indicted before the bar of public 
 opinion made no attempt to refute his statements a 
 tacit admission of the truth of his charges. 
 
 Judge McKean and his coadjutors, however, 
 
322 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 continued their lawless course. The judge entertained 
 a suit for divorce and alimony brought into his court 
 by Ann Eliza Webb, the plural wife of President 
 Brigham Young. The marriage between Ann Eliza 
 Webb and Brigham Young was not recognized by the 
 law of the land. It was illegal, and therefore void 
 from the beginning ; consequently there could be neither 
 divorce nor alimony. Still Judge McKean entertained 
 the suit, and ordered the defendant to pay $3,000 attor- 
 ney's fees to plaintiff's counsel, $9,500 alimony to plain- 
 tiff, and also $500. per month to her, pending a decision 
 in the case. 
 
 President Young, acting on the advice of his 
 counsel, pending an appeal to the supreme court of 
 the United States, did not obey the orders of the 
 judge ; whereupon he was found guilty of contempt 
 of court, fined twenty-five dollars, and sentenced to 
 one day's imprisonment in the penitentiary. In this 
 James B. McKean displayed the petty, personal spite of 
 a small man, instead of the courage of a dignified judge 
 defending the honor of the bench. The rash and illegal 
 act cost the Judge his official head. No sooner did the 
 country become acquainted with the course he had taken 
 than a storm of public indignation arose, and clamored 
 loudly for his removal from office. Four days afterwards 
 he was dismissed from the bench. 
 
 The federal officers which followed the McKean 
 ring were a better class of men ; and for some years 
 Utah had a period of peace. A circumstance which 
 vindicated the wisdom of Elder Taylor's counsel to 
 "Be quiet." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 INTEREST IN EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS CHOSEN SUPERIN- 
 TENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS COMMENDED BY AU- 
 THORITIES AT WASHINGTON DEATH OF PRESIDENT 
 
 YOUNG THE NEW LEADER STANDING OF THE TWELVE 
 
 APOSTLES ELDER TAYLOR'S PLACE IN THE QUORUM 
 
 THE HAND OF THE LORD. 
 
 THE interest which Elder Taylor had taken for some 
 years in the educational affairs of Utah, resulted in his 
 election, in 1877, to the office of Territorial Superintend- 
 ent of district schools. His labor in that department of 
 the public service, however, was considerably interfered 
 with, at least as to details, by his being called to operate 
 in a higher and more important sphere. Still school 
 interests were, by no means, neglected. He called to 
 his assistance the most competent educators in the Ter- 
 ritory, and under his direction the work they accom- 
 plished, was perfectly satisfactory. 
 
 In his bi-annual reports to the Territorial Legis- 
 lature, in addition to giving the usual general and sta- 
 tistical information from his own Territory, he incorpor- 
 ated a brief summary of important educational statistics 
 for all the states and territories, which led Charles 
 Warren, Esq., acting commissioner of education at 
 Washington, to write him a letter of commendation, in 
 which the following occurs : 
 
 "The example thus set is a good one, and only by 
 this means, while Congress limits the circulation of our 
 reports, can the statistics, laboriously collected at this 
 
324 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 central office, reach the vast body of minor school offi- 
 cers and teachers, for whose benefit they should be 
 spread abroad. It is to be hoped that other superin- 
 tendents will follow the pattern thus presented, and thus 
 enable all school officers and teachers in their several 
 states or territories, to compare their own statistics with 
 those of others elsewhere." 
 
 The circumstances which called Elder Taylor to a 
 higher sphere of labor than that of superintendent of 
 district schools, was the death of President Brigham 
 Young. He died on the afternoon of the 25th of 
 August, 1877. It was a sorrowful event. For thirty- 
 three years Brigham Young had stood as the earthly 
 head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 
 its President, and the Lord's prophet, seer and revelator 
 to it. Under God's direction he delivered the Saints 
 from the oppression of mob rule and violence at Nau- 
 voo, and led them in an unparalleled exodus from civili- 
 zation through wilderness and desert to the valleys of 
 Utah. He located their settlements, taught them how to 
 build forts for their protection from the savages; how to 
 subdue the desert and make it fruitful ; how to become 
 self-sustaining, independent: and by these labors, he laid 
 the foundation of a great commonwealth. He had not 
 only been President of the people, he was, as well, their 
 counselor, friend and brother. He had never betrayed 
 their interests, they could and did trust him implicitly. 
 In times of trial and sorrow they turned to him for com 
 fort; in times of danger they looked to him to direct 
 their action ; in times of perplexity they went to him for 
 the word of the Lord; and Brigham Young, full of a 
 heaven-inspired wisdom, never failed them in any of 
 these things. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, 
 that the Saints had come to look upon him as well nigh 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 325 
 
 indispensable to the work of the Lord, or that a cloud of 
 sorrow settled upon all Israel at his death. 
 
 But the work the Lord has established in these last 
 days is independent of any man, be he ever so wise, or 
 influential. This has been so frequently demonstrated 
 that it is now accepted as a truism by the faithful. The 
 work, called by the world "Mormonism," is God's work. 
 He is its founder and its Grand Head. Earthly leaders, 
 Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and others, operate 
 under His directions. They are but instruments in His 
 hands ; and as one passes away, He raises up another 
 competent to carry out His purposes. Brigham Young 
 was dead, but the Church of Christ still lived ; and its 
 Great Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, though in heaven, 
 far above the power of death, of mobs or any earthly 
 accident, was watching over its interests and guiding 
 its destiny. Surely He is able to raise up another earth- 
 ly leader for Israel ! Indeed the man is already at hand. 
 The Saints while weeping for the departure of their late 
 President, recognize him through the mists of their tears. 
 It is the man who in a voice full of power and inspiration 
 that thrills every soul in the vast congregation as- 
 sembled to pay the last tribute of respect to the remains 
 of Brigham Young it is the man who is saying : 
 
 "We are not alone! God is with us, and He will 
 continue with us from this time henceforth and forever. 
 And while we mourn a good and great man dead, I see 
 thousands of staunch and faithful ones around me, and 
 before me, who are for Israel, for God and His king- 
 dom ; men who are desirous to see His will done on 
 earth, as angels do it in heaven." 
 
 We are not alone ! God is with us ! Israel did not 
 doubt it. How could they? He who proclaimed it 
 knew whereof he spake ; and the Spirit of God which 
 
326 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 penetrated the hearts of the Saints as he uttered those 
 words ,bore witness that they were true. It was John 
 Taylor who thus spoke. 
 
 At the death of President Young, Elder John 
 Taylor was President of the quorum of Twelve 
 Apostles. It is a principle well established now by 
 precedent, that at the death of the President of the 
 Church, the authority of presidency devolves upon the 
 next quorum the Twelve Apostles: and as Elder 
 Taylor was the President of the Twelve, he became the 
 mouth-piece of the Lord to the people, by virtue of that 
 position so long as that quorum presided over the 
 Church. Not alone by precedent, however, did the 
 Twelve succeed to the presidency of the Church with 
 Elder Taylor at their head, the arrangement was also 
 sanctioned by the spirit of inspiration. 
 
 On the 4th of September, 1877, the two counselors 
 of the late President Young and ten of the Twelve 
 Apostles Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, the other 
 two members, were absent in England held a meeting 
 and waited upon the Lord. With humble, contrite and 
 saddened hearts they earnestly sought to learn His will 
 concerning themselves and the Church. The Lord 
 blessed them with the spirit of union, and revealed to 
 them what steps should be taken, and the following is 
 what was done: Elder Taylor was unanimously sus- 
 tained as the President of the Twelve; and with the 
 same unanimity it was voted that the Twelve Apostles 
 should be sustained as the presiding authority in the 
 Church, while the counselors to the late President 
 Young, John W. Young and Daniel H. Wells, were sus- 
 tained as one with, counselors to and associated in action 
 with the Twelve Apostles. To facilitate the transaction 
 of business it was also voted that for the time being 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 327 
 
 President Taylor should be assisted by John W. Young, 
 Daniel H. Wells and George Q. Cannon, in attending to 
 business connected with the temples, the public works 
 and other financial affairs of the Church. They were a 
 kind of executive committee. These preparations were 
 made for pushing forward the work of the Lord in the 
 earth, without even a halt or jostle. 
 
 Here it will be proper to note those circumstances 
 which brought Elder Taylor to the exalted station he 
 now occupied. The position in which the members of 
 the Twelve stand in their quorum is determined by sen- 
 iority of ordination, not of age. Therefore it is always 
 the senior member by ordination that of right is the pres- 
 ident of the quorum. 
 
 For a number of years, however, there were three 
 members of the quorum living at the death of President 
 Young whose names stood before President Taylor's : 
 Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff. 
 Doubtless Wilford Woodruff's name was placed upon 
 the records before the name of John Taylor through 
 some inadvertence, or perhaps through the incorrect 
 idea that seniority of age decided the order in which the 
 members of the quorum stood Wilford Woodruff was 
 the older man. John Taylor, however, was ordained 
 before Wilford Woodruff, in fact, the former assisted at 
 the ordination of the latter, so there could be no ques- 
 tion as to his seniority of ordination. The attention of 
 President Young and his counselors being called to 
 these facts, it was decided the Twelve also concurring 
 that John Taylor stood before Wilford Woodruff in the 
 quorum, the names after this were so arranged. 
 
 During the troublous times at Far West, Missouri, 
 Orson Hyde became involved in some difficulty, in con- 
 nection with Thomas B. Marsh, which resulted in his 
 
328 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 excommunication, so that he lost his place in the 
 quorum. 
 
 Orson Pratt was also involved in some difficulty in 
 Nauvoo which led to his being dropped from his quorum, 
 and Amasa Lyman was ordained to fill the vacancy. 
 
 Both Brother Hyde and Brother Pratt afterwards 
 repented, were forgiven and received back into the 
 quorum by ordination; and without any particular investi- 
 gation or arrangement they took the positions formerly 
 occupied by them. But both these brethren had been 
 dropped from the quorum, and when they were received 
 back by ordination, it is evident that all those who had 
 remained in the quorum out-ranked them by seniority of 
 ordination. 
 
 It was this consideration, doubtless, which led Presi- 
 dent Young, several years before his death, to have 
 the name of John Taylor placed at the head of the 
 quorum. Thus he stood in the same position that Presi- 
 dent Young did at the death of the Prophet Joseph ; and 
 like him was upheld "the President of the quorum of 
 the Twelve, as one of the Twelve, and First Presidency 
 of the Church." 
 
 But aside from his succeeding to this position by 
 virtue of his standing in his quorum, his long experience 
 in the Church, the love the Saints had for him, their con- 
 fidence in his fidelity, together with his great abilities as 
 a leader among men, pre-eminently qualified him for the 
 position .he was called upon to fill. And in those changes 
 made under the direction of President Young, by which 
 Elder Taylor was assigned his proper place in the 
 quorum of the Apostles, may we not discern the inspira- 
 tion of God preparing the way for the man whom the 
 Lord designed to succeed to the leadership of His people, 
 when President Brigham Young should be called home? 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION 
 
 THE GARDO HOUSE VOTED AS HIS RESIDENCE THE 
 
 GREAT JUBILEE CONFERENCE A GREAT TESTIMONY 
 
 MEETING. 
 
 GREAT energy characterized President Taylor's ad- 
 ministration of affairs in the Church, both in Zion and 
 abroad. He pushed forward with increased zeal the 
 work on the temples, of which three were in course of 
 erection, at the time of his taking control of affairs. He 
 required bishops to hold weekly priesthood meetings in 
 their wards ; presidents of stakes to hold general priest- 
 hood meetings monthly in their respective stakes; and 
 appointed quarterly conferences in all the stakes of 
 Zion, publishing the dates of holding them for half a 
 year 'in advance, a custom which has continued until the 
 present. 
 
 He personally attended as many of these quarterly 
 conferences as he could, without neglecting the execu- 
 tive branch of his calling, which necessarily occupied 
 much of his time, and kept him at or within easy reach 
 of Salt Lake City. But where he could not go himself, 
 he sent members of his quorum, so that the Saints re- 
 ceived much teaching and instruction from the Apostles, 
 more perhaps than at any previous time in the history of 
 the Church. The result was a great spiritual awakening 
 among the Saints. 
 
 The work abroad received increased impetus by a 
 greater number of elders being sent to the world. A 
 missionary himself nearly all his life, it was but natural 
 
33O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 for President Taylor to be interested in the work of 
 preaching the gospel abroad. 
 
 Pioneer Day the 24th of July 1880, was cele- 
 brated with unusual grandeur in Salt Lake City. One 
 feature of the splendid procession which marched through 
 the gaily decorated streets of the city was three cars 
 filled with representatives of the various countries where 
 the gospel, as restored through the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith, had been received. A man and a woman, dressed 
 in native costume, represented each country; the 
 women bearing shields with the national colors and the 
 name of the nation represented. In the tabernacle, 
 these nationalities were arranged on a platform in front 
 of the pulpits; and after Apostle Orson Pratt, the 
 Church historian, finished reading a brief account of the 
 introduction of the gospel to the various countries of the 
 earth, the nationalities, twenty-five in number,* with 
 their shields and banners, stepped forward in line, facing 
 the congregation. President Taylor then rose behind 
 them and said: "The Lord commanded His servants to 
 go forth to all the world to preach the gospel to every 
 creature. We have not yet been to all the world, but 
 here are twenty-five nations represented today, and thus 
 far we have fulfilled our mission ; and it is for us to con- 
 tinue our labors until all the world shall hear us, that all 
 who are desirous may obey, and we fulfill the mission 
 given us." 
 
 That mission, during the presidency of John Taylor, 
 was faithfully pushed forward among all the nations who 
 would receive it. 
 
 *The nations and peoples represented were: United States, American Indians, 
 Canada, Hawaii, Holland, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, 
 Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Schleswig-Holstein, Russia, Ancient Britain, 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, British India and Australasia. In the 
 procession they carried a banner on which was emblazoned the text : " I will gather 
 you from all nations.' 1 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 331 
 
 At the April conference of 1879, President Taylor 
 was voted the use of the Gardo House as a family resi- 
 dence. The Gardo, located on the corner of South 
 Temple and First East streets, at that time was doubt- 
 less the largest and finest residence in Salt Lake City. 
 I call attention to this fact, not because of any petty 
 pride the subject of this writing had in mansions, splen- 
 did furnishings, soft carpets, statuary, paintings, the 
 gewgaws that flatter and engross small minds but to 
 call attention to a prophecy made by Elder Heber C. 
 Kimball, who, when President Taylor's circumstances 
 were the poorest, boldly prophesied that he would yet 
 live in the largest and best house in Salt Lake City a 
 prediction that was fulfilled when President Taylor took 
 possession of the Gardo House as his family residence. 
 
 It was with considerable reluctance that he accepted 
 the proposition of his brethren. His habits of life were 
 simple ; free from ostentation, as were also those of his 
 family ; and had he followed the bent of his own inclina- 
 tion he would have remained in his own humbler home. 
 Not until the change was repeatedly urged upon him 
 did he consent to it. The spirit in which he accepted 
 the house as a residence may be best judged from his 
 own words at the conference which voted its use to him : 
 
 "I will state that I feel very much obliged to my 
 brethren for the generous feeling manifested to myself. 
 Permit me, however, to say with regard to some of these 
 ideas presented to the conference by Brother George Q. 
 Cannon, and which, as he he has said, he has frequently 
 presented to me and others of the Twelve, that while I 
 duly appreciate the feelings and views of my brethren, 
 and am not ignorant of the proprieties of life, individually 
 I would not wish to change my position. Personally I 
 care nothing about the outside show, the glitter and the 
 
332 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 appearance of men ; but I do care about the great and 
 eternal principles associated with the Church and king- 
 dom of God upon the earth. And as stated it was some 
 time before I could make up my mind to accept a propo- 
 sition of this kind, and I accept it now simply in the 
 capacity of your servant for Christ's sake, for the benefit 
 of the kingdom of God, and that all things may be con- 
 ducted in a proper manner." 
 
 The general conferences of the Church those mam- 
 moth semi-annual gatherings of the Saints of God, where 
 representatives from all the Stakes of Zion assemble to 
 hear instruction, council, reproof and the word of the 
 Lord under President Taylor's administration were 
 spirited, valuable and soul-stirring. The one held in 
 April, 1880, known as the Jubilee Conference, was 
 especially so. The Church had just completed the fiftieth 
 year of its existence. Half a century before it had been 
 organized in a log room, possibly fourteen feet square, 
 with six members. During that time a knowledge of the 
 work had spread throughout the civilized world, and 
 among some of the tribes of the heathen. 
 
 The Church had survived the ridicule of the worldly- 
 wise, the clamor of bigots, the intrigues of demagogues, 
 the violence of mobs, its banishment from civilization. 
 Neither fire nor sword, nor intrigue, nor ridicule, nor 
 banishment, nor its journey through the wilderness, nor 
 any other thing had prevailed against the Church of 
 Christ. It was fitting, then, at the close of the first half 
 century of its existence that the Saints should rejoice 
 mightily before the Lord. 
 
 To ancient Israel every fiftieth year was a jubilee. 
 In it the inheritance which had been sold in the days of 
 misfortune or poverty was restored to the original pos- 
 sessor, and his family returned to the old homestead. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 333 
 
 The poor debtor was released ; the man who had sold 
 himself to his brother, to be his hired servant, was set 
 free, together with all that was his, his wives and his 
 children and they returned to their inheritance. 
 
 "Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year," was the word of 
 the Lord to them, "and proclaim liberty throughout all 
 the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." President 
 Taylor resolved that something of this spirit should enter 
 into the teachings and proceedings of the Jubilee Con- 
 ference. "It occurred to me," said he to the Saints 
 assembled on that occasion, "that we ought to do some- 
 thing, as they did in former times, to relieve those that 
 are oppressed with debt, to assist those that are needy, 
 to break off the yoke of those that may feel themselves 
 crowded upon, and to make it a time of general re- 
 joicing." 
 
 Many of the Saints had been gathered from the 
 Eastern States and the countries of the old world through 
 means furnished by the Perpetual Emigration Fund 
 Company. A company organized for the gathering of 
 the poor. The manner in which the poor were assisted 
 to emigrate by this company was as follows : 
 
 The company forwarded the means necessary for 
 their emigration and took their notes at the legal rate of 
 interest. When the notes were paid, the money was 
 thrown back into the fund to be used again in assisting 
 others. But many of those thus assisted were old and 
 decrepit ; and after their arrival in Utah, poverty refused 
 to release his clutch upon them, and they found it diffi- 
 cult and in some instances impossible to meet their obli- 
 gations. Then others, the fund company not being 
 importunate in its demands upon them, became careless 
 and neglected to take up .their notes. Others lost the 
 faith, and with it, in most cases, all sense of honor, and 
 
334 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ignored their obligations. Through these causes a large 
 indebtedness to the fund had accumulated by the year 
 1880. The principal of the indebtedness amounted to 
 $704,000. The interest, extending along for many 
 years, at 10 per cent, per annum, amounted to $900,000, 
 making in all $1,604,000. 
 
 President Taylor proposed that one-half of this 
 amount of the people's indebtedness to the Fund, $802,- 
 ooo, be released ; that is, that the worthy poor through- 
 out Zion who were unable to meet their engagements 
 with the Fund be forgiven their indebtedness, not half of 
 it, but the whole. The amount released was to be 
 applied to their benefit in this way. The debtors able to 
 pay were to be held accountable for the amounts they 
 owed. '-In former times," said President Taylor, in 
 explaining this matter, "they did not release the rich, it 
 was the poor. The rich can always take care of them- 
 selves that is, so far as this world is concerned." 
 
 Then there was a tithing indebtedness on the books 
 of the bishop of the Church against the Saints, amount- 
 ing to $151,798. President Taylor proposed that one- 
 half of that, $75,899, be released to the poor on the 
 same principle that one-half of the Fund indebtedness 
 was released. Both of these propositions were carried 
 by the unanimous vote of the conference. 
 
 The year 1879 was a very trying one in Utah. The 
 drouth was excessive, and crops consequently light. The 
 winter was one of the severest ever experienced, and 
 thousands of cattle and sheep perished. Some people 
 had lost their last cow, and others all the sheep they had. 
 "Now," said President Taylor, "we propose to raise 
 1000 head of cows not old cows which do not give any 
 milk, nor any one teated cows, but good milk cows and 
 have them distributed among those that may be destitute 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 335 
 
 in the different stakes, under the direction of the author- 
 ities thereof." The Church was to put in 300 head of 
 the 1,000, the other 700 head to be furnished by the 
 stakes. 
 
 He also proposed that 5,000 head of sheep be 
 appropriated to the poor, to be distributed by the same 
 authorities, 2,000 of which the Church was to furnish, and 
 the stakes the remainder. 
 
 For years the servants of the Lord had urged the 
 Saints to store up grain, but only a few had acted upon 
 their advice. The result was that many were without 
 grain even for seed. The Female Relief Society, how- 
 ever, had been wiser than individuals, and had stored up 
 wheat in nearly all the settlements of the Saints. Presi- 
 dent Taylor now saw an opportunity to use it, and give 
 a practical illustration of the wisdom that had counseled 
 storing up grain. " Inasmuch as the brethren," he 
 remarked, "had been careless and slow to heed the 
 counsel of President Young in relation to storing away 
 wheat, he [President Young] requested the sisters to do 
 it, and some of us * lords of creation ' thought it a very 
 little thing for our sisters to be engaged in. But we find 
 now they are of some use, and that the 'ladies of crea- 
 tion' can do something as well as we 'lords.' * * * 
 They have 34,761 bushels of wheat? Who of you men 
 can raise that much? Where's your wheat?" (Laugh- 
 ter.) 
 
 "Now," he continued, "those 34,761 bushels of 
 wheat will be of considerable importance judiciously 
 managed, and loaned out to some of our poor brethren. 
 It will furnish seed wheat and after harvest they can 
 return it again. We do not want any more harsh talk 
 about the woman question after this." 
 
 A VOICE. "May they [the sisters] vote now? " 
 
336 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 PRESIDENT TAYLOR. "Oh, yes, they may vote now if 
 they choose to, everybody is willing they should vote 
 now. [Laughter.] That is, they are willing the sisters 
 shall vote on the wheat question. [Renewed laughter.] 
 We may as well call a vote on this question now. All 
 you sisters who are in favor of carrying out this request, 
 hold up your right hand. [A forest of hands went up.] 
 There they go, you see ! [Laughter.] I think that is 
 the most hearty vote yet. I knew they would do it." 
 A VOICE. " Is it to be loaned without interest?" 
 PRESIDENT TAYLOR. " Somebody asks if it is to be 
 loaned without interest. Why, of course it is ; we do 
 not want any nonsense of that kind." Then raising his 
 splendid voice to its grandest notes, so that it sent a 
 thrill through the entire audience, he exclaimed, " IT is 
 
 THE TIME OF JUBILEE!" 
 
 Having finished with these public matters, President 
 Taylor reminded the brethren that it was just as praise- 
 worthy for private people to forgive one another their 
 debts as it was for corporations to do it. 
 
 "If you find people owing you who are distressed, 
 if you will go to work and try to relieve them as much 
 as you can, under the circumstances, God will relieve 
 you when you get into difficulties. I will tell you that in 
 the name of the Lord." 
 
 Then in a circular issued to the officers of the 
 Church a few days after the close of the conference, he 
 added: " The rich have a fitting 
 
 opportunity for remembering the Lord's poor. If you 
 are holding their notes and they are unable to pay, for- 
 give the interest and the principal, or as much thereof as 
 you might desire them to forgive were their and your 
 circumstances reversed, thus doing unto others as you 
 would that others should do unto you. For upon this 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 337 
 
 hang the law and the prophets. If you have mortgages 
 upon the homes of your brethren and sisters who are 
 poor, worthy and honest, and who desire to pay you but 
 cannot, free them in whole or in part. Extend to them a 
 jubilee, if you can consistently. You will have their 
 faith and prayers and confidence, which may be worth 
 more than money. We invite Zion's Co-operative Mer- 
 cantile Institution as the parent, all other co-operative 
 institutions as the children, and our brethren who are en- 
 gaged in profitable railroad, banking, mercantile, manu- 
 facturing or other remunerative enterprises, to extend a 
 helping hand. Free the worthy, debt-bound brother if 
 you can. Let there be no rich among us from whose 
 tables fall only crumbs to feed a wounded Lazarus. 
 The Church of Christ has set us a wor- 
 thy example, let us follow it, so that God may forgive 
 our debts as we forgive our debtors." 
 
 I have given a detailed account of these philan- 
 thropic transactions connected with the Jubilee Confer- 
 ence,, hoping that the transactions themselves may not 
 prove uninteresting, but more especially because they 
 throw out in bold relief the noble generosity of President 
 Taylor's character. 
 
 Apart from these acts of generosity, looking to the 
 relief and blessing of the poor, the Jubilee Conference 
 was noted for the out-pouring of spiritual power upon the 
 Apostles and other Elders in their teachings, admoni- 
 tions and testimonies. The regular conference was pre- 
 ceded by a two days' meeting in the Salt Lake Assembly 
 Hall, and the last meeting of the conference was made 
 memorable by ten of the Apostles bearing testimony to 
 the truth of the great work of the last days, President 
 Taylor closing that grand testimony meeting with these 
 words : 
 
338 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 " I testify as my brethren have done, that this is the 
 work of God that has been revealed by the Almighty, 
 and I know it. God will sustain Israel ; no power can 
 injure us if we will do what is right. This kingdom will 
 roll on, the purposes of God will progress, Zion will 
 arise and shine, and the glory of God will rest upon her. 
 We will continue to grow and increase, until the king- 
 doms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our 
 God and His Christ, and He will reign forever and 
 forever." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE QUORUM OF APOSTLES NOT THE PERMANENT PRE- 
 SIDING QUORUM OF THE CHURCH FIRST PRESIDENCY 
 
 CHOSEN A GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF QUORUMS THE 
 
 VOTING VOX DEI ET VOX POPULI DIGNITY OF PRESI- 
 DENCY CHARACTER OF GOVERNMENT ONE OF THE 
 
 NOBLE ONES. 
 
 WHILE it is a well established rule that the quorum 
 of Twelve Apostles become the presiding quorum at the 
 death or removal of the President of the Church, it is 
 not in accordance with the order of the Priesthood that 
 the Twelve should become the permanent presidency of 
 the Church. The Lord has said* that three Presiding 
 High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and or- 
 dained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith 
 and prayer of the Church, form a quorum of the Presi- 
 
 * Doc. and Cov. Sec. 107 : 22. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 339 
 
 dency of the Church. Therefore it must follow that the 
 presidency of the Twelve Apostles over the Church can 
 only be temporary. But as they stand next, and form a 
 quorum equal in authority to the First Presidency, they 
 have the power and of right preside when for any cause 
 the First Presidency becomes disorganized. 
 
 For more than three years the quorum of Twelve 
 Apostles had presided over the Church, from the death 
 of President Young in August, 1877, to October, 1880. 
 The Lord then inspired His servants to organize the 
 First Presidency. For President there was but one 
 choice John Taylor. The spirit of revelation indicated 
 that he was the man ; and he received the unanimous 
 vote of his fellow Apostles for that high office. He 
 named George Q. Cannon as his first counselor, and 
 Joseph F. Smith, the son of Hyrum Smith, for his second. 
 These brethren were also unanimously sustained by 
 their fellow Apostles. But it is not enough that they be 
 sustained by that quorum alone. All the other quorums 
 of the Priesthood have a voice in these important 
 transactions, as also have all the members of the 
 Church. 
 
 It was presenting this action of the Apostles for the 
 approval of the various quorums of the Priesthood and 
 the members of the Church, which constituted the lead- 
 ing feature of the Semi-Annual Conference of October, 
 1880. 
 
 Nothing can be more solemn and impressive than 
 the voting of the quorums of the Priesthood, when 
 they meet to act as a general assembly of quorums. 
 The States- General of France, assembled in the Salle des 
 Menus just before the French Revolution, in all the 
 glory of raised platforms for Throne, Court and Blood- 
 royal ; with space for six hundred Commons Deputies 
 
34O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 in front; with three hundred clergy on the right of the 
 throne and as many noblesse on the left; with lofty 
 galleries filled with two thousand spectators, dames of 
 honor, foreign deplomacies, "and other gilt-edge and 
 white-frilled individuals," though constituting the most 
 remarkable assembly the world ever saw, is not equal in 
 imposing grandeur to the assembly and action of the 
 quorums of the Priesthood. 
 
 On the present occasion the Apostles occupied the 
 stand set apart for their use in the great Tabernacle, the 
 second one in the tier of three. The space south of the 
 stand was occupied by the Patriarchs, Presidents of 
 Stakes and their Counselors, and the High Councils of 
 the various Stakes. North of the stands the Bishops 
 and their Counselors were seated, with Presiding Bishop 
 Hunter and his Counselors in front. The High Priests 
 occupied the north center of the body of the great hall, 
 with their Presidents in front. The Seventies were 
 seated in the south half of the body of the hall, with the 
 First Seven Presidents in front. The space immediately 
 back of the High Priests was reserved for the Elders, 
 while the north side of the house, under the gallery was 
 set apart for the quorums of the Lesser Priesthood, the 
 Priests, Teachers and Deacons. The gallery, capable of 
 seating three thousand people, was reserved for the use 
 of the members of the Church. 
 
 Apostle Orson Pratt, with hair and full beard, made 
 gloriously white by the frosts of sixty-nine winters, pre- 
 sented the several motions to be acted upon. The 
 manner of voting was for the proposition to be pre- 
 sented to each quorum severally, except in the case of 
 the Priests, Teachers and Deacons, who voted all 
 together as the Lesser Priesthood ; the members of each 
 quorum rose to their feet as the question was presented 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 341 
 
 and raised the right hand in token of assent, or, if any 
 were opposed to the proposition, they could make it 
 manifest in the same way after the affirmative vote had 
 been taken. 
 
 The order in which the quorums voted was as 
 follows : 
 
 First, the Twelve Apostles ; 
 
 Second, the Patriarchs, Presidents of Stakes, their 
 Counselors, and the High Councils; 
 
 Third, the High Priests ; 
 
 Fourth, the Seventies ; 
 
 Fifth, the Elders ; 
 
 Sixth, the Bishops and their Counselors ; 
 
 Seventh, the Lesser Priesthood. 
 
 After this the Presidents of the quorums voted on 
 the question and it was then put to the entire assembly 
 which arose en masse and voted in the same manner. 
 
 It was a remarkable scene. There was not a 
 dissenting vote in all that vast assembly ; and there were 
 pro'bably thirteen thousand people crowded into the 
 great Tabernacle. Perfect unanimity prevailed; and as 
 the several quorums registered their votes and the entire 
 assembly arose and with uplifted hands sanctioned what 
 they had done, the scene was indescribably grand and 
 impressive, carrying with it a power and influence that 
 can only come from a righteous people giving their 
 unrestrained assent to that which God has appointed. It 
 was an influence born of a union of vox dei et vox 
 populi. It was a Spirit identical with that which in a 
 larger degree pervades the councils of the Gods. 
 
 John Taylor was now invested with the highest 
 office and honors which God gives to man on the earth. 
 He was placed on a par with Melchisedek, Moses, Peter, 
 Joseph and Brigham: for by the action of this conference 
 
34 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 he was made President of the High Priesthood, whose 
 duty it is to preside over the whole Church, to be like 
 Moses, a seer, a revelator, a translator, a prophet, having 
 all the gifts of God which He bestows upon the head of 
 the Church.* 
 
 The Lord in describing the power and authority of 
 the Higher or Melchisedek Priesthood, says : It holds 
 the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church. It 
 has the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the 
 kingdom of heaven ; of having the heavens opened to 
 it ; the right to commune with the general assembly and 
 church of the first born ; and to enjoy the communion 
 and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator 
 of the New Covenant.*)- 
 
 These are the privileges of the High Priesthood, 
 and John Taylor was called to preside over it, with a 
 right to all the gifts and powers associated therewith. 
 What higher authority can man possess? What honor 
 greater can be given him? True, in the ceremonies 
 which invested him with these high dignities, there 
 was no long drawn out pomp, no tapers, processions, 
 chantings, or clouds of incense; no vestures red or 
 white, gold-laced or furred ; no sceptre or tiara ; no peal 
 of bells, no cannon's roar, no formal, solemn Te deum! 
 Yet what office created by man pontifical, princely, 
 kingly how graced so ever with the formal pomp and 
 show in the bestowal of it, can equal that conferred on 
 John Taylor, by the voice of God and the common con- 
 sent of his brethren ? 
 
 There is no man-created office but what is insignifi- 
 cant in comparison with it. Monarchs with powers 
 
 * Doc. and Cov. Sec. 107: 91, 92. 
 | Ibid, 18, 19. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 343 
 
 usurped, the fruits of conquest, or inherited from a long 
 line of princely ancestors, at the best held by the 
 sufferance of those they rule monarchs who fret and 
 strut out their brief hour upon this world's troubled 
 stage, who come, and see, and conquer and then vanish, 
 are but fools in power compared with him who attains to 
 the God-created office of President of the High 
 Priesthood. 
 
 The power of earthly potentates is limited to the 
 earth, often to an insignificant portion of it ; and in dura- 
 tion to a few brief years, then they perish, together with 
 their power and glory ; while the power of him who 
 attains to the office of President of the High Priesthood, 
 enters within the vail and has effect both in time and in 
 eternity. He binds on earth and it is bound in heaven ; 
 he looses on earth and it is loosed in heaven.* He hath 
 become a prince to that government to the increase and 
 dominion of which there is no end, and whose sceptre is 
 an unchanging sceptre of righteousness. 
 
 The princes of this world win and sustain their 
 dominion by the sword ; he by the preaching of peace 
 on earth, good will to man ; they trust to force to 
 armies and navies for the perpetuation of their power ; 
 he to love unfeigned, persuasion, long suffering, gentle- 
 ness, meekness, kindness and pure knowledge- 
 reproving with sharpness at times, it is true, but after- 
 wards showing forth a double portion of love towards 
 those reproved, lest reproof be taken for enmity.f 
 Moreover, the princes of this world exercise dominion 
 over their subjects, and they that are great, exercise 
 authority upon them arbitrary, often cruel, authority 
 
 * Matt. xvi. 
 
 f Doc. and Cov. Sec. 121. 
 
344 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 and, as one of their own poets hath said, "Play such 
 fantastic tricks before high heaven, as make the angels 
 weep." The Lord hath decreed that it shall not be so in 
 His government; but he that would be chief in it, let 
 him be the servant of all, even as the Son of Man came 
 not to be ministered unto, but to minister.* Jesus spake 
 truly when he said: "My kingdom is not of this world." 
 
 Such was the office, then, to which President Taylor 
 succeeded ; and such the spirit in which its powers are 
 to be exercised. Both his native disposition and 
 experience qualified him for the place. From his earliest 
 youth arrayed on the side of liberty as against arbitrary 
 authority, so pronounced in sentiment in that controversy, 
 so fearless in maintaining it, that he won the proud title 
 of "Champion of Liberty" it was natural for him in his 
 administration to pay due regard to the principle of com- 
 mon consent, by which all things are to be done in the 
 Church. 
 
 With him as President there could be no arbitrary 
 government among the Saints. Teach men correct 
 principles and let them govern themselves, was a 
 doctrine he learned in his early manhood from the 
 Prophet Joseph. He made it a leading principle in his 
 career. He adopted it in his family government, in his 
 presidency of churches, conferences and missions in the 
 eastern states and in foreign lands. It was a prominent 
 characteristic of his administration while President of the 
 Twelve Apostles ; it continued to be his motto during his 
 more direct Presidency of the Church. Yet while he 
 respected the principle of common consent, he blended 
 with that respect a native dignity of character and 
 bearing which prevented in his administration that 
 
 Matt. xx. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 345 
 
 severely democratic principle of government descending 
 into factious opposition : and on occasion could make 
 those with whom he came in contact feel that vox Dei as 
 he felt it within his own inspired soul had a right to be 
 heard in the administration of Church affairs, as well as 
 vox populi. 
 
 President Taylor's accession to the Presidency of 
 the Church reveals another thing in connection with his 
 history which must not be overlooked. It raises the 
 corner of the veil which separates the natural and 
 spiritual worlds, and permits us to form an idea of his 
 career and character in his first estate, when as a spirit 
 he associated with the Gods in the eternal worlds. It is 
 recorded of Abraham that the Lord showed unto him 
 the intelligences that were organized before the world 
 was ; ' 'and among all these there were many of the noble and 
 great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good 
 and he stood in the midst of them, and he said : These I 
 will make my rulers ; for he stood among those that were 
 spirits, and he saw that they were good ; and he said, 
 Abraham, 1 thou art one of them, thou 
 wast chosen before thou wast born."* 
 
 So with John Taylor. The high place as one of 
 God's rulers which he had now attained proclaimed that 
 he, too, was one of the "noble and great ones ;". and like 
 Jesus,f Abraham, Jeremiah,J and other prophets, he 
 was chosen before he was born. 
 
 * Book of Abraham. 
 | Heb. i: i, 2. 
 t Jeremiah i: 5. 
 
34^ LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 LABORS AS PRESIDENT SAMPLE TOURS CHARACTER OF 
 
 SERMONS LESS OF THE POET BUT MORE OF THE 
 
 PHILOSOPHER A REVELATION. 
 
 ALTHOUGH President Taylor, at the time he became 
 President of the Church, was two years past the three 
 score years and ten allotted by the Psalmist as the life of 
 man, he was not bowed down by their weight. His form 
 was erect and his step elastic ; and he entered upon the 
 performance of his high duties with a zeal and vigor 
 only to be expected of a younger man. He visited the 
 Stakes of Zion in Utah and the surrounding territories, 
 setting them in order, teaching, counseling and encour- 
 aging the Saints with all the energy and kindness of his 
 great soul. 
 
 As a sample of his travels and labors among the 
 people I give the following summary of two of his trips 
 during the year 1881 : In the latter part of July, in 
 company with several of the Apostles and other brethren, 
 he started on a tour to visit some of the northern Stakes 
 and settlements. He was absent from Salt Lake City 
 seventeen days, during which time he visited five Stakes 
 of Zion, viz., Cache, Rich, Summit, Wasatch and Utah, 
 traveling much of the distance in carriages. Twenty- 
 three meetings were held by the party. President 
 Taylor attended all but three, and spoke at the most of 
 them. 
 
 In the latter part of November of the same year, 
 he visited the southern Stakes and settlements, accom- 
 panied by his Counselor Joseph F. Smith and several 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 347 
 
 of the Twelve Apostles. This tour occupied five weeks 
 and four days. The party held sixty-eight meetings ; 
 besides many council meetings where advice and instruc- 
 tions to Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and other officers 
 of the Church were freely given. Thus he labored inces- 
 santly among the people from his accession to the 
 Presidency until he was driven into retirement by the 
 judicial crusade waged against the Saints some years 
 later. 
 
 The subject matter in the discoures of President 
 Taylor in these years dealt very largely with the duties of 
 the Saints in all the relations of life ; as husbands and 
 wives, parents and children, neighbors and citizens ; 
 unity, honor, integrity, honesty, purity in thought and 
 act were his themes in one word he preached right- 
 eousness as essential to the favor of God, and with the 
 favor of God he assured the Saints they need not fear 
 what man or nations could do. "God will be on the 
 side of Israel, if Israel will be on the side of right," was 
 his oft- repeated, confident assertion. 
 
 He was particularly careful to set in order the 
 quorums of the priesthood, and charged them to walk 
 in holiness before the Lord. Who does not remember 
 with what earnestness and power in conferences and 
 other public meetings, he was wont to admonish Presi- 
 dents of Stakes and bishops of wards to set in order the 
 priesthood and institutions under their supervision? 
 And how he urged them to labor with all diligence, long- 
 suffering and kindness for the reformation of the way- 
 ward ! But if they would not reform, how he then strictly 
 charged the authorities having jurisdiction in the case to 
 sever them from the Church, that God, angels and the 
 world might know that Israel had no fellowship with 
 drunkards, debauchees, thieves, liars or the dishonest. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Alluding to the Priesthood and its organization he 
 would say: " These things are given to us for what? 
 To gratify our ambition? to enable us to ride over and 
 trample under foot our fellow-creatures? to place power 
 and authority upon us? No; not for any man's emolu- 
 ment or aggrandizement. Although there is nothing 
 more honorable, nothing more dignified, nothing to 
 which a man ought so much to aspire to as to be a ser- 
 vant of the living God, and to be commissioned by Him 
 to do His work upon the earth. And what for? To 
 spread correct principles among men ; to combat priest- 
 craft, statecraft, oppression, fraud and iniquity of all 
 kinds; and to introduce among men those pure and 
 holy principles by which the Gods are governed in the 
 eternal worlds." 
 
 In addition to these things he taught implicit trust 
 in God, showed the Saints their dependence upon Him, 
 and frequently alluded to the source from whence they 
 derived their knowledge of truth. "Any intelligence 
 which we may possess," he would say, "and which we 
 may be able to impart, is not of ourselves, but of God. 
 It did not originate with Joseph Smith, with Brigham 
 Young, with the Twelve Apostles, nor was it received 
 from any institution of learning, or of science, either 
 religious, political or social. Our philosophy is not the 
 philosophy of the world; but of the earth and the 
 heavens, of time and eternity, and proceeds from God." 
 
 How like in spirit is this to that famous reply of the 
 Son of God to the Jews, who marveled at his doctrine, 
 saying, "How knoweth this man letters, having never 
 learned?" What humility, what deep reverence for 
 God there is in the reply of Messiah "My doctrine is 
 not mine, but His that sent me!" 
 
 If in these discourses preached in the latter years 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 349 
 
 of his ministry there were fewer of those poetic flights 
 of eloquence so characteristic of his earlier discourses 
 and writings, there was a deeper solemnity, a calmer 
 but more intense, earnestness. If there was less of the 
 poet, there was more of the philosopher. The flower 
 and bloom had fallen, perhaps, but it was only that the 
 ripening fruit and golden grain might appear. 
 
 Finally, his counsels, his warnings, his doctrines and 
 promises received the most direct approval by the voice 
 of God Himself, demonstrating that his teachings had all 
 along been inspired. The approval above referred to is 
 contained in the following revelation : 
 
 REVELATION GIVEN THROUGH PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR 
 
 AT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TERRITORY, 
 
 OCTOBER I3TH, 1882. 
 
 Thus saith the Lord to the Twelve, and to the 
 priesthood and people of my Church/ Let my servants 
 George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant be appointed to 
 fill the vacancies in the Twelve, that you may be fully 
 organized and prepared for the labors devolving upon 
 you, for you have a great work to perform ; and then 
 proceed to fill up the presiding quorum of Seventies, 
 and assist in organizing that body of my priesthood who 
 are your co-laborers in the ministry. You may appoint 
 Seymour B. Young to fill up the vacancy in the presiding 
 quorum of Seventies, if he will conform to my law ; for 
 it is not meet that men who will not abide my law shall 
 preside over my priesthood ; and then proceed forthwith 
 and call to your aid any assistance that you may require 
 from among the Seventies to assist you in your labors 
 in introducing and maintaining the gospel among the 
 Lamanites throughout the land. And then let High 
 Priests be selected, under the direction of the First 
 
35O LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Presidency, to preside over the various organizations that 
 shall exist among this people ; that those who receive 
 the gospel may be taught in the doctrines of my church 
 and in the ordinances and laws thereof, and also in the 
 things pertaining to my Zion and my kingdom, saith 
 the Lord, that they may be one with you in my Church 
 and my kingdom. 
 
 Let the Presidency of my Church be one in all 
 things ; and let the Twelve also be one in all things ; 
 and let them all be one with me as I am one with the 
 Father. 
 
 And let the High Priests organize themselves, and 
 purify themselves, and prepare themselves for this labor, 
 and for all other labors that they may be called upon to 
 fulfill. 
 
 And let the Presidents of Stakes also purify them- 
 selves, and the priesthood and people of the Stakes over 
 which they preside, and organize the priesthood in their 
 various Stakes according to my law, in all the various 
 departments thereof, in the High Councils, in the Elders' 
 quorums, and in the Bishops and their councils, and in 
 the quorums of Priests, Teachers and Deacons, that 
 every quorum may be fully organized according to the 
 order of my Church ; and, then, let them inquire into the 
 standing and fellowship of all that hold my holy priest- 
 hood in their several Stakes ; and if they find those that 
 are unworthy let them remove them, except they repent; 
 for my priesthood, whom I have called and whom I have 
 sustained and honored, shall honor me and obey my 
 laws, and the laws of my holy priesthood, or they shall 
 not be considered worthy to hold my priesthood, saith 
 the Lord. And let my priesthood humble themselves 
 before me, and seek not their own will but my will ; for 
 if my priesthood, whom I have chosen, and called, and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 351 
 
 endowed with the spirit and gifts of their several callings, 
 and with the powers thereof, do not acknowledge me I 
 will not acknowledge them, saith the Lord ; for I will be 
 honored and obeyed by my priesthood. 
 
 And, then, I call upon my priesthood, and upon all 
 of my people, to repent of all their sins and short-com- 
 ings, of their covetousness and pride and self-will, and 
 of all their iniquities wherein they sin against me ; and 
 to seek with all humility to fulfill my law, as my priest- 
 hood, my saints and my people; and I call upon the 
 heads of families to put their houses in order accord- 
 ing to the law of God, and attend to the various duties 
 and responsibilities associated therewith, and to purify 
 themselves before me, and to purge out iniquity from 
 their households. And I will bless and be with you, saith 
 the Lord, and ye shall gather together in your holy 
 places wherein ye assemble to call upon me, and ye shall 
 ask for such things as are right, and I will hear your 
 prayers, and my Spirit and power shall be with you, and 
 my blessing shall rest upon you, upon your families, 
 your dwellings and your households, upon your flocks 
 and herds and fields, your orchards and vineyards, and 
 upon all that pertains to you ; and you shall be my peo- 
 ple and I will be your God ; and your enemies shall not 
 have dominion over you, for I will preserve you and 
 confound them, saith the Lord, and they shall not have 
 power nor dominion over you ; for my word shall go 
 forth, and my work shall be accomplished, and my Zion 
 shall be established, and my rule and my power and my 
 dominion shall prevail among my people, and all nations 
 shall yet acknowledge me. Even so, Amen. 
 
352 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 PUBLIC RECEPTION AT THE GARDO HOUSE PROMISE OF 
 
 PEACE PEACE DISTURBED NEW AGITATION AN OLD 
 
 OPPONENT WITH BAD TASTE THE FALSE INDICTMENT 
 
 INVESTIGATION ASKED DENIED INDECENT HASTE 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE EDMUNDS' BILL THE SACRIFICE 
 
 OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 
 
 IN THE latter part of December, 1881, the committee 
 appointed to furnish and arrange the affairs of the Gardo 
 House as the family residence of President Taylor, an- 
 nounced that it was ready; and if agreeable to him, sug- 
 gested that he immediately move into it. They also 
 intimated that they would be pleased to announce to his 
 friends when they could call upon him. He acted upon 
 their suggestion and appointed the 2nd of January as the 
 day that a public reception would be given, between the 
 hours of 1 1 a. m. and 3 p. m. 
 
 At eleven o'clock that day Croxall's Band entered 
 the enclosure and serenaded the President in his new 
 home, after which the doors were thrown open and the 
 stream of callers began filing into the house. President 
 Taylor, surrounded by his family, his counselors and a 
 few personal friends, received them cordially, and ex- 
 changed kindly greetings. During the hours of recep- 
 tion Professor C. J. Thomas' orchestral Band serenaded 
 him. The Tabernacle choir came also, and sang several 
 pieces, among which was the grand anthem " And it shall 
 come to psss in the last days," etc., concluding with 
 " Auld Lang Syne." Two large tables in the dining hall 
 were kept replenished with refreshments, of which nearly 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 353 
 
 all who called partook. It was estimated that more than 
 two thousand friends called upon the President that day. 
 All were pleased to greet him, and were full of kindness 
 and the best wishes for the man of God. 
 
 It was a grand day in the life of President Taylor. 
 His youth and manhood had been spent in the service of 
 God. He had never manifested a disposition to desert 
 the ministry, no matter how strained his own circum- 
 stances might be. He was never called to do service in 
 the cause of God, but that he answered, "ready!" and 
 now that the frosts of seventy-four winters had made 
 silvery white his hair, he was comfortably established in 
 a magnificent home, surrounded by his family, his friends 
 and brethren and honored by all Israel. No man had 
 fairer prospects for enjoying the one boon ever coveted 
 by age the privilege 
 
 " To husband out life's taper at the close, 
 And keep the flame from wasting by repose." 
 
 The fair prospect of ease and comfort, however, 
 was soon to be marred by the ruthless machinations of 
 unreasoning hate. 
 
 During the year 1881, a bitter agitation of the Mor- 
 mon question, was inaugurated in Utah and spread 
 throughout the United States. It was the work of sec- 
 tarian religious bigots and political adventurers. 
 
 The efforts of sectarian ministers who have come to 
 Utah as missionaries to convert the Mormons to their 
 creeds, have always ended in dismal failure. Even those 
 Saints who through neglect of religious duty, or for 
 other causes have become indifferent as to their connec- 
 tion with the Church, could not be persuaded to feed 
 upon the dry husks of the dead theology preached by 
 sectarian ministers. While those who were feeding to 
 
 23 
 
354 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the full in the rich pastures of the gospel of Christ, 
 would not so much as look in the direction of the barren 
 moors to which these missionaries invited them. The 
 result was rage and disappointment in the vexed souls 
 of these ministers ; and they concluded that Mor- 
 monism was a thing not to be reasoned with, but to be 
 stamped out by force.* 
 
 Hunger for the spoils and emoluments of office, ex- 
 plains the motives of the political adventurers who 
 joined in this agitation. In all the recommendations 
 made to Congress by priests and demagogues, it may be 
 seen that the one object to be attained is the complete 
 control of the Territory by them. 
 
 Measures ostensibly for the suppression of plural 
 marriage were introduced into Congress ; and a call was 
 made upon the churches throughout the country to hold 
 mass meetings and adopt resolutions urging Congress to 
 enact the Edmunds' Bill. These mass meetings were 
 held early in 1882. 
 
 The one at Chicago was held at Farwell Hall, and 
 among those present was ex-Vice-President Colfax, the 
 former opponent, it will be remembered, of President 
 Taylor in a discussion of the "Mormon question." His 
 presence at that meeting was a tacit, but none the less 
 emphatic acknowledgment, that he had failed to effect 
 anything by his argument. He had the best of reasons 
 for knowing that argument could not destroy Mor- 
 monism ; he had tried it, and failed. Hence we see him 
 
 * At a Methodist conference held in Ogden during that year, a number of resolu- 
 tions were adopted on the subject of Mormonism, in one of which it was said : 
 
 " Mormonism holds the balance of power in Idaho and Arizona and menaces New 
 Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. We believe polygamy is a foul system of 
 licentiousness, practiced in the name of religion, hence hideous and revolting. It 
 should not be reasoned with, but ought to be STAMPED OUT." 
 
 The same spirit ran through all the resolutions adopted. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 355 
 
 associated with those who had determined that it must 
 be "stamped out." He was at Farwell Hall that night 
 to give the weight of his character to a meeting, the 
 purpose of which was to urge Congress to enact pre- 
 scriptive laws, to crush a people against whom he had 
 hurled the thunderbolt of his logic in vain. It was bad 
 taste, to say the least, for him to be present at that meet- 
 ing. A decent respect for himself and the opinion of 
 mankind, would have suggested that he leave such work 
 to be done by other hands. 
 
 Meetings of this character were held in nearly all the 
 large cities in the Union. They were much alike in spirit. 
 Hatred for the Mormon people characterized them all. 
 Bishop Fallows, at the meeting in Chicago, declared that 
 if the measures then pending in Congress were not suf- 
 ficient to heal the "political cancer," there were three 
 hundred thousand swords ready to cut it out. 
 
 I leave it to the reader to judge how much sweet 
 Christian charity there was in a meeting where such a 
 remark was applauded. 
 
 As a sample of the charges made against the Saints 
 and the Church in this agitation, I take those presented 
 at the meeting held in St. Louis. 
 
 It was alleged that the Mormon Church interfered 
 in political affairs ; and that a recent vote for Delegate to 
 Congress in Idaho had been carried by a brief order 
 from George Q. Cannon, directing the Mormons to vote 
 for a certain man : 
 
 That its numbers are daily recruited by cunning 
 appeals to the ignorance and base passions of men ; 
 
 That the number of polygamous felons in Utah is 
 strongly increased by the importation from abroad of 
 thousands who are ignorantly seduced or licentiously 
 attracted to this shameful institution ; 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 That a large proportion of the whole number of 
 polygamists are unnaturalized foreigners who own no 
 allegiance to the United States or its laws ; 
 
 That it openly derides the authority of the national 
 government, preaches treason publicly, and makes 
 polygamous rebellion a religious duty ; 
 
 That it degrades women, blotting out of their 
 speech the very notion of home and all the sacred 
 associations which it calls up, making a parody of religion ; 
 
 And, lastly, that it foolishly assumes to be defiant to 
 and stronger than the government. 
 
 As in these meetings it was assumed that these 
 false statements were true, it was not difficult to work 
 up a spirit of indignation throughout the country and to 
 flood Congress with resolutions and petitions to pass the 
 Edmunds Bill. 
 
 Meantime the Saints in Utah were not inactive. 
 They did not permit this storm cloud to gather without 
 remonstrance. In February the Territorial legislature 
 passed resolutions denying the charges made against 
 the great majority of their constituents, and praying- 
 Congress to appoint a commission of honorable men to 
 investigate the condition of affairs in Utah. 
 
 In additon to this, meetings in all parts of the Terri- 
 tory were held and remonstrances drawn up against the 
 enactment of the measures pending before the national 
 legislature. Memorials were formulated by the men, 
 women and the youth of both sexes respectively. In all 
 these memorials the false charges and base misrepresen- 
 tations of their detractors were emphatically denied. In 
 the memorial signed by the men, referring to plural 
 marriage, it was said : 
 
 " Whatever of polygamy exists among the Mor- 
 mons, rests solely upon their religious convictions. It is 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 357 
 
 unsupported by any Territorial legislative enactments, 
 and its practice already exposes them to the penalties of 
 Congressional law. And it is better to leave it to the 
 legitimate operations of that law, and the moral influ- 
 ences at work, than to attempt to extirpate it by radically 
 oppressive or revolutionary measures." 
 
 On the same subject the women said: "And more- 
 over, we your petitioners hereby testify that we are happy 
 in our homes, and satisfied with our marriage relations 
 and desire no change. * * And we most 
 
 solemnly aver before God and man that our marital rela- 
 tions are most sacred, that they are divine, enjoining 
 obligations and ties that pertain to time and reach into 
 eternity. Were it not for the sacred and religious 
 character of plural marriage, we should never have 
 entered upon the practice of a principle which is con- 
 trary to our early teachings, and in consequence of 
 which our names are cast out as evil by the Christian 
 world." 
 
 The following paragraph occurred in the memorial 
 of the young men : "We deny that the religious insti- 
 tution of plural marriage, as practiced by our parents, 
 and to which many of us owe our existence, debases, 
 pollutes, or in any way degrades those who enter into it. 
 On the contrary, we solemnly affirm, and challenge suc- 
 cessful conradiction, that plural marriage is a sacred 
 religious ordinance, and that its practice has given to 
 thousands, honorable names and peaceful homes where 
 Christian precepts and virtuous practices have been uni- 
 formly inculcated, and the spirit of human liberty and 
 religious freedom, fostered from the cradle to maturity." 
 
 This in the young ladies' : "We have been taught 
 and conscientiously believe that plural marriage is as 
 much a part of our religion as faith, repentance and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 baptism, * * * We solemnly and truthfully declare 
 that neither we nor our mothers are held in bondage, 
 but that we enjoy the greatest possible freedom, socially 
 and religiously ; that our homes are happy ones and we 
 are neither low nor degraded; for the principles of 
 purity, virtue, integrity and loyalty to the government of 
 the United States, have been instilled into our minds and 
 hearts since our earliest childhood." 
 
 In each memorial the petitioners prayed that Con- 
 gress would suspend further action on all bills relating 
 to Utah, and send a commission of honorable, intelligent 
 and unprejudiced men and women to enquire into and 
 learn the true state of affairs in said Territory. The 
 signers to the men's petition numbered 16,256; those to 
 the women's, 19,108; young men's, 15,636; young 
 ladies', 1 4, 152 ; a total of 65,152. 
 
 Surely petitions so respectfully worded, solemnly 
 denying such grave charges, asking for so reasonable a 
 thing as an inquiry into the true condition of affairs in 
 Utah, and so numerously signed as these were, had some 
 claim upon the attention of Congress. They were laid 
 aside, after being read, however, and the Edmunds Bill 
 passed with indecent haste. The bill was ably discussed 
 in the Senate, and many constitutional objections urged 
 against it ; but when it came to the House, it was "rail- 
 roaded through," and that with a rush; debate upon it 
 being limited to five minute speeches, the whole discus- 
 sion not lasting more than two hours. It was approved 
 by the President on the 22nd of March, and then became 
 law. 
 
 In addition to defining polygamy and fixing the 
 punishment for it, the new law also made cohabitation 
 with more than one woman, a misdemeanor, to be pun- 
 ished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 359 
 
 and six months' imprisonment ; it provided that counts 
 for polygamy and unlawful cohabitation might be joined 
 in the same indictment ; it made actual polygamists and 
 those who believed in the rightfulness of it, incompetent 
 as jurors in any prosecution for polygamy or unlawful 
 cohabitation ; it also made polygamists, or those cohabiting 
 with more than one woman, incompetent to vote or hold 
 office. It vacated all registration and election offices of 
 every description, and placed the registration of voters 
 and the management of elections under a federal 
 returning board, known as the Utah Commission. 
 
 When the news of the full enactment of this law 
 reached Utah, President Taylor, knowing the vindictive 
 hatred of the conspirators in Salt Lake City who had 
 concocted that law and aroused the popular clamor which 
 induced Congress to enact it; and knowing that they 
 would seek first to entangle him within its meshes 
 because he was President of the Church ; and further 
 knowing that such were the nature of his duties to the 
 Church that it was imperative that he have his liberty, 
 that he might watch over the interests of the great 
 people committed to his care he resolved to make a 
 great personal sacrifice by submitting to this law, unjust, 
 cruel and infamous as it was. He therefore took counsel 
 with his family and it was arranged that his wives return 
 to their former homes, while he continued to reside at 
 the Gardo House. 
 
360 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 "A STORM is COMING" "TURN UP YOUR COLLARS" POL- 
 ICY OF THE CHURCH OUTLINED CONTEST UNDER THE 
 LAW EVERY ENCROACHMENT ON THE DOMINION OF 
 
 LIBERTY WARNINGS AND PROPHECIES HOSANNA NO 
 
 NEW SHOUT ITS IMPRESSIONS ON A STRANGER. 
 
 THE morning of the second day's conference in 
 April, 1882, was stormy and cold. The wind blew in 
 fitful gusts, pelting the Saints with sleet as with bowed 
 heads and turned up collars they hurried along to attend 
 the conference. President Taylor made an impressive 
 allusion to this storm in the course of his remarks 
 that day. 
 
 Referring to the late enactment of Congress the 
 Edmunds Bill and the bitter prejudice aroused against 
 the Saints, he warned them that a storm was coming ; 
 and that it would break in its fury upon them. "Let us 
 treat it," said he, half humorously "the same as we did 
 this morning in coming through the snow-storm put up 
 our coat collars (suiting the action to the word) and wait 
 till the storm subsides. After the storm comes sunshine. 
 While the storm lasts it is useless to reason with the 
 world; when it subsides we can talk to them." , 
 
 In the afternoon he again referred to this matter: 
 "I stated this morning that there was a storm coming 
 in fact it is raging at present and has been for some 
 little time, and that it would be well for us to keep up 
 our coat collars and protect ourselves as best we could 
 until the storm passed over. There will be a storm in 
 the United States after awhile ; and I want our brethren 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 361 
 
 to prepare themselves for it. At the last conference, I 
 think, I advised all who were in debt to take advantage 
 of the prosperous times and pay their debts; so that 
 they might not be in bondage to anyone, and when the 
 storm came they might be prepared to meet it. There 
 will be one of that kind very soon ; and I thought I would 
 give you this warning again, and repeat this piece of 
 advice the wise will understand." 
 
 On the last day of the conference the 9th of April 
 President Taylor preached one of the most remark- 
 able and powerful sermons of his life. He occupied 
 more than two hours in delivering it ; and throughout, 
 the immense congregation which filled the great Taber- 
 nacle to its utmost capacity listened with rapt attention. 
 
 In addition to sketching the rise and progress of 
 the work of the Lord in these last days, he refuted by 
 the most positive testimony the base slanders on which 
 the late agitation against the work was founded. Refer- 
 ring to the assault made upon the Saints under the 
 pretext of suppressing polygamy, he thus defined the 
 position and policy of the Church: 
 
 " We covet no man's possessions. But we expect to 
 maintain our own rights. If we are crowded upon by 
 unprincipled men or inimical legislation, we shall not 
 take the course pursued by the lawless, the dissolute 
 and unprincipled. We shall not have recourse to the 
 dynamite of the Russian Nihilists, the secret plans 
 and machinations of the communists, the boycotting 
 and threats of the Fenians, the force and disorder 
 of the Jayhawkers, the regulators or the Molly 
 Maguires, nor any other secret or illegal combination ; 
 but we still expect to possess and maintain our rights ; 
 but to obtain them in a legal, peaceful and constitutional 
 manner. As American citizens, we shall contend for all 
 
362 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 our liberties, rights and immunities, guaranteed to us by 
 the Constitution ; and no matter what action may be 
 taken by mobocratic influence, by excited and unreason- 
 able men, or by inimical legislation, we shall contend 
 inch by inch for our freedom and rights, as well as the 
 freedom and rights of all American citizens and of all 
 mankind. 
 
 "As a people or community, we can bide our time; 
 but I will say to you Latter-day Saints, that there is 
 nothing of which you have been despoiled by oppressive 
 acts or mobocratic rule, but that you will again possess, 
 or your children after you. Your 
 
 possessions, of which you have been fraudulently 
 despoiled in Missouri and Illinois, you will again possess, 
 and that without force, or fraud or violence. The Lord 
 has a way of His own in regulating such matters. We 
 are told the wicked shall slay the wicked. He has a 
 way of His own of 'emptying the earth of the inhabitants 
 thereof.' A terrible day of reckoning is approaching 
 the nations of the earth ; the Lord is coming out of His 
 hiding place to vex the inhabitants thereof; and the 
 destroyer of the Gentiles, as prophesied of, is already 
 on his way. * * Already combinations 
 
 are being entered into which are very ominous for the 
 future prosperity, welfare and happiness of this great 
 republic. The volcanic fires of disordered and anarchial 
 elements are beginning to manifest themselves and 
 exhibit the internal forces that are at work among the 
 turbulent and unthinking masses of the people. 
 
 " Congress will soon have something else to do than 
 to prescribe and persecute an innocent, law-abiding and 
 patriotic people. Of all bodies in the world, they can 
 least afford to remove the bulwarks that bind society 
 together in this nation, to recklessly trample upon 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 363 
 
 human freedom and rights, and to rend and destroy that 
 great palladium of human rights the Constitution of 
 the United States. Ere long they will need all its pro- 
 tecting influence to save this nation from misrule, 
 anarchy and mobocratic influence. They can ill afford 
 to be the foremost in tampering with human rights and 
 human freedom, or in tearing down the bulwarks of 
 safety and protection which that sacred instrument has 
 guaranteed. 
 
 "The internal fires of revolution are already smoul- 
 dering in this nation, and they need but a spark to set 
 them in a flame. Already are agencies at work in the 
 land calculated to subvert and overthrow every principle 
 of rule and government ; already is corruption of every 
 kind prevailing in high places and permeating all society; 
 already as a nation, we are departing from our God, and 
 corrupting ourselves with malfeasance, dishonor and a 
 lack of public integrity and good faith ; already are licen- 
 tiousness and debauchery corrupting, undermining and 
 destroying society ; already are we interfering with the 
 laws of nature and stopping the functions of life, and 
 have become the slayers of our own offspring, and 
 employ human butchers in the shape of physicians to 
 assist in this diabolical and murderous work. 
 
 "The sins of this nation, the licentiousness, the 
 debauchery, the murders are entering into the ears of 
 the Lord of Sabaoth, and I tell you now [addressing 
 himself to the nation], from the tops of these mountains, 
 as a humble servant of the living God, that unless these 
 crimes are stopped, this nation will be overthrown, and 
 its glory, power, dominion and wealth will fade away like 
 the dews of a summer morning. I also say to other 
 nations of the earth, that unless they repent of their 
 crimes, their iniquities and abominations, their thrones 
 
364 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 will be overturned, their kingdoms and governments 
 overthrown, and their lands made desolate. 
 
 "This is not only my saying, but it is the saying of 
 those ancient prophets which they themselves profess to 
 believe ; for God will speedily have a controversy with 
 the nations of the earth, and, as I stated before, the 
 destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way to overthrow 
 governments, to destroy dynasties, to lay waste thrones, 
 kingdoms and empires, to spread abroad anarchy and 
 desolation, and to cause war, famine and bloodshed to 
 overspread the earth." 
 
 Reverting again to the position to be assumed by 
 the Church in relation to the Edmund's law, he expressed 
 himself thus: 
 
 "We do not wish to place ourselves in a state of 
 antagonism, nor act defiantly towards this government. 
 We will fulfill the letter, so far as practicable, of that 
 unjust, inhuman, oppressive and unconstitutional law, 
 so far as we can without violating principle ; but we 
 cannot sacrifice every principle of human right at the 
 behest of corrupt, unreasoning and unprincipled men; we 
 cannot violate the highest and noblest principles of human 
 nature and make pariahs and outcasts of high-minded, 
 virtuous and honorable women, nor sacrifice at the 
 shrine of popular clamor the highest and noblest princi- 
 ples of humanity! 
 
 "We shall abide all constitutional law, as we always 
 have done ; but while we are God-fearing and law-abiding, 
 and respect all honorable men and officers, we are no 
 craven serfs, and have not learned to lick the feet of 
 oppressors, nor to bow in base submission to unreason- 
 ing clamor. We will contend inch by inch, legally and 
 constitutionally, for our rights as American citizens. 
 
 * We stand proudly erect in the con- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 365 
 
 sciousness of our rights as American citizens, and plant 
 ourselves firmly on the sacred guarantees of the Con- 
 stitution. We need have no fears, 
 no trembling in our knees about these attempts to 
 deprive us of our God-given and constitutional liberties. 
 God will take care of His people, if we will only do 
 right." 
 
 The speaker concluded as follows : 
 
 "Our trust is in God. You have heard me say 
 before, Hosanna, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ; 
 and if this congregation feels as I do, we will join 
 together in the same acclaim. Follow me. HOSANNA ! 
 HOSANNA! HOSANNA TO GOD AND THE LAMB, FOR- 
 EVER, AND EVER, WORLDS WITHOUT END. AMEN, AMEN, 
 
 AND AMEN!" 
 
 Thrice was the shout repeated, the vast con- 
 gregation of from eleven to thirteen thousand followed 
 President Taylor as with one voice. The grand words 
 of praise and triumph were not new to Israel. They 
 had shaken the walls of the Temple at Nauvoo during 
 the one day that it stood resplendent in all the glory 
 of the House of God though the Saints knew they 
 would be compelled to abandon it the next day to 
 their enemies. The same glorious shout in the midst of 
 toil and hardships had rolled through the woods border- 
 ing the streams of Iowa, and had broken the silence that 
 for ages brooded over the vast prairies of the west. 
 Indeed the shout was older than that, older than the 
 everlasting hills which now listened to it aye, older 
 than the earth itself! For was not this the shout which 
 shook the heavens before the foundations of the earth 
 were laid, when "the morning stars sang together and 
 all the sons of God shouted for joy?"* 
 
 * Job xxxviii. 
 
366 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 A celebrated press correspondent,* who was 
 present in the interest of the New York World, thus 
 describes the closing scenes of that conference: 
 
 " Acquainted though I am with displays of oriental 
 fanaticism and western revivalism, I set this Mormon 
 enthusiasm on one side, as being altogether of a different 
 character; for it not only astonishes by its fervor, but 
 commands respect by its sincere sobriety. The congre- 
 gation of the Saints assembled in the Tabernacle, 
 numbering, by my own careful computation, eleven 
 thousand odd, and composed in almost exactly equal 
 parts of the two sexes, reminded me of the Puritan 
 gatherings of the past as I had imagined them, and of 
 my personal experiences of the Transvaal Boers as I 
 knew them. There was no rant, no affectation, no 
 straining after theatrical effect. The very simplicity of 
 this great gathering of country-folk was striking in the 
 extreme, and significant from first to last of a power that 
 should hardly be trifled with by sentimental legislation. 
 * Nor could anything exceed the impres- 
 
 siveness of the response which the people gave 
 instantaneously to the appeal of their President for the 
 support of their voices. The great Tabernacle was 
 filled with waves of sound as the 'Amens' of the congre- 
 gation burst out. The shout of men going into battle 
 was not more stirring than the closing words of this 
 memorable conference, spoken as if by one vast voice." 
 
 * Mr. Phil Robinson who remained three months in Utah writing a series of letters 
 for the World. They are now published in book form under the title of "Sinners 
 and Saints." Mr. Robinson is one of the few writers who have endeavored to tell the 
 truth about the Mormoirs. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 367 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 WORK ON THE "MEDIATION AND ATONEMENT" ITS CHAR- 
 ACTER "THE AARONIC PRIESTHOOD" THE "STORM" 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE COMMISSION TEST OATH "IN THE 
 
 MARRIAGE RELATION" HOW IT WORKS FIRST CASE IN 
 
 THE CRUSADE PRESIDENT TAYLOR* S REFLECTIONS. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the cares, labors and anxiety 
 which his position as President of the Church thrust 
 upon him, in these eventful years of which we are now 
 writing, President Taylor still found time to write works 
 on the gospel. In the year 1882 he issued his work on 
 the Mediation and Atonement of our Lord and Savior 
 Jesus Christ. It is a book of some two hundred royal 
 octavo pages. 
 
 In the main, it is a collection of scriptural passages 
 bearing upon the subject, brought together from both 
 ancient and modern revelations, and arranged in such 
 manner as to develop the necessity, sufficiency, efficacy, 
 glory, power and completeness of the atonement made 
 by Messiah, for the sins of the world. It is not a work 
 ambitious of displaying literary skill, or written with a 
 view to meet the shallow and trifling objections urged 
 against this great, central fact of the gospel by glib- 
 tongued infidels and repeated without thought by their 
 apish followers. It was the object of the author to bring 
 together all the testimonies to be found in holy writ on 
 this subject, as well in modern as in ancient scripture ; 
 and most admirably did he succeed, linking the testi- 
 monies together with such remarks as make their mean- 
 ings and bearings clear, and increase the value of the 
 
368 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 original passages. The student of the great subject of 
 the atonement, will find in President Taylor's work a 
 most valuable collection of material for his consideration. 
 
 In chapter XXIII he will also find a most valuable 
 reference to the doctrine of evolution as believed in by 
 the Darwinian school of philosophers a school of 
 philosophy which professes to trace living phenomena to 
 their origin, and which, if it were true, would at once 
 destroy the doctrine of the Atonement. 
 
 In the appendix to the work, also will be found 
 some interesting information in relation to the ideas of a 
 general atonement and redemption entertained by the 
 ancient heathen nations, traces of which may still be 
 found in the traditions of their descendants. From these 
 facts some noted infidel writers have sought to make it 
 appear that the Christian doctrine of the atonement was 
 derived from the heathens ; but President Taylor clearly 
 proves that the heathens originally derived their knowl- 
 edge of these things from the earlier servants of God, 
 and have preserved those truths, though in a mutilated 
 form, in their traditions. "Exhibiting," as President 
 Taylor writes, "that the atonement was a great plan of 
 the Almighty for the salvation, redemption and exalta- 
 tion of the human family ; and that the pretenders in the 
 various ages, had drawn whatever of truth they pos- 
 sessed, from the knowledge of those principles taught 
 by the priesthood from the earliest periods of recorded 
 time; instead of Christianity being indebted, as some 
 late writers would allege, to the turbid system of heathen 
 mythology, and to pagan ceremonies." 
 
 About this time he also wrote a pamphlet of some 
 forty-five pages on the Aaronic Priesthood, chiefly relat- 
 ing to the authority and duties of Bishops. 
 
 The Mormon question having come once more 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 prominently before the country through the enactments 
 of Congress against it, the editor of the North Ameri- 
 can Review visited Utah for the express purpose of solic- 
 iting President Taylor to write an article on the then 
 present state of the Mormon question, which he did, 
 reviewing the operations of the recently passed 
 Edmunds law ; and in addition to that, refuted many of 
 the false, slanderous misrepresentations, both new and 
 old, respecting the Saints. 
 
 Meantime the storm which President Taylor had 
 predicted at the April conference in 1882, burst upon the 
 Saints in all its fury. The conspirators against the 
 Church of Christ, in the Edmunds enactment, had a law 
 under which they hoped to be able to destroy its power. 
 
 The first act of the Commission appointed by that 
 law, was to frame a test oath which they required every 
 person to take before he was permitted to register or 
 vote. This practically disfranchised a whole Territory at 
 one fell swoop ; and in order to be reinstated as a voter, 
 every man had to take the oath, which required him to 
 swear that he had never simultaneously lived with more 
 than one woman "in the marriage relation;" or if a 
 woman, that she was not the wife of a polygamist, nor 
 had she entered into any relation with any man in viola- 
 tion of the laws of the United States concerning polyg- 
 amy and bigamy. 
 
 By this arrangement it will be seen that those who 
 cohabited with more than one woman in adultery or 
 prostitution, were not affected by its provisions. The 
 roue, the libertine, the strumpet, the brothel-keeper, the 
 adulterer and adulteress could vote. No matter how 
 licentious a man or a woman might be, all but the Mor- 
 mons were screened and protected in the exercise of the 
 franchise by the ingenious insertion of the clause, " in 
 
37 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the marriage relation/' a clause which nowhere appears 
 in the Edmunds law. Such broad constructionists 
 were the Commission, that they declared no man or 
 woman who had ever been a member of a family prac- 
 ticing plural marriage, should be permitted to register or 
 vote, no matter what their present status might be. As 
 a case in point, President Taylor himself relates the fol- 
 lowing incidents connected with the operations of this 
 law. They are from the article above referred to in the 
 North American Review: 
 
 " A former mayor of Salt Lake City, Mr. Feramorz 
 Little, a very honorable gentleman and highly respected, 
 came to this Territory many years ago, before there was 
 any law of Congress against plural marriage, and 
 espoused two wives.. Subsequently, one of these wives 
 died, then the other, and at the time that this incident 
 occurred he had been for years without a wife. He had 
 a son who was appointed registrar for a certain district 
 in this city, and this son had the mortification of being 
 compelled, under the ruling of the Commission, to re- 
 fuse his father permission to register, and consequently 
 deprived him of the right to vote a privilege which he 
 had a perfect right to exercise, both because of the 
 provision in the Constitution that no ex post facto law 
 shall be made, and again by reason of the statute of 
 limitations, which bars all action in any such cases after 
 the expiration of three years. Soon after the refusal of 
 the registrar to place his father's name on the registra- 
 tion list, a well known keeper of a bagnio and her 
 associates presented themselves, and the son had the 
 humiliation of having to permit them to register. These 
 courtesans afterward voted. 
 
 " Another case: A man came to the place of regis- 
 tration, and remarked to the officer that he supposed he 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 37! 
 
 could not register, as he had a wife and also kept a mis- 
 tress. This man might be considered a very straight- 
 forward fellow to make so ready an acknowledgment, 
 but I fail to see anything straight-forward in such a 
 crooked transaction as the breaking of the marriage 
 vows and marital infidelity. But the officer knew 
 what was in the oath better than this man, and advised 
 him to read it. He did so. When he came to the 
 words, 'in the marriage relation,' he immediately said, 
 1 Yes, I see. I can go that,' and was at once sworn and 
 registered." 
 
 Having begun the application of the law so as to 
 effect the franchise of the party in the majority, the 
 next move of the conspirators was to begin action 
 judicially. 
 
 The first case prosecuted under the new regime was 
 that of Rudger Clawson, a young man highly respected 
 in the community. His case marks the inauguration of 
 as cruel and unjustifiable a judicial crusade as was ever 
 perpetrated against a free people in a professedly free 
 government. He was arraigned both for polygamy and 
 unlawful cohabitation, found guilty and sentenced on the 
 3rd of November, 1884. His sentence on both charges 
 covered a period of four years imprisonment, and eight 
 hundred dollars in fines. 
 
 President Taylor was subpoenaed as a witness in his 
 case, but the testimony he gave was not material. 
 Indeed the prosecution seemed more anxious to involve 
 him in a conflict with the court than to elicit any fact he 
 might know in relation to this particular case. His 
 description of the scene in court during this trial, the char- 
 acter of the man being tried, and that of the men trying 
 him, with a review of their methods and the principles 
 involved in the controversy, together with the picture he 
 
37 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 draws of the present state of society as he * described 
 them off hand in a discourse delivered in Ogden, a few 
 days after the trial, is too important to be omitted; 
 and it demonstrates that the fire of President Taylor's 
 eloquence could still burn brightly on occasion, until it 
 scorched and burned an opponent, and vindicated the 
 right. He said: 
 
 "While I was in court a few days ago, and gazing 
 upon the assembly of judges, lawyers, marshals, [wit- 
 nesses, spectators, etc., many reflections of a very 
 peculiar character passed through my mind, some of 
 which I will here rehearse : 
 
 "I could not help thinking as I looked upon the 
 scene, that there was no necessity for all this ; these 
 parties [Rudger Clawson and his plural wife] need not 
 have placed themselves in this peculiar dilemma. Here 
 was a young man blessed with more than ordinary intel- 
 ligence, bearing amongst all who know him a most 
 enviable reputation for virtue, honesty, sobriety and all 
 other desirable characteristics that we are in the habit of 
 supposing go to make a man respected and beloved, the 
 civilized world over. He had been trained from early 
 childhood in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, had 
 been an attendant at Sabbath school and Young Men's 
 Improvement Societies, where his course was of the 
 most pleasing kind; more than this, some years ago 
 when quite a youth, he had shown his devotion to the 
 faith in which he had been reared, by going forth with- 
 out purse or scrip to preach in the midst of the unbe- 
 lieving the doctrines of a most unpopular faith. And as 
 I reached this point in my reflections, my mind instinc- 
 tively wanders to a monument I gazed at in Salt Lake 
 City cemetery but a few days ago. That monument 
 records in fitting words of respect and admiration the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 373 
 
 devotion of two young missionaries in a far-off southern 
 state, one of whom had fallen a victim to mob violence, 
 had sealed with his blood the testimony which he bore, 
 the other had stood by him in his hour of sore need, 
 and rescued his mangled body and brought it safely for 
 thousands of miles to the home of his bereaved parents 
 and sorrowing co-religionists. 
 
 "This heroic young man is the one now arraigned 
 before the courts of his country, for an alleged offense 
 against the morality of the age ! Assuming that the 
 reports pertaining to him should prove to be correct, 
 and he really has a plural wife, what then would be the 
 position? He from his earliest recollection, had been 
 taught to reverence the Bible as the word of God, to 
 revere the lives and examples of the ancient worthies 
 whom Jehovah honored by making them His confidents, 
 and revealing unto them the secrets of his divine pur- 
 poses ; he had read of one who was called 'the friend of 
 God and the father of the faithful ; ' of another who was 
 said -to be a 'man after God's own heart;' of a third who 
 in all things is said to have done the will of heaven, and 
 so on until they could be numbered by the score ; yet all 
 these men, the friends, associates and confidents of the 
 great Creator of heaven and earth, were men with more 
 than one wife, some with many wives, yet they still pos- 
 sessed and rejoiced in the love and honor of the great 
 judge of all the world, whose judgments are just, and 
 whose words are all righteousness. This young man is 
 charged with following these worthy examples ; it is 
 asserted that he has taken to wife a beautiful and virtu- 
 ous young lady, belonging, like himself, to one of our 
 most respected families, and who also believes in the 
 Bible, and in the example set her by those holy women 
 of old, such as Rachel, Ruth, Hannah, and others, who 
 
374 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 honored God's law, and became the mothers of 
 prophets, priests and kings. 
 
 "And as my cogitations ran, I thought what need 
 had these two to follow such examples of a by-gone age; 
 why not walk in the way of the world today, unite with our 
 modern Christian civilization, and if passion guide their 
 actions why call each other husband and wife, why 
 hallow their associations by any sacred ceremony was 
 there any need of such? Why not do as tens of 
 thousands of others do, live in the condition of illicit 
 love? And then if any child should be feared from this 
 unsanctified union, why not still follow our Christian 
 exemplars, remove the foetal incumbrance, call in some 
 copyist of Madame Restell, the abortionist, male or 
 female that polute our land? That would have been, 
 sub-rosa, genteel, fashionable, respectable, Christian-like, 
 as Christianity goes in this generation. 
 
 "If this did not succeed, the young man might have 
 turned his victim into the street to perish, or die of pollu- 
 tion as is done in tens of thousands of instances, in the 
 most sanctified manner by the hypocrites of the day. 
 Then in either of these cases, the young gentleman could 
 have been received into good society, be petted and 
 applauded ; could hold a position under our government, 
 be even a deputy marshal, registrar or what not, and 
 still further, be able to answer all necessary questions; 
 and be admitted as a grand juror without being brought 
 in as a gutter snipe on an open venire, but as a respect- 
 able citizen on the regular panel. 
 
 "Or, again, these two, in the event of a child being 
 born, might consign it to the care of some degraded 
 hag, some 'baby farmer,' where gradually and quietly 
 its innocent life would ebb out, and bye and bye 
 the grief-stricken parents would receive the anticipated 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 375 
 
 notice that their dear little offspring, notwithstanding 
 every care, was dead and buried ! This is a respectable 
 crime, a crime committed principally by those who go to 
 high-toned churches and fashionable meeting houses in 
 velvets and feathers, in silks and satins, and who with 
 upturned eyes and hypocritical voices, insult the majesty 
 of heaven by drawling out, 'Lord have mercy upon us, 
 miserable sinners ! ' Yet they are murderers murderers 
 of the worst kind, the shedders of innocent blood, con- 
 sumers of their own flesh, whom the vengeance of God 
 awaits ! 
 
 "This young man and woman could have done all 
 this and no marshals with ready feet would have dogged 
 their steps, no packed grand juries with unanimous 
 alacrity would do the bidding of over-zealous prosecuting 
 attorneys ; no federal judge would overturn precedent, 
 ignore law, disregard justice on purpose to convict. 
 No, they might have been the friends, associates, com- 
 panions of judge and prosecutor, governor and com- 
 missioner ; but now, as they would neither associate 
 unrighteously, nor take means to destroy the results of 
 their union, but honestly and virtuously live, as is 
 claimed, as husband and wife, he stands in the felon's 
 dock, charged with an offense against the dignity of the 
 United States, and to convict him, oppressive laws, more 
 oppressively administered are brought to bear with all 
 the ingenuity that malice can devise and hatred adopt. 
 
 "And there, in this ignominious position, he stands 
 with every person who might possibly be his friend, 
 excluded from the jury, without the possibility of a fair 
 trial by his peers, not one of the panel being in the least 
 sympathy with himself; by such people this unfortunate 
 young gentleman has to be tried, judged, prosecuted, 
 proscribed and condemned because of his firm and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 unswerving faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and 
 Jacob; of David, Solomon, and numerous other God- 
 fearing and honorable men, who, like him, have despised 
 the cant and hypocrisy of an ungodly world, and dared 
 to obey the behests of Jehovah. 
 
 "Of these things he had learned from the Bible, in 
 the Sunday School ; no wonder then that our would-be 
 reformers are so anxious to exclude the Bible from our 
 district schools, as its teachings and examples so emphat- 
 ically condemn the theories on which the acts and legis- 
 lation of Congress are based, as well as the course pur- 
 sued by those who seek to aid in the regeneration of 
 Utah, by adding to or taking from the law as is best suited 
 to shield their own corrupt practices ; or, on the other 
 hand, by extra judicial proceedings, under cover of law, 
 they pervert, to prosecute and persecute the Mormons. 
 
 " Where was this scene enacted? In the 
 gorgeous palaces of Belshazzar, surrounded by his 
 wives, concubines, and nobles, and where was seen 
 written on the walls ' Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin ? ' 
 No. Was it at the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 
 rah, when ten righteous persons could not be found to 
 avert the wrath of an offended God, or in Pompeii or 
 Herculaneum, which, in their turn, for their libidinous 
 and unrighteous practices, as Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 suffered the vengeance of eternal fire? No. Was it at 
 the Saturnalia of the Bacchanals of ancient Greece and 
 Rome? No. Those nations have long been overthrown 
 and are now only known to a few readers of ancient 
 history. Was it during the reign of the first French 
 Republic, when they elevated a prostitute as the goddess 
 of reason ? No. Was it in the days of the inquisition, 
 when the rack, the gibbet, the faggot and the flames 
 were brought into requisition to force unwilling victims 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 377 
 
 to testify of things which their conscience forbade, and 
 who perished by thousands for daring to think, and act, 
 and believe in and worship God according to their own 
 consciences? No. Was it under the influence of 
 Bacchus, or in the midnight revelings as exhibited in 
 Rome under Nero? No; this scene was enacted in 
 mid-day, in the nineteenth century, in the year of our 
 Lord, 1884, in the Federal court house, in Salt Lake 
 City, at a court presided over by Judge Charles S. Zane, 
 Chief Justice for the United States in the Territory of 
 Utah, assisted by Prosecuting Attorney William H. 
 Dickson, and the other adjuncts of the law, and in the 
 presence of several hundred American citizens!" 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THE STORM BURSTS UPON THE PEOPLE THE MORALITY 
 
 PLEA WHO THE CRIMINALS ARE TESTIMONY OF 
 
 STATISTICS A VISIT TO ARIZONA AND MEXICO AS- 
 SAULT UPON THE PEOPLE IN ARIZONA AN AMERICAN 
 
 SIBERIA SEEKING A PLACE OF REFUGE IN SAN 
 
 FRANCISCO THREATENED WITH ARREST RETURN TO 
 
 UTAH LAST SERMON WARNING AND PROPHECY. 
 
 THE " storm" increased in violence. Special 
 appropriations were made in Washington to aid in the 
 enforcement of the infamous Edmunds law. With those 
 funds deputy marshals were multiplied, some of them 
 being men of notoriously immoral lives. They usually 
 went in squads, pouncing first upon one village and then 
 another, raiding the homes of the most respected and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 honorable men in the community, who were suspected 
 of living with their plural wives with women they had 
 honored with the name of wife in some instances for 
 more than a quarter of a century, by whom they had 
 reared large and respectable families : and because they 
 would not abandon them thrust them away like unclean, 
 nameless things this pack of human hounds were 
 turned loose upon them, to dog their footsteps, to invade 
 their homes and insult their families. 
 
 Spotters and spies were employed to betray their 
 neighbors; children were hailed upon the streets and 
 questioned about the affairs of their parents ; wives 
 lawful wives were dragged into the courts and com- 
 pelled to testify against their husbands ; shamefully 
 indecent questions were put to modest maidens in jury 
 rooms and in open court; juries were packed to convict; a 
 Mormon accused of violation of the anti-polygamy laws 
 stood before a jury of his avowed political and religious 
 enemies ; suspicion was equivalent to accusation ; 
 accusation to indictment ; indictment to conviction ; and 
 conviction met almost invariably with the full penalty of 
 the law, unless the victim was so recreant to every sense 
 of honor as to push from him the women he had taken 
 as wives for time and all eternity ! 
 
 In the midst of this judicial " storm" which broke 
 upon the Church in Utah and the surrounding territories, 
 President Taylor moved calmly on, discharging his 
 duties, counseling, encouraging and strengthening the 
 people. At the same time he did not fail to rebuke and 
 proclaim the hypocrisy of the men who were the prime 
 movers in this unholy crusade, carried on, professedly, 
 in the interests of morality. For this purpose he 
 published the criminal statistics of Utah for the year 
 1883, by which he demonstrated that while the Gentile 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 379 
 
 population was greatly in the minority, they furnished 
 the overwhelming majority of criminals. Following are 
 his statements : 
 
 ''The population of Utah may be estimated at one 
 hundred and sixty thousand in 1883. 
 
 "Of these say one hundred and thirty thousand are 
 Mormons, and thirty thousand are Gentiles a very 
 liberal estimate of the latter. 
 
 "In this year there were forty-six persons sent to 
 the penitentiary convicted of crime. Of these thirty- 
 three were non-Mormons, and thirteen reputed 
 Mormons. 
 
 " At the above estimate of population the ratio or 
 percentage would be one prisoner for every ten thousand 
 Mormons, or one hundredth of one per cent., and of the 
 Gentiles one convict in every nine hundred and nine, 
 or about one ninth of one per cent. So that the actual 
 proportion of criminals is more than ten times greater 
 among the Gentiles of Utah, with the above very liberal 
 estimate, than among the Mormons. 
 
 "It is urged that these non-Mormon prisoners are 
 not a fair representation of the average of crime 
 throughout the country, but are the result of the flow of 
 the desperate classes westward to the borders of civil- 
 ization ; with greater truth we reply that the Mormon 
 prisoners are not representatives of Mormonism, nor 
 the results of Mormonism, but of the consequences of a 
 departure from Mormon principles ; and of the thirteen 
 prisoners classed as Mormons, the greater portion were 
 only so by family connection or association. 
 
 "ARRESTS IN SALT LAKE CITY IN 1883: 
 
 Mormons 150 
 
 Non-Mormons 1 '559 
 
 or more than ten times the number of Mormon arrests. 
 
LTFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 "Again it is estimated that there are six thousand 
 non-Mormons and nineteen thousand Mormons in Salt 
 Lake City, which shows of Mormons one arrest in one 
 hundred and twenty-six and two-thirds. 
 
 "Non-Mormons, one arrest in a fraction less than 
 four, or rather more than twenty-five per cent. 
 
 "If we were not on the defensive in this case," 
 observed President Taylor, when presenting the above 
 facts, "I would say nothing about these things; but it 
 ill-becomes men who have ten criminals to our one, to 
 come here as our reformers, and try to disfranchise men 
 who are ten times as good as they are. These are facts 
 that are not of my own getting up. They come from 
 the public records and can be verified by the prison and 
 other statistics." 
 
 In order to still further explode the defense made 
 by those whom these facts placed in so unenviable a 
 position, viz: that the scum of society from the eastern 
 states had floated out here to the west, and consequently 
 the Gentile population in Utah was not representative 
 of Gentile communities elsewhere, he collected a number 
 of statements from the sermons and writings of leading 
 ministers and writers from varions parts of the Union, 
 on the subject of infanticide, fceticide and kindred 
 crimes, that told a sad tale of sexual immorality, which 
 every year, according to the authors he quoted, was 
 growing worse and worse something too much of this : 
 
 Handle it carefully, 
 Deal with it gently, 
 Speak of it tenderly, 
 Poor justice is blind ! 
 
 The Stakes of Zion located in Arizona suffered quite 
 as much from this judicial crusade as those living in 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 381 
 
 Utah, and they were further away from the chief pastors 
 of the flock, and hence greater perplexity and excite- 
 ment. On learning of this, President Taylor determined 
 to visit them, learn the true situation of their affairs and 
 counsel them as the Lord should give him wisdom. 
 
 Accordingly a party of brethren was made up 
 including his second counselor, Joseph F. Smith, and 
 also Apostles Moses Thatcher and Francis M. Lyman, 
 Bishop John Sharp and others. They were joined 
 in the south also by Apostle Erastus Snow. 
 
 The party left Salt Lake City on the 3rd of January, 
 1885, by tne Union Pacific Railway to Denver, thence to 
 Albuquerque, in New Mexico, thence to the settle- 
 ments of the Saints in Apache County, Arizona, in the 
 vicinity of Winslow. 
 
 President Taylor went to St. David, in the ex- 
 treme south-east corner of Arizona, near Benson, 
 where he met with the Presidents of the four Stakes in 
 that Territory; Jesse N. Smith, Christopher Layton, 
 Alexander F. McDonald and Lot Smith. He found the 
 Saints in a lamentable condition. They had been set 
 upon in the most ruthless manner by their enemies. 
 Nearly all the forms of law had been abandoned in 
 dealing with them, and outrages had been heaped upon 
 them, under the pretext of executing the law, that were 
 well nigh unendurable. Those who had been convicted 
 and sentenced had been shipped off to Detroit, a distance 
 of two thousand miles, notwithstanding there was a good 
 available prison at Yuma, within the Territory. 
 
 Under these circumstances President Taylor 
 thought it better for the brethren to evade the law ; and 
 in order that those who were being hunted might find a 
 temporary place of refuge, he sent two parties down into 
 
382 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Mexico to find suitable place for the settlement of those 
 who had to flee from this unhallowed persecution. 
 
 During the absence of these parties, he visited with 
 a portion of his party Guaymas, on the Gulf of Cali- 
 fornia, in the state of Sonora, Mexico. On the return 
 trip he stopped off at Hermosillo, the capital of the state 
 of Sonora, where he and his party were received at the 
 residence of Governor Torres, with distinguished 
 consideration. 
 
 Returning to Benson he met with the brethren sent 
 in search of a place of refuge, and decided in his 
 capacity as Trustee-in-Trust of the Church to assist in 
 purchasing a place which had been selected by Christo- 
 pher Layton, just over the line in the state of Sonora. 
 
 After giving general directions to guide the Presi- 
 dents of the Stakes in Arizona as to their future policy 
 and movements, President Taylor and party visited the 
 settlements of the Saints in Maricopa County, on Salt 
 River; and from thence via Los Angeles went to San 
 Francisco. Here he spent a day or two visiting points of 
 interest. Among other features of his visit was a call 
 at the famous library of the veteran historian, Hurbert 
 H. Bancroft. 
 
 While in San Francisco he received despatches to 
 the effect that it would not be safe for him to return 
 home, as his arrest had been determined upon. Not- 
 withstanding this information he immediately started for 
 Salt Lake City, where he arrived on Tuesday, January 
 27th, 1885, having traveled nearly five thousand miles 
 since the 3rd of the same month. 
 
 The Sunday following, February ist, he preached 
 his last public sermon. In it he related the principal 
 incidents of his late mission into Arizona, described the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 383 
 
 wrongs inflicted upon the people there, and told the 
 counsel he had given them. 
 
 As the vindictiveness of the courts had increased 
 during his absence, he gave the same advice to the peo- 
 ple of Utah. 
 
 He deplored the condition of things in the Territory, 
 not so much on account of the Latter-day Saints, as on 
 the account of the great government of the United States, 
 which had stooped from the proud position it had hitherto 
 boasted as the asylum for the oppressed of all nations, to 
 that of a persecutor of a righteous people for their 
 religion, until they had to find an asylum in an adjoin- 
 ing republic ! Referring to the outrages perpetrated both 
 in Arizona and in Utah, he asks : 
 
 " What would you do? Would you resent these 
 outrages and break the heads of the men engaged in 
 them, and spill their blood? No;" said he, "avoid them 
 as much as you possibly can just as you would wolves, 
 or hyenas, or crocodiles, or snakes, or any of these 
 beasts or reptiles. Get out of their 
 
 way as much as you can. What! Won't you submit to 
 the dignity of the law? Well, I would if the law would 
 only be a little more dignified. But when we see the 
 dignity of the ermine bedragged in the mud and mire, 
 and every principle of justice violated, it behooves men 
 to take care of themselves as best they can. * * * 
 But no breaking of heads, no bloodshed, rendering evil 
 for evil. Let us try to cultivate the spirit of the gospel, 
 and adhere to the principles of truth. 
 While other men are seeking to trample the Constitution 
 under foot, we will try to maintain it. 
 I will tell you what you will see by and by. You will 
 see trouble! trouble! TROUBLE enough in these United 
 States. And as I have said before, I say today / tell 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 you in the name of God, WOE ! to them that fight against 
 Zion, for God will fight against them ! " 
 
 Such was his last admonition, his last warning, his 
 last prophecy delivered in person in public to the people 
 of God, to the nation in which he had labored as a faith- 
 ful servant of God, with such untiring zeal, wisdom and 
 skill for half a century. 
 
 That night he went into retirement, to escape the 
 ruthless persecution aimed at him by the unrelenting and 
 hate-blinded enemies of the Church of Christ. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 PRESIDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES GENERAL EPISTLE AN 
 
 INFAMOUS CRUSADE HOMES INVADED JUDICIAL LEG- 
 ISLATION COHABITATION PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S DE- 
 PORTMENT. 
 
 FROM his places of retirement among the Saints, 
 President Taylor continued to preside over the Church, 
 and under God to shape its policy and direct its move- 
 ments. Prevented by the mistaken zeal of the United 
 States officials and the vigilance of their myrmidons 
 the spotters and spies from attending the public meet- 
 ings and conferences of the Church, he, with his coun- 
 selors, addressed general epistles to the Saints in which 
 they imparted such counsel and instruction as they con- 
 sidered necessary and suited to the conditions by which 
 they were environed. 
 
 These papers are remarkable for their conservative 
 tone and wisdom ; for the total absence of anger or vin- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 385 
 
 dictiveness, as also for the scope and variety of the 
 subjects they treated upon. They compare favorably 
 with the wisest and best state papers ever issued by 
 kings or presidents, ministers of state or cabinet councils. 
 The flock of Christ, therefore, was not left without the 
 counsel of heaven or the care of the shepherds. 
 
 Still those were dark days. The seats reserved 
 and usually occupied by the leaders of Israel in the 
 public assemblies were either vacant or filled by com- 
 parative strangers. The recent enactments of Congress 
 infamous in themselves, were still more infamously 
 enforced. The courts and United States officials in 
 Utah seemed utterly reckless in their methods of exe- 
 cuting the law. Men who at the most were guilty of what 
 the law defined to be a misdemeanor, punishable by six 
 months imprisonment and three hundred dollars fine, 
 were hunted as if they were guilty of the grossest 
 crimes which could endanger the peace and safety of the 
 community. 
 
 frequently, and I may say usually, deputy marshals 
 in the night would surround the houses suspected as 
 being the places where their victims were to be found, 
 and then in the morning, before the inmates were astir, 
 would pounce upon them in the most unceremonious and 
 brutal manner. No place was so sacred in the homes 
 of the people but these minions under the color of law 
 would force their way into it. Even the bed chambers 
 of modest maidenhood were rudely entered before the 
 occupants could dress, and in some instances the cover- 
 ing of their beds stripped from them in the pretended 
 search for violators of the law ; and they the while com- 
 pelled to listen to their low blasphemies. 
 
 In proof of these allegations, which may seem too 
 hard for belief as time with its ever-moving wheels 
 
 IT, 
 
386 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 carries us away from the years in which these acts of 
 petty tyranny were perpetrated, I insert a few statements 
 of parties who suffered them. These statements are to 
 be found in a memorial addressed to Congress by the 
 women of Utah, presented in the Senate on the 6th of 
 April, 1886, by Senator Blair of New Hampshire, and 
 ordered printed by that body : 
 
 "On January nth, 1886, early in the morning, five 
 deputy marshals appeared at the residence of William 
 Grant, American Fork, forced the front door open, and, 
 while the inmates were still in bed, made their way up 
 stairs to their sleeping apartments. There they were 
 met by one of the daughters of William Grant, who 
 was aroused by the intrusion and, despite her protesta- 
 tions, without giving time for the object of their search 
 to get up and dress himself, made their way into his 
 bedroom, finding him still in bed and his wife en desha- 
 bille in the act of dressing herself." 
 
 Mrs. Easton, of Greenville, near Beaver, relates the 
 following : 
 
 " About seven a. m. deputies came to our house 
 and demanded admittance. I asked them to wait until 
 we got dressed, and we would let them in. Deputy 
 Gleason said he would not wait, and raised the window 
 and got partly through by the time we opened the door, 
 when he drew himself back and came in through the 
 door. He then went into the bedroom; one of the 
 young ladies had got under the bed, from which Gleason 
 pulled the bedding and ordered the young lady to 
 come out. This she did, and ran into the other room, 
 where she was met by Thompson. I asked Gleason 
 why he pulled the bedding from the bed, and he 
 answered, * By God ! I found Watson in the same kind 
 of a place.' He then said he thought Easton was con 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 387 
 
 cealed in a small compass, and that he expected to find 
 him in a similar place, and was going to get him before 
 he left." 
 
 Miss Morris, of the same place, says : 
 
 " Deputy Gleason came to my bed and pulled the 
 clothing off me, asking if there was any one in bed with 
 me. He then went to the fireplace and pulled a sack of 
 straw from there and looked up the chimney. One of 
 them next pulled up a piece of carpet, when Gleason 
 asked Thompson if there was anyone under there. 
 
 Thompson said 'No/ and Gleason exclaimed, 'G d 
 
 d it, we will look, any way/ They also looked in 
 
 cupboards, boxes, trunks, etc., and a small tea chest, but 
 threw nothing out." 
 
 Deputy Thompson, referred to in the above, is the 
 man who, a few months afterwards, December i6th, 
 1886, killed Edward M. Dalton at Parowan by shooting 
 him down in the street under the plea that Dalton was 
 trying to escape arrest for unlawful cohabitation. The 
 testimony of eye witnesses to the whole transaction, 
 however, does not bear out the claims of the man upon 
 whose hands will be found innocent blood when he shall 
 stand before that tribunal where there is no shuffling 
 where the action will be seen in its true light where 
 the guilty man himself, even in the teeth and forehead 
 of his offending, must give in the evidence. 
 
 The following which occurred in Idaho is also from 
 the aforesaid Memorial : 
 
 "February 23rd, 1886, at about eleven o'clock at 
 night, two deputy marshals visited the house of Solomon 
 Edwards, about seven miles from Eagle Rock, Idaho, 
 and arrested Mrs. Edwards, his legal wife, after she had 
 retired to bed, and required her to accompany them 
 immediately to Eagle Rock. Knowing something of the 
 
388 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 character of one of the deputies, from his having visited 
 the house before, when he indulged in a great deal of 
 drinking, profanity, and abuse, she feared to accompany 
 them without some protection, and requested a neighbor 
 to go along on horseback while she rode in the buggy 
 with the two deputies. On the way the buggy broke 
 down and she, with an infant in her arms, was compelled 
 to walk the rest of the distance between two and three 
 miles. They could have no reason for subpoenaing her 
 in the night, and compelling her to accompany them at 
 such an untimely hour, except a fiendish malice or a 
 determination to heap all the indignities possible upon 
 her, because she was a Mormon woman, for she never 
 attempted to evade the serving of the warrant, and was 
 perfectly willing to report herself at Eagle Rock the 
 next day. She was taken to Salt Lake City to testify 
 against her husband." 
 
 After reading such atrocities such unjustifiable 
 invasions of the homes of the people one instinctively 
 asks himself if in the great republic the wheels of civil 
 liberty have not been turning backward instead of for- 
 ward. More than a century before these things trans- 
 pired, the eloquent Lord Chatham announced the great 
 doctrine for all England and her colonies, including those 
 in America, that a man's house was his castle ; that 
 though it might be so poor that the rains of heaven 
 could penetrate it, and the winds whistle through its 
 crevices, yet the king of England could not cross its 
 threshold without its owner's permission. 
 
 Not satisfied with the penalties affixed to the laws 
 against unlawful cohabitation, the Utah courts deter- 
 mined to increase them by means little short of legislation 
 itself. The trick resorted to was to decree that the time 
 a man had cohabited with more women than one as 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 389 
 
 wives, could be divided up into years, months or weeks, 
 and separate bills of indictment be found for each frag- 
 ment of time. So ruled the Chief Justice, Charles S. 
 Zane. Judge Orlando W. Powers of the First Judicial 
 District, carried the infamous doctrine still further, 
 and in charging a grand jury, on the 23rd of September, 
 1885, said: "An indictment may be found against a 
 man guilty of unlawful cohabitation, for every day, or 
 other distinct interval of time, during which he offends. 
 Each day that a man cohabits with more than one 
 woman, as I have defined the word cohabit, is a distinct 
 and separate violation of the law, and he is liable for 
 punishment for each separate offense." 
 
 His definition of cohabitation was as follows : 
 
 "The offense of cohabitation is complete when a 
 man, to all outward appearances, is living or associating 
 with more than one woman as his wife. To constitute 
 the offense it is not necessary that it be shown that the 
 parties indulge in sexual intercourse. The intention of 
 the law-making power, in enacting the law, was to pro- 
 tect monogamous marriage by prohibiting all other mar- 
 riage, whether evidenced by a ceremony, or by conduct 
 and circumstances alone." 
 
 So held all the courts, and under that ruling such 
 infamies as the following were possible : 
 
 "In the case of Solomon Edwards recently accused 
 of this offense unlawful cohabitation it was proved by 
 the evidence for the prosecution that the defendant had 
 lived with one wife only since the passage of the 
 Edmunds act, but after having separated from his former 
 plural wife, he called with his legal wife at the former's 
 residence to obtain a child, an agreement having been 
 made that each party should have one of the two chil- 
 dren, and the court ruled that this was unlawful cohabi- 
 
390 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 tation in the meaning of the law, and defendant was 
 convicted."* 
 
 It is but proper to say that the Supreme Court of 
 the United States, on an appeal being taken to it, de- 
 cided against this infamous doctrine. But it held sway 
 for a time and exhibited the venomous disposition of 
 those entrusted with the execution of the laws in Utah. 
 
 In this crusade every effort was made to find Presi- 
 dent Taylor. His own houses, the Church offices, and 
 the Gardo House, were well-nigh always under the sur- 
 veillance of spies or deputy marshals, and the latter 
 places were several times searched, but always in vain. 
 That the place of his concealment was not discovered is 
 little short of the miraculous, since the business to which 
 he continued to give his personal attention was consid- 
 erable, and required frequent communication with agents 
 who were at liberty to act. He owed his safety, how- 
 ever, more to the promptings of the Holy Spirit than to 
 the cunning of man. More than once, in obedience to 
 its whisperings, and when to all outward appearances 
 there was no danger to be feared, he would leave his 
 place of temporary abode. By frequently changing his 
 place of concealment, while running considerable risk of 
 discovery in moving, he kept his enemies mystified as to 
 his whereabouts. 
 
 Though driven into retirement by a malicious and 
 perverted administration of the Edmunds law, he never 
 allowed it to embitter his thoughts or disturb the calm- 
 ness and patience of his disposition. No, not even so 
 much as to lead him to speak evil of those who perse- 
 cuted him. "God forgive them," he would say, "they 
 know not what they do." "I pity them, with all my 
 
 * Women's Memorial to Congress. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 39 1 
 
 heart." The following letter addressed to his family 
 that had convened to celebrate the anniversary of his 
 birth a custom with them for years is the very best 
 evidence both as to his sentiments toward his enemies 
 and the grandeur of his soul. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS FAMILY. 
 
 ' ' To my wives, my children, relatives and friends, who may 
 have assembled at the Gar do House, to celebrate the 
 return of my birthday, Novenber ist, 1886 : 
 
 " As I am prevented from being with you on the 
 present occasion, I desire to send to you my benediction 
 and blessing ; and to say unto you : May grace, mercy 
 and peace be extended to you from God our Eternal 
 Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our 
 Savior, Redeemer and Friend. 
 
 "I need not say unto you, that it would have 
 afforded me very great pleasure to have been with you 
 on the present occasion, and to have saluted you 
 personally, as I know it would have been very gratify- 
 ing unto you. But, through the dispensation of an 
 All-wise Providence, things are not in a position that we 
 would desire to have them ; they are in accordance, 
 however, with the design of our Heavenly Father, who 
 ordains all things in harmony with the dispensation of 
 His providence towards the children of men. 
 
 "Some people suppose that persecutions and trials 
 
39 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 are afflictions ; but sometimes, and generally, if we are 
 doing the will of the Lord and keeping His command- 
 ments, they may be truly said to be blessings in 
 disguise. When our great Redeemer was on earth, He 
 said to His disciples : ' Blessed are ye when men shall 
 revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner 
 of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be 
 exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for 
 so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.' 
 " Although for the time being, these things may be 
 painful, yet if properly comprehended and realized, we 
 should look at them in another view, and feel as Paul 
 said to the saints in his day : * For our light affliction, 
 which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more 
 exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; while we look 
 not at the things which are seen, but at the things which 
 are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, 
 but the things which are not seen are eternal,' and will 
 lead us to reflect in most instances even as John Wesley 
 sang: 
 
 " 'Shall I be carried to the skies, 
 On flowery beds of ease; 
 While others fought to win the prize, 
 And sailed through bloody seas! 
 
 " 'No; I must fight, if I would reign, 
 Increase my courage, Lord; 
 I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, 
 Supported by thy word.' 
 
 "The foregoing are my sentiments, which I express 
 from the bottom of my heart ; and I would state further, 
 that if we expect to be united with the hundred and 
 forty-four thousand of which John speaks; who are 
 clothed in white raiment, and who were gathered 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 393 
 
 together from every nation, kindred, people and tongue, 
 and who had washed their robes and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb (therefore were they next the 
 throne and serve their Maker day and night); we must 
 pass through the same ordeal they did. 
 
 "These people who were so honored of God, and of 
 the Redeemer, and the heavenly hosts, were those who 
 had come up through much tribulation; and we are 
 further told in late revelations which God has given us 
 through the Prophet Joseph, that 'After much tribulation 
 cometh the blessing.' 
 
 "I was very sorry to learn, in the midst of other 
 things, of the sickness of my wives Jane and Sophia, 
 and my heart has gone out in prayer for them, accom- 
 panied by my brethren, that they may be healed, and I 
 am pleased to learn that there is some slight improve- 
 ment in the health of Aunt Jane, and also that there are 
 some reasonable hopes of the removal of the terrible 
 affliction that has overtaken Aunt Sophia. I would here 
 remark that in speaking of these strokes, I have been 
 making careful inquiry about them since her sad 
 affliction, and learned that it is no uncommon thing for 
 people to be healed of this kind of disease. A lady of 
 about her age that I conversed with quite recently, said 
 she had had two strokes of that kind, and she is now 
 quite well, hale and hearty. I mention these things in 
 hopes that it will afford some consolation to Aunt Sophia 
 and to you, her friends. 
 
 " I am pleased to be informed that the health of the 
 family is generally good, and that the disposition and 
 feeling of both wives and children is to fear God, to 
 work righteousness, and to yield obedience to His laws. 
 For if we expect to obtain a celestial glory and exalta- 
 tions with thrones, principalities and powers in the 
 
394 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 celestial kingdom of our God, we must abide a celestial 
 law. For it is expressly stated that we can only inherit 
 such a kingdom, such glory, and blessings as we pre- 
 pare ourselves for, by yielding obedience to the laws 
 thereof; whether it be a celestial, or terrestrial or 
 telestial. 
 
 ''We are engaged in a great work, and laying the 
 foundation thereof a work that has been spoken of by 
 all the holy prophets since the world was ; namely, the 
 dispensation of the fullness of times, wherein God will 
 gather together all things in one, whether they be things 
 in the earth, or things in the heavens ; and for this pur- 
 pose God revealed Himself, as also the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 unto His servant the Prophet Joseph Smith, when the 
 Father pointed to the Son and said : ' This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him.' He 
 further restored the everlasting gospel ; together with 
 the Aaronic and Melchisedek Priesthoods ; both of which 
 are everlasting as God is ; and in the interest of 
 humanity sent forth His gospel to the nations of the 
 earth. I am happy to say that I have been a bearer of 
 this gospel to several nations, and have been the means 
 of bringing many to the knowledge of the truth ; among 
 which are some of you, my wives. We have been 
 gathered together, according to the word of the Lord, 
 and the order of His Priesthood, to our present homes, 
 our lands and our possessions. We have had the 
 privilege of assisting in building temples to the Lord, 
 and administering therein. The principles which have 
 been developed for the progression, the happiness and 
 exaltation of the faithful in Christ Jesus ; and some of 
 you, my sons, have been favored with the Holy Priest- 
 hood, which is after the order of Melchisedek, after the 
 order of the Son God and of God the Eternal Father, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 395 
 
 and after the power of an endless life. We expect and 
 have faith, that this earth will yet be renovated and 
 purified, the wicked will be rooted out of it, and the 
 righteous inherit it ; and we further look forward to the 
 time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness ; and a new Jerusalem, 
 wherein the Lord God and the Lamb will be the light 
 thereof, and you, my wives, and also my children who 
 have come to years of maturity, will have the privilege, 
 if faithful to your covenants, of entering into and 
 partaking of the most exalted, glorious, and eternal 
 blessings, which any men or women on earth have 
 enjoyed in this world, or in the world to come; and will 
 eventually be associated with the Gods in the eternal 
 worlds. 
 
 "We are here gathered together in this land of 
 Zion for the purpose of purifying, instructing and build- 
 ing up the Church of God ; and also building up a Zion 
 of God, and establishing the rule and government of 
 God on the earth, and fulfilling that which is spoken of 
 by the Prophet: 'The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is 
 our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King ; He will save us.' 
 
 "In view of the many great and precious promises 
 which are made to us, and which fall to our lot through 
 obedience to the laws of God ; we should at all times 
 place ourselves in conformity with the laws, usages and 
 requirements of the Church and kingdom of God upon 
 the earth. Our lives should not be a blank. We are 
 heirs of eternal lives. We ought to use all our energies 
 in the interest of humanity, in the establishment of the 
 Zion of God, and the building up of the kingdom of God 
 on the earth. 
 
 "It would be very proper for you, my wives, and 
 daughters who are of sufficient age, if you have not 
 
396 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 already done so, to associate yourselves with the Relief 
 Societies ; and of my sons and daughters to unite them- 
 selves with the Young Men's and Young Women's 
 Mutual Improvement Associations ; and thus, while you 
 are receiving information and benefit, you, at the same 
 time may make yourselves useful and a blessing unto 
 others. Let me here say, that the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith instituted the Ladies' Relief Society for that pur- 
 pose. It is proper that you should all reverence the 
 Lord your God in all things, and cultivate His love and 
 fear in your hearts. All ought to dedicate themselves 
 daily, morning and evening to the Lord, and seek for His 
 mercy, blessing and oversight, both day and night. 
 You who have families ought to gather them together 
 every morning and every evening, and dedicate your- 
 selves to the Lord. And this dedication ought to be in 
 private, between yourselves only and the Lord, as well 
 as in public or family prayer. The Prophet Joseph gave 
 a special charge to me while living, as near as I can 
 remember as follows : 'Brother Taylor, never arise in 
 the morning or retire at night, without dedicating 
 yourself unto God and asking His blessings upon you 
 through the day or night, as the case may be, and the 
 Lord God will hear and answer your prayers ; and don't 
 let any circumstances prevent it.' I had been in the 
 habit of doing so, for years before this ; but since that 
 time I have not omitted, to my knowledge, the observance 
 of this duty, morning or evening. 
 
 " Never do an act that you would be ashamed of 
 man knowing, for God sees us always, both day and 
 night, and if we expect to live and reign with Him in 
 eternity, we ought to do nothing that will disgrace us 
 in time. 
 
 "We should be strictly honest, one with another, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 397 
 
 and with all men ; let our word always be as good as 
 our bond ; avoid all ostentation of pride and vanity ; 
 and be meek, lowly, and humble ; be full of integrity 
 and honor ; and deal justly and righteously with all 
 men ; and have the fear and love of God continually be- 
 fore us, and seek for the comforting influence of the 
 Holy Ghost to dwell with us. Let mothers be loving, 
 kind and considerate with their children, and the child- 
 ren kind and obedient to their mothers, and to their 
 Fathers ; and seek always to be governed by good and 
 wise counsel, and so to live every day, and in all our 
 acts, as to keep a conscience void of offense towards God 
 and man. Be kind and courteous to all, seek to pro- 
 mote the welfare of all, be gentlemen and ladies, and 
 treat one another, and all men with proper courtesy, 
 respect and kindness. So shall you be honored by the 
 good and virtuous, enjoy the blessings of a good con- 
 science, and secure the approbation of God, and of the 
 holy angels, in time and throughout all eternity. 
 
 "The protecting care of the Lord over me and my 
 brethren has been very manifest since my absence from 
 home, for which I feel to bless and praise His holy 
 name. I always am very desirous to acknowledge His 
 hand in all things, and I am very anxious that you 
 should do the same. For to the Lord we are indebted 
 for every blessing which we enjoy, pertaining to this life, 
 and the life which is to come. 
 
 " While we seek to God our Heavenly Father for 
 His blessings, let us be careful to so live that we can 
 secure and claim them, by our obedience to His laws. 
 Be merciful, and kind, and just, and generous to all. 
 Preserve your bodies and your spirits pure, and free 
 from contamination. Avoid lasciviousness, and every 
 corrupting influence ; that you may be indeed the sons 
 
39 8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and 
 perverse generation. 
 
 "I pray God the Eternal Father that when we have 
 all finished our probation here, we may be presented to 
 the Lord without spot or blemish, as pure and honorable 
 representatives of the Church and kingdom of God on 
 the earth, and then inherit a celestial glory in the king- 
 dom of our God, and enjoy everlasting felicity with the 
 pure and just in the realms of eternal day, through the 
 merits and atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, our 
 Savior and Redeemer, in worlds without end. Amen. 
 
 "To those present of my friends and not of my 
 immediate family, I present a most hearty welcome, and 
 an affectionate regard. 
 
 "I thank you all for your sympathetic, kind and 
 generous feelings manifested through the letters I have 
 received. I must also beg you to exercise to me a 
 spirit of benevolence and charity, over my apparent 
 negligence, at times, in not being as prompt as desir- 
 able in answering your communications. For while I 
 profoundly respect and appreciate your kindness, it is 
 not always convenient for me to send an immediate 
 reply, as I have daily to attend to all my official duties 
 as when in my office at home. 
 
 "In regard to my position and that of my brethren 
 who are with me, I am happy to inform you that we now 
 are, and always have been, during our exile, supplied 
 with everything that is necessary to our comfort and 
 convenience. Go where we will, we have good accom- 
 modations, plenty of food and the necessaries of life, 
 kind and sympathetic friends, and the best of treatment. 
 I am also happy in the belief that you are comfortably 
 situated. If there is anything that any of you require 
 and you will inform me, I shall be happy to supply it, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 399 
 
 if within my power. Some of you have written that you 
 'would like to have a peep at me.' I heartily recipro- 
 cate that feeling, and would like to have a 'peep* at you 
 on this occasion ; but in my bodily absence my spirit 
 and peace shall be with you. 
 
 "God bless you all, in time and throughout the 
 eternities to come, is the prayer of your affectionate hus- 
 band, father and friend in the new and everlasting 
 covenant 
 
 "JoHN TAYLOR." 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 REFLECTIONS DEATH OF SOPHIA TAYLOR DETERMINATION 
 
 TO BRING ABOUT AN ISSUE A VIOLENT ONE PREFERRED 
 
 HALF-MASTING EPISODE THE COURSE OF THE G. A. R. 
 
 WARLIKE PREPARATIONS FOR PIONEER DAY FLAGS 
 
 AT HALF MAST THROUGHOUT THE UNION EXPRESSIONS 
 
 OF LOVE AND CONFIDENCE LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH 
 OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 
 
 SUCH was the man whom the United States officials in 
 Utah thought it necessary to hunt down like an atrocious 
 felon, and even put a price upon his head for his appre- 
 hension ! This is the man adjudged unworthy by the 
 Edmunds law to vote or hold office in the United States ! 
 This is the man who must be driven from his family and 
 the comforts of home to satisfy the clamor of an unthink- 
 ing, prejudiced populace, aroused to a frenzy of excited 
 intolerence by misrepresentation and an appeal to pas- 
 sion ! It is a sad comment on the subserviency of our 
 
4OO LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 national legislators to have it to say that they yielded a 
 ready submission to the clamors of the multitude, and 
 steadily refused to investigate the charges against the 
 Latter-day Saints before enacting the prescriptive legis- 
 lation under which President Taylor and men of like 
 character suffered. 
 
 His wife Sophia mentioned in the foregoing letter, 
 who was suffering from the effects of a paralytic stroke 
 at the time it was written, died on the 2yth of February 
 following. During her distressing illness he could not 
 visit her ; nor yet when the last sad rites that men per- 
 formed for the dead were held over her remains could 
 he be present to look upon the face of this loving and 
 faithful wife. During her illness her house was closely 
 watched by spies, and even while she was dying it was 
 searched in hopes of finding him. Though his heart 
 was torn with anguish under these trying circumstances, 
 he bowed to the hard conditions with that Christian forti- 
 tude which had been characteristic of him all his life. 
 
 When President Taylor retired from public view on 
 the evening of the ist of February, 1885, it was not 
 out of any consideration for his personal safety, or ease 
 or comfort, but for the public good and in the interests of 
 peace. There can be no question but that there was a 
 cunningly devised plan on the part of the assailants of 
 the Church to involve the Saints in difficulty with the 
 government, to provoke them to acts of violence against 
 the alleged execution of the law, that a pretext might 
 be found for their destruction or expulsion from the land 
 they had redeemed from the desert. What meant, else, 
 that unwarranted invasion of the homes of the people ? 
 What meant this inhuman hounding of men so highly 
 honored in the community? What meant this reign of 
 terror in which laws were perverted, time-honored pre- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 4OI 
 
 cedents overturned, and nearly all the rules of jurispru- 
 dence ignored ? What meant the repeated efforts to 
 engage the military power in the settlement of Utah 
 affairs if violence was not contemplated ? That a pre- 
 text for violence was eagerly sought is clearly seen in 
 the following: 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1885, the United States flag was 
 raised at half-mast at the City Hall, in Salt Lake City, 
 and over some other buildings, among them, Z. C. M. I., 
 Deseret News Office and Tabernacle. This action was 
 designed to express sorrow at the subversion of those 
 principles of religious and civil liberty in our Territory for 
 which the founders of our government had fought and 
 died. This act was construed to be an insult to the flag, 
 and to portend treason and rebellion. The wildest excite- 
 ment prevailed ; and threats of violence were indulged 
 in by the enemies of the Saints. 
 
 "Pioneer Day," the 24th of July, was not far off, and 
 it was alleged by the enemies of the Saints that it was 
 the intention of the "Mormons" to again "insult" the 
 flag by putting it at half-mast, and draping it in mourn- 
 ing. By industriously circulating such a rumor the 
 country expected a conflict on that date, and Gen- 
 eral O. O. Howard, deceived by the misrepresentations 
 of the anti-Mormon clique, in Salt Lake City, made such 
 representations to President Cleveland that he was 
 directed to keep all posts of the Western Platte depart- 
 ment of the army in full strength and be prepared for 
 any emergency that might arise in Utah in the near 
 future. General Hatch with the Fifth Cavalry was 
 ordered to remain in readiness at Ogallala, Nebraska, to 
 proceed by express train to Salt Lake City if necessary. 
 
 On the 1 8th of the month there was a meeting of 
 
402 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Lincoln Post No. 2, Grand Army of the Republic, in Butte, 
 Montana. After some minor business, the subject of 
 the approaching Pioneer Day and Mormon celebration 
 at Salt Lake, July 24th, and General Howard's dispatches 
 in relation thereto was taken up and fully discussed. 
 The result was the appointment of a committee on reso- 
 lutions. That committee reported the following, which 
 was unanimously adopted. 
 
 " LINCOLN POST, G. A. R., 
 
 " BUTTE CITY, M. T., July 18, 1885. 
 
 " WHEREAS, from the report of General Howard and 
 information received from comrades of the G. A. R., resi- 
 dents of Utah, we are advised that the representatives 
 of the twin relic of barbarism design on the 24th inst., 
 to repeat their treasonable actions of July 4th and 
 threaten to trample the flag of our country in the dust, 
 therefore, be it 
 
 "Resolved, that the comrades of Lincoln Post, No. 2, 
 G. A. R., tender to Governor Murray, of Utah, and to 
 H. C. Wardleigh, Commander of the Department of 
 Utah, G. A. R., the services of this Post at Salt Lake 
 City on July 24, and 'continue during the war.' 
 
 "Resolved, that the members of this Post hold them- 
 selves in readiness to 'move together' upon the request 
 of our comrades in Utah; that the Quartermaster be 
 instructed to at once issue members of the Post arms 
 and ammunition, and the Adjutant be instructed to 
 notify every member of this Post to report for duty 
 at once. 
 
 " (Signed) E. L. HOLMES, 
 
 U J. D. JENKS, 
 "F. R. VINCENT." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 403 
 
 "SPECIAL ORDER." 
 
 " HEADQUARTERS LINCOLN POST, No. 2, 
 
 " DEPARTMENT OF MONTANA, G. A. R., 
 
 "BuTTE, Montana, July 18, 1885. 
 
 "Special Order No. 4" 
 
 " I. COMRADES : In obedience to resolutions this day 
 passed by Lincoln Post, each comrade will hold himself 
 in readiness to report for duty, armed, uniformed and 
 equipped. 
 
 " II. This Post is divided into two companies, A and 
 B. Comrade C. S. Shoemaker is assigned to the com- 
 mand of A. company, and Comrade John Bechtel is 
 assigned to the command of B. company. 
 
 "III. Harry C. Kessler, Quartermaster will at once 
 issue arms and ammunition to each comrade, and make 
 the proper arrangement for such transportation, subsis- 
 tence and supplies as the occasion may require. 
 
 " [By order of the Post Commander.] 
 
 "J. J. YORK, Adjutant." 
 
 The cause of such a movement as this doubtless 
 occurred at the instance of the bitter anti-Mormons in 
 Salt Lake. Eight days before, their organ, the Salt Lake 
 Tribune, said: 
 
 "The ex- Con federate soldiers are talking of holding 
 an indignation meeting here on the 24th inst, to express 
 their views on the insult offered to the flag on July 4, by 
 the Mormon Church in this city. The federal court room 
 has been obtained, the railroads have agreed to give 
 half-fare rates from the Park, Ogden and the mining 
 camps, and the hotels such reasonable rates as to make 
 it an object. The sentiments of the ex-Confederates 
 are to be embodied in the form of resolutions to be sent 
 
4O4 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 to the Southern States and Congressmen, politicians 
 and newspapers in that section. It is believed that the 
 southern people should be made aware of the true con- 
 dition of affairs in Utah, and that they will listen to and 
 believe what the ex- Confederate soldiers living here may 
 say on the subject, with more readiness than they would 
 were the information to come to them from all loyal 
 citizens of Utah without distinction. It is a good move, 
 and for another reason. There is talk on the streets to 
 the effect that on the 24th Pioneer's Day the Mor- 
 mons intend to drape the flag in mourning and float it 
 at half-mast. That would be a good day for the pre- 
 sence in this city of two or three thousand old soldiers, 
 Federal and Confederate. It would probably result in 
 a speedy and effectual settlement of the whole Mormon 
 business, for with such men here in force the nation's 
 flag would not be insulted with impunity/' 
 
 In all this one may see the wolf accusing the lamb 
 with fouling the water, though the latter stood below him 
 in the stream : or the big bully of a boy, though a coward 
 at heart, strutting about with a chip on his shoulder dar- 
 ing little urchins to knock it off. There can be no 
 question but what it was the design of the anti-Mormon 
 agitators to have present on that day if not "two or three 
 thousand old soldiers," at least that many desperate men 
 to precipitate a crisis by provoking the people to 
 resistance, that there might be a "speedy and effectual 
 settlement of the whole Mormon business." With such 
 a gathering not even the aid of conjecture is necessary to 
 determine how "the settlement" would have been 
 attempted. 
 
 It is needless to say there had been no intention to 
 insult the flag, by putting it at half-mast on the 4th of July. 
 The people had cause to mourn, and they did it quietly 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 405 
 
 and respectfully with the flag which they revered at half- 
 mast ; and no one but blustering demagogues, seeking 
 cause of quarrel could see in that treasonable designs 
 on the government, or disrespect to the flag. Neither 
 had there been any determination to drape the flag in 
 mourning and fly it at half-mast on the 24th of July. All 
 that originated in the depraved minds of men who were 
 only too anxious to have the Saints do something that 
 would furnish an excuse for making war upon them. 
 The most formidable thing contemplated on that day, on 
 the part of the Saints, was a gathering of Sunday school 
 children at the Tabernacle. 
 
 All these war-like demonstrations on the part of the 
 enemies of the Saints, however, were very singularly 
 quieted. General U. S. Grant, who for some time had 
 been having a stubborn fight with death, surrendered 
 quietly to the dread monarch on the morning of July 
 23rd. The same day the Governor of Utah, Eli H. Murry, 
 issued a proclamation recommending that "flags draped 
 in mourning be placed on all public buildings, and, as far 
 as practicable, on business houses and on the houses of 
 the people, and that they so remain until the burial." 
 
 Thus the crisis passed. 
 
 This incident reveals the need there was of taking 
 every precaution to avoid excitement, and vindicates the 
 wisdom of President Taylor's course in going into exile. 
 He had observed the determination of men in official 
 positions to involve the Saints in serious trouble, and was 
 determined that so far as he was concerned, they should 
 have no pretext on which to base their actions. 
 
 The Latter-day Saints appreciated his motives, and 
 sent to him in his exile cheering words of blessing, con- 
 fidence and support. As the conference held at Provo, 
 
406 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 in April, 1887, was drawing to a close, Apostle F. D. 
 Richards arose and said: 
 
 "In view of recent occurrences, and the assaults 
 which have been made upon the First Presidency of the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 
 
 "I move that we, the officers and members of the 
 Church, in general conference assembled, express to our 
 faithful brethren who preside over us, and to the world 
 at large, by our vote, our undiminished confidence in 
 and love for them. 
 
 " That, inasmuch as President John Taylor is our 
 Prophet, Seer and Revelator, chosen by the Lord, we do 
 express to him in this manner, our love and respect for 
 him, and unite in saying that we have viewed with 
 admiration the steadfastness, integrity and valor which 
 he has displayed in the cause of God. 
 
 "That, as Trustee-in-Trust, we approve of his 
 course, and endorse and ratify his official acts, and have 
 entire confidence in his integrity in this capacity. 
 
 "And that we also entertain the same feelings for his 
 two Counselors, Presidents George Q. Cannon and 
 Joseph F. Smith, in their places ; and desire to assure 
 these, our beloved brethren, that we do uphold them by 
 our faith, prayers, and works ; and that we look forward 
 with delight to the time when we shall have the privilege 
 of again beholding the faces of these, our brethren, the 
 First Presidency of the Church, and hearing their voices 
 in our public assemblies." 
 
 This was carried by a hearty, unanimous vote. 
 
 But the Saints were no more to have the privelege 
 in this life of seeing the face and hearing the voice of 
 President Taylor. Though his age had been as a lusty 
 winter, frosty but kindly ; though in his youth never had 
 he partaken of hot and rebellious liquors to inflame or 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 407 
 
 contaminate his blood, nor with unbashful forehead 
 wooed the means of weakness and debility, yet his long 
 exile and the confinement incidental thereto, at last broke 
 down his health. Notwithstanding the kind attentions 
 of his associates in exile, and trusted friends who gladly 
 received him into their houses, their friendly administra- 
 tions could not fill the place of home and its joys, its 
 happy reunions and associations. Nor could he have 
 that regular exercise in exile that he would have had in 
 freedom. Add to these things the cares and anxieties 
 forced upon him by reason of the unwarranted and 
 inhuman assaults made upon himself and the people 
 over whom he presided, and you have at once the causees 
 of his last illness and death. Had it not been for these 
 things President Taylor undoubtedly would have lived 
 many years longer to direct the affairs of the Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 His health commenced failing about a year before 
 his death, but his last illness began about five months 
 before that sad event. Sustained by his marvelous will- 
 power, he resisted the approach of death with all his 
 characteristic determination. He would neither permit 
 himself nor others to believe that he was seriously ill. 
 But his decreasing inclination to take what little exercise 
 he could under the circumstances ; and periods of 
 prostration occurring with increasing frequency, told its 
 own story as to how the battle was going. 
 
 The tenth of July marked a crisis in the struggle for 
 life which alarmed his friends and attendants. The tenth 
 occurred on Sunday. It had been his custom in these 
 years of exile to hold religious service on the Sabbath 
 and fast days, the first Thursday of every month. The 
 brethren who were with him usually took turns in 
 presiding in these meetings. The service consisted of 
 
408 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 singing, prayer, administering the sacrament and such 
 remarks as the brethren felt inclined to make. On the 
 tenth of July before named, the meeting was called as 
 usual and opened, but no one could speak. President 
 Taylor's illness had taken a turn for the worse and the 
 unpleasant conviction forced itself on those about him 
 least willing to believe it, that he was gradually sinking. 
 The day after the memorable tenth of July, his first 
 Counselor, George Q. Cannon, wrote the following to 
 Daniel H.Weils: 
 
 "It gives me great pain to be obliged to com- 
 municate to you the intelligence that, I think, President 
 Taylor is gradually passing away, and according to 
 present appearances, may not live many days or a week 
 at the farthest. For four months past he has been ailing, 
 and his health and strength gradually failing him ; but he 
 has been so full of hope and pluck that he has impressed 
 us all who have been with him with a feeling that he 
 would recover. Through all his sickness up to the 
 present he has steadily maintained that he would get 
 better, and knowing how much the faith of the people 
 has been exercised in his behalf, it has been difficult to 
 resist the conviction that he would get well. I addressed 
 letters to the Twelve who are absent from the city on 
 the ist inst. advising them of his condition. On the 
 5th, being in the city, I addressed letters to them again, 
 advising them that I had heard such good reports from 
 President Taylor, that I felt it my duty to communicate it 
 to them. He appeared to have taken a very favorable 
 turn, and asserted that now he would get better ; but 
 this lasted only a few days. An unfavorable change 
 took place yesterday and I think he is sinking. 
 
 "It is with a great reluctance that I admit this to my- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 409 
 
 self; but I feel it my duty to try and communicate it to 
 you and to all the brethren of the Council." 
 
 Letters similar in import were written to the 
 Apostles; but after this he rallied again and inspired 
 those around him for several days with new hopes. On 
 the 1 8th his second Counselor, Joseph F. Smith, arrived 
 from the Sandwich Islands. President Taylor was very 
 weak and low but still conscious ; and as he looked up 
 and recognized Brother Joseph, and his attention was 
 called to the fact that the First Presidency were together 
 once more the first time since December, 1884 
 he said: 
 
 "I feel to thank the Lord!" 
 
 After this he continued to grow weaker, with only 
 intervals of consciousness, until the evening of the 25th. 
 
 It was at the house of Thomas F. Rouche, of 
 Kaysville, that President Taylor was fighting out this 
 last battle, with such remarkable determination. On the 
 above named evening, the few friends who were per- 
 mitted to be with him, among whom were his two 
 Counselors, two of his wives, Mary Oakey Taylor and 
 Maggie Young Taylor, and the Rouche family, were 
 gathered about his bed as he slowly sank under the hand 
 of Death. He was passing away without a struggle, 
 quietly as a child falls asleep. At five minutes to eight 
 o'clock, "the weary wheels of life stood still" the great 
 spirit had left its earthly tabernacle. 
 
410 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S DEATH 
 
 HIS COUNSELORS ON HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER EX- 
 PRESSIONS OF THE PEOPLE RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT. 
 
 THE next day the sad event of President Taylor's 
 death was announced to the Church and the world in the 
 following communication from his counselors to the Des- 
 
 eret News: 
 
 "Once more the Latter-day Saints are called upon 
 to mourn the death of their leader the man who has 
 held the keys of the kingdom of God upon earth. Presi- 
 dent John Taylor departed this life at five minutes to 
 eight o'clock on the evening of Monday, July 25th, 1887, 
 aged 78 years, 8 months and 25 days. 
 
 "In communicating this sad intelligence to the 
 Church, over which he has so worthily presided for nearly 
 ten years past, we are filled with emotion too deep for 
 utterance. A faithful, devoted and fearless servant of 
 God, the Church in his death has lost its most conspicu- 
 ous and experienced leader. Steadfast to and immova- 
 ble in the truth, few men have ever lived who have man- 
 ifested such integrity and such unflinching moral and 
 physical courage as our beloved President who has just 
 gone from us. He never knew the feeling of fear con- 
 nected with the work of God. But in the face of angry 
 mobs, and at other times when in imminent danger of 
 personal violence from those who threatened his life, and 
 upon occasions when the people were menaced with 
 public peril, he never blenched his knees never trem- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 411 
 
 bled, his hand never shook. Every Latter-day Saint 
 always knew beforehand, on occasions when firmness 
 and courage were needed, where President John Taylor 
 would be found and what his tone would be. He met 
 every issue squarely, boldly and in a way to call forth 
 the admiration of all who saw and heard him. Undaunted 
 courage, unyielding firmness were among his most prom- 
 inent characteristics, giving him distinction among men 
 who were distinguished for the same qualities. With 
 these were combined an intense love of freedom and 
 hatred of oppression. He was a man whom all could 
 trust, and throughout his life he enjoyed, to an extent 
 surpassed by none, the implicit confidence of the Pro- 
 phets Joseph, Hyrum and Brigham and all the leading 
 men and members of the Church. The title of "Cham- 
 pion of Liberty," which he received at Nauvoo, was 
 always felt to be most appropriate for him to bear. But 
 it was not only in the possession of these qualities that 
 President Taylor was great. His judgment was remark- 
 ably sound and clear, and through life he has been noted 
 for the wisdom of his counsels and teachings. His great 
 experience made his suggestions exceedingly valuable ; 
 for there has scarcely been a public movement of any 
 kind commenced, carried on, or completed, since he 
 joined the Church in which he has not taken part. 
 
 1 'But it is not necessary that we should, even if time 
 permitted, rehearse the events of his long and busy life. 
 To do so would only be to give the greater part of the 
 history of the Church ; for with it his biography is insep- 
 erably interwoven. 
 
 "The last time President Taylor appeared in public 
 was on Sunday, February ist, 1885. On that occasion 
 he delivered a lengthy discourse in the Tabernacle, in 
 Salt Lake City. Rumor had been floating around for 
 
412 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 some time that his arrest was contemplated. In fact, 
 while returning from a trip to the settlements in Arizona, 
 he was advised in California that he was in great danger, 
 and it was suggested that perhaps it would be better for 
 him not to return to Salt Lake City. He listened to 
 these cautions but still resolved to take the risk, and 
 came back and fearlessly went about his business for 
 some time. But on the evening of Saturday, February 
 ist, he concluded to withdraw himself from the public 
 performance of his numerous and important duties. In 
 taking this step he did so more to preserve peace and to 
 remove all possible cause of excitement, than from any 
 desire of personal safety. He perceived that there was 
 a determination on the part of men holding official posi- 
 tion here to raise an issue, and, if possible, involve the 
 Latter-day Saints in serious trouble. He had not broken 
 any law. He knew he was innocent and that if he were 
 arrested and could have a fair trial, nothing could be 
 brought against him. He had taken every precaution 
 that a man could take under his circumstances to make 
 himself invulnerable to attack. He was determined 
 that, so far as he was concerned, he would furnish no 
 pretext for trouble, but would do everything in his power 
 to prevent the people over whom he presided from being 
 involved in difficulty. 
 
 "From that date, upwards of two years and a half 
 ago, when he left his home in Salt Lake City, he had not 
 the opportunity of crossing its threshold again. To 
 home and its joys, its delightful associations and its 
 happy reunions he has been a stranger. He has lived as 
 an exile a wanderer in the land, to the development 
 and good government of which he has contributed so 
 much ! While living in this condition, one of his wives 
 was stricken with disease, and though his heart was torn 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 413 
 
 with anguish at the thought of her condition, and with 
 anxiety to see her and minister to her in her deep dis- 
 tress, her residence was closely watched by spies, and 
 when she was in a dying condition, was even searched 
 with the hope of entrapping him ! Thus she was de- 
 prived of the privilege of looking upon his beloved face, 
 and he had not even the sad consolation of witnessing or 
 taking any part in her funeral ceremonies. 
 
 " During the two years and a half that President 
 Taylor has been living in this condition, he has been cut 
 off from all the society and loving ministrations of his 
 family. But though this was so hard to bear at his time 
 of life, he never murmured. He was always full of 
 courage and hope, cheering everyone with whom he was 
 brought in contact, and lifting his companions by his 
 noble example out of despondency and discouragement. 
 With the same courage with which he stood by the Pro- 
 phet of God and with a walking cane parried the guns 
 of the mob when they vomited their sheets of flame and 
 messengers of death in Carthage jail, he confronted the 
 difficulties and the trials which he had to meet when com- 
 pelled to leave his home and the society of those whom 
 he loved. His demeanor throughout this long ordeal 
 has been most admirable. Everyone who has seen him 
 has been impressed by his equanimity and stately bear- 
 ing. Always distinguished for his courtesy and dignity 
 of character, at no period of his life did he ever exhibit 
 those traits to greater advantage than he has during his 
 exile. He has never condescended even to speak evil of 
 those who so cruelly persecuted him. 
 
 " By the miraculous power of God, President John 
 Taylor escaped the death which the assassins of 
 Carthage jail assigned for him. His blood was then 
 mingled with the blood of the martyred Prophet and 
 
4-14 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Patriarch. He has stood since then as a living martyr 
 for the truth. But today he occupies the place 
 of a double martyr. President John Taylor has been 
 killed by the cruelty of officials who have, in this Terri- 
 tory, misrepresented the Government of the United 
 States. There is no room to doubt that if he had been 
 permitted to enjoy the comforts of home, the ministra- 
 tions of his family, the exercise to which he had been 
 accustomed, but of which he was deprived, he might 
 have lived for many years yet. His blood stains the 
 clothes of the men, who with insensate hate have offered 
 rewards for his arrest and have hounded him to the 
 grave. History will yet call their deeds by their right 
 names ; but One greater than the combined voices of all 
 historians will yet pronounce their dreadful sentence. 
 " It is now some time since President Taylor was 
 attacked by disease. It came upon him by degrees, 
 manifesting itself in the beginning by a swelling of the 
 limbs for the want of proper exercise. He fought 
 disease with his characteristic pluck and determination. 
 He would not yield. He would neither allow himself 
 nor anyone else to think that his sickness was serious. 
 He would not permit his family to know his real con- 
 dition, as he did not wish them to have any anxiety on 
 his account, and it was almost against his express wishes 
 they were told how sick he was. When messages were 
 sent by him to them, they were always of a re-assuring 
 character. Up to the last day or two he was able to sit 
 in his chair, and until quite recently he was able to 
 assist himself in getting in and out of bed. The 
 strength he has exhibited and his tenacity of life have 
 been very wonderful; for though so strong, he had 
 partaken of scarcely any nourishment for the past six 
 weeks. So peacefully did he pass away, and so like a 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 415 
 
 babe falling asleep that a brief period elapsed before 
 those who stood around his bed were sure that his spirit 
 had taken it's flight. 
 
 "As the sad intelligence which we now communicate 
 will spread through these valleys and mountains, sorrow 
 will fill the hearts of all at hearing of the last days of tteir 
 beloved and venerable President. We know how deep has 
 been the sympathy that has filled the hearts of the Saints 
 for him in his advanced years, in thinking of his condition 
 and of his being compelled to live as an exile from his 
 family and the people. The expressions of esteem and 
 love which have come to him from all parts of the land 
 have deeply touched him and caused him great pleasure 
 in thinking how much he was beloved and how much his 
 welfare was desired by all the Saints throughout the 
 earth. 
 
 " His constant desire was to do everything in his 
 power to relieve the Latter-day Saints from the oppres- 
 sions under which they suffer. Every pulsation of his 
 heart -beat with a love of Zion and a desire for her 
 redemption. We desired, and the desire was general, 
 we believe, throughout the Church that he might live 
 to emerge from his exile and be once more a free man 
 among the people whom he loved. But this has been 
 denied us. He has gone to mingle with the holy and 
 the pure, and to quote his own eloquent words, written 
 concerning his dear friend, Joseph the Seer: 
 
 "Beyond the reach of mobs and strife, 
 
 He rests unharmed in endless life; 
 
 His home's in the sky, he dwells with the Gods, 
 
 Far from the furious rage of mobs. ' ' 
 
 And though we have lost his presence here, his influence 
 will still be felt. Such men may pass from this life to 
 another, but the love which beats in their hearts for 
 
41 6 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 righteousness and for truth cannot die. They go to an 
 enlarged sphere of usefulness. Their influence is 
 extended and more widely felt, and Zion will feel the 
 benefit of his labors, as it has the labors of others who 
 have gone before him. The work of God will roll forth. 
 One after another of the mighty men the men who 
 have spent their lives in the cause of God may pass 
 away, but this will not affect the purposes of our Great 
 Creator concerning His latter-day work. He will raise 
 up others, and the work will go on increasing in power, 
 in influence, and in all true greatness, until it will accom- 
 plish all that God has predicted concerning it. 
 
 "We feel to say to the Latter-day Saints: Be com- 
 forted ! The same God who took care of the work when 
 Joseph was martyred, who has watched over and 
 guarded and upheld it through the long years that have 
 since elapsed, and who has guided its destinies since the 
 departure of Brigham, still watches over it and makes it 
 the object of His care. John has gone; but God lives. 
 He has founded Zion. He has given His people a 
 testimony of this. Cherish it in your heart of hearts, 
 and live so each day that when the end of your mortal 
 lives shall come, you may be counted worthy to go where 
 Joseph, Brigham and John have gone, and mingle with 
 that glorious throng whose robes have been washed 
 white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 "This is the earnest prayer for all Saints, and for all 
 the honest in heart, of your unworthy servants in Christ, 
 
 " GEORGE Q. CANNON, 
 "JOSEPH F. SMITH." 
 
 This announcement cast an inexpressible gloom 
 over the entire community. Everywhere could be heard 
 expressions of esteem for the departed: "We did not 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 417 
 
 think when he was driven into exile that we would never 
 see him in life again," said some. "Well, he is beyond 
 the reach of the minions of the law now," said others. 
 "How we would like to have seen his face and heard his 
 kindly voice once more before he left us!" "This makes 
 twice he has suffered martyrdom!" 
 
 The Deseret News, in concluding a lengthy bio- 
 graphical sketch of him said : 
 
 "The soul of honor, of indomitable energy and 
 unflinching firmness when convinced of the right, Presi- 
 dent Taylor was the embodiment of dignity and urbane 
 authority. His record is without a stain, and his name 
 will be inscribed in the archives of heaven, among those 
 of the mighty spirits who have helped to sway the des- 
 tinies of this world. He has gone to mingle with his 
 brethren of the last dispensation who laid the foundation 
 of this great work, and with them he will shine in 
 eternal splendor as a son of God, an heir to the royal 
 Priesthood, a ruler in the Father's kingdom. May peace 
 and comfort rest upon the bereaved!" 
 
 Following are the resolutions of respect adopted by 
 the Board of Directors of Z. C. M. I. of which he was 
 President, at their first meeting after his death: 
 
 "Whereas, On the 25th day of July, 1887, it pleased 
 an Allwise Creator to remove from our midst, by the 
 hand of death, President John Taylor ; and, 
 
 " Whereas, He was elected a director of the Z. C. 
 M. I., October 7th, 1877, a d served in that capacity 
 until October 5th, 1883, when he was elected president 
 of this institution, and acted in that office continuously 
 from that date until his demise; and, 
 
 "Whereas, His whole life has been prominent for 
 unblemished rectitude and distinguished ability, the last 
 fifty years of it having been- devoted almost exclusively 
 
 27 
 
41 8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 to the benefits of his fellow men as an able companion 
 of human liberty and advocate of correct religious 
 principles, as a journalist, legislator and a leader of a 
 great people. Therefore, be it 
 
 "Resolved, That in the departure from this life of 
 one so good, noble and useful as the late President 
 John Taylor, we have sustained a great loss, in which 
 the community widely participates and while fully sens- 
 ing this effect of his decease, we extend to his family, in 
 the hour of their bereavement, our most heart-felt 
 sympathy. Also, 
 
 "Resolved, That this expression of our appreciation 
 of the character and ability of our deceased, venerated 
 President, brother and friend be spread upon the minutes 
 of this board meeting in full, and that a copy thereof be 
 engrossed and presented to his family." 
 
 The Deseret News, a few days after his death, speak- 
 ing again of him said : 
 
 "The departed servant of God, the tokens of whose 
 decease still droop from the doors and depend from the 
 places that once were dignified by his presence, needs 
 no eulogy of the living to glorify his tomb. He has a 
 pattern of integrity, intrepidity, firmness and calm 
 reliance upon God and the truth. His record is clean 
 and his course without a spot." 
 
 Such were a few of the expressions of mingled 
 esteem and love which welled up from the hearts of the 
 people, and found expression on their lips. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 419 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER HIS BROAD VIEWS 
 
 FAITH AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD DEVOTION TO HIS 
 
 RELIGION MORAL LIFE ABOVE SUSPICION LOVE OF 
 
 LIBERTY "I WOULD NOT BE A SLAVE TO GOD ! " THE 
 
 RICHES HE SOUGHT "l PREFER A FADED COAT TO A 
 
 FADED REPUTATION" SKILL AND MAXIMS AS A WORK- 
 MAN POWER AS A WRITER A POET A PREACHER 
 
 OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SOCIAL QUALITIES A GREAT MAN. 
 
 THE story of President Taylor's life is before the 
 reader. We may now consider his character as re- 
 flected in that story. 
 
 In person President Taylor was nearly six feet in 
 height and of fine proportion, that combination which 
 gives activity and strength. His head was large, the face 
 oval and the features large, strong and finely chiseled. 
 The forehead was high and massive, the eyes gray, deep- 
 set, and of a mild, kindly expression, except when 
 aroused, and then they were capable of reflecting all the 
 feelings that moved his soul, whether of indignation, 
 scorn or contempt. The nose was aquiline, the mouth 
 well formed and expressive of firmness, the chin power- 
 ful and well rounded. In early life he was of a fair com- 
 plexion, but with age the face grew swarthy, and even in 
 middle life his abundant hair turned to a silvery white- 
 ness, which but added beauty to his brow and made his 
 appearance venerable. 
 
 In his manner he was ever affable and polite, easy 
 and gracious, yet princely in dignity. In his intercourse 
 with others he was familiar but never vulgar. He was 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 not a man whom a friend, however intimate, would slap 
 familiarly on the back or turn and twist about when 
 shaking- hands; such proceedings with him would have 
 been as much out of place as with the proudest crowned 
 monarch in the presence-chamber. Yet there was no 
 affectation in his deportment, no stiffness ; his dignity 
 was that with which nature clothes her noblest sons. It 
 did not spring from self-conceit, or self-sufficiency, or any 
 spirit such as 
 
 "I am Sir Oracle, and when I speak 
 Let no man ope his lips!" 
 
 Nor was it studied, or copied, or put on for state occa- 
 sions. He carried it with him wherever he went into 
 his own home, into the homes of his friends. It was 
 with him in courts and palaces, among the refined and 
 the titled nobility of this world ; he never plucked it off 
 on entering the humblest cottage of the poor. He was 
 to his manners born, and they were suited to the man. 
 In any assembly he would have been a striking figure. 
 There was a beautiful harmony in the character of 
 his mind and the lineaments of his person. If the habi- 
 tation was splendid, the inmate was worthy of it. His 
 noble form and bearing were but the outward expression 
 of the spirit within. A universal benevolence, pow- 
 erful intellect, splendid courage, physical as well as 
 moral, a noble independence of spirit, coupled with im- 
 plicit faith and trust in God, a high sense of honor, un- 
 impeachable integrity, indomitable determination, and a 
 passionate love of liberty, justice and truth marked the 
 outlines of his character in short, the elements were 
 
 " So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world' This is a man ! ' " 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 421 
 
 President Taylor believed absolutely in the univer- 
 sal Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. 
 From that grand cardinal doctrine sprang his liberal 
 views as to the hand dealings of God with His children. 
 He despised anything that savored of narrow-minded- 
 ness or bigotry. Who does not remember with what 
 scorn he treated the spirit which led the man to pray : 
 
 "Lord, bless me and my wife, 
 
 My son John and his wife, 
 
 Us four, but no more. Amen." 
 
 "I think sometimes," he would remark, "that as a 
 people we are a good deal sectarian in our feelings, and 
 it is necessary for us occasionally to look at the pit from 
 whence we were dug, and the rock from whence we were 
 hewn. We are all too ready to cry out, as the sectarians 
 do in their different orders : 
 
 " 'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, 
 The temple of the Lord are we ! ' 
 
 "We say we are the children of God. That is true, 
 we are. We are sparks struck from the blaze of His 
 eternal fire. But what of the rest of the world whose 
 children are they? They are also the children of our 
 Heavenly Father, and He is interested in their welfare as 
 He is in ours; and as a kind, beneficent Father towards 
 His children, He has been seeking from generation to 
 generation to promote the welfare, the happiness and the 
 exaltation of the human family. 
 
 "We sometimes talk about the hand of God being 
 over us. Of course it is, and will be over us for ever, if 
 we will only serve Him, for He is always true. But His 
 hand is over the nations of the earth also. He is inter- 
 
422 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 ested in the welfare of this nation, and all other nations, 
 and all other peoples, as well as in our welfare. 
 
 "I believe in God, in Jesus Christ, and in the exalta- 
 tion of the human family, and consequently have acted 
 and do act in accordance with that belief. If others 
 choose to do otherwise, that is their business. 'But,' 
 says one, 'don't you want to send them all to hell ? ' No, 
 I don't ; but I would be glad to get them out of it ; and 
 if I could do them any good, I would do it with pleasure. 
 I do not believe in this wrath and dread, but if a man 
 acts meanly I will [tell him that he is a poor, mean cur. 
 Then if I find him hungry, I would feed him ; or if I 
 found him naked, I would clothe him ; for the gospel 
 teaches me to do good and benefit mankind as far as lies 
 in my power. 
 
 "I remember reading a few lines of some very zeal- 
 ous Protestant who wrote over some public building : 
 
 " 'In this place may enter 
 Greek, Jew or Atheist, 
 Any thing but a Papist.' 
 
 "Now, I say, let the Papist come in, too, the Mos- 
 lem, the Greek, the Jew, the pagan, the believers and 
 the unbelievers, and the whole world. If God sends His 
 rain on the good and the evil, and makes His sun to 
 shine on the just and the unjust, I certainly shall not 
 object. Let them worship as they please and have full 
 freedom and equal rights and privileges with us and all 
 
 men." 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing that while he 
 claimed absolute religious liberty for himself, he accorded 
 the same right to others. "There are two things," he 
 remarks, "that I have felt very decided upon ever since 
 I could comprehend anything; one is that I would 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 423 
 
 worship God as I pleased, without anybody's dictation ; 
 and that I would dictate to no man his faith, neither 
 should any man dictate to me my faith ; the other is that 
 I would vote as I pleased." 
 
 Of the deep religious convictions of President 
 Taylor it is scarcely necessary to speak. His whole 
 life demonstrates how deep was the religious soil in his 
 nature, into which the seeds of truth were sown to bring 
 forth an hundred fold. His devotion to his religion 
 was not only sincere, it was without reserve. He gave 
 himself and his whole life to it. His faith, his trust and 
 confidence in God were complete. "I do not believe in 
 a religion that cannot have all my affections," he would 
 sometimes remark, "but I believe in a religion that I can 
 live for, or die for. 
 
 "I would rather trust in the living God than in any 
 other power on earth. I learned [while on missions] 
 that I could go to God and He always relieved me. He 
 always supplied my wants. I always had plenty to eat, 
 drink and wear, and could ride on steam-boats or rail- 
 roads, or anywhere I thought proper: God always 
 opened my way, and so He will that of every man who 
 will put his trust in Him. 
 
 "I would rather have God for my friend than all 
 other influences and powers outside." 
 
 Such were his sentiments, such his devotion to his 
 religion, such his testimony to the goodness of God. 
 
 "He was a man," said one who knew him well nigh 
 half a century, "that could not get down to grovel 
 with the low-lived, the vicious, the ribald, nor any who 
 indulged in the follies and vanities of mortal life." 
 Referring himself to those who did love the abomination 
 of wickedness, with all its crookedness, deceitfulness and 
 crime he ever exclaimed: "My soul, enter thou not into 
 
424 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 their secret ; and mine honor, with them be thou not 
 united!" In all these things he not only lived above 
 reproach, but above suspicion. 
 
 The most proimnent feature of his character, doubt- 
 less, was his ardent love of liberty. For this he was 
 distinguished even among his brethren who as a group 
 were remarkable for their love of and devotion to freedom. 
 To other men the love of liberty was a principle ; with 
 him it was not only a principle but a passion : others 
 may have been educated to love it; he loved it 
 instinctively. 
 
 In a letter to one of his brethren, answering one 
 that had laid rather hard conditions upon him, he 
 expressed the following sentiments, in which it is difficult 
 to determine which most appears, his love of liberty or 
 his detestation, his utter abhorrence of slavery : 
 
 "I was not born a slave ! I cannot, will not be a 
 slave. I would not be slave to God! I'd be His 
 servant, friend, His son. I'd go at His behest; but 
 would not be His slave. I'd rather be extinct than be 
 a slave. His friend I feel I am, and He is mine: a 
 slave ! The manacles would pierce my very bones 
 the clanking chains would grate upon my soul a poor, 
 lost, servile, crawling wretch to lick the dust and fawn 
 and smile upon the thing who gave the lash ! Myself 
 perchance my wives, my children to dig the mud, to 
 mould and tell the tale of brick and furnish our own 
 straw ! * * But stop ! I'm God's free 
 
 man : I will not, cannot be a slave ! Living, I'll be free 
 here, or free in life above free with the Gods, for 
 they are free: and if I'm in the way on earth, I'll ask 
 my God to take me to my friends above!" 
 
 He never devoted himself to money getting. He 
 never bowed at the gilded shrine of mammon. The 
 
LTFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 425 
 
 yellow god of this world found in him no devotee. 
 "Many men could see a sovereign or a half eagle a long 
 way farther off than he could," remarked one who 
 knew him. Yet the amount of property he accumulated 
 at Nauvoo, and which he sacrificed in order to flee into 
 the wilderness with the Church of Christ, is sufficient to 
 prove that he was not without financial ability. But he 
 had his eyes and heart fixed upon the better riches, those 
 which moth and rust could not corrupt, neither mobs break 
 through nor steal. These things filled his soul, en- 
 grossed his attention and left but a small margin of time 
 to him in which to fall in love with the wealth of this 
 world. His motto was " Money is of little importance 
 where truth is concerned." 
 
 "It is the crowns, the principalities, the powers, the 
 thrones, the dominions, and the associations with the 
 Gods that we are after, and we are here to prepare our- 
 selves for these things this is the main object of exis- 
 tence." 
 
 Still it must not be thought that he was indifferent 
 to financial enterprises and the development of the re- 
 sources of the country. His efforts at establishing sugar 
 works after his return from France ; building and run- 
 ning the first nail factory; the contracts he took and 
 filled when the Union Pacific railroad was building; his 
 interest in the mining industry of the Territory; his 
 association with Z. C. M. I., all give evidence to the con- 
 trary. He merely gave financial affairs a subordinate 
 place to the interests of the kingdom of God. 
 
 He was cautious in his business methods, and scrup- 
 ulously honest. During a period that he was in straight- 
 ened circumstances, a member of his family was out of 
 fuel, and without the means to purchase any. She sent 
 word of the situation to him ; having no money, and 
 
426 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 not wishing to go in debt as long as he saw no prospect 
 of repaying it, he sent to her his new overcoat as that 
 was the only thing he had at hand which could be turned 
 into money. It was accompanied with a kind note that 
 directed one of his sons to dispose of it, and deplored 
 the rather close circumstances in which they were placed. 
 "I can get along very nicely with my old coat this win- 
 ter," he wrote: "it is a little faded, but then I prefer a 
 faded coat to a faded reputation ; and I do not propose to 
 ask for accommodations that I am not prepared to meet." 
 
 He was a skillful workman in his business of tur- 
 ner, and when not engaged in the ministry, like Paul, 
 "his own hands administered to his necessities." We 
 have already seen him in the saw-pit day after day man- 
 ufacturing lumber with a whip saw before the erection of 
 saw mills ; building his own house, cultivating his own 
 garden, fencing his own farm, constructing the first bridge 
 over the river Jordan. 
 
 He had adopted in practice some most excellent 
 maxims which would have insured him success in any 
 business he might have chosen. What they were may 
 be seen in this : If he plowed a field it must be done 
 well. He was not content to skim over the ground 
 merely. If the ground was hard or rocky in places, 
 some one must ride on the beam and the plow made to 
 do its work. Moreover, the furrows must be straight. 
 If he planted trees the holes must be made large ; in 
 setting them in, the fibres of the roots must be spread 
 out and the soil placed round them carefully, and then 
 be well watered that they might have every chance to 
 live. 
 
 He had some skill in drawing and was an adept at 
 wood carving for which his patterns were of his own 
 designing. Of this kind of work as of all other kinds 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 427 
 
 he would often say: "If a thing is done well, no one 
 will ask how long it took to do it, but who did it." 
 
 Of his skill and power as a writer, the reader who 
 has followed us through this volume, has seen some evi- 
 dence from the extracts from his writings. These, how- 
 ever, have been mainly from his discussions, editorials 
 and newspaper articles in the defense of Zion and her 
 interests ; and from his theological works. Powerful as 
 he was in his style of composition, he also had ability in 
 other departments of literature. He wrote in part a 
 drama founded on incidents recorded in the Book of 
 Mormon. He never completed it, and the manuscript 
 of it, unfortunately, is lost ; but those who heard it read, 
 speak of it as giving evidence of considerable dramatic 
 skill in its construction, and applaud the speeches of the 
 characters for vigor and elegance of diction. 
 
 President Taylor was also a poet; and from the 
 deep religious nature of the man, it could but be ex- 
 pected that the grand themes suggested by the gospel 
 would inspire his muse. The restoration of the gospel, 
 the going forth of messengers of glory with it to the 
 sons of men, furnished him with inspiration for several 
 hymns published in the Latter-day Saints' Hymn Book. 
 The one on page 295, beginning 
 
 " The glorious plan which God has given, 
 To bring a ruined world to heaven," 
 
 suggested by this passage of scripture "For there are 
 three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word 
 and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one ; and there 
 are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water 
 and the blood; and these three are one" * is not only 
 a poem, but a discourse in which the harmony and beauty 
 
 * I John v., 7,8. 
 
428 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 of the Triune witnesses in heaven and in earth are made 
 to stand out in bold relief. 
 
 Friendship also inspired his muse, and his " Re- 
 sponse" to Parley P. Pratt's " Fiftieth Year;"* and "The 
 Seer,"* written in memory of the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith, are two of his noblest pieces in verse. 
 
 His friends speak of a number of his poems that 
 were never published, written in different strains from 
 those with which the public is familiar, especially of one 
 written while crossing the Atlantic, highly humorous and 
 exhibiting an extensive knowledge of mythology. This 
 is not to be found among his papers. 
 
 The following in blank verse is worthy of preser- 
 vation for the grandeur and sublimity of the theme. It 
 was written September 5th, 1846: 
 
 LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF MISS ABBY JANE HART, 
 OF NEW YORK CITY. 
 
 ABBY: knowest thou whence thou earnest? Thine 
 
 Origin ? Who thou art? What? And whither thou 
 
 Art bound? A crysolis of yesterday : 
 
 Today a gaudy, fluttering butterfly 
 
 A moth; tomorrow crushed, and then an end 
 
 Of thee. Is this so? and must thou perish 
 
 Thus, and die ingloriously without a hope? 
 
 Ah, no ; thou art no such thing. Thou in the 
 Bosom of thy Father bask'd and liv'd, and 
 Mov'd thousands of years ago. Yes, e'er this 
 Mundane sphere from chaos sprung, or sun, or 
 Moon, or stars, or world was fram'd ; Before the 
 Sons of God for joy did shout, or e'er the 
 Morning stars together sung thou liv'd'st. 
 Thou liv'dst to live again. Ah, no ! thou liv'd 
 
 *The poem will be found in Parley P. Pratt's Autobiography, p. 500. 
 f The Seer is published in the Latter-day Saints' Hymn Book, p. 337. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 429 
 
 But to continue life eternal to 
 
 Live and move, and act eternally. Yes; 
 
 Long as a spirit, God or world exists ; 
 
 From everlasting, eternal, without end ! 
 
 And whilst thou dwelt in thy paternal home, 
 
 And with thy brethren shar'd extatic bliss, 
 
 All that a spirit could, not clothed in flesh, 
 
 Thou through the vista of unnumbered years 
 
 Saw'st through the glimmering veil that thou would'st 
 
 Dwell in flesh just as the Gods. 
 
 Tread in the 
 
 Footsteps of thine elder brother, Jesus 
 The " Prince of Peace," for whom a body was prepared. 
 
 Thou heard ; thou look'd ; thou long'd ; thou pray'd ; 
 
 Thou hop'd for this, at length it came ; and thou 
 
 Appeared on this terraqueous ball, 
 
 Body and spirit ; a living soul, forth 
 
 From the hands of Eloheim eternal 
 
 As himself part of thy God. A small spark 
 
 Of Deity, struck from the fire of his eternal blaze. 
 
 Thou cam'st ! thou cam'st to live ! of life thou art 
 
 A living monument ; to it thou still 
 
 Dost cling eternal life ! To thee all else 
 
 Are straw and chaff, and bubbles light as air ; 
 
 And will be all, until thou gain'st once more 
 
 Thy Father's breast ; raised, quickened, immortal ; 
 
 Body, spirit, all ; a God among the Gods forever bless'd. 
 
 Abby, and hast thou dared to launch thy 
 
 Fragile barque on truth's tempestuous sea ; 
 
 To meet the pelting storm and proudly brave 
 
 The dangers of the raging main ; and through 
 
 The rocks and shoals, and yawning gulfs pursue 
 
 The nearest way to life, in hopes thai thou 
 
 Woulds't speedily gain a seat among the Gods? 
 
 See'st thou the multitudes who sail in 
 Guilded barques, and gently float along the 
 Silvery stream? Downward they go with sweet, 
 Luxurious ease, and scarce a zephyr moves 
 
43 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 The tranquil bosom of the placid stream. 
 Unconscious of the greatness of the prize 
 They might obtain, they glide along in peace ; 
 And as they never soar aloft, nor mount 
 On eagle's wings, nor draw aside the veil 
 Of other worlds, they know none else than this 
 No other joys. They dream away their life, 
 And die forgot, just as the butterfly, 
 They gaily flutter on ; today they live 
 Tomorrow are no more. 
 
 And though, like thee 
 In them is the eternal spark, thousands 
 Of weary years must roll along er'e they 
 Regain the prize they might with thee have shar'd. 
 Regain it ? Never ! no ! They may come where 
 Thou wert, but never can they with thee share 
 Extatic bliss. 
 
 For whils't in heaven's progressive 
 Science skilled, thou soard'st from world to world, clad 
 In the robes of bright seraphic light ; and 
 With thy God, eternal onward goest, a 
 Priestess and a queen reigning and ruling in 
 The realms of light. Unlike the imbeciles 
 Who dared not brook the scorn of men, and knew not 
 How to prize eternal life. 
 
 Abby, the cup's within thy reach ; drink thou 
 The vital balm and live ! 
 
 How priceless the album containing such a gem ! 
 
 It will be as a preacher of righteousness that Presi- 
 dent Taylor will be best remembered by the generation 
 who heard him. His published sermons would make 
 several large volumes if collected ; but those published 
 are insignificant in comparison with the number he 
 delivered. The Saints who listened to him for half a 
 century will remember as long as they live his com- 
 manding presence, his personal magnetism, the vigor 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 43 1 
 
 and power of his discourses and the grand principles of 
 which they treated. He spoke extemporaneously as 
 indeed do all the Elders of Israel. The formal, set dis- 
 course, so common in the world, has never been favor- 
 ably received in the Church of Jesus Christ. It may be 
 said that in that Church a new school of oratory, quite 
 distinct from the strictly scholastic oratory of the world, 
 is being formed ; a manner of speech which depends for 
 its success rather upon the presence and operations of 
 the Holy Spirit than upon the cunning or ability of the 
 speaker. When the Lord sent the first Elders out to 
 preach the gospel He gave them these instructions: 
 
 " Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall 
 say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words 
 of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that 
 portion that shall be meted unto every man." 
 
 "Verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this 
 people, speak the thoughts that I shall put into your 
 hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men ; 
 for it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the 
 very moment, what ye shall say. But a commandment 
 I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever things 
 ye declare in my name in solemnity of heart, in the 
 spirit of meekness, in all things. And I give unto you 
 this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this, the Holy Ghost 
 shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things 
 whatsoever ye shall say. 
 
 "This is an example unto all those who are ordained 
 unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed to go 
 forth [to preach the gospel]. They shall speak as they 
 are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and whatsoever 
 they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, 
 shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be 
 the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, 
 
43 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 and the power of God unto salvation ; behold this is the 
 promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants." 
 
 This makes the kind of oratory which obtains in the 
 Church of Christ today resemble closely that which 
 existed in the Church among the first Christians. The 
 reader will doubtless remember that the great apostle of 
 the Gentiles said : 
 
 "And my speech and my preaching was not with 
 enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration 
 of the spirit and of power." 
 
 In the primitive as in the modern Church the reason 
 for instituting this manner of discourse, is the same: 
 That the faith of believers should not stand in the wisdom 
 of men, but in the power of God. 
 
 These instructions from the Almighty, President 
 Taylor carried out as implicitly as any man engaged in 
 the ministry; and while his discourses may lack the 
 polish, the faultless rhetoric, the studied climax to be 
 found in the set speeches of the learned orators of the 
 world, they are full of great thoughts and the inspiration 
 of God an excellence which more than repays for the 
 want of smoothness and the fine finish that a carping 
 criticism demands. 
 
 It was not his manner to deal with nice distinctions 
 of words, their derivations or the various shades of their 
 meanings. His was not the skill to 
 
 "Distinguish and divide 
 
 A hair 'twixt South and South-west side." 
 
 He chose rather to deal with general principles, 
 great truths and build on them such arguments, and draw 
 thence such sound deductions as convinced the judgment, 
 appealed to the feelings, increased the faith, reformed 
 the wayward or more firmly established the convictions 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 433 
 
 of those who believed. He was deliberate in speech, 
 almost slow, but not more so than the great principles 
 he was wont to treat of required. His voice was clear, 
 strong," resonant, and of wonderful compass ; and 
 whether it sank, as it often did, to the tender tones 
 which give expression to the deep pathos that sometimes 
 moved his soul, or calmly reasoned upon some heavenly 
 doctrine, or was raised to its grandest swell or thunder 
 tones to denounce injustice or oppression, no one could 
 grow weary of listening to it. 
 
 His eloquence was a majestic^ river full to the point 
 of overflowing its banks, sweeping grandly through 
 rich regions of thought. His discourse was mainly 
 argumentative and abounding with occasional coloquial- 
 isms, not unfrequently of a humorous turn : for among 
 his other qualities of mind he had a keen sense of the 
 ridiculous. His gestures were few, but very significant. 
 His manner was, in the main, calm and dispassionate, but 
 when a train of thought more than ordinarily sublime 
 stirred* his emotions, he became more animated and 
 impressive; the form dilated, the utterance was more rapid 
 and the whole man was aglow with enthusiasm that it 
 was impossible to resist. 
 
 If, as it often chanced, his theme was the wrongs 
 of the Saints, or if he spoke in defense of the broad 
 principles of liberty and the rights of man, he then had 
 a theme which called forth all his powers. His denun- 
 ciations of injustice and tyranny were terrible. At such 
 times his brow, usually beaming with mingled intelligence 
 and benevolence, grew dark as the coming storm 
 approached. The form was drawn up to its full height, 
 the gestures were majestic the word suited the action, 
 the action the word ; eye and arm, voice and movement 
 the whole man, with the love of liberty burning like con- 
 
434 LJ FE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 suming fire in his bones, poured out impassioned utterances 
 against tyranny in all its forms ; and the demonstrations 
 of the congregation as the climax was reached, is suf- 
 ficient evidence that they were irresistibly borne along 
 by that tempest of passion. Yet in these bursts of 
 eloquence he never seemed to put forth all his strength. 
 He always appeared to have still more force in reserve 
 that he could have used had he so minded. Moreover, 
 he had that rare faculty which in the very torrent, 
 tempest and whirl-wind of passion exercised a tem- 
 perance that gave it smoothness and never permitted it 
 to become strained or incongruous. 
 
 These qualities in him sprang from nature, not from 
 training. There was nothing of the schools, nor of the 
 studied elocutionist in his manner. His style of speak- 
 ing was peculiarly his own and was well suited to the 
 man, and to him alone. 
 
 The great body of the Saints knew him principally 
 as a public man ; and so prominent was he as such that 
 his private life and domestic virtues have attracted but 
 little attention. Yet it is pleasant to know that his 
 private life was in every sense as praiseworthy as his 
 public career. The letters to his family published in this 
 volume give all necessary evidence to the existence of 
 deep solicitude for their welfare, comfort and happiness ; 
 as well as a true parental interest in the mental, moral 
 and spiritual development of his children ; an interest so 
 intense that it was an anxiety, such as only generous, 
 manly bosoms, big with hopes that reach beyond the 
 grave, are capable of experiencing. While he was will- 
 ing and did labor for the good of the human race, and 
 possessed brilliant talents and a universal sympathy 
 which eminently qualified him for that work, he looked 
 upon his own family as being the nucleus of that king- 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 435 
 
 dom over which he would reign as priest, as king, as 
 God ! He loved his family, but that love was sanctified 
 and made devoid of all selfishness by the hopes and 
 aspirations awakened in his breast by the glorious gospel 
 of the Son of God. Love so sanctified could only 
 result in making him a kind, noble father, a gentle and 
 loving husband. 
 
 He possessed superb self-control, which, with his 
 nice sense of justice and honor, enabled him to be 
 remarkably successful in the patriarchal order of mar- 
 riage. Each wife was treated as the equal of the others, 
 and with her children shared equally in the blessings and 
 material advantages he was able to bestow upon them. 
 
 The social circle offered him an opportunity for the 
 exercise of all his generous impulses. He delighted in 
 family gatherings, in neighborhood feasts, and the reun- 
 ions of friends, especially of those tried and true. His 
 genial manners, his delightful conversation, his powers 
 as a vocalist, together with his great experience, and an 
 inexhaustible fund of humor made him a central figure 
 and often the very life of these social gatherings. 
 
 Such was the character of President John Taylor ; 
 such the qualities of his mind; such his public and 
 domestic virtues : and if, as an old English writer hath it, 
 the great man is he who chooses the right with invin- 
 cible resolution ; who resists the sorest temptations from 
 within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens 
 cheerfully ; who is calmest in storms, and most fearless 
 under menace and frowns; and whose reliance on truth, 
 on virtue, and on God, is most unfaltering the name of 
 JOHN TAYLOR must be written high up on the column of 
 fame where the names of the great are enshrined, for in 
 all these things he was pre-eminent. 
 
436 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 FUNERAL CEREMONIES TESTIMONIES OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR*S 
 
 FELLOW LABORERS FINAL RESTING PLACE OF THE 
 
 CHAMPION OF LIBERTY. 
 
 THE morning of Friday, July 29, 1887, dawned 
 over Salt Lake Valley, rosy and beautiful ; but it was a 
 day of sadness in the chief city of the Saints, and 
 throughout Israel. It was the day appointed for the 
 funeral services of President Taylor. Shortly after day- 
 light had broken over the eastern mountains, vehicles 
 loaded with people could be seen coming into the city 
 from all directions to do honor to the great departed. 
 Later special trains loaded to their utmost capacity 
 brought in those too far from the city to reach it with 
 teams. 
 
 The remains of President Taylor were removed to 
 the Gardo House on the night of the 26th, and at six 
 o'clock in the morning of the 29th, the day of his 
 funeral, his family assembled to take a mournful but fond 
 adieu of the earthly remains of him who had been their 
 head their husband, father and their friend. At ten 
 minutes before seven the body was removed to the large 
 Tabernacle ; and at seven the doors of the mammoth 
 building were thrown open to the great throng which 
 already surrounded it. The body was placed in the 
 open space in front of the stand so that the people 
 could pass in single file on each side. The coffin in 
 which it was enclosed was made of Utah pine, stained 
 and polished until it resembled mahogany. It was 
 tastefully ornamented with silver trimmings, but there 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 437 
 
 was an entire absence of any display. On a silver plate 
 on the coffin was inscribed in neatly engraved lettering: 
 
 PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 DIED JULY 25, 1887. 
 AGED 78 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AND 24 DAYS. 
 
 At the bottom of the plate was engraved : 
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 REST IN PEACE. 
 
 The Tabernacle was draped in mourning, the great 
 organ and stands being covered with crape. In front of 
 the organ was an excellent life sized portrait of the 
 deceased. The stands were decorated with a profusion 
 of beautiful flowers tastefully arranged. On the sacra- 
 ment stand, in the centre, was a fine piece of floral 
 ornamentation, on which was inscribed the noble title 
 won by President Taylor in his early manhood 
 
 CHAMPION OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Near it was a large sheaf of ripe wheat, bearing the 
 inscription 
 
 WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT. 
 
 The countenance of the deceased President was peaceful, 
 and much more natural than might have been expected. 
 There was but little evidence of physical suffering, 
 though he looked somewhat worn, by the anxiety and 
 confinement through which he had passed in the last few 
 years of his earthly career. 
 
 For four and a half hours there was a continuous 
 stream of humanity passing in at the west gate of the 
 
43 8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Temple enclosure and into the Tabernacle by the north- 
 west entrance. Fully twenty-five thousand people 
 passed the coffin and gazed for a moment in sadness 
 upon the countenance of the noble man they had learned 
 to trust and love as one of God's most distinguished 
 servants, a friend and leader. While the people were 
 passing through the building, Professor J. J. Daynes 
 played a number of appropriate selections on the grand 
 organ. There were but few faces in that great throng 
 that were not wet with tears, and many a bosom swelled 
 with righteous indignation at the thought that President 
 Taylor's life had been shortened by his enforced confine- 
 ment, made necessary by the cruelty of relentless 
 enemies. 
 
 At 12 o'clock, the hour appointed for commencing 
 the services, the great Tabernacle was filled to its utmost 
 capacity, even to the standing room, while thousands 
 were unable to enter but waited without until the for- 
 mation of the burial cortege. President Taylor's two 
 Counselors, and many of the Apostles and other leading 
 Elders in Israel could not be present at the funeral 
 services without great danger of falling into the hands 
 of their enemies. The stand of the First Presidency 
 was therefore unoccupied. That stand so long graced 
 by the majestic form and presence of President Taylor 
 being vacant, and so many of the well-known leading 
 Elders being absent from their accustomed places, made 
 the feeling of loneliness doubly oppressive. But three 
 of the quorum of Twelve Apostles were present 
 Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Heber J. Grant. 
 Daniel H. Wells, himself bowed with the weight of 73 
 years was there ; as was also the Patriarch of the 
 Church, John Smith. Angus M. Cannon, President of 
 the Salt Lake Stake, and A. O. Smoot of Utah Stake, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 439 
 
 together with Patriarchs Lorenzo D. Young and Joseph 
 B. Noble were seated in the second stand with the 
 Apostles. In the third were Presidents Jacob Gates, 
 HoraceS. Eldredge, Seymour B. Young, Abraham H. 
 Cannon of the first Council of Seventies, and others. 
 The members of President Taylor's family occupied the 
 seats immediately in front of the stands. 
 
 At fifteen minutes past 12, the services began by 
 President Angus M. Cannon reading the following letter 
 written by President Taylor some years before his death, 
 in answer to one addressed by President Young to him 
 and the other Apostles asking them to give a written 
 account of how they wished to be buried: 
 
 "SALT LAKE CITY, 
 
 "November 17, 1873. 
 "President Brig ham Young, 
 
 "DEAR BROTHER: Being asked to give a written 
 account of the way I wish to be buried, I present the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 "I have no desire for any particular formula, but I 
 should wish my body to be washed clean, to be clothed 
 in clean white linen garments and robes, with shoes, 
 apron and cap, etc.; to be laid in a coffin sufficiently 
 large to contain my body without pressure. 
 
 " Should I die here, let me be buried in my own lot 
 in the grave yard. Let the coffin be neat and comely, 
 but plain and strong, made of cedar or red wood, or of 
 our own mountain pine ; if of the latter, colored or 
 stained, and placed in an outer strong box, with a light 
 cotton or woolen mattress or bed and a convenient pil- 
 low for the head. 
 
 "The services, such as -prevail at the time among 
 
44 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 the Saints. A plain slab may be placed over the body, 
 and a stone at the head and feet, on the stone to be 
 given an account of my name, age and birth, as shall suit 
 the feelings of my family. 
 
 "Should I die in Jackson County, Missouri, let the 
 above directions be carried out as far as practicable. 
 "Respectfully your Brother, 
 
 4 ' JOHN TAYLOR." 
 
 The choir and congregation united in singing the 
 hymn by Wm. Clayton, beginning: 
 
 "When first the glorious light of truth 
 
 Burst forth in this last age, 
 How few there were with heart and soul 
 
 T obey it did engage ! 
 Yet of those few how many 
 
 Have passed from earth away, 
 And in their graves are sleeping 
 
 Till the resurrection day." 
 
 The fourth verse of the hymn refers to the martyr- 
 dom of the Prophets Joseph and Hyrum Smith, which, in 
 view of the fact that these lines were being sung as a 
 requiem over the remains of their fellow martyr, was 
 doubly pathetic. 
 
 "Our Patriarch and Prophet, too, 
 
 Were massacred, they bled ; 
 To seal their testimony 
 
 They were numbered with the dead. 
 Oh, tell me, are they sleeping? 
 
 Methinks I hear them say, 
 Death's icy chains are bursting . 
 
 'Tis the resurrection day ! " 
 
 Bishop Millen Atwood offered the opening prayer ; 
 after which the choir sang, 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 44! 
 
 "Thou dost not weep to weep alone, 
 The broad bereavement seems to fall 
 
 Unheeded and unfelt by none, 
 He was beloved beloved by all." 
 
 Apostle Lorenzo Snow was the first speaker. He 
 read his text from Paul's second letter to Timothy: 
 
 " For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure 
 is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I 
 have kept the faith." 
 
 The speaker then said: 
 
 "Paul, whose remarks I have just read in your 
 hearing, was an apostle of the Lord, our Savior. The 
 man whose remains now lie before us was also an apostle 
 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of the liv- 
 ing God. And as Paul made this statement in regard to 
 himself, so also could be made a statement similar by 
 President Taylor, whose remains lie before us this after- 
 noon. 
 
 ''Paul, during his life, struggled and contended for 
 the faith which was once delivered to the Saints those 
 principles which pertain to the exaltation and salvation 
 of the human family ; and he was willing to make any 
 sacrifice and go through every scene of difficulty and 
 trouble in order to accomplish this object, that his testi- 
 mony in regard to the Son of God and those principles 
 that he had espoused might be carried forth to the nations 
 of the earth to the whole human family. He suffered 
 imprisonment; he suffered the lash of his persecutors; he 
 suffered every indignity, and finally died a martyr to 
 those principles he so laboriously and so effectually car- 
 ried forth among the human family. 
 
 " So also we can say of President Taylor. Those 
 principles made known to Him by the revelations of the 
 
44 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Son of God as being of a divine nature principles that 
 pertain to the interest and salvation and exaltation of the 
 human family he carried forth to the various nations of 
 the earth: and he heeded not the difficulties that ensued, 
 or that were in his path of progress. He has shown to 
 the world, he has shown to the Latter-day Saints, he has 
 shown to the angels and to the Lord our God, his will- 
 ingness, his determination, his resolution to do all in his 
 power to carry out and accomplish the work of the Most 
 High God. This he has done, and there lie his remains. 
 He has left this world of sorrow, of trials, of afflictions 
 of every nature that the Saints have to endure. He has 
 gone to a better world. And it may be said of him 
 truthfully, as was announced to John the Revelator when 
 upon the Isle of Patmos, who was commanded to write 
 what he heard by a voice from the eternal worlds : 
 
 "' Blessed are they that die in the Lord from hence- 
 forth. Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labors; and their works do follow them.' 
 
 "In a few verses before those that contain this vision 
 it says an angel was seen passing swiftly through the 
 midst of eternity, coming down to the earth bearing the 
 gospel of the Son of God, to be declared to every 
 nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. This mes- 
 sage our dear, beloved brother has sought, during a part 
 of his life covering a period of fifty years, to carry forth 
 to the nations of the earth. And during this period it 
 is well known to the Latter-day Saints, the sufferings, 
 the trials, the afflictions, and the blood that he spent in 
 announcing and carrying forward these principles of life 
 and salvation to the world of mankind. He truly fought 
 a good fight. He has finished his course; 'and hence- 
 forth,' his spirit could well proclaim, 'there is laid up, 
 for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 443 
 
 righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to 
 me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.' 
 
 "Of course we feel the affliction; we feel the sad 
 stroke. The Latter-day Saints feel that they have lost 
 a friend ; that we have lost a mighty counselor; that we 
 have lost one of the greatest men that have stood upon 
 the earth since the days of the Son of God a man 
 whose virtue, whose integrity, whose resolution to pur- 
 sue the path of righteousness is known, and well known. 
 
 "Now, we could apply this passage of scripture to 
 many others who have gone before ; they have fought 
 the good fight and kept the faith to the end ; and they 
 have finished their course, and they now sleep in peace 
 in the spirit world, and the influence of their grand 
 doings and great accomplishments in the path of right- 
 eousness, extend over the land of Zion. The Latter day 
 Saints feel those beautiful and glorious influences. Our 
 hearts are made glad to contemplate their virtues, their 
 fidelity, their faithfulness, their glorious integrity. 
 
 "This our beloved brother has not only been a 
 father and friend to his wives and to his children to his 
 numerous family ; he has been a faithful friend also to 
 the world of mankind, which at some future period, 
 though it may be for a thousand years to come, they will 
 distinctly understand. He has stood firm to those prin- 
 ciples that are a light to the world, that are a light to the 
 human family. And did the world understand President 
 Taylor and his motives during the last fifty years of 
 his pilgrimage among the children of men, they would 
 feel differently towards him than they do. Those who 
 put themselves in the attitude of enemies to the Latter- 
 day Saints and the servants of God, do so because they 
 don't comprehend us; they don't understand our hearts, 
 and don't understand our willingness to sacrifice in order 
 
444 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 to lay a plan or to carry out measures by which salva- 
 tion may come to them also. We dedicate our lives 
 which we hold as not dear to us, in order that the world 
 may understand that there is a God in the eternal 
 worlds ; in order that they may understand that God has 
 something to do at the present time with the affairs of 
 the children of men. The world is passing into feelings 
 and opinions of infidelity. Even among the Christian 
 portion of the human family, thousands and tens of 
 thousands, though they are not willing to confess it be- 
 cause of being unpopular, do not believe that God has 
 anything to do with the children of men. We have to 
 stand forth and make sacrifices in order that that belief 
 and knowledge may come to the children of men. That 
 is the case with our beloved brother, President Taylor. 
 He has shown himself willing to make sacrifices before 
 he would deny or turn his back upon those principles 
 that, when people understand them, lead them to the 
 path of knowledge, of salvation and of immortality. 
 "Well, it is so ordered that one man's death, or the 
 death of a dozen, though they stand in the highest posi- 
 tions in the Church, does not stop this work. The Latter- 
 day Saints have advanced to that wisdom and that intel- 
 ligence and that understanding, that this does not materi- 
 ally affect their interest. The kingdom of God moves 
 forward. It is not dependent upon one man or a half 
 dozen men. It was thought by some in the days of 
 Joseph that this Church could not prosper except Joseph 
 guided its destinies ; and when the time came that he 
 was to pass away from this world as a martyr, into the 
 spirit world, the Saints throughout the kingdom of God 
 were greatly agitated. It was something unexpected. 
 They hardly knew how things would then move. The 
 responsibility then devolved upon the quorum of the 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 445 
 
 Twelve Apostles; and through the blessings of God 
 upon them and the spirit of inspiration that dwelt in 
 their bosoms, and under the guidance of the Almighty, 
 the kingdom moved forward. And so in regard to the 
 time when our beloved Brother Brigham Young was 
 called from this state into the spirit life. He passed 
 away almost unexpectedly. The Saints were hardly 
 prepared for it. And yet the kingdom of God moved 
 forward. The duties of guidance were still upon the 
 Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 
 
 "The Lord has seen proper now to call our beloved 
 brother, President Taylor, away from these scenes of 
 suffering, these scenes of martyrdom ; and the Church 
 still moves forward. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the duties and the obligations 
 devolve again upon the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 
 for the third time, through the blessings of the Almighty 
 and the spirit of inspiration that will be upon them as it 
 always has been, the Church will move forward. We 
 are gaining that experience that each man and each 
 woman knows what his or her duty is ; 'and they know 
 the foundation upon which this kingdom and Church is 
 founded; they know the foundation upon which each 
 individual is established ; and they know that God reigns 
 over the children of men and over the affairs of the 
 Latter-day Saints. They feel, now, perhaps, different 
 to what they generally feel when circumstances of this 
 kind occur. They feel more calm, more assurance in 
 the providences of the Almighty. 
 
 "And so in regard to the beloved family of Presi- 
 dent Taylor. Of course they cannot but feel and it is 
 well that they do feel that they have lost a parent, a 
 father, a guide, to direct and counsel. But still there is 
 nothing in the way of their progress, any more than 
 
44^ LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 there is in the way of the progress of the kingdom of 
 God. They can move forward, and it is their duty to 
 move forward in order that the word of the angel may 
 be fulfilled which said : ' Blessed are the dead which die 
 in the Lord henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they 
 may rest from their labors and their works do follow 
 them. 
 
 " And this family of President Taylor's, if they pre- 
 pare themselves, can go onward notwithstanding they 
 have lost their head. The road is still clear. They still 
 have the counsels of the Holy Spirit, to which they are 
 entitled, for guidance and direction, and they can move 
 forward in the path of wisdom and knowledge, and in 
 all those beautiful qualifications that make a Latter-day 
 Saint; and they can prepare themselves, so that the 
 words of the angel may be fulfilled. Elder Taylor's 
 works follow him. His labors, so far as his family are 
 concerned, follow him. Well, I have occupied sufficient 
 time. There are a number here that we wish to speak. 
 I ask God in His mercy to bless the family of President 
 Taylor, that the Holy Spirit of life may be upon them, 
 and that they may have consolation in their hearts. 
 Their parent is now dwelling in glory, having a crown of 
 righteousness upon his head ; and he will be there to wel- 
 come them as they pass off one after another from this 
 into the next world and to take them by the hand. God 
 bless the family of President Taylor, God bless the 
 Latter-day Saints ; God bless the quorum of the Twelve 
 Apostles, on whom rests the responsibility of moving 
 forward the interests of the kingdom of God. God bless 
 the authorities of the Latter-day Saints and bless the 
 honest in all the world of mankind, is my prayer, in the 
 name of Jesus. Amen." 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 447 
 
 Apostle Franklin D. Richards followed Apostle 
 Snow: 
 
 ''Beloved fellow-mourners: On occasions of this 
 kind, when the great men whom God has raised up for 
 our guidance, are released from their labors in this low 
 estate and called to another of a higher and more glori- 
 ous character, it appears to me suitable that we should 
 spend a little time and dwell upon their virtues, their 
 excellent examples, and those high, dignified traits of 
 character which they have shown forth unto us as the 
 exemplars of that which is right and proper before all 
 good people, and which is most acceptable to God and 
 the angels of heaven. We are called upon to part with 
 one of God's noblemen a brother, a father, a husband 
 and a true friend to all that is praiseworthy among man- 
 kind. Many of the points of his character and of the 
 transactions of this great and good man have already 
 been noticed in the prints, and it is to be hoped that a 
 correct, competent and creditable biography of his life 
 may be given to the Saints and to the world, that his 
 true character as a man of God may be known as a 
 standing and abiding testimony to the whole human 
 family. I, therefore, cannot neither can any of us 
 today enter largely into a consideration even of the 
 most important features of the busy and very profitable 
 life which he has spent. But I wish to notice two or 
 three of the prominent traits of his character, which as a 
 fellow-laborer in the gospel, I have come personally 
 to know. 
 
 "President Taylor was a man who could not get 
 down to grovel with the low-lived, the vicious, the ribald, 
 nor any who indulged in the follies and vanities of 
 mortal life. When the gospel found him, he was aspir- 
 ing from the measure of grace that existed among the 
 
44-8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 most devout religious worshipers, and hungering and 
 thirsting for something nobler and better ; and the testi- 
 mony of the glorious truths again revealed came to his 
 ears by the Elders of the Church, and soon by the 
 blessed testimony of the Prophet Joseph. 
 
 "Brother Parley P. Pratt had the distinguished 
 honor to sound the gospel of Jesus Christ in his ears. 
 He was the instrument to lead him into the Church of 
 Christ. Brother Pratt found in him that right heart, and 
 that open hand by which he was led to go right forward 
 in the truth, and the new wine in the old vessel did no 
 harm. President Taylor was a man bold and daring for 
 the truth. He knew no fear. I recollect well when he 
 and I were on our missions in Europe together, he 
 labored in France on the coast of infidel France if I 
 mistaken not in Havre.* He labored in that vicinity 
 diligently; and at one time a number of religious 
 divines combined together to put down this heresy, as 
 they term it. President Taylor, with that boldness which 
 ever characterized him, consented to meet a whole 
 pack of them, all that were willing to conspire together 
 to silence and turn away the testimonies from reaching 
 the hearts of the people. I recollect well my feelings 
 when in Liverpool at the time. Morally speaking it was 
 like Paul when he writes about fighting wild beasts at 
 Ephesus. He withstood them and he brought forth the 
 truth, and souls were given him as the fruit of his labors; 
 an interest was awakened, and some were gathered out. 
 His labors were continued and incessant until he 
 obtained a translation of the Book of Mormon in the 
 French language. 
 
 * It was in Boulogne ser-Mer and Paris that he labored principally while in France, 
 and it was at the former place he held the discussion alluded to by Elder Richards. 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 449 
 
 "President Taylor was a man who in his bearing 
 and nature was onward and upward. Who that is before 
 me ever heard him indulge in ribaldry or light and 
 trifling and vain conversation? He was always looking 
 forward, from the moment he embraced the gospel, fora 
 higher platform upon which he could climb, and raise 
 until he could go back, a son of God, and associate as 
 he did here upon the earth, with the prophets of the 
 Most High. There were but very few men that attained 
 the warm, personal relation that he attained to and 
 maintained most successfully with the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith till he died, and the story of that personal affection 
 was consummated by the bullets he received in Carthage 
 jail with the Prophet when he was slain. President 
 Taylor was himself disabled. In the scene that he then 
 passed through he experienced all that pertains to 
 martyrdom. He never suffered greater pain, or more 
 severe pain than he experienced in the jail with the 
 Prophet Joseph. But it was not appropriate for him to 
 give up the ghost then. He had to wait another forty 
 years, that he might show forth his magnanimity, his 
 Priesthood and his fervor, and be a blessing to God's 
 people in these valleys of the mountains. 
 
 "At another time when President Taylor was labor- 
 ing in New York, he went to work and with faith, and 
 the co-operation of such brethren as he could find, estab- 
 lished a paper, and published it in New York one of 
 the most successful enterprises of the kind that was ever 
 undertaken in the last days. Some of the papers of 
 New York undertook to run him out, thinking New 
 York belonged to them. They dared President Taylor 
 to an investigation. He proposed to meet as many of 
 them as pleased to attend ; but he was ready with so 
 magnanimous a heart and so full a hand, that they 
 
 29 
 
45 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 declined the opportunity to meet him. I cite these 
 instances of the high moral bravery that President 
 Taylor possessed anywhere, everywhere and at all times 
 in behalf of the truth while traveling and laboring in 
 various countries. This has been his spirit and feeling. 
 And while he has been of this magnanimous character, 
 he has always entertained a most profound regard for 
 legitimate authority. No man delighted more to receive 
 and obey the counsel of those over him. This he did 
 with the Prophet Joseph although some of the counsels 
 given him, tested him and many of his brethren to the 
 innermost soul and to the veritable life itself. President 
 Taylor always delighted to serve the people. It was a 
 notable trait in his character that he was not addicted 
 to hankering after money. Many men could discover a 
 sovereign or a half eagle a long way farther off than he 
 could. He sought for the riches of eternal life. Blessed 
 be God, he is rich in the possession of the knowledge 
 he attained, and the skill and integrity which he exer- 
 cised, and the authority with which he was entrusted 
 until he has taken his departure and gone hence. 
 
 "President Taylor entertained the most profound 
 regard for the superiority of the principles of the Amer- 
 ican government as embodied in the holy constitution, 
 and the just laws of the land. I recollect well when 
 the news arrived of the passage of those laws which 
 have lately engaged the attention of the people, how 
 with what consideration he sat down and conversed with 
 myself and others upon that subject, and how he care- 
 fully and prayerfully adjusted the affairs of his house- 
 hold in a way that, in the honesty of his heart and the 
 magnanimity of his soul, he felt that no man nor no 
 government could take exceptions to. He felt to place 
 himself in conformity with the law. He would rather do 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 451 
 
 that than that any issue should arise. He therefore 
 gladly bade family, kindred and friends adieu and went 
 into retirement, went where, under certain circumstances 
 he could still serve his brethren, still counsel them in the 
 ways of life, still advise them as a man who was 
 entrusted with the keys of eternal life to the human 
 family, and this he did, blessed be God! until the day of 
 his death. And it will be pleasant to some who are 
 present to know that President Taylor has not died of 
 organic disease. He has died from the legitimate con- 
 sequences of confinement, of limitation from exercise, 
 just as everybody else would do if they were limited 
 and could not get exercise. Their candle would go out 
 from want of oil ; the fires of their life would go out for 
 want of fuel. He has attained to the age of four score, 
 and the Lord has permitted him to finish his days in this, 
 and to a great degree, happy manner, notwithstanding 
 the unfavorable circumstances which surrounded him. 
 
 "When we recount the activity of his life, when we 
 contemplate the dignity of his character and of his 
 course, and how exceptional it has been, what an 
 example it is for us ! Should we not be tending 
 upward too and continually so ? 
 
 "But President Taylor, by the blessing of God was 
 placed in a position in which he was not only a father 
 and protector to his family, but God made him a great 
 benefactor to many of the human race. There are 
 numbers here today before me, who have been brought 
 from distant lands lands where poverty and want looked 
 them in the face and they have been brought to this 
 land where there is room for enterprise and industry, 
 whereby multitudes of the poor have come to have 
 homes and the comforts of life around them. President 
 Taylor has exercised this discretion and this authority 
 
45 2 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 with a liberality that was becoming a saint of God, and 
 there are few in the Church more intimately acquainted 
 with these facts than myself, and I wish to testify to them. 
 A great man and a good man has fallen fallen not from 
 grace, not from any virtue, or any adornment of mortal 
 life, but his mortal body is laid down that his spirit may 
 go hence. 
 
 44 And we are together in meeting, we are in his 
 presence, though we may not discern it. God is bring- 
 ing to light many wonderful developments of science, so 
 much so that men are constructing eyes that they can 
 look at the distant planets and tell their surface, and tell 
 their distances, and comprehend those things that lie at 
 very remote distances in space. 
 
 "And these things are made after the pattern of the 
 human eye. Shall He who made the human eye not 
 see? We are taught in the revelations that some men 
 can see into the future. But God is able and He has 
 power to see us continually. We are in His presence 
 continually, and we ought never to forget it. 
 
 "He who has made the ear, shall He not hear? 
 Behold ! men are already learning to talk to others at a 
 distance of many hundreds of miles. If men can do 
 this by the limited knowledge they possess, is it not true 
 that greater things shall yet be revealed? 
 
 "Jesus said to marvel not at certain things; for the 
 day shall come when all they that are in their graves 
 shall hear His voice and live. We lay our bodies down, 
 but it is as true to science as it is to revealed religion 
 that these bodies shall be brought forth by the power of 
 that resurrection which was attained to by Jesus, and 
 though the wicked may scoff and the fool may say in his 
 heart, 'There is no God,' Saints know their foolishness. 
 
 "Now, then, my dear friends, my brethren and sisters 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 453 
 
 friends and relatives of President Taylor I feel thank- 
 ful that I have been favored with an acquaintance of so 
 great and noble a household. There are few households, 
 indeed, in Israel or on the earth that are as honorable as 
 that of President Taylor. My dear young brethren and 
 sisters, endeavor and ask God to help you to strive to 
 emulate those glorious qualities of your dear father, who 
 has gone before you, as he has written in the song for 
 President Taylor, be it known, was a writer, he was an 
 author and a poet and there are very few productions 
 more exalted and ennobling and dignified than the one 
 he composed, and which he used to sing with great eclat, 
 beginning, 
 
 " ' The seer the seer, Joseph the seer, 
 
 I love to dwell on his memory dear, 
 
 The chosen of God and the friend of men,' etc. 
 
 " He who had all these qualifications as a man here 
 among us, is a great exemplar to all Israel, and a worthy 
 instructor to my young brethren and sisters. I beg you 
 to heed the counsels he has given, heed the testimonies 
 he has left on record, and strive to follow the same, so 
 that by-and-by, when you return to clay, he will be ready 
 to welcome you to Zion's shore. He has gone to pre- 
 pare a place for you. Be not discouraged. Be not 
 afflicted. We mourn President Taylor's absence. We 
 will lose his counsel. We cannot well spare such men. 
 We need such men in the Church to establish righteous- 
 ness and preach the gospel and build up Zion on the 
 earth. You and I feel the loss all Israel feel it. We are 
 all mourners on this occasion. I feel to say, then, that 
 while we bid President Taylor adieu, let us send with him 
 congratulations. Oh what a joyful reception will be 
 given him yonder, when he will shake hands with Joseph 
 
454 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 again, with Hyrum and Brigham, with Parley and Orson, 
 and George A. and Willard, and all of the brethren of 
 the Twelve! Why there is nearly a quorum of the 
 Twelve Apostles to establish and carry on the work 
 which we here but begin. 
 
 "My dear brethren and sisters, may the spirit of the 
 gospel, the spirit of the Gods be with all those who seek 
 to know and obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 to keep His commandments and to walk in His statutes 
 and ordinances continually." 
 
 " May the Lord help us to cultivate and to follow the 
 examples of so great and glorious men. May we 
 acquire their virtues and like them seek more abund- 
 antly to become Saints of God ; seek to stand without 
 rebuke in this untoward generation ; seek to overcome 
 all evil, that we may ultimately gain the reward of the 
 faithful. This is my desire, my purpose and my labor 
 with you all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." 
 
 Apostle Heber J. Grant said: 
 
 "I feel that it is much more appropriate that those 
 men who have lived almost a life time with President 
 Taylor should be the speakers on this occasion. How- 
 ever, inasmuch as I have been requested to make a 
 few remarks, I will willingly do so. I can say of Presi- 
 dent Taylor that he lived a faithful, honest and conscien- 
 tious life ; that he did all that was in his power for the 
 advancement of the work of God upon the earth. He 
 has been a faithful Latter-day Saint, and no more can be 
 said of any man. * * * He has lived unto a good 
 old age. He has filled up the measure of his creation, 
 and there is no man but can say that he has been true to 
 his own conscience. No matter what has been the 
 obstacle before him, he has never faltered. He has 
 always been firm and steadfast in walking in the path of 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 455 
 
 duty. May God bless his family. May God bless the 
 Latter-day Saints everywhere, is my prayer in the name 
 of Jesus. Amen." 
 
 Counselor Daniel H. Wells was the next speaker: 
 
 "I agree with the psalmist who said: 'I shall be 
 satisfied when I arise in His likeness.' The Lord Jesus 
 Christ has brought light and redemption into the world 
 for the benefit of the human family, from the creation of 
 the world to the redemption of every creature worthy of 
 eternal life. 
 
 "President Taylor espoused this cause [referring to 
 the work of the Lord in the last days] because he had 
 the light of truth burning within him when it was first 
 made known to him. He lived a fearless, noble and 
 God-like life let those who still live seek to emulate his 
 noble example. President Taylor has been a friend to 
 himself, a friend to his family, a friend to this people and 
 a friend to God. He has been the champion of human 
 rights, the champion of liberty, truth and freedom. He 
 has lived a noble, useful life, full of honor and credit to 
 himself and family, a satisfaction to the people and a 
 glory to God. I take pleasure in bearing this testimony 
 to the faithfulness and devotion of President Taylor, to 
 his integrity to God and the love of his people. I knew 
 him to be a man determined to do right, to see justice 
 administered, truth upheld, and honor sustained among 
 this people. He has lived to see this people pass 
 through many changes. He sought to maintain the 
 right in every instance, for which there are great and 
 glorious crowns in the eternal worlds reserved for him." 
 
 He prayed for the divine providential care to rest 
 upon the family of those who are called to mourn his 
 absence, that they may follow in his footsteps, and ever 
 cherish the love they now have for their father and 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 husband, and that it may grow stronger and become 
 brighter with the lapse of time, and that those remaining 
 may live to meet him in his glorious and exalted 
 estate. 
 
 Brother Wells bore his testimony that Mormonism 
 
 is true, that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John 
 
 Taylor were prophets, seers and revelators of the 
 
 Church of Jesus Christ in the last dispensation. And as 
 
 the people of God have twice before been called upon to 
 
 part with their leader, and have survived, and the work 
 
 been strengthened, so now God will raise up men who 
 
 will continue it where President Taylor has left off, until 
 
 shall become mighty and powerful over all the earth. 
 
 The speaker extolled the example 
 
 of the revered and honored President, and commanded 
 all who would be great to follow in his path. He bore 
 his testimony to the existence of God, the power of His 
 work, having no fear of its final destiny; trusted all 
 would fulfill the obligation incumbent upon them, and as 
 President Taylor had kept his first estate, come here on 
 earth, kept his second estate, and had now gone to the 
 spirit world, so may those of his family, his brethren and 
 all Israel do likewise prove their integrity to God and 
 finally meet the reward of an exaltation in His presence. 
 
 President A. O. Smoot: 
 
 " It is nearly forty-nine years since I first became 
 acquainted with President John Taylor, whose remains 
 now lie before us. I first knew him as a distinguished 
 and successful missionary. I next knew him in the trou- 
 bles of Missouri, in what are termed the wars of Mis- 
 souri. I next knew him as an apostle of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. I knew him as a journalist in Nauvoo, as editor 
 of the Nauvoo Neighbor and other periodicals. I knew 
 him in crossing the plains from Winter Quarters to this 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 457 
 
 city. I knew him as a distinguished Legislator in the 
 councils of the Legislature of the Territory of Utah. I 
 have known him in adversity, I have known him in pros- 
 perity, and in a great many capacities have I been famil- 
 iar with Brother Taylor for forty-nine years. And in all 
 the positions which I have known him to occupy, he has 
 been eminently faithful and has filled them with ability 
 and with unflinching integrity to the kingdom of God on 
 the earth. 
 
 "We have come here to mourn with those who 
 mourn, and we in reality have occasion to rejoice as well 
 as to mourn. Brother Taylor has filled up the measure 
 of his days in usefulness, and has never been known to 
 waver, or to flinch, or to murmur, or to complain of his 
 hardships. He stood up for the right. He supported 
 the truth at home and abroad, for the salvation of the 
 human family, and we have occasion to rejoice that he 
 has thus filled up the measure of his days in usefulness. 
 
 "While we have reason to mourn his absence for 
 the loss of his usefulness among the Latter-day Saints, 
 as has appropriately been said others will be raised up in 
 the midst of the people of God that will be qualified to 
 magnify the callings and positions which he has filled, 
 and the calling he filled at the time of his demise, and 
 they will do honor to Israel as he has done. I do not 
 feel to mourn for him as a man, and it is to be hoped 
 that we may all be so happy as to pass the ordeal with 
 the stars of honor with which he has done and with as 
 little reflection of wrong, or of wrong-doings, either by 
 friend or foe, as Brother Taylor has passed it. May it 
 be our happy lot so to do. And I hold that we should 
 not cleave to life longer than we are useful. God bless 
 all those who are faithful in Israel. It is true this departure 
 of our beloved President is a bereavement to his family 
 
45 8 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 and to all Israel. It is an occasion for mourning, and 
 yet that mourning may be tempered with joy. I do not 
 wish, my brethren and sisters, to detain you, or to enter 
 into details in relation to his character. History gives 
 this. 
 
 ''Eulogy is not required in the case of President 
 Taylor. History will tell his life, and his doings and his 
 devotion to God and His kingdom upon the earth. May 
 the comfort of the Holy Spirit rest upon the mourners. 
 
 " May the comforting influence rest abundantly upon 
 them that they may feel to acknowledge the hand of God 
 and to profit by Brother Taylor's example in life." 
 
 Lorenzo D. Young and Joseph B. Noble, Patriarchs 
 in the Salt Lake and Davis Stakes respectively, made 
 remarks, bearing testimony to the excellent character 
 and nobility of soul of the deceased President. 
 
 Angus M. Cannon, President of the Salt Lake 
 Stake, was the last speaker. He said : 
 
 "It is with feelings of solemnity that I arise before 
 you on this occasion. In looking upon the remains of 
 our late President, it brings to my memory many of his 
 noble traits and actions. My acquaintance with him 
 dates back a little over forty years ago, when I was a 
 child, and when he brought the gospel to my parents. I 
 have been familiar with his record from that day to this. 
 When nigh unto death with leaden missiles, received 
 through his integrity to the Prophet of Almighty God 
 and his brethren and the servants of the Most High, he 
 stood immovable, determined to maintain the testimony 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 "If I ever abided in the truth nourished and cher- 
 ished by his testimony and Godlike qualities within me, 
 it has been under his divine instructions and by the aid of 
 his holy example and by his self-denial and the integrity 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 459 
 
 that he has exhibited for the testimony of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 " I saw him last in enfeebled health, and when I 
 asked him if he would have me bear a message to his 
 loved ones to his family, his wives and his children he 
 said, 'Yes, say unto them I remember them always. I 
 love them individually, and never cease to plead with 
 God for them. And although I am feeble now, I hope 
 soon to be better.' 
 
 "He has been relieved from his pains. He sleeps 
 in God; and I can imagine seeing the portal of heaven 
 open through which he has entered. I see Joseph, I see 
 Hyrum, I see the Patriarch, the father of Joseph, I see 
 Don Carlos,* Samuelf and Heber,J Brigham,|| Willard, 
 David Patten,]f Jedediah** and George A.,ff and as he is 
 free with them and in their society, I can imagine and 
 rejoice in the joy and counsels and power of God that 
 they who have gone exhibited, which they are now enjoy- 
 ing and which will animate and strengthen the hands and 
 comfort the hearts of those brethren who remain. 
 
 " And I tell you this day that the work of God will 
 roll on with greater rapidity than it has ever done, and 
 God will be glorified. His servants' hands will be 
 strengthened and Jesus' testimony will be maintained. 
 
 "Brother Taylor took the testimony that Joseph 
 gave him, that Jesus delivered unto Joseph, that God 
 bade Joseph to listen to from the lips of his beloved Son 
 and he bore those tidings to foreign lands, and made 
 our hearts tingle with the words which he there enun- 
 
 * A younger brother of the Prophet Joseph's, a most excellent young man; he 
 died in Nauvoo, 1841. f Samuel Smith, a brother to the Prophet. J Heber C. 
 Kimball. g President Brigham Young. >| Willard Richards, who was with Presi- 
 dent Taylor and the two Prophets in Carthage Jail. *f He was tne Apostle that was 
 killed at the battle of Crooked River, in Missouri, 1838. Jedediah Grant, Coun- 
 selor to President Young. ft George A. Smith, a Counselor to President Young. 
 
460 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 elated. I say the joy and rejoicing with which President 
 Taylor has met with his co-laborers beyond the veil, sur- 
 rounded with apostles of Jesus Christ, is great. 
 
 "When I think of the glory that attends God's 
 work, the increase of His servants, the growth of Israel 
 born in the everlasting covenant, surrounded by these 
 lofty crags and peaks, inspiring them with love of liberty, 
 I trust that from the ashes of our beloved President 
 who obtained the title of Champion of Freedom and 
 Liberty, the champion of the people's rights I trust 
 that from his ashes may spring innumerable champions 
 who will stand in the image of their Maker, as has our 
 departed president, and that they may maintain the right 
 and the rule of truth of God as he has done. We can 
 not sacrifice principle. We can go to prison. We can 
 endure death; we can separate ourselves from our fami- 
 lies, with the hope that we will have them eternally with 
 God. But we cannot forsake the work that He has 
 assigned unto us. And I bear testimony today that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Joseph 
 was His prophet and sealed his testimony with his blood. 
 Brigham Young his successor, and also John His ser- 
 vant, have gone from the earth, sealed their testimonies 
 as Prophets, Seers and Revelators in this generation. 
 
 " May God our Heavenly Father nourish His loved 
 ones who remain with us. May He inspire the hearts of 
 His people that they may go on in good works, emulat- 
 ing the example of our beloved President and perform 
 works that will exalt them to meet with him. May He 
 cherish and nourish the little ones who are left ; may He 
 bless them in health, give them strength and enable 
 them to follow in the footsteps of him whose body now 
 lies before us. May God grant that his wives may set 
 such examples and give such counsel to those of their 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 461 
 
 children who remain that will make them worthy to be 
 received of him and be cherished in his bosom eter- 
 nally. 
 
 "And may God strengthen His Saints to maintain 
 the rule of righteousness, extend the principles of truth 
 and enable us to bring about greater good to humanity, 
 that God may be glorified, His Church strengthened, 
 and that we, as His people, may be qualified for every 
 event in life, through Jesus Christ. Amen." 
 
 The choir sang the splendid anthem : 
 
 "Jerusalem, my glorious home." 
 
 The benediction was pronounced by Patriarch John 
 Smith. 
 
 This closed the services in the Tabernacle. Although 
 they had lasted for two hours and a half, and many in 
 the congregation had been sitting in the building from 
 early morning, there was no sign of weariness. The 
 most profound silence was maintained. Nothing was 
 heard-in the vast building but the sweet strains of music, 
 the voice of the speakers as they recounted the noble 
 deeds and virtues of the illustrious dead. A spirit of 
 profound sorrow brooded over that great congregation. 
 Israel sincerely mourned the departure of their great 
 leader. 
 
 As the congregation slowly and mournfully left the 
 Tabernacle the funeral cortege was formed as follows : 
 
 Held's Cornet Band, 
 Pall Bearers Twelve sons of the deceased,* 
 
 * Had it been possible, it would have been eminently proper for the Twelve Apos- 
 tles to have been the pall bearers, because President Taylor had been so long identified 
 with that organization ; but this was impracticable, as the most of the quorum were in 
 exile. It was therefore decided to select members of the family to act in that capacity, 
 and twelve of the seventeen sons present at the funeral were chosen for that purpose . 
 
462 LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 Hearse, 
 Ogden Brass Band, 
 
 Family, 
 
 Garfield Beach Band, 
 
 First Presidency, 
 
 Apostles, 
 
 Patriarchs, 
 
 First Seven Presidents of the Seventies, 
 
 Olsen's Brass Band, 
 
 Presidents of Stakes, 
 
 High Councilors, 
 
 Choir, 
 Presidencies of High Priests' Quorums, 
 
 Sixth Ward Silver Band, 
 
 Presidencies of Elders' Quorums, 
 
 Presiding Bishopric, 
 
 Provo Silver Band, 
 
 Bishops and Counselors, 
 
 Salt Lake City Band, 
 Presidencies of Teachers' Quorums, 
 Presidencies of Deacons' Quorums, 
 
 Committee of Arrangements, 
 Citizens in Carriages and on Foot. 
 
 The cortege was of great length, and splendid in 
 its appointments. It proceeded east on South Temple 
 Street, to N Street, thence turned north, and entered 
 the cemetery at the upper gates. 
 
 At the grave a select choir sang with exquisite 
 sweetness that most beautiful and heaven inspired of 
 hymns 
 
LIFE OF JOHN TAYLOR. 463 
 
 O, my Father, thou that dwellest 
 In that high and glorious place ! 
 
 The dedicatory prayer was offered by Elder Richard 
 Ballantyne, after which the earthly remains of the great 
 Apostle and President of the Church of Jesus Christ 
 were consigned to their temporary resting place, pend- 
 ing the construction of a stone vault, and the immense 
 throng quietly and sadly dispersed. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 2Oth of August, the 
 remains of President Taylor were removed, in the pres- 
 ence of his family, from the first grave to their perma- 
 nent resting place. The sepulcher is of granite rock 
 slabs twelve inches in thickness firmly clamped and 
 doweled together with heavy bolts and rods of solid 
 steel, thus forming a chamber seven feet by four, and five 
 feet in depth. This is inclosed by a massive, solid cap- 
 stone of the same material, eight feet six inches by six 
 feet, one foot thick and weighing four and a half tons. 
 It is secured in its position by a number of powerful 
 steel rods, making a structure almost impregnable. 
 
 There sleeps in peace the body of the fearless 
 CHAMPION OF LIBERTY, and the APOSTLE OF RIGHTEOUS- 
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 Joseph James Taylor. 
 
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APPENDIX. 
 
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 Harriet Ann Wbitaker 
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 NAME. 
 
 William Whitaker Taylor. 
 
 John Taylor. 
 
 Ebenezer Young Taylor. 
 
 Frank Young Taylor. 
 
 Leonora Young Taylor. 
 
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