THE MORMON WAR.
Letter from Great Salt Lake City—Mormon View of the Impending Struggle-Reliance of the People on Brigham Young—Deter-mination to Fight.
No later advices are received from Salt Lake City by the Moses Taylor, but we have ob-tained some reliable intelligence respecting Mormon designs and purposes in the present opposi-tion to the Federal Government. The following private letter to a gentleman in this City, illus-trates the temper of the Mormon people, and proves very clearly that they are determined to obey their chief even to the extremity of war :
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY,
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 1858.
Aside from business I have but little to write, as here all is peace and quietness. The Saints have plenty to eat; they live their religion and the Lord is blessing them in all things. We have a Prophet in our midst, even Brother BRIGHAM, who is filled with great wisdom, and what he predicts always comes to pass. I will give you an example of his wisdom on passing events. On the 34th of July, the anniversary of the arrival of the Pioneers in these valleys, the news arrived that the Government had stopped our mail, and 2,500 soldiers were on their way here Brother BRIGHAM answered and said, If the troops got here we should have to help them in. They came as far as Fort Bridger. When he told them to stop, they swore they would come in and hang the leaders of the Church, and showed the boys the ropes [……….] soldiers were ignorant and to spare their lives if possible, and though the troops might are upon them, not one hair of their heads should be hurt; that the Lord would be with them as with his servants anciently when surrounded by their enemies ; and though in reality a small lumber they would appear as thous-ands. Well, the boys went, and to stop the progress of our enemies, burnt up 78 of their wagons and took 1,700 of their cattle and mules. The soldiers have fired over 500 guns at them but never hit one of them. They are now camped at Fort Bridger for the Win-ter, and are completely whipped. They will never attempt to come in here. The boys said, while the soldiers were shooting at them, if they had had the privilege they would have used them up before breakfast.
Do not be alarmed for our safety, as the soldiers will not come in here. Fort Bridger is about 113 miles from here ; and, besides, they will have to come through Echo Canon. New, this Echo Can-on is a queer sort of place for an enemy to come through. I have been out there three weeks this Winter. I will try to describe it: It is upwards of thirty miles long, and at the widest part of it not more than 100 yards from mountain to mountain. The sides of the mountains are solid rocks, nearly perpendicular, and 300 yards high. We have dug a canal across, which we can fill with water in three hours. On the walls we have built forts, where we can have a fair chance against superior numbers. There they cannot touch us. When they have passed through Echo Canon, they will have to attempt the passage of Emigration Canon, which is no flowery passage to our city. In fact, for the 8,500 soldiers out at Bridger, we do not think, them worth bothering with. Let the Government send on their hundred thousand, and they will find immediate attention.
The Indiana are hard on the Gentile emigration between here and California. They have taken many lives and much property. The first company that went through shot at every Indian they saw. One company poisoned an ox and gave it to them. The Indians resolved on retaliation, fell upon them, and killed 150, and have now their women and chil-dren prisoners. They never disturb a Mormon.
I forgot to say that the soldiers have got of our Gentile merchants, with their train of goods, and will not let them come in. They are now offering any price for flour. They offered 91 a pound for salt. BRIGHAM sent them a wagon-load as a present, but they would not receive it, so an Indian took a load and sold it at $1 a pound, as they had offered. BRIGHAM called the Saints in California and other places to come home, so the Californians, to make it easy for our brethren to make up their minds to do as they were told, gave early symptoms of readiness to drive them out.
The Lord has bound up the law and sealed up the testimony. Now, says the Lord, after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people. If you pity us who are in "the house of the Lord, established in the tops of the mountains," secure from harm, what should the Saints think of the world in their blindness, with the hour of their destruction nigh? We expect to see the people come by thousands to Zion for safety. The road is now lined from California to this place with wagons, and the time is not distant when the road will be lined from the Missouri River to this place, if peace be established for a time, and the people are permitted to come and dwel with us.
I have not received any intelligence from you since May, but that I attribute to the stoppage of our mail. I expect the Government thought they had accom-plished something to brag about when they took away the mall; but their wisdom is foolishness, and no weapon that is formed against Zion shall prosper, and Old BUCHANAN, the President, is a near ox, unac-customed to the yoke, which hits everybody on the shins and everybody will give him a kick, and, final-ly Old Bright will be free.
Who could have thought that in this land of re-ligious liberty, the professed Government of the peo-ple would have sent the armlets at their disposal against the only people on earth whom the Lord recognizes as His people. You may let any person see this letter, for what I say is truth. I have never regretted coming here. Tell everybody who is in favor of Mormonism to come here as soon as possible, or they will see trouble; and for scoffers let them mock on.
Tell E. E. not to bring sugar with him, for we have the sugar-cane here, and can produce a gallon of syrup off a rod of land. I shall plant a good bunch this year. I had, last harvest, 76 bushels of wheat from the acre.
Once more, do not be alarmed for our safety, for after the United States are tired of us we expect the whole world and h—l to be arrayed against us ; but the stone that the Prophet Daniel said should be cut out of the mountains without hands, will smite the image and become a great mountain and fill the whole earth, J. S.
