INTERESTING FROM UTAH.
The Mormon Priesthood and the People—The Retiracy of Brigham Young—Indian Dep-redations—Army Movements—The United States Courts, &c.
From Our Own Correspondent.
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TERRITORY,
Saturday, Aug. 21, 1858.
It apears that the great master-minds of the Mormon Church have been compelled, by experience, to acknowlede the truth of the old maxim, that familiar-ity breeds contempt. They have discovered that even their own people, instead of entertaining in-creased respect, veneration and affection for the elders, apostles and prophets, after constant intercourse and intimate acquaintance with them, on the contrary turn away with a sense of disgust and contempt, ex-tending not only towards these elders and apostles, but towards themselves for becoming the dupes of such men. This has led the church leaders to adopt a new line of policy. They have determined to with-draw, for a season, the priesthood from this people, who have become unworthy of it. They will with-hold from them the inspired words of Gospel and in-spiration, and they will hide from them the light of their countenances. It is for this reason (and others) that BRIGHAM remains closely retired, and that no re-ligious services are held on the Sabbath day.
This, we are led to infer from an editorial in the Deseret News, of the 11th inst., entitled "Effects of In-timacy with the Priesthood," from which we quote the following passage, as it serves to illustrate the fact that the comparatively small number of "Gen-tiles" now living here, together with the constant and rapid communication with the States—East and West—has already begun to exert a most beneficial effect upon the masses of the people :
"Strange as it may appear to the inexperienced, yet it is the case, as all who have much acquaintance with "Mormonism" well know, that there are many who do not respect and obey the teachings and counsels of an Apostle or Prophet now, to as great, an extent as they did those of a Priest or Elder when they first be-came acquainted with the gospel. Why is this? Is it because they have learned that, there ought not to be so much respect shown or obedience rendered as for-merly ; or that the greater authority is not entitled to so much honor as the lesser? Oh, no ; they have learned nothing of this kind. If such individuals should be asked these questions, they would readily answer in the negative. But it is because the distance between themselves and the servants of God, whom He has appointed to dictate the affairs of His king-dom, has, to them, apparently lessened. They have become more familiar with them, and, consequently, the obligations to obey their counsels are not, in their estimation, so binding now as formerly. They do not appear to realize that, however closely and intimately they may be associated with the servants of God and the priesthhood which he has bestowed upon them, their obligations to hearken to and obey their counsels are not lessened thereby. The feelings which they had be-fore they became aware of this work, when they used to read the Scriptures and reflect upon the privileges which the generation had who lived contemporary with Jesus and his Apostles, have to a great extent left them, and they cease to appreciate such blessings as they thought they should.
Let an individual or a people permit feelings of this nature to grow with them—feelings that will cause them to be less obedient to the counsels of God, be-cause more familiar with His servants—and the re-sults to them must be deplorable. For, veneration for everything sacred, even for the Lord himself and His counsels, would soon be extinguished. Before they became acquainted with Apostles and Prophets, they had a feeling of veneration for them and their coun-sels almost, if not quite, equal to that which they now have for angels and their counsels, or even for Jesus and his ; and if a few years' acquaintance or famil-iarity with the work of God will cause such a total change in their feelings of respect and veneration for the former, it will not take a very great length of time to produce a similar feeling towards the latter. It would only need a similar acquaintance or familiarity, if such were possible to be obtained by individuals of this class, to produce similar results in the one case as in the other."
The Indian tribes in this vicinity, or rather the renegades of these tribes, having been disappointed in the prospect of plunder which the late difficulties in this Territory presented, have since then, if all ac-counts be true, been consoling themselves by stealing horses from the different settlements. Their opera-tions however have been conducted on a small scale, as in no instance has it been alleged that more than two or three had been taken. During the past two weeks two horses were stolen from Fort Bridger by a small band of outlaws belonging to the Ute Nation. A company of the First Cavalry, commanded by Lieut. BELL, was sent in pursuit of the rascals. He succeeded in overtaking them about 200 miles south of the Fort, just as they were pitching their camp. As soon as they discovered him, however, they scat-tered in every direction, and fled to the mountains, leaving behind them all of their lodges, cooking uten-sils, &c., which were destroyed by the soldiers.
ln consequence of the jaded condition of the horses the party then returned to the fort.
During the past week two Mormons who had been out hunting hay-grounds, on which to cut hay for the Army, returned to the camp, and reported that they were fired on by a party of Indians in the lower part of Rush Valley ;—they stated that the Indians, three in number, first beckoned to them to come and speak to them, but they having refused to do so, the Indians fired—the balls whistling close to their heads.
Gen. JOHNSTON immediately sent out a company o the 2d Dragoons, in command of Lieut. TYLER, to over take the Indians and inquire into the truth of the story. He has not yet returned.
We are inclined, for several reasons, to believe that the Mormons are making every endeavor to cause a collision between the Indians and the Americans—as the "Gentiles" are now termed—both by inciting the Indians to commit depredations, and by endeavoring to prejudice the minds of the authorities, civil and mil-itary, against the Indians. The Mormons have re-peatedly told the Indians that the soldiers were com-ing here to drive the Indians and the Mormons off this land, and to take possession of the country themselves, they have endeavored to impress the Indians with this idea, and to make them believe that the soldiers were all their enemies ;—they now wish to fulfill their prophecies to the Indians by bringing about an Indian war.
Colonel RUGGLES and Major EASTMAN of the 5th Regiment of Infantry, passed through this city on the 17th inst., with 300 recruits, to fill up the vacancies in that Regiment.
Col. CHAPMAN, of the 5th, and Lieut, VILLEPEGUE, of the 2d Dragoons, left here on the 18th, on their way to the States, having procured leave of absence ; they were accompanied by Capt. NEWTON and Lieut. BRYAN, of the Engineer Corps, who return under or-ders.
The 6th Infantry, now under orders to proceed to Oregon, will go by way of California, and thence up the coast to Oregon, instead of taking the Oregon trail direct, as I reported in one of my former letters. We fear that the old source of difficulty with this people, namely, the United States District Courts, still proves a serious stumbling-block in the path of the powers that be in this Territory.
The rulers cannot brook so serious a check upon their treasonable designs, they cannot bear to see their victim protected by the strong arm of justice from that fatal sting which envenoms and paralyzes both body and soul; they fear, they dread so powerful an ally to the weak, the defenceless, to the fatherless, the oppressed, and they are determined to oppose, if possible, the dispensation of any law, but that of their will.
Thus far they have succeeded admirably—they have (driven away or disposed of every United States Judge who has been sent here. They have slandered and calumniated every one of those who have survived a short residence among them, until even the American people were led to believe the atrocious falsehoods ; and now, in continuation of their settled plan, they have endeavored to thwart the United States Judges which have once more been chosen and sent out, un-biased and unprejudiced, in the very first step which they have to take in the discharge of their official du-ties.
The Hon. CHARLES C. SINCLAIR, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of this Territory, who succeeded Judge STILES to the Third Judicial District, (Salt Lake City District,) whilst on his way out here, appointed Mr. SAMUEL GILBERT, of Weston, Mo., Clerk of the Court in his District. Upon his arrival here, Mr. GIL-BERT called upon J. W. CUMMINGS, a Mormon, the former Clerk, and having exhibited his appointment, official oath and bond, demanded, as is usual, the seal and records of his office. In reply, however, Mr. CUMMINGS stated that he would not recognize Mr. G. as Clerk, and that he would give his reasons for so doing to the Judge. In the meantime, two leading Mormons, who have been connected with every diffi-culty which has occurred in the United States Courts here, called on the Judge and protested against the re-moval of CUMMINGS.
CUMMINGS then wrote an insulting letter to the Judge, demanding as a right that he should be retain-ed as Clerk of the Court, citing the law on the sub-ject, which reads thus ; "And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the respective Territories of the United States, to desig-nate and appoint one person as Clerk of the District ever which he presides, where one is not already ap-pointed, and to designate and retain but one such clerk where more than one is already appointed, and only such District Clerks shall be entitled to a com-pensation from the United States, except for fees tax-able in the United States."
And asserting that the Judge had a right to appoint a Clerk only "where one is not already appointed." In fact, the law, in his opinion, places in one respect, the office of Clerk upon the same footing as that of the Judges of the Supreme Court, namely, that they hold office for life.
To this letter of Mr. CUMMINGS the Judge replied, in substance, that he could not pass official opinions upon the law, except upon the Bench, and that he had appointed a clerk, and had no change to make in his appointment. CUMMINGS then sent to the Judge a written protest against his removal, in which he de nounced the Judge's course as illegal and unjusti-fiable, sending, at the same time, the records and seal to the Judge. These latter the Judge of course re-fused to receive, and sent them back to be delivered to Mr. GILBERT. When Mr. G. called for them again, they were delivered to him, although CUMMINGS re-peatedly told him that he did not acknowlege him as clerk. The records which have been received are those of a single term of the Court only, namely, the last term which has been held here, (in the Winter of 1855-'56.) These are all that CUMMINGS had, but, ac-cording to his statement, the remainder of the records of this Court are with those of the First or Northern District Court, in the possession of its former clerk, Mr. CHAUNCEY W. WEST.
Mr. A. G. BROWNE, Jr., who has been acting as clerk of this Court, a session of which was held at Camp Scott in that district last Winter, has made a written application to Mr. WEST for the seal and records of his office, but has as yet received no reply.
The Judges of the Supreme Court now here, viz : Chief-Justice ECKELS and Associate-Justice SINCLAIR, will start on Monday next for Fillmore, the seat of government of the Territory, to appoint a time for holding the terms of the Courts in each of the Dis-tricts. They will be accompanied by Hon. J. HART-NETT, the Secretary of the Territory, who goes down to visit the State House, which has been commenced and partially completed. Gen. JOHNSTON will furnish an escort of Dragoons for the party—for protection against the Indians.
Petty larcenies upon the stores and private resi-dences of "Gentiles" in this city have become very frequent during the past week or two, and as the per-petrators, when they are brought up for trial before the Mormon Justices, are permitted to go free with a mere nominal punishment, they are becoming bolder and bolder every day. One of these gentlemen, named UTE PERKINS, was caught on Saturday last walking out of one of the "Gentile" stores with a hat stuffed under his shirt bosom ; he did not, how-ever, get off without his due, for one of the clerks col-lared him and gave him a thrashing on the spot.
This country seems doomed to be visited by all the plagues of Egypt. It has been visited by the plagues of locusts and grasshoppers, and now we are suffering under a plague of flies ; never were poor mortal men so plagued and pestered as we are at this time by common house flies—they buzz and bite, and sting and crawl upon us from the first dawn of day to the last dim twilight of evening—flying everywhere, filling everything, darkening all places in innumerable legions.
We find in a copy of the Tribune (6th of July) re-ceived by the last mail, an editorial in regard to the Mormon question so full of shameful, barefaced false-hoods and misrepresentations, that we must acknow-ledge we are surprised. It states positively that all the civilians, with Judge ECKELS at their head, together with General JOHNSON, and all the army at his back, in fact everybody except Colonel KANE, were making the most strenuous efforts to thwart Governor CUMMING in his attempt to make peace with the Mormons—and calling upon the Ad-ministration to remove all the civil officers in the Ter-ritory except Governor CUMMING, and recall the army now here and send another in its place.
The exaggeration and malicious rancor which per-vades the whole article is too apparent, to have any other effect than to rebound back from those it was designed to Injure upon the heads of those who origin-ated it.
Not content with including both the civil and mili-tary authorities in its general sweeping blow, as the opposers of peace and authors of lies, it also includes all the correspondents of the press, (not even except-ing their own special correspondent,) as fabricators of deliberate falsehoods in support of the grand combi-nation formed against His Excellency, Gov. CUM-MING.
Upon what authority does the Tribune make such base, unfounded assertions, which are at variance with the almost unanimous reports on the posture of affairs at Camp Scott last Spring?
Could it have been upon the authority of Col. T.S. KANE? A. B. C.
[ BY TELEGRAPH.]
ST. LOUIS, Saturday, Sept. 18.
Leavenworth advices of the 15th inst. are re-ceived. A number of officers from Utah arrived there on that day, among them Col. ALEXANDER and Lieutenants GROVES and MANADIER, of the Tenth In-fancy; and Captain MARCY, of the Fifth Infantry. The general impression was that further trouble was to be expected from the Mormons ; that the difficul-ties had only been postponed, not settled.
A train of twenty wagons leaves here to-morrow for Pike's Park, and WM. H. RUSSELL will start a train of fifty wagons in a few days. Gentlemen are also here from Leavenworth and Wyandott, outfit-ting for the companies in those places.
Three Hunched Mormons Renouncing the Faith.
From the Jefferson City (Mo.) Examiner, Sept. 4.
From the arrival of a man named HERBERT BRANDON, we have been furnished with the following information from Salt Lake :
"I left," (says our informant,) "Camp Scott on the 13th of June. The Mormon excitement had entirely abated. Several Mormon trains had passed Camp Scott on their way to the States.
They stated, while camped at the above place, that they would not have been permitted to leave, or they would have abandoned Salt Lake long ago.
On being questioned as to their determination to re-sist the entrance of the United States troops, they re-plied that the major part of the Mormons only awaited the entrance of the troops in order to effect their es-cape from BRIGHAM YOUNG.
On their arrival at Camp Scott they were minus the common necessaries of life. On being asked the cause of their destitute condition, they stated that before BRIGHAM YOUNG had relented from his determination to resist the troops, he had ordered them to deposit what provisions they had in the storehouse ; but as soon as he made known his intention of going south, those of the Mormons who refused to go were deprived of all, and they could get nothing for their outfit. They also stated that, but for the interference of Governor CUMMING, the destroying angels would have forced them away, and that they did succeed in instances in driv-ing away several women.
I came down with two Mormon trains from Camp Scott, numbering about 300 persons, who were chiefly English and Scotch ; and the principal topic of their conversation throughout was the absurdity of Mor-monism and its principles. They were all unanimous in their denunciations of BRIGHAM YOUNG and his apos-tles, and talked of his assassination by the Mormons ; who remained at Fort Scott as a sure event. They have all (without exception) become disgusted with Mormonism and have renounced it, and expressed their determination from henceforth to use all their ef-forts for the total annihilation of Mormonism. They express their desire to return to their native countries, and would, if they had the means to do so, in order that they might be instrumental in saving others from the baneful influence of Mormonism."
