At last we arrived at the plantation of Mr. Courtenay: the house was one
of the very few buildings in the United States in which taste was
displayed. A graceful portico, supported by columns; large verandahs,
sheltered by jessamine; and the garden so green and so smiling, with its
avenues of acacias and live fences of holly and locust, all recalled to
my mind the scenes of my childhood in Europe. Every thing was so neat
and comfortable; the stables so airy, the dogs so well housed, and the
slaves so good-humoured-looking, so clean and well dressed.
When we descended from our horses, a handsome lady appeared at the
portico, with joy and love beaming in her face, as five or six beautiful
children, having at last perceived our arrival, left their play to
welcome and kiss their father. A lovely vision of youth and beauty also
made its appearance--one of those slender girls of the South, a woman of
fifteen years old, with her dark eyelashes and her streaming ebony hair;
slaves of all ages--mulattoes and quadroon girls, old negroes and boy
negroes, all calling together--"Eh! Massa Courtenay, kill plenty bear,
dare say; now plenty grease for black family, good Massa Courtenay."
Add to all this, the dogs barking and the horses neighing, and truly the
whole _tableau_ was one of unbounded affection and happiness, I doubt
if, in all North America, there is another plantation equal to that of
Mr. Courtenay.
I soon became an inmate of the family, and for the first time enjoyed
the pleasures of highly-polished society. Mrs. Courtenay was an
admirable performer upon the harp; Miss Emma Courtenay, her niece, was a
delightful pianist; and my host himself was no mean amateur upon the
flute. Our evenings would pass quickly away, in reading Shakspeare,
Corneille, Racine, Metastasio, or the modern writers of English
literature: after which we would remain till the night had far advanced,
enjoying the beautiful compositions of Beethoven, Gluck, and Mozart, or
the brilliant overtures of Donizetti, Bellini, and Meyerbeer.
Thus my time passed like a happy dream, and as, from the rainy season
having just set in, all travelling was impossible. I remained many weeks
with my kind entertainers, the more willingly, that the various trials I
had undergone had, at so early an age, convinced me that, upon earth,
happiness was too scarce not to be enjoyed when presented to you. Yet in
the midst of pleasure I did not forget the duty I owed to my tribe, and
I sent letters to Joe Smith, the Mormon leader at Nauvoo, that we might
at once enter into an arrangement. Notwithstanding the bad season, we
had some few days of sunshine, in which pretty Miss Emma and I would
take long rambles in the woods; and sometimes, too, my host would invite
the hunters of his neighbourhood, for a general _battue_ against bears,
deer, and wild cats. Then we would encamp out under good tents, and
during the evening, while smoking near our blazing fires, I would hear
stories which taught me more of life in the United States than if I had
been residing there for years.
"Dis-moi qui tu fréquentes, je te dirai qui tu es," is the old French
proverb. Mr. Courtenay never chose his companions but among the more
intellectual classes of the society around him, and, of course, these
stories were not only well told, but interesting in their subject. Often
the conversation would fall upon the Mormons, and perceiving how anxious
I was to learn anything about this new sect, my host introduced me to a
very talented gentleman, who had every information connected with their
history. From him I learned the particulars which gave rise to
Mormonism, undoubtedly the most extraordinary imposition of the
nineteenth century.
There existed years ago a Connecticut man, named Solomon Spalding, a
relation of the one who invented the wooden nut-megs. By following him
through his career, the reader will find him a Yankee of the true stock.
He appears at first as a law student; then as a preacher, a merchant,
and a bankrupt; afterwards he becomes a blacksmith in a small western
village: then a land speculator and a county schoolmaster; later still,
he becomes the owner of an iron-foundry; once more a bankrupt; at last a
writer and a dreamer.
As might be expected, he died a beggar somewhere in Pennsylvania, little
thinking that, by a singular coincidence, one of his productions (the
"Manuscript found"), redeemed from oblivion by a few rogues, would
prove in their hands a powerful weapon, and be the basis of one of the
most anomalous, yet powerful secessions which has ever been experienced
by the Established Church.
We find, under the title of the "Manuscript found," an historical
romance of the first settlers of America, endeavouring to show that the
American Indians are the descendants of the Jews, or the lost tribes. It
gives a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem, by land and by
sea, till they arrived in America, under the command of Nephi and Lehi.
They afterwards had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two
distinct nations, one of which is denominated Nephites, and the other
Lamanites.
Cruel and bloody wars ensued, in which great multitudes were slain. They
buried their dead in large heaps, which caused the mounds now so
commonly found on the continent of America. Their knowledge in the arts
and sciences, and their civilization, are dwelt upon, in order to
account for all the remarkable ruins of cities and other curious
antiquities, found in various parts of North and South America.
Solomon Spalding writes in the biblic style, and commences almost every
sentence with, "And it came to pass,"--"Now, it came to pass."
Although some powers of imagination, and a degree of scientific
information are displayed throughout the whole romance, it remained for
several years unnoticed, on the shelves of Messrs. Patterson and
Lambdin, printers, in Pittsbourg.
Many years passed, when Lambdin the printer, having failed, wished _to
raise the wind by some book speculation_. Looking over the various
manuscripts then in his possession, the "Manuscript found," venerable in
its dust, was, upon examination, looked upon as a gold mine, which would
restore to affluence the unfortunate publisher. But death summoned
Lambdin away, and put an end to the speculation, as far as his interests
were concerned.
Lambdin had intrusted the precious manuscript to his bosom friend,
Sidney Rigdon, that he might embellish and alter it, as he might think
expedient. The publisher now dead, Rigdon allowed this _chef-d'oeuvre_
to remain in his desk, till, reflecting upon his precarious means, and
upon his chances of obtaining a future livelihood, a sudden idea struck
him. Rigdon well knew his countrymen, and their avidity for the
marvellous; he resolved to give to the world the "_manuscript found_,"
not as a mere work of imagination or disquisition, as its writer had
intended it to be, but as a new code of religion, sent down to man, as
of yore, on awful Sinai, the tables were given unto Moses.
For some time, Rigdon worked very hard, studying the Bible, altering his
book, and preaching every Sunday. As the reader may easily imagine, our
Bible student had been, as well as Spalding, a Jack-of-all-trades,
having successively filled the offices of attorney, bar keeper, clerk,
merchant, waiter, newspaper editor, preacher, and, finally, a hanger-on
about printing-offices, where he could always pick up some little job in
the way of proof correcting and so forth.
To us this variety of occupations may appear very strange, but among the
unsettled and ambitious population of the United States, men at the age
of fifty have been, or at least have tried to be everything, not in
gradation, from the lowest up to the highest, but just as it may
happen--doctor yesterday and waiter to-day--the Yankee philosopher will
to-morrow run for a seat in legislature; if he fails, he may turn a
Methodist preacher, a Mormon, a land speculator, a member of the "Native
American Society," or a mason--that is to say, a journeyman mason.
Two words more upon Rigdon, before we leave him in his comparative
insignificance! He is undoubtedly the father of Mormonism, and the
author of the "Golden Book," with the exception of a few subsequent
alterations made by Joe Smith. It was easy for him, from the first
planning of his intended imposture to publicly discuss, in the pulpit,
many strange points of controversy, which were eventually to become the
corner-stones of the structure which he wished to raise.
The novelty of the discussions was greedily received by many, and, of
course, prepared them for that which was coming. Yet, it seems that
Rigdon soon perceived the evils which his wild imposture would generate,
and he recoiled from his task, not, because there remained lurking in
his breast some few sparks of honesty, but because he wanted courage; he
was a scoundrel, but a timorous one, and always in dread of the
penitentiary. With him, Mormonism was a mere money speculation, and he
resolved to shelter himself behind some fool who might bear the whole
odium, while he would reap a golden harvest, and quietly retire before
the coming of a storm. But, as is often the case, he reckoned without
his host; for it so happened that, in searching for a tool of this
description, he found in Joe Smith one not precisely what he had
calculated upon. He wanted a compound of roguery and folly as his tool
and slave; Smith was a rogue and an unlettered man, but he was what
Rigdon was not aware of--a man of bold conception, full of courage and
mental energy, one of those unprincipled, yet lofty, aspiring beings,
who, centuries past, would have succeeded as well as Mahomet, and who
has, even in this more enlightened age, accomplished that which is
wonderful to contemplate.
When it was too late to retract, Rigdon perceived with dismay that,
instead of acquiring a silly bondsman, he had subjected himself to a
superior will; he was now himself a slave, bound by fear and interest,
his two great guides through life. Smith consequently became, instead of
Rigdon, "the elect of God," and is now at the head of thousands, a great
religious and political leader.
From the same gentleman, I also learned the history of Joseph Smith; and
I will lay before the reader what, from various documents, I have
succeeded in collecting concerning this remarkable impostor, together
with a succinct account of the rise and progress of this new sect, as it
is a remarkable feature in the history of nations.