LATER FROM THE UTAH EXPEDITION.
The Army Safe in Winter Quarters.
EVERYTHING PROSPEROUS IN THE CAMP.
THE WEATHER MILD AND FOOD PLENTY.
COL. JACK HAYS A PRISONER AMONG THE MORMONS.
BRIGHAM YOUNG’S SALT REJECTED.
OPENING OF THE TERRITORIAL COURT.
A Volunteer Battalion Enlisted.
From our Special Correspondent.
CAMP SCOTT, U. T. (two miles west from
Fort Bridger), Dec. 2, 1857.
I have made mention in my previous letters of the satirical embassies which Brigham Young dis-patched to Col. Alexander's camp during the month of October, bearing files of The Deseret News, copies of his proclamation, strings of onions, volumes of the territorial laws of Utah, &c.; but to-day another deputation came into camp from Salt Lake City, with a letter from Brigham, ad-dressed to "Col. Johnston, if he has arrived on "Black's Fork; if not, to Col. Alexander," and with four mules packed with salt.
The letter, dated Nov. 26, is such a singular mix-ture of arrogance and impudence, that I am in doubt whether it ought to excite amusement or in-dignation. Brigham begins by stating that he has received reliable information that there is a defi-ciency of salt in the army and the merchant trains which accompany it, and that he therefore dis-patches Messrs. Henry Woodard and Jesse J. Earl, with eight hundred pounds, which may be received as a present, or for which pay may be tendered; but if the latter, he requires a memoran-dum of the weight of salt taken, and of the amount and kind of compensation, to be inclosed in an en-velope, sealed, and directed to himself; He adds that Messrs. Woodard and Earl do not come to spy out the position, intentions or movements of the army, but that the commanding officer, should there be any “dubiety" on that point, is "at liberty" to detain them outside the camp during the brief period necessary for the execution of their mission. Should there be any suspicion that the salt contains deleterious ingredients or substances foreign to its normal composition, he states that such doubts may be removed by allowing Mr. Liv-ingston, Mr. Gerrish, or Mr. Perry, his acquaint-ances, to taste it, or by submitting it to the "doctors " to be analyzed.
He then drops the topic of salt abruptly, and says that he has to inform the Commander-in Chief that the demonstrations which have been made upon the animals and trams of the army have been made solely with the intention of showing that the Mor-mons are earnest in their "determination to assert, "freemen-like, their Constitutional and inalienable "rights." If, says Brigham, you have been sent here by the President of the United States, of which I have no official information, he has sent you on pretexts founded upon lies long since ex-ploded, and with as little regard for the Constitu-tion, laws and rights of citizens of the United States as he has for the constitution, laws and rights of subjects of the Kingdom of Beelzebub.
With regard to the Mormon prisoners, he states that he knows nothing about two men from Oregon, who, he has been informed, are in the hands of the troops. As to Elder Almairon Grow, he expresses his obligation for the "reasonable kindness" with which he has "probably" been treated, inasmuch as it has saved him (Brigham) the trouble and ex-pense of paying his board. Respecting Stowell, he adds, that if pleasure is hoped to be taken in keeping, injuring, or killing him, future experience may convince the Commander-in-chief of the con-trary—as much as to say, I have prisoners, too, and life shall answer life. This seems to confirm a ru-mor which reached me a fortnight ago, but which I considered too vague to deserve mention in my let-ters by the last mail, that a civil officer of the Gov-ernment, having funds to a considerable amount in his possession, had arrived at Salt Lake City from California, during the month of October, and been taken prisoner. It seems incredible that it should be Col. Jack Hays.
The remainder of Brigham's letter is addressed to Col. Alexander specially. Among the animals received at Salt Lake City from the army, he writes, is a little white mule, very lean, said to be a favorite of the Colonel. Out of compassion for the beast and regard for Col. Alexander, he has ordered it to be placed in his own stables, where it will be well fed, and where it awaits its owner's order, but he advises the Colonel not to send for it before the expiration of the Winter, since by that time it will be in good condition for him to be-straddle on his return East in the Spring.
After an expression of hope that Messrs. Wood-ard and Earl may be treated with politeness, he signs himself "Brigham Young, Governor of Utah Territory."
The salt was conveyed in a wagon for upward of thirty miles from Salt Lake City. But it was found impossible to transport it in that manner through the snow which had blown down from the mountains and filled the kanyons to the depth of three or four feet in some places. The wagon was therefore unloaded and its contents packed on mules. An escort of five men was furnished by Lieut.-Gen. D. H. Wells, or "Squire Wells," as Heber C. Kimball calls him.
Messrs. Woodard and Earl were admitted to a conference with Col. Johnston, but the escort were excluded from the tent, and behaved in a very un-seemly manner during the interview.
After examining Brigham Young's letter, Col. Johnston requested the persons in charge of the salt to pack it back again to the place from which, they had brought it, since he declined to receive it either as a gift or in the way of trade. He desired Messrs. Woodard and Earl to understand distinct-ly the ground on which he rejected it. He con-sidered Brigham Young and his associates as trai-tors and rebels, with whom it was unbecoming any patriotic citizen to interchange act of courtesy. When they have laid down their arms, and the re-bellion suppressed, there may be room for such an interchange, but certainly not until then. As for the intimation in Brigham Young's letter that he might suspect that the salt was poisoned, he con-sidered that it reflected discredit upon the writer. For his part, he would not believe that any Ameri-can citizen could be guilty of so infamous an act.
With regard to the allusion made in that letter to the probability of a return of the army to the States in the Spring, he had to tell the gentlemen that this army will not retrace one single onward step which it has taken; that when it gets ready to advance, it will advance, to execute its orders and do its duty; and those orders and that duty do not require it to molest the peaceable citizens of Utah, any more than those of New-York. No peaceful citizen of Utah need be molested by his soldiers, nor even see them; but if a body of rebels oppose themselves to the march of the army, they will be fired upon and dispersed. The Mormons must un-derstand that if the horrors of war are brought on them at all, they are brought upon them by Brig-ham Young and his associates. The Army of Utah will molest no peaceable and loyal citizen.
He then informed them of the arrival within the Territory of Gov. Cumming, their civil Chief Magistrate, and of his presence in camp, and added that it was not within his province to prescribe the manner in which they might communicate with his Excellency; but if they desired to hold any further intercourse with the Army of Utah, the proper mode of doing so, in their present attitude of re-bellion, was by the dispatch of a respectful messen-ger, bearing a flag of truce, and not by a party in charge of an impudent letter, escorted by a squad of men who were endeavoring to skulk about his camp.
He then dismissed them, and they traveled west-ward, during the afternoon, pack-mules, salt, escort and all; and unless Brigham Young's impudence becomes gigantic—it is surely great already—I think that the day for onion, and salt, and proclam-ation-missions is over.
CAMP SCOTT, U. T., Dec. 13, 1857.
The December term of the United States Dis-trict Court for this county was opened by Judge Eckels last Monday, in a log-cabin belonging to the Attorney-General and the Marshal. The panel of Grand Jurors is as follows:
John D. Radford John Finch, Thomas P. Pitt,
(Foreman), James Bridger, Charles Mogo,
Jacob Forney, Andrew Wilson, Dudley Harper,
Joseph C. Irwin, John Baker, John McDonald,
Hiram F. Morrell, Epps Hardy, E. M. Scott,
John Owens, William Moore,
The following constitute the Traverse Jury:
D. A. Burr (Foreman) Thomas Lyons, Joseph L. Brooke,
Asa Johnson, Roland Butcher, George Kronk,
Powhatan C. Lallie, James Petty, William Draper,
Washington Haller, James Beasemann, John Gibbs.
The Territorial laws, among their caprices, pro-vide also for Juries of six, and of three, and for the rendering of verdicts according to the will of a ma-jority of jurors. The Constitution of the United States and the decisions of the Supreme Court are shut out from the court-room by the following sec-tion of a law I have once already quoted, which, was approved on Jan. 14, 1854:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c. That "no laws nor parts of laws "shall be read, argued, cited or adopted in any Court, during any "trial, except those enacted by the Governor and Legislative As- "sembly of this Territory, and those passed by the Congress of “the United States when applicable; and no report, decision or "doings of any Court shall he argued, cited or adopted as prece-"dent in any other trial.”
Another peculiarity in Utah practice is set forth in the following section of an act, approved Feb. 18, 1852, entitled "An act for the regulation of attor-neys:"
"SEC. 5. Any attorney, or person otherwise assuming to ap-pear before any Court in this Territory in any cause whatever, shall present all the facts in the case, whether they are calculated to make against his client or not, of which he is in possession," &c.; "and for a failure to do so, or to comply with all the re-quirements of this act, shall be liable to all the penalty hereinbe-fore provided for, and the further penalty of not less than one dollar, at the discretion of the Court."
I might multiply illustrations of the extraordinary laws of this Territory touching the Courts and legal practice; but the statutes are as accessible to you as to myself, and it requires no prompting and little ingenuity to discover the knavery and foolishness which contribute, in about equal proportions, to each act.
The usual order of business in the Court was dis-pensed with, of necessity, and it has proceeded to dispose of cases, whether civil or criminal, arising under Territorial or under National laws, just as they presented themselves. Among such a multi-tude of teamsters and laborers as belong to the trains which accompany the army, it was impossi-ble that instances of petty criminal offenses should not be frequent, and the chief employment of the Court during the week has been the trying of cases of larceny, assault and battery, &c. The Grand Jury have not yet presented indictments against either Howard or Stowell, the Mormon prisoners, who are charged with treason.
The civilians have christened their settlement "Eckelsville," after the Chief Justice, and their cluster of log cabins, under that name, is recog-nized by his Excellency as the temporary seat of government.
Four companies of volunteers have been organ-ized and equipped up to this date, and it is possible that one or two more may be added to the number. With the assent of the Commander-in-Chief, they have been consolidated into a separate battalion, and have elected Capt. Barnard E. Bee, of Com-pany D, 10th Infantry, to be their commander. He has accepted the position, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. His staff consists of Lieut. James H. Hill, Adjutant, and James Desh-ler, Quartermaster, both also of the 10th. By this transference of Capt. Bee, the command of D Company falls upon Lieut. John McNab.
This battalion, when properly drilled, is likely to do good service. Most of the men are thoroughly acclimated, and all of them are burly, hardy fellows, who came from the States as ox-drivers. It is rather an abuse of language, however, to call their enlistment voluntary. I was walking with an offi-cer down the bottom toward Fort Bridger, a day or two ago, when we met half a dozen men loaded with blankets, bake-ovens, frying-pans, tin dippers, and rifles, traveling in the opposite direction. Sup-posing them to have just arrived in camp, we hailed them, and asked who they were, and where they were going. "Oh," said one of them, "my name is Zekel Thompson. I came out a drivin' a bull-team for Russell & Waddell, and now that they've turned us out, we can't get anything to eat, and so we're a goin' up to volunteer. I s'pose there's no choice 'cept between volunteerin’ and starvin'."
With regard to the future movements of the army I can add nothing to the information which you already possess. Expresses have been sent in various directions toward Oregon, to Laramie and to New-Mexico, with the intention, it is presumed, of securing reinforcements, supplies, animals and corn from every quarter as early as possible in the Spring. Meanwhile the Winter wears smoothly away. The weather has been comparatively mild ever since this camp was formed, and there is rea-son to hope that it will continue moderate. The last three Winters on this portion of the Pacific slope are said to have been very severe, and it is contrary to the experience of every mountaineer to believe that they will be followed by a fourth of equal rigor. The present disposition of the troops is as follows: Seven companies of the 2d Dragoons on Henry's Fork, 30 miles from headquarters, in charge of the principal herd of the army; the 8th company of dragoons and a company of the 10th Infantry, forming a battalion under Lieut.-Colonel Camby, on Smith's Fork, 5 miles from headquarters, in charge of a mule herd; the volunteer battalion on Black's Fork, 2 miles above headquarters; the 10th and 5th regiments, the artillery batteries, and the fatigue party at Fort Bridger, in the same posi-tions as at the beginning of the month. Log-cabins have been constructed for storing the jerked beef; bake-houses have been built, and the expense of carrying them on will be defrayed by the Commis-sary department in consideration of the diminished ration of flour. The Quartermaster's department has been directed to purchase all the boots, shoes and stockings which can be procured from the sut-lers' and merchant trains, and to issue them to the troops at Government prices.
Ben Simons, the Delaware Indian, returned to our camp a few days ago from his ranche on Weber River, with a mule packed with salt. He was ac-companied by the Snake chief Little Soldier, whose band, several hundred in number, is camped about a hundred miles north-west from this point. Little Soldier's son was Ben's companion on his previous visit. On the way out they were encountered by Col. Bishop West, who allowed them to proceed, probably lest he might give offense to the Snake chief. The salt has been sold for $3 50 per pound. Before it arrived I knew of an instance in which $15 was paid for a quart.
The November mail from the States has not reached us, and an expressman who arrived last night from Fort Laramie, having taken seventeen days and used up four horses in making the trip, reports that nothing had been heard of it there up to the day he started. The mail which left us on Dec. 1, for the East, had to abandon its wagons near the Rocky Ridge, on account of the depth of the snow- drifts, and the letter- bags were packed on mules.
The health of the army continues remarkably good, and no case of scurvy, to my knowledge, has yet made its appearance. To the general instructions of the Marshal of the Territory, to which I have alluded in previous let-ters, Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, it now appears, added special instructions, to this effect: that no portion of the funds intrusted to the Marshal should be appropriated to defray any man-ner of expenses of any Court, incurred while that Court was transacting business other than that strict-ly arising under the laws of Congress. In the present state of affairs, such a restriction as this is inappro-priate. The people of the Territory being in a state of rebellion, it is impossible to execute the local laws without the pecuniary assistance of the National Government, unless the Judges imitate the Napole-onic principle of making war self-supporting, and impose fines upon convicts, of sufficient magnitude to meet all expenses of the Court. The only possi-ble mode of reinstating social order in Utah, is by giving the civil officers great latitude of discretion in the conduct of their offices and the disposition of funds; or else by placing both civil and military supremacy in the hands Of a single man, and giving him dictatorial authority. If the National Admin-istration is satisfied that it has selected the best men for the best places of civil trust in the government of this Territory; if it can honestly declare that no one of these eivil appointments is the result of par-tisan intrigue, but all were dictated by regard for the public welfare; then there is no reason why it shall not adopt the former alternative. The invest-ment of one man, however, with both civil and mili-tary command, would secure order more speedily and effectually.
MORMON MANIFESTOES.
CAMP SCOTT, U. T., Dec. 3, 1857.
Messrs. Woodard and Earl brought into camp a late copy of The Deseret News of Wednesday, Nov. 18, which Lieut.-General D. H. Wells sent to Col. Johnston. It contains nothing piquant except two sermons, the only interesting passages in which, I have copied and subjoin. The first, by Brigham Young, was delivered in the Tabernacle on October 25; the second, by Heber C. Kimball, in the same place, on November 8. One thing is certainly sig-nificant, in both harangues—the reiteration of ap-peal for domestic concord. It will also be ob-served that Kimball has a lively appreciation of the merits of the "Campaign at Ham's Fork."
The Mormon Legislature is advertised to meet in Social Hall, at Salt Lake City, on Dec. 14. Its sessions have always hitherto been secret and with closed doors. The following law indicates the quality of its previous products, which is not likely to improve at the present session:
AN ACT containing provisions applicable to the Laws of the Ter-ritory of Utah.
SEC. 4. Be it enacted, &c. Words used in one tense may in-clude either; and words used in one gender may include either; the singular may be read plural, and the plural singular; "per-son" may include a partnership, and a body corporate and politic; &c., &c. (Approved Jan. 14, 1854.)
EXTRACTS from a Sermon preached by Brigham Young, in the Tabernacle at Salt Lake. City, on Sunday, Oct. 25, 1857.
A COMPLIMENT FOR THE ARMY. Col. Alexander accuses us of what he terms a very uncivilized method of warfare. If we are to do as they do, we shall have to get drunk, to swear, to quarrel, to lie, and believe in lies, and indulge in many like traits of civilization, in order to be prepared to act as they do. I do not know anything about those men that are now in the mountains, only in the capaci-ty of a mob. I have no business to know them as anything else; neither shall I, until I have been offi-cially notified that the Government of the United States wishes to send troops here and build stations.
EXPERIMENTAL AGRICULTURE.
I suppose that the boys have annoyed them a good deal; but, at the same time, I would much rather clothe them and feed them, if they would agree to go back in the Spring, and leave us in peace as they found us. We are obliged to maintain our rights, for every blackleg, horse-thief, counterfeiter, and abomi-nable character, are united with the hireling priests, and lying editors, and wicked leaders of our Govern-ment, to falsely accuse "the Mormons," with a view to our destruction. Can they now truly accuse them of anything ? Yes, of burning up a little grass—as Bro. Atwood told them when they asked him why he burnt the grass. "that we may have a better crop next year," (which, you are aware, is customary in prairie regions). We have done that; therefore, our enemies can now concentrate their power to shoot at the target they have compelled us to raise in self-defense, whereas hitherto they have shot without an object to fire at.
A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
We hare labored diligently and suffered everything but death to preach the Gospel to our fellow-beings, and thousands of our fathers, mothers, brothers, sis-ters, children and connections, have gone into their graves through their sufferings from being robbed off everything we had and scattered to find shelter where we best could. Are we going to suffer it any more? No, God being our helper! We are perfectly free, on condition that we do right; and upon that condition we never will be in bondage again. You will recollect that this is the first time that this Church can say, "We are free." Do we wish to be free from the United States Constitution? No. There is not a word in it but what we can subscribe to with all our heart's. Do we wish to be free from the laws of the United States? No, they are as good laws as we can ask for. Neither do we wish for any better laws than those enacted in Missouri and Illinois. What then was the difficulty with this people? Magistrates, sheriffs, constables, military officers, etc., walked those laws under their feet, and trampled upon them as a thing of nought in order to get at this people and drive them from their hard-earned homes. I have said, and say it again, if those laws had been executed they would have hung Gov. Boggs and Gov. Ford, with many others, between the heavens and the earth or shot them as traitors to the Government. It is not the laws and the Constitution of our country that we wish to be free from, but it is from the power of those who profess to be law-makers and law-executors, but who trample every wholesome law under their feet.
PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD-WILL TO ALL MEN.
We are now as free from them as the mountain air we breathe, and ice could wipe the few enemies now in our borders out of existence in a very short time if I would give the word to do so; but they will judge themselves out of their own mouths, and receive their just reward at the hands of him whom they have listed to obey. I believe the Lord has wisdom enough to make them destroy themselves, though if it were left to me solely, under the guidance of the spirit pertain-ing to man, probably I should have had them in eter-nity before now. But the Lord dictates, governs and controls; I do not, neither do I wish to.
THE OLD SHIP ZION.
Some are very anxious that I should have visions. I have all that the Lord gives to me, and all that he keeps back he may; for that is no concern of mine. We are on the old ship Zion—and if God is not at the helm, the old ship will wreck and go to the devil. As for my taking charge of the kingdom of God on earth, exclusively and independent of direction from Heaven, I shall not do any such thing. If the Lord does not direct the old ship, and act as captain and pilot, it will go to destruction, and I care not now quick.
He is at the helm, and will stay there. If you and I will bring our feelings to the point I have just spoken of, He will continue to guard the welfare of Zion and all its right. All is right—sing Hallelujah! for the Lord is here!
THE PENALTY OF EMIGRATION. If any man or woman in Utah wants to leave this community, come to me, and I will treat you kindly, as I always have, and will assist you to leave; but after you have left our settlements you must not then depend upon me any longer, nor upon the God I serve; you must meet the doom you have labored for. If any wish to go away, come to me, and I will assist you to go in peace and safety, to the army or anywhere else; but if you come again with bitter feelings to this Ter-ritory, we shall meet you as we would a mob.
WHAT WE'LL DO NEXT SEASON.
After this season, when this ignorant army has passed off, I shall never again say to a man, "Stay your rifle-ball," when our enemies assail us, but shall say, "Slay them where you find them." But the army that are now upon our borders are in ignorance, and know not what they are doing, nor the spirit that prompts them, or they would ere now have been visited with the spirit of swift destruction. On account of their ignorance and their having been sent by rotten demagogues and corrupt speculators, I feel like letting them alone, unless they turn to come here, which if they do, sleep will depart from their eyes, and slumber from their eyelids, until they sleep the sleep of death, or beg quarter, at our hands—God being our helper.
THE RESPONSIBILITY SHIFTED.
I do not altogether know why I should not feel it right to slay them where they are; but I do not, con-sequently I withhold; and if that course should be right, I believe it will be manifested to me; and if it is not so manifested to me, and anybody else can know of a surety, and will take the responsibility, go ahead.
LE DIABLE IN PARIS.
As Bro. John observed, one devil can keep all Bab-ylon in confusion continually, because they are al-ready so wicked, but it takes armies of devils to take care of the Saints, lest they overcome the kingdoms of darkness. The devil's forces are particularly mar-shaled against us. If I can contend against the pow-ers of darkness, and get this people to control them-selves so as to have no principle or feeling about them only to do the will of our Father in Heaven, I do not fear all hell. Were all the United States arrayed against us in these mountains, I would rather have ten men who are Saints, and will do more with them to overcome all our outside enemies than this whole people with their affections not sanctified to the Lord. Do you understand, that, ye Saints? Or is it to you like some visions that are told to me, going in at one ear and out at the other? We, as a people, will be chastened, until we can wholly submit ourselves to the Lord and be saints indeed. May God bless you! Amen.
EXTRACTS from a Sermon, preached by Heber C. Kimball, in the Tabernacle at Salt Lake City, on Saturday, Nov. 8, 1857.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.
You see I am the simplest fellow there is. I wish to God I was more simple than I am. I should be nearer what I was in nature. I do not know how to use what they call big words. I never studied them. I have no taste particularly for them, and if I had I should not know where to put them, and should be very apt to stick the feet to the head and the head to the feet. I do not know where to apply them. Well, what are they? You may ask Bro. Taylor and he will tell you they are conflabberation of all languages. Conflab-beration! Well, that's a good word, is it not? That is, they are French, English, Irish, Dutch, Hebrew and Latin, and they are all kinds of words, and there are not many of them that have good sense. Well, they are a mixture—every language is a mixture. I have not studied them.
Do you want to blame me? Cannot you understand me in my simple way of communicating to you ? After all my simplicity and simple words, and trying to sim-plify my words to the capacity of the people, there are lots of you who do not understand the words I use—the words I was taught from my youth in my sim-plicity.
THE DOCTRINE OF OBEDIENCE.
In regard to our situation and circumstances in these valleys, brethren, wake up! wake up, ye elders of Israel, and live to God and none else, and learn to do as you are told, both old and young; learn to do as you are told for the future, and when you are taking a position, if you do not know that you are right, do not take it; I mean independently: but if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it—none of your busi-ness whether it is right or wrong—you will get water if you dig away. That is rather presumptuous doc-trine with some people, but with me it is not.
THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION.
I have heard men teach in this stand that I was under no obligation to do anything unless I had a revelation. I do not believe the doctrine at all, I don't care who preached it. I am not the Leader; I am not the Prophet, nor the Chief Apostle; I do not hold the keys independently; I have no keys, only what I hold in Bro. Brigham, and then Bro. Brigham has the word of God, he must do thus and so. He comes to me and says: Bro. Heber, I want you to do thus and so. Wait till I go home, get into my private room, and ask God that I may get a revelation! Ain't that pretty, Bro. Taylor? Well, I will not talk just as think. If I did, I would knock this pulpit head over heels when I think of such folly. Go and get a revelation when God has spoken through my Head! and then the tail goes off, and gets down on his knees to get a revelation, when the head has got one. * * * * Do you not see that I can learn more to be led than I can to lead, if I have the right man to lead me? Bro. Brigham is my leader; he is my prophet, and my seer, and my revelator; and whatever he says, that is for me to do, and it is not for me to question him one word, nor to question God a minute. Do you not see?
THE MEN IN THE MOUNTAINS.
"Well, now," some one says, "what good does it do for two or three thousand men to be in the moun-tains?" Why, I don't know as it is any of our busi-ness. It says, "Uncle Sam cannot come. We are ready. We are on the spot." Well, what else? It gives these men an experience that they cannot have on any other principle. They are getting an experience, for what? To cultivate them for something greater, which will come next year; and if it does not come then, it will come some time. I do not say it will come next year; you never heard me say it would; but you and I want to live our religion and do as we are told, not questioning a word for a moment. You have got to stop that.
CEASE ALL CONTENTIONS.
Cease all contentions. Are there not contentions enough in the world? Are there not contentions enough in the world with that army and with the devils in hell, without there being any with us? These things should subside. They should take an avalanche like the snow. You know the snow will take a slide down the sides of the mountains. They call that an avalanche. I should call it hell full of a fuss; that is, it is a convulsion. Well, excuse me for this language.
A GOOD MDDANCE.
Well, here are these troops over yonder. They are not here, are they? Well, some of you thought they were coming here, and several ran away, supposing they were coming. Well, I am glad of that, and I wish every other one that feels so would put off. We will help them. Bro. Brigham has fulfilled his word. He said if he could find any man or woman that wanted to go, he would send them to that happy place. Well, he has sent Mrs. Mogo; no doubt, she will die a happy death.
THE GREAT MR. JOHNSON.
This great Mr. Johnson, the commander of those troops, has come, I suppose. Bro. Groesbeok has come in with his company from the States; God gave him wisdom, and he is here, and he escaped those troops. Mr. Johnson says he is going to obey the President's orders, and says he will come in; but by the time he goes up and down Ham's Fork a few times, it will take away his strength. If you do not believe it, try some other Ham's Fork. I had as lief sit on a bayonet as a fork. He has had a fever all the way, and will have a chill when he has lost his strength. He will have an all-killing chill. He will not come here. We have told you all the time they will not come; but he may attempt to come, and then he may not. That is just as God has a mind to.
CLEAN YOUR PLATTERS.
I feel the Lord designs the thing should move along and no blood be shed, because I do not consider God is as anxious we should be blood-thirsty men as some may be. God designs we should be pure men, and, holding the oracles of God in holy and pure ves-sels, but when it is necessary that blood should be shed, we should be as ready to do that as to eat an apple. That is my religion, and I feel that our platter is pretty near clean of some things, and we calculate to keep it clean from this time henceforth and forever, and, as the Scripture reads, "lay judgment to the "line and righteousness to the plummet." We shall do that thing, and we shall commence in the moun-tains. We shall clean the platter of all such scoun-drels, and if men and women will not live their religion, but take a course to pervert the hearts of the righteous, we will "lay judgment to the line and "righteousness to the plummet," and we will let you know that the earth can swallow you up as it did Ko-rah with his host, and, as Bro. Taylor says, you may dig your graves, and we will slay you, and you may crawl into them.
THE DOCTRINE OF DIABOLISM.
If those troops could have come in here, let me tell you, all the finest and smartest devils would have en-tered into the smartest bodies and come here to over-turn us. You will not catch a mean, low, inferior, stupid devil in a smart man. I will tell you the devil has his smart men. Says he, "You get into a smart body." Smart spirits do not get into inferior bodies. Would you? No. Well, then, do you suppose they would do what we would not do under the same cir-cumstances? Was not Lucifer a pretty smart lad?
Well, they would come from Dan to Beersheba, and from California to France, that is, wicked and abomin-able spirits would have come into this valley when those troops came, do you not see? The blacklegs, and highway robbers, and whoremongers, and whores would have gathered into this place if those troops could have come into this place to have slain our leaders. Let me die an honorable man, living my re-ligion, rather than to bow down to their cursed yoke again, as the Lord God liveth.
DOMESTIC UNITY.
Let all these domestic broils and family difficulties cease, ye elders of Israel, and if you have got things that will not sleep and will not rest, live your religion, and I would take my johnny-cake and go into the mountains, and spend my days defending the house of Israel, before I would stay at home and quarrel one moment. Is it not better for you? Well, now stop these little broils at home in your families; that is the end of all trouble with us, and God will bless us, &c.
A CURIOUS IDEA.
Is there anything that we ever saw or thought of but what is in the elements, the air we breathe, and the earth we walk on?—and blessing be to God that I live on an earth that lives. Well, that is a curious idea. I heard a Methodist preach that once at Mil-ler's Corners, in Bloomfield, Ontario County, N. Y., and thought it was a curious idea. Well, it is truth. Now, I will prove this to you by true philosophy, by natural philosophy. * * * How could my head pro-duce hair if it was dead? Neither can the earth pro-duce grain if it is dead. Now, brethren, do you not see the propriety of us blessing the earth—the earth that we inhabit and cultivate? If you do not see the propriety of it, for Heaven's sake do not bless the sacrament again. Do not take a bottle of oil to the prayer-circle to be blessed, when you do not believe the earth can be blessed.
THE IDEA BECOMES MORE CURIOUS.
If you have got half an acre you can bless it, and dedicate it, and consecrate it to God, and ask him to fill it with life. Well, if you can bless half an acre, why can you not bless a whole acre? And if you can bless an acre, why can you not bless all this Territory? Just reflect for a moment. If you can bless a gill of oil, then you can bless a pint. When you bless a pint you can bless a quart, and so on until you can bless a bottle of oil as big as this valley.
PYTHAGOREAN.
There is nothing that is dead that lives; nor shall we ever die temporally or spiritually, for that taber-nacle that I live in is life, and when it goes back to the earth it goes back into a living creature. For what purpose? To become analyzed, and cleansed, and purified, that I may receive it again more glorious than this body. How can I obtain it? On no other principle only to do just as I am told. You have got to learn that lesson—I have got to learn it; and if I have got to learn it, I can prove that you have got to do as I do.
THE CHURCH MILITANT.
You are very exact in your military tactics. Here is Squire Wells, and he is under the direction of our Governor, and then every other office in his turn, must be dictated and governed as he is dictated. Does Squire Wells run to every man? No, he gives his or-der to the officer next to him, and so on till it goes down to the fourth corporal. See how accurate you have to be in that discipline. Should you not be more so in the kingdom of your God?—and if you do not, you are not making progress.
HE IS VERY GOOD-LOOKING, BUT HE CAN'T COME IN.
Why are you not wide awake? Cultivate, make, take, and increase, and bring forth those things that you need. You do not believe that the gate is going to be shut down, do you? Mr. Johnson says there shall not an article nor a train come in, except the Governor lets him come in. The Governor will not, except he grounds arms; and if he will ground arms, he will ground arms, and if he no ground arms, then he no ground arms, and he cannot come here. Gentlemen, your leaders all say he cannot come here. Why, if he wants to come here himself with a few of his council, if they really want to come to see the Gov-ernor, they have the privilege; but they would have to ground arms. I am not going to take that word back. They have got to ground-arms from this time henceforth; but we have shouldered arms, and it is present arms, and do you not see that the next thing is to take aim?
WHAT JOSEPH DID ON THE HOUSETOP.
Joseph, when he was in Nauvoo, on the housetop, drew his sword from the sheath and said it never should be sheathed again. Bro. Brigham has said the same, and Bro. Heber will back him in it, and so will every officer in the kingdom of God. What say you, brethren, will we go it? If so, raise your right hands and say Ay! [One loud "Ay" rang through the congregation.]
NO USE TO THROW BONES TO A MAD DOG.
We are not going to bow down to the wicked any more. I had rather die as I am and fight my way than ever go into their hands again. They probably, if they had only had sense enough, might have caused us to bow down our heads and got the bow on Old Bright's neck. They will not pay the debts contracted by their own officers. They sent the most damnable and contemptible scoundrels that they could, to rule over us, and they abused us all the time, and God wanted they should. If they had not, perhaps we should have bowed down and got the yoke on our necks. Now, perhaps they will try to draw back and say, "Let us give them a State Government and a "few hundred thousand dollars, and see if we cannot "pet them." When you see a thing of that sort, look out for the devil; he will be behind that curtain. When I see anything of that kind, I am suspicious.
DESERTION AND DANGER.
We shall prescribe a course for the United States to take after this. Well, you do not believe that, do you? Do as you are told, and see if it does not come to pass. You cannot tell whether I am a true man unless you listen to me. Well, these are my feelings. God bless you, brethren! God bless you, sisters! God bless this earth and these valleys, and every honest person that comes into these valleys! If their soldiers desert and come in here, may the Lord God bless them, that they may have the spirit of God on them while they stay here. We live to let live; and we will treat them with kindness and gentility, if they stay here and behave themselves; but they cannot—it here; for, if there in anything of that kind, we will slay both men and women. We will do it, as the Lord liveth; we will slay such characters. Now, which would be the most worthy to be slain—the woman, that has had her endowments and made cer-tain covenants before God, or the man, that knew nothing about it? The woman, of course; she must be guilty according to her knowledge.
THE LITTLE PETS FROM WEST POINT.
These little officers, that were brought up as pets at West Point, they boasted all the way what they were going to do with our leaders. They were going to take our Governor and hang him, and take his wives and use them at their pleasure; and they were going to serve Heber in the same way, and all others that lifted their tongues against our enemies. They have not done it yet, have they?
AN EBULLITION OF FEELING.
Well, these are my feelings. They are out there, and they have been sitting on Ham's Fork so long that it has begun to ulcerate, as that nasty fop, Douglas, uses the term—that little, nasty snot-nose—you cannot call him anything so mean as he is—the nastiest of all nasties that God could suffer on the earth. We have been a friend to him and everybody else, and we have not done any harm. We mind our own business. We came to this land because we were just obliged to do so, and I have been broken up and driven five times; but, as the Lord God liveth, I do not go again, nor any other man or woman that will live their religion. Let us do right as a people, and we never will go from this place until we please and God pleases to have us. We were brought here for a purpose to secure us, and for us to stand to our rights and privileges as citizens of the United States, and claim protection. What are they coming up here for? To kill your leaders, and when they kill us, they will kill every man and woman that will sustain those men.
ECSTATIC.
Well, they ere not here, God be praised! Hallelu-jah, glory to God in the highest! Peace on earth and good-will to all men! My soul says, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul, and give glory to him, and let all Israel say Amen! [The assembly re-sponded, Amen.]
THE BENEDICTION.
Am I not happy? This is the people of God. They shall live and they shall prosper, and everything that is attached to the righteous shall be righteous, and grow righteous. Yea, I bless the earth, and everything that is on the earth, but I feel, in the name and by the authority of Jesus Christ and my calling, to curse that man that lifts his heel against my God and His cause and kingdom, and the curse of God shall be upon him, the angels of God shall chase him and he shall have no peace! The President of the United States and his coadjutors that have caused this thing, shall never rest again, for they shall go to hell! Amen.
The Weekly Platte Argus, of the 22d, announces the arrival in Weston, on the 21st, of Mr. Davidson from Utah. [The bearer of the above dispatches from the Special Correspondent of THE TRIBUNE.]
Mr. Davidson brings intelligence from Camp Scott of the 14th of December, which is four days later than any previously received. The following is the news imparted by him to the editor of The Argus:
"On 14th December, left Col. Johnston at Camp Scott four miles from Bridger; Col. Cooke off with the mules 42 miles from Bridger, on Henry's Fork. All hands engaged making comfortable for the Winter. Health of the command good. Twelve ounces of flour and as much 'poor beef’ as the men want are the rations. No news from Capt. Marcy, who had started from Taos. No snow this side of Laramie. Plenty of good grass and buffalo very fat. Capt. Bee, of the 10th infantry, had been placed in command of the three volunteer companies, and was engaged in drilling them. Volunteers enlisted between 16th and 20th November for six months. Mormons continuing to fortify between army and Salt Lake. Met going out, army mail, near 'Devil's Gate,' a second near 'Ash Hollow,' and a third at Kearney. Met train taking supply of salt from Laramie on the last crossing of Sweet Water.
"All the teamsters who left this place with Messrs. Perry & Co., consisting of Dorris, Bowlby, Myers, Ware and others, left their employees, notwithstanding the offers to raise their wages, they preferred to enlist in the army, supposing they would have an easier time of it."
MORMONISM.
We make the following extracts from the speech of Mr. John Thompson of this State, delivered in the House of Representatives, Jan. 27:
"Mormonism, as a religious system, had its origin in a romance, written about the year 1810 by Solomon Spalding, a native of Connecticut, who had been edu-cated for the ministry, but followed a mercantile em-ployment, removed to Cherry Valley, N. Y., where he amused his leisure hours by weaving into a book entitled by him 'The MSS. Found,' the notion enter-tained or suggested by some writers that the American Indians are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Hence, he starts them from Palestine, invents for them various fortunes by flood and field, wars, quarrels, turmoils, strifes, separations, until they peo-ple this continent, and leave behind them the vestiges of mounds, tumuli, fortifications, sculpture, and cities dilapidated, which are discovered in Northern and Central America. It is written somewhat in Scripture style, and uses the machinery of the Jewish economy throughout. He read his manuscript to various per-sons, who yet remember it, but was not successful in procuring its publication. Somewhere about the year 1823, this manuscript fell into the hands of Jo Smith, a native of Windsor County, Vermont. Smith was about twenty years of age, and already exhibited that singular compound of genius and folly, of cunning and absurdity, of indolence and energy, of craft and earnestness, which distinguished him to the end of his career.
"Under the new-light preachers of that day, Smith became imbued with all the wild and extravagant no-tions of seeing sights, hearing voices, receiving reve-lations, meeting and fighting the devil in bodily form, which indicate a diseased imagination and want of all solid induction and fixed principles on religious sub-jects. Enthusiasm ran mad through the whole region where he dwelt, and Smith was one of its most bril-liant exemplifications, ultimately having a revelation that all existing systems of religion were wrong, and that he should be made the prophet of a new faith. For more than five years he vibrated between his cau-tion and his enthusiasm, giving out occasion-ally dark hints about certain mysterious plates to be dug up by him, containing a new rev-elation. Part of his time was spent in lying, swindling and debauchery, and the remainder in vis-ions and repentance—the vulgar habits of the brute contending with the higher functions of the prophet. At length he pretended to dig out the plates from the side of a hill in Palmyra, Wayne County, N. Y., placed himself behind a curtain, permitting no one to enter, from which sanctum he translated from the plates the book of Mormon to an amanuensis, reading it all from Spalding's manuscript in his possession, one hundred and eighteen pages of it having been stolen by Martin Harris. With this new Koran our modern Mohammed started upon his career.
"On the 5th of May, 1829, John the Baptist came back to earth to baptize Smith; and on the 6th of April, 1830, the first church of Latter-Day Saints was organized at Manchester, New-York, consisting of four Smiths and two converts out of the family—Pratt, Rigdon, Kimball, and Young joining after-ward. This Bible, unlike that of the Christian or Mussulman, purports to be chiefly historical, and does not enunciate or enforce a system of moral and religious truth in a philosophic or didactic form; all its inci-dental lessons upon life or manners being derived from current doctrines of this day. It is consequently in-cepitble of comparison with any other extant form of religious faith. One might as well compare the Chris-tian religion with Fenelon's Telemachus, or one of James's novels.
"The history of this fanaticism is soon told. The church was organized in 1830. In August, 1831, they commenced a settlement at Independence, Jackson County, Missouri—revealed to Smith as the site of the 'New Jerusalem.' Smith wavered long between this place and Kirtland, Ohio, where, in 1833, they com-menced building their first temple, which was finished in 1836, at a cost of about fifty thousand dollars. In 1839 they relaid the foundations of their temple in Missouri. They left this region again for Nauvoo, in Illinois, where another temple soon erected. Jo Smith’s life and labors ended together in Carthage Jail, where, on the 27th of June, 1844, he was shot by a gang of Border Ruffians from Missouri.
"In 1845 they turned their eyes westward—to Van-couver's Island, to Texas, to California, and finally to a valley in the Rocky Mountains. In 1848, as the young grass was peering from the sod and the buds were bursting into flowers, in the month of May, the exodus to Utah commenced.
"From that day Young has reigned supreme, and thousands and tens of thousands have flocked to his standard. The unsettled religious sentiment of the lower grades of mind gravitate to Salt Lake. It is the Botany Bay of the world! There it stands, rampant and defying—a despotism consummate, wearing the show of popular approval, and bending willingly to the nod of a tyrant. There it stands—it is before you in your path to the Pacific—it will not away at your bidding; a huge, ugly, stubborn fact, which no igno-rance can disregard and no political fatuity despise.
"What will you do with it? Will you turn despot and saber 60,000 souls because they believe in Brig-ham Young and polygamy? Will you meet the fa-naticism of folly and fraud by the fanaticism of exter-mination? Will you make the city a desert and the region a howling wilderness on the one hand; or, will you suffer this moral cancer, inflaming political trea-son, to row on untouched until it becomes too vast to handle? Will you permit an independent and defiant despotism, organized in the very heart of this conti-nent and embracing the vilest and most intractable elements of which a community can be composed, to compact and strengthen its defenses, to train its bat-talions, to call home its forces, and light a fire at your threshold which all the forces of the Republic cannot subdue?
"I know some think we should let them alone, and that the system must soon fall to pieces. But how long has Mohammedanism lasted? How much less reliable is the fanaticism of to-day than that of ten centuries ago? What element of this structure gives signs of impotence or decay? What limb of this hale giant is already smitten with moral paralysis, and gives tokens that its energies are spent, or even wearied? Sir, we have let them alone, and from a contemptible handful, they have grown into a nation! The citizens of Illi-nois and Missouri could eject them without aid; but now they stand behind a wall of ten thousand bayo-nets, and dare you to the encounter. The unorganized fanaticism of the world gravitates to Utah, and there it is molded into armies. Eight tenths at least of these elements are foreign, uneducated by and unac-customed to our institutions, with no love for Democ-racy, and no reverence for national law; restless messes, impatient of restraint, and fraternizing only on the lust of license and the hope of power."
