THE MASSACRE OF OYER ONE HUNDRED PERSONS UPON THE PLAINS.—The San Fran-cisco Bullentin of Oct. 16th, in speaking of the late terrible massacre upon the "Plains," says:
"Between the 10th and 12th of September, a train, consisting of over one hundred per-sons, were hemmed in among the mountains by a myriad of savages, and gradually slain until all were butchered except a few children, who were carried off and sold to the Mor-mons, the latter having purchased them to ransom them from the savages. The Mormon account of the occasion of this massacre is, that the emigrants had cheated the Indians in purchasing their crops, and poisoned the wa-ter of the wells and the carcass of an ox, which caused the death of a number of the Indians, thus awakening the deadliest hatred among the savages, who pursued the train and slew all composing it, except the children, to revenge themselves. This story is hard to believe. It is very probable that the whites may have taken all the advantage possible of the Indians in trading with them. But that they should impregnate the wells of water, upon which the Indians depended for their supply, with strychnine sounds incredible.—Such an act does not consist with civilized human nature. It is conjectured that the Mormons themselves had something to do with this massacre, either by directly par-ticipating in it, or by instigating the savages. And as the emigrants were from Missouri and Arkansas, States against which the Latter Day Saints nurse the most intense hatred, the conjecture has some color—especially since the just punishment of the old villain Parley P. Pratt, has given a new impetus to this hatred, and revived their desire for revenge."
WASHINGTON, NOV. 17.
Advices have been received from Col. Al-exander, substantially confirming the reports in the newspapers respecting the destruction of the contractors' trains by the Mormons.
Brigham Young has issued a proclamation to the United States troops, defying the gov-ernment, and counselling his people to hostil-ities in the most determined form, and order-ing the troops to keep out of Utah. He says that if they desire to remain until spring, they may do so, provided they give up arms and ammunition.
Col. Alexander, in reply, stated to Young that the troops were there by the order of the President, and would be disposed of as the commanding general saw proper.
The War Department to-day received some highly interesting official despatches, includ-ing a proclamation of Brigham Young's, de-claring martial law in Utah. He claims the right to do so by virtue of his authority as Governor of the Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, not having been suspended from exercising his functions, and by virtue of his power under the Territoral organic Act. He expressly forbids the United States troops entering the Territory without his au-thority for doing so, and complains that the Mormons have not been treated as American citizens, and that the government of the Unit-ed States has acted on misrepresentations—the object being to drive the Mormons from the Territory.
The language of the proclamation is em-phatically in hostility to the authority of the United States, and is regarded here as a declaration of war.
THE MORMON WAR.—We make the fol-lowing interesting extract from the dispatch of Colonel Alexander to the United States Adjutant General. The letter is dated at Camp Winfield on Ham's Fork, Utah Territo-ry, Oct. 9. The troops under Col. Alexan-der's command are the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, eight companies of the Tenth In-fantry, and the batteries of Artillery (six and twelve pounders) commanded by Captain Phelps, Fourth Artillery, and Reno, Ordnance Department, respectively. After referring to the letters of Brigham Young and Lieut. Gen. Wells, Col, Alexander says:
"Upon receiving these letters, I prepared for defense and to guard the supplies near us until the nearest troops came up. I replied to Gov. Young's letter, a copy of which I en-close, and have not had any further correspon-dence with him. On the morning of the 5th of October the Mormons burnt two trains of Government stores, on Green river and on the Big Sandy, and a few wagons belonging to Mr. Perry, sutler of the 10th Infantry, which were a few miles behind the latter train. Col. Waite, of the Fifth, though not antici-pating any act of the kind, was preparing to send back a detatchment to those trains from his camp on Black's Fork when he received from some teamsters who came in the intelli-gence of their being burned. No doubt now existed that the most determined hostility might be expected on the part of the Mor-mons, and it became necessary, from the ex-treme lateness of the season, to adopt some immediate course for wintering the troops and preserving the supply trains with us.
After much deliberation, and assisted by the counsel of the senior officers, I have de-termined to move the troops by the following route: Up Ham's Fork about eighteen miles, to a road called Sublette's Cut-off; along that road to Bear River and Soda Spring; on arriving at Soda Spring two routes will be I open—one down Bear river valley towards the Salt Lake, and one to the north-east, towards the Wind river Mountains, where good val-leys for wintering the troops and stock can be found. The adoption of one of these will be decided by the following circumstances: If the force under my command is sufficient to overcome the resistance which I expect to meet at Soda Spring, I shall endeavor to force my way into the valley of Bear river, and oc-cupy some of the Mormon villages, because I am under the impression that the Mormons, after a defeat, will be willing to treat and bring provisions for sale. The supplies on hand will last six months, and if I can get possession of a town in Bear river Valley, I can easily fortify and hold it all winter. There are also several supply trains in the rear, to which I have communicated, and if they can receive my letter in time, they will be saved and can join us. If the Mormons are too strong for us, which I do not anticipate, the other road will be adopted, and I will make the best of my way to the mountains and tent for the winter.
I desire to impress upon you the fact that I, though not the commander appointed to this army, have adopted this course because the safety of the troops absolutely depends upon an immediate effort, and having infor-mation that makes it certain that the com-mander will not reach here before the 20th inst., and if we wait until that time we can-not leave the valley. The information I al-lude to is to the effect that Col. Johnston had relieved Gen. Harney, and had not left Fort Leavenworth on the 10th of September, and thirty days is the least possible time in which he can arrive here. I cannot, for fear of this being intercepted, tell you the strength of my command, or send returns of it. It is strong enough to defend itself and its sup-plies; whether it is able to assume and sus-tain an offensive position remains to be seen; but should the commands which I have heard are in the rear come up in time, I think we will have sufficient force to carry out an active invasion.
If we are obliged to winter in the moun-tains, you can perceive, by a reference to Standbury's maps, that we will have an open road to Salt Lake City in the spring, and one which I am told is open early. By this one attack can be made and attention called from the main road, (that by Fort Bridger,) which may then be traversed by troops. The Bear River route is, however, said to be the best one in the valley. The other passes through canons that can be defended by a handful a-gainst thousands, and it is moreover so easily obstructed that in a week it could be made utterly impassable. The want of cavalry is severely felt, and we are powerless, on ac-count of this deficiency, to effect any chas-tisement of the marauding bands that are constantly hovering about us. On the 7th inst. I detached Capt. Marcy, 5th Infantry, with four companies, to Green River, to col-lect what he could find serviceable from the burnt trains, and to disperse any bodies of Mormons he found.
In conclusion, permit me to express the hope that my acts will meet the approval of the government, and on the first opportunity I will make a further and more detailed re-port. It is unquestionably the duty of the government to quell by overwhelming force this treasonable rebellion of the Governor and people of Utah, and I must most urgent-ly impress upon the War Department the fact that the small body of troops here will need reinforcements and supplies as soon as they can possibly be got here next spring. I would further respectfully suggest that troops should be sent from California and Oregon. It is said that the road from California to Salt Lake is passable all winter, and it is certainly much earlier in the spring than that from the States.
THE MORMONS.—The Herald's Washing-ton correspondent says:
"The Administration are considering the Mormon rebellion, and the steps to be taken with regard to it. It is proposed to capture some two thousand saints now located in Cal-ifornia, as well as Dr. Bernheisel, Brigham Young's delegate to Congress, and hold them as hostages until it is ascertained what the Prophet designs doing. General Cass seems to think that this cannot be done under the Constitution, but the President thinks differ-ently. A state of rebellion, he says, actually exists, and martial law must prevail."
