New Hampshire Statesman.
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE MOR-MONS?
The Rev. Solomon Spaulding little thought, when composing his chronicle of the early inhabitants of America, that in less than twenty years it would be published, with alterations and additions,—we can not say emendations—as a direct revelation from God. Whatever inspiration Joe Smith and Sidney Rigdon may have had, they certainly did not under-stand the laws of the English language. We do not think that the Prophet himself ever dreamed of the mighty influence his imposture was destined to exert over three hundred thousand of the human family.
Bad as he was, it was not until after his death, and after the Mormons had fled from Illinois to Deseret, that the full enormities of the system were brought to light, rendered still more hideous by the mixture of scripture language and western slang from the mouth of Brigham Young. That the Mormons were badly used by the people of Illinois and Missouri, many believed; that they were rough-ly handled, no one doubts. Having been overtaken while on their journey to the Salt Lake by an U. S. recruiting officer, they enlisted in the army of in-vasion, and fought gallantly in Mexico. Partly in gratitude for their valor; partly in pity for their sufferings, President Fillmore, in an evil hour, con-ferred the governorship of the new territory of Utah on Brigham Young; an act of policy that se-cured present quiet, but paved the way for future trouble and perplexity. While professing the ut-most fidelity to the Constitution and the national government, occasionally the true spirit of the Mor-mons has revealed itself too clearly to allow of mis-take. That their moderation is only temporary, an examination of their leading tenets will prove. They believe that God is a material being, and con-sequently that matter is eternal; that every person who is or has not been baptized by immersion into the "Church of the Latter Day Saints," is doomed to eternal punishment, unless some friend is benevo-lent enough to be baptized by proxy for the remis-sion of his sins. If this is done, whether the ob-ject of the baptism be alive or dead, he will be sav-ed from the bottomless pit. The polygamy that they now so shamelessly practice and defend, is re-garded by them as a grand instrumentality for the restoration of lost souls; for into the body of every new born infant a soul which once existed on earth enters, and if that infant be of the true church, its bliss is secured forever. Other doctrines, even more revolting and hostile to all the laws of society and religion, are secretly cherished, if not openly avowed.
Their high priests, apostles, and elders, are to be obeyed rather than the "laws of the Gentiles;" for they hold the keys of death and hell, and they alone can bind or loose. The Mormons are the Is-raelites of America; their Gentile neighbors are the Canaanites of the nineteenth century. Brigham Young, or his successors, will prove the Joshuas and Ehuds of the new dispensation. The Danites, a secret confederation, whose duty it is to extermi-nate by assassination or otherwise, apostates and the disaffected, are under the especial patronage of the church. By them it is generally supposed many of the atrocities attributed to the Indians were committed.
Like all false religions, Mormonism has its eso-terical or hidden, and exoterical or avowed, doc-trines; the one designed for the strong men, the other for the babes of the church. It has been as-serted, and with much probability, that human sac-rifices are to be introduced into the Mormon church. A correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune, writing from Salt Lake City, gives the following extract from a sermon of Brigham Young, which would seem to hint at such abominations :
"There are sins that men commit, for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world or in the world to come; and if they had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground that the smoke thereof might ascend to Heaven an offering for their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins. Whereas, if such is not the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world. I know, when you hear my brethren telling about cutting people off from the earth, that you consider it a strong doctrine; but it is to save them, not to destroy them."
Again, he says :
"It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins through the fall and those committed by men; yet, men can commit sins which it can nev-er remit. There are sins that can be atoned for by an offering upon an altar, as in ancient days ; and there are sins that the blood of a lamb, or a calf, or of turtle doves, can not remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man!"
This discourse was published in the Deseret News of October 1, 1856. We will not sully our columns by attempting to depict the licentiousness, malignity and tyranny of the Mormon elders, and the misery and helplessness of their deluded victims. It is not on account of their victims that we would es-pecially urge the destruction of this brood of mon-sters, whose iniquities would put Sodom and Go-morrah to blush. It is for our national honor, and the safety of our national institutions, that we would plead. Not a United States officer can exert any but a nominal authority in Utah; more than one has been murdered either by the Mormons them- selves or by the Indians whom they have stimulated to crime. Mr. Buchanan, it is said, will dispense with the services of Brigham Young as soon as his commission of governor expires. Anticipating some such step, the Mormons fixed the capital of the ter-ritory at Fillmore City; a wretched place, several hundred miles from the center of population, so that whoever may be their titular, Brigham will re-main the actual governor.
Such a condition of affairs demands immediate attention. While weak in numbers, the Mormons are necessarily submissive to the general govern-ment, but when the abundant harvest of their la-borers in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Islands of the Pacific shall have been gathered in, they will have become in themselves a mighty people. Even now, ship loads of deluded converts are almost daily arriving at New-York and our other seaports, on their way to Utah. Would that we could hope for a vigorous administration of the matter, but we fear it can not be. The late decision of the Su-preme Court forbids congressional interference in "domestic institutions;" slavery and polygamy, the twin sisters of darkness, must go hand in hand to destroy our national prosperity and reputation. But if we can not interfere with the institutions of Utah, we can at least avoid all participation in the infamy. Let her petitions for admission into her Union be rejected with contempt. Let a cordon of soldiers encircle the valley of the Salt Lake. Let no emigrants be permitted to cross our territories to infuse new vigor into the miscreant gang, and a few years indulgence of their own iniquities will sweept them from the earth, and heathenism will cloud no longer the afternoon of the nineteenth century.
