THB MORMONS.
Colonel Kane’s Statements on the Way Home from Salt Lake.
Correspondence of the New-York Times.
Sweetwater BRIDGE, Sunday, May, 23, 1858.
Long before this can reach you, you will probably have heard in person from Colonel THOS. L. KANE, who went out to Salt Lake, via Cali-fornia, some time since, as a secret agent of the President, to induce the Mormons to retreat from their false postition of antagonism to the United States Government. We met the Colonel yesterday, about 30 miles west of this, on his way to the States, with an escort of half-a-dozen Mormans. I had only time for a few words with him, in which I learned that the Mormons had all left Salt Lake and gone to Provo—a Mormon town, some 80 or 90 miles to the Southward—that a small party of Mormons, at the request of Governor CUMMING, had consented to stay in the city to guard it from wanton destruction; by irresponsible parties; that the Governor had re-turned from Salt Lake to the Camp; that the diffi-culty between the United States and the Saints was settled; and that the only question remaining was, whether the latter should leave altogether, burning the city behind them, or should be induced to return to it and live there in peace.
I asked the Colonel if they were on their way to Sonora. His answer, though not a direct affirmative, was such as to satisfy me that Sonora was their desti-nation. The Colonel did not tell us how the Mormons were to he induced not ruin themselves by the destruction of their homes—but proboably the, con-dition is the withdrawal of the troops without march-ing into the Valley. Fortunately the President in his Proclamation which I sent you the other day from Fort Laramie, saved that point, and while yielding all else to the "saintly" rebels, declares that the Ar-my shall go in. It is to be hoped that this will be in-sisted upon.
I showed Col. KANE a copy of the Proclamation. He manifested no surprise at the tenor of a document which has fallen like a clap of thunder from a clear sky upon every man on the plains who has been per-sonally familiar with the history of Mormon aggres-sions. He certainly seemed to have anticipated it. I have heard a rumor which I fear is true, to-wit, that Mr. BUCHANAN, desirous of evading the responsibility of carrying the issue with the Mormons to a vigorous end, selected Col. KANE—for his well-known sympa-thies with the people of Salt Lake—to go out there months ago, and prepare them for the reception of a Proclamation of a general amnesty for past treasons and seditions, such as that which the Peace Commis-sioners are now carrying out with them. I have no time to comment on this whole proceeding, for I write this note while our mules rest for a few mo-ments, and we are already notified that our "outfit" is ready to proceed.
We are in a high, healthy country—six or seven thousand feet above the Gulf of Mexico—and have had a little snow-storm on this morning of the 23d of May. Still the weather is very agreeable. S.
Movements of the Mormons—Where they are Probably Going to.
WASHINGTON, Tuesday, June 22, 1858. To the Editor of the New- York Times : DEAR SIR: The mystery relative to the move-ments and purposes of the Mormons, is to some extent explained by information which originates with Captain GIBSON, of Dutch East Indian celebrity, who seems to keep his attention fixed upon the Indian Ar-chipelago. Some time in June of last year, as I learn, he submitted a plan to the Mormon Delegate, Mr. BERNHISEL, for the emigration of his constituents in Utah, to the island of New-Guinea, in the Indian Archipelago. This plan was cordially approved of by the chief Saints of Salt Lake City; and, in accord-ance with their approbation, Mr. BERNHISEL submit-ted a proposition, entirely based upon the Captain's plan of emigration, to the Government in February last; the consideration of which was wholly reject-ed by the President. During the month of March, Captain GIBSON took some pains to induce the Gov-ernment to give his plan a favorable consideration;—he urged that Mormonism was a growing power, and that as a Mormon war in Utah had assumed more threatening proportions than the Mormon war in Il-linois, so a Mormon war in Sonora, or other territo-ry on this Continent, some years hence, may present obstacles to tax the highest energies of the Republic. This was the golden opportunity to remove this fanatical antagonism to our institutions forever from this Continent. He set forth, based upon reliable in-formation, that the active spirits in Utah were eager for a more genial field, than their desert bound retreat, for the exercise of their skill and industry, and for the maintenance of their peculiar political and social in-stitutions; and in the great, fertile and unappropria-ted island of New-Guinea, in the vicinity of Oriental polygamist communities, they hoped to find a con-genial home for their community; furthermore, whilst the Government was actively pushing its war preparations, Capt. GIBSON urged that a Peace Com-missioner should be sent to treat with the Mormon leaders, either with reference to this plan of emigra-tion or other adjustment of difficulties; but the Cap-tain's peace proposition was rejected, alike with the proposition to emigrate, submitted by the Mormon delegate, and he (the Captain) was informed by the Government that no other course could be pursued by the United States authorities, than to uncondi-tionally "maintain the supremacy of the laws in Utah." A correspondence on this subject with some members of the Cabinet, took place in March. Sub-sequently, Capt. G. submitted his views to leading Southern members of Congress, who have been ac-tive friends of the Captain's claim against the Dutch; and it is presumed that their influence induced the Government, or the President rather, to change his uncompromising attitude with regard to the Mor-mons; and the result was the appointment of Com-missioners, though by no means such men as were proposed, who would have been far better calculated to conciliate the Mormons, than the Texan ranger, MCCULLOCH, so hated by them.
These statements can be relied on as being sup-ported by official documentary evidence. To explain the present movements of the Mormons, I am ena-bled to give you these particulars. The Mormon ha-tred of the present United States officials in Utah who are notorious, even among frontier men, for ex-cesses of brutality and lust—the hatred of them is such that, rather than remain to hold any intercourse with them and their followers, they prefer to sacrifice all the advantages or indemnities that might be negotiated for, in order to preserve the integrity of their families in the wilderness. They are also moving in the direction of unsettled Mexican territory, for the purpose of selecting a point on the Pacific coast, where they can, undisturbed, make their preparations for the exodus across the Pacific Ocean, of which was suggested and prepared by Capt. GIBSON. He has prepared a series of maps on a large scale, which illustrate the island-world from Madagascar to California. His grand map of the Malay Archipelago has been much admired. It was gotten up by order of the State Department. But I wish to speak of his splendid map of New-Guinea, and of Solomon's Archipelago, including Birera, and the islands of the New-Hebrides, and New-Ireland groups. In addi-tion to what has been compiled from the costly works of D'ENTRECASTEAUX, D'URVILLE, LESSON and oth-ers, gotton up by the French Government, Captain GIBSON has been gathering information from a host of Boston and Salem, and English and Dutch Oceanican navigators, and furthermore from Malay chieftains of the Indian Archipelago, who keep up an active com-mercial intercourse with New-Guinea or Papua, and neighboring islands, and with whom he has main-tained a constant correspondence through friends at Singapore and Batavia, since he left the Indian seas. These maps of this portion of Oceanica, along with other original maps, of Southern Polynesia, are pre-pared for the information of the Mormon leaders. A pioneer vessel is now being fitted out to bear a Mor-mon vanguard to Oceanica. Captain GIBSON gives as his chief reason for taking the interest that he does in Mormon emigration to Papua, or other great unoccu-pied island of the Pacific or Indian Oceans, that such an event, the settlement of great islands, some as large and some twice as large as Utah, now possessed by a few miserable savages and the beasts of the jun-gle, by a race speaking our language and possessing all the arts of our civilization, must he productive of beneficial results to the civilized world. It would de-stroy Malay piracy and Dutch monopoly, the two curses of the Indian seas, and would make the Anglo- Saxon race and name preeminent throughout Ocean-ica and throughout the Indian seas. A. M. C.
Gov. Cumming and His Movements in Utah.
From the Washington Union.
By the arrival in this city of Col. KANE we have been able to gain a little more insight into the pecu-liarities of Gov. CUMMING'S administration in Utah, or rather into the tone and character of his govern-ment. We have, for instance, the distinct authority of Col. KANE for saying that Gov. CUMMING resolved to enter Salt Lake City in the Spring without having made any arrangement, through Colonel KANE or otherwise, in reference to his visit. It was Governor CUMMING'S intention, last Winter, to have separated himself from the army, and to go to the Mormon cap-ital. Not only, then, does it appear that Governor C. acted with great energy, but it turns out that in all his addresses to the rebellious people he demanded unconditional submission. He would recognize the Mormons as brothers only on the express ground that they should recognize the laws and Constitution of the United States as binding upon them. This bold, fearless language, uttered by a man of a large heart and commanding intellect, won the respect of the Mormons; and hence we have the extraordinary events which have been so liberally reoorted and published by the return party of Colonel KANE.
We shall look with profound interest to the devel-opment of affairs in Utah. There is a mystery in that Territory which it will require time to solve. The power that moves a whole community at a sig-nal, is worthy of calm investigation, and its future may well be watched with extraordinary interest. Such a people have a future. This is an important fact to be kept in view—the Mormons have a future. They are encumbered with vices and moral excres-cences which it will take time to remove, but with the vast field before them in the interior of the Con-tinent it is certain they have a future ! We regard it as fortunate that one so intelligent, firm, and sagacious as Governor CUMMING is charged with the delicate duty of administering the Govern-ment of the Mormon people.
