Nauvoo, the holy city of the Mormons, and present capital of their
empire, is situated in the north-western part of Illinois, on the east
bank of the Mississippi, in latitude 40 degrees 33 minutes North; it is
bounded on the north, south, and west by the river, which there forms a
large curve, and is nearly two miles wide. Eastward of the city is a
beautiful undulating prairie; it is distant ten miles from Fort Madison,
in Iowa, and more than two hundred from St. Louis.
Before the Mormons gathered there, the place was named _Commerce_, as I
have already said, and was but a small and obscure village of some
twenty houses; so rapidly, however, have they accumulated, that there
are now, within four years of their first settlement, upwards of fifteen
thousand inhabitants in the city, and as many more in its immediate
vicinity.
The surface of the ground upon which Nauvoo is built is very uneven,
though there are no great elevations. A few feet below the soil is a
vast bed of limestone, from which excellent building material can be
quarried, to almost any extent. A number of _tumuli_, or ancient
mounds, are found within the limits of the city, proving it to have been
a place of some importance with the former inhabitants of the country.
The space comprised within the city limits is about four miles in its
extreme length, and three in its breadth; but is very irregular in its
outline, and does not cover so much ground as the above measurement
would seem to indicate.
The city is regularly laid out, the streets crossing each other at right
angles, and generally of considerable length, and of convenient width.
The majority of the houses are still nothing more than log cabins, but
lately a great number of plank and brick houses have been erected. The
chief edifices of Nauvoo are the Temple, and an hotel, called the Nauvoo
House, but neither of them is yet finished; the latter is of brick, upon
a stone foundation, and presents a front of one hundred and twenty feet,
by sixty feet deep, and is to be three stories high, exclusive of the
basement. Although intended chiefly for the reception and entertainment
of strangers and travellers, it contains, or rather will contain, a
splendid suite of apartments for the particular accommodation of the
prophet Joe Smith, and his heirs and descendants for ever.
The privilege of this accommodation he pretends was granted to him by
the Lord, in a special revelation, on account of his services to the
Church. It is most extraordinary that the Americans, imbued with
democratic sentiments and with such an utter aversion to hereditary
privileges of any kind, could for a moment be blinded to the selfishness
of the prophet, who thus easily provided for himself and his posterity a
palace and a maintenance.
The Mormon temple is a splendid structure of stone, quarried within the
bounds of the city; its breadth is eighty feet, and its length one
hundred and forty, independent of an outer court of thirty feet, making
the length of the whole structure one hundred and seventy feet. In the
basement of the temple is the baptisma font, constructed in imitation of
the famous brazen sea of Solomon; it is supported by twelve oxen, well
modelled and overlaid with gold. Upon the sides of the font, in panels,
are represented various scriptural subjects, well painted. The upper
story of the temple will, when finished, be used as a lodge-room for the
Order Lodge and other secret societies. In the body of the temple,
where it is intended that the congregation shall assemble, are two sets
of pulpits, one for the priesthood, and the other for the grandees of
the church.
The cost of this noble edifice has been defrayed by tithing the whole
Mormon church. Those who reside at Nauvoo and are able to labour, have
been obliged to work every tenth day in quarrying stone, or upon the
building of the temple itself. Besides the temple, there are in Nauvoo
two steam saw-mills, a steam flour-mill, a tool-factory on a large
scale, a foundry, and a company of considerable wealth, from
Staffordshire, have also established there a manufacture of English
china.
The population of the holy city itself is rather a mixed kind. The
general gathering of the saints has, of course, brought together men of
all classes and characters. The great majority of them are uneducated
and unpolished people, who are undoubtedly sincere believers in the
prophet and his doctrines. A great proportion of them consist of
converts from the English manufacturing districts, who were easily
persuaded by Smith's missionaries to exchange their wretchedness at home
for ease and plenty in the promised land. These men are devotedly
attached to the prophet's will, and obey his orders as they would those
of God himself.
These aliens can, by the law of Illinois, vote after six months'
residence in the state, and they consequently vote blindly, giving their
votes according to the will of Joe Smith. To such an extent does his
will influence them, that at the election in Nauvoo (1842) there were
but six votes against the candidates he supported. Of the Mormons, I
believe the majority to be ignorant, deluded men, really and earnestly
devoted to their new religion. But their leaders are men of intellect,
who profess Mormonism because of the wealth, titles [see note 1], rank,
and power which it procures them.
As a military position, Nauvoo, garrisoned by twenty or thirty thousand
fanatics, well armed and well supplied with provisions, would be most
formidable. It is unapproachable upon any side but the east, and there
the nature of the ground (boggy) offers great obstacles to any besieging
operations. It is Smith's intention, to congregate his followers there,
until he accumulates a force that can defy anything that can be brought
against him.
Nauvoo is a Hebrew word, and signifies a beautiful habitation for a man,
carrying with it the idea of rest. It is not, however, considered by
the Mormons as their final home, but as a resting-place; they only
intend to remain there till they have gathered a force sufficient to
enable them to conquer Independence (Missouri), which, according to
them, _is one of the most fertile, pleasant, and desirable countries on
the face of the earth, possessing a soil unsurpassed by any region_.
Independence they consider their Zion, and they there intend to rear
their great temple, the corner stone of which is already laid. There is
to be the great gathering-place for all the saints, and, in that
delightful and healthy country, they expect to find their Eden and build
their New Jerusalem.
What passed between Joe Smith and myself I feel not at liberty to
disclose; in fact, publicity would interfere with any future plans. I
will only say, that the prophet received me with the greatest
cordiality, and confirmed the offers which his agents had made to me
when I was among the Comanches. When, however, I came to the point, and
wished to ascertain whether the Mormons would act up to the promises of
their leaders, I perceived, to my great disappointment, that the means
at least, for the present--the operative means--were not yet ready to be
put in motion. According to him, the Foxes, Osages, Winnebegoes, Sioux,
and Mennomonie Indians would act for him at a moment's notice; and, on
my visiting the Foxes to ascertain the truth of these assertions, I
discovered that they had indeed promised to do so, provided that,
previously, the Mormons should have fulfilled certain promises to them,
the performance of which I knew was not yet in the power of the Mormons.
In the meanwhile, I heard from Joe Smith himself how God had selected
him to obtain and be the keeper of the divine bible; and the reader will
form his own idea of Joe Smith by the narrative. The day appointed was
the 22nd of September, and Joe told me that on that day--
"He arose early in the morning, took a one-horse waggon of some one that
had staid overnight at his house, and, accompanied by his wife, repaired
to the hill which contained the book. He left his wife in the waggon by
the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or forty
rods. He then took the book out of the ground, hid it in a tree top,
and returned home. The next day he went to work for some time in the
town of Macedon, but about ten days afterwards, it having been suggested
that some one had got his book, his wife gave him notice of it; upon
which, hiring a horse, he returned home in the afternoon, staid just
time enough to drink a cup of tea went in search of his book, found it
safe, took off his frock, wrapt it round his treasure, put it under his
arm, and ran all the way home, a distance of about two miles. He said
he should think that, being written on plates of gold, it weighed sixty
pounds, but, at all events, was sure it was not less than forty. On his
return he was attacked by two men in the woods, knocked them both down,
made his escape, and arrived safe at home with his burden."
The above were the exact words of Smith, to which he adds, somewhere in
his translation of the book, that had it not been for the supernatural
virtues of the stone he carried with him, virtues which endowed him with
divine strength and courage, he would never have been able to undergo
the fatigues and conquer the obstacles he encountered during that
frightful night.
Thus Smith gets possession of his precious manuscript. But, alas 'tis
written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Joe calls to his assistance the
wonderful stone, "the gift of God," and peeping hastily through it, he
sees an angel pointing somewhere towards _a miraculous pair of
spectacles_!!! Yes, two polished pieces of crystal were the humble
means by which the golden plates were to be rendered comprehensible. By
the bye, the said spectacles are a heavy, ugly piece of workmanship of
the last century; they are silver-mounted, and bear the maker's name,
plainly engraved, "Schneider, Zurich."
The Book of Mormon was published in the year 1830. Since that period
its believers and advocates have propagated its doctrines and
absurdities with a zeal worthy of a better cause. Through every State
of the Union, and in Canada, the apostles of this wild delusion have
disseminated its principles and duped thousands to believe it true.
They have crossed the ocean, and in England have made many converts;
recently some of their missionaries have been sent to Palestine. Such
strenuous exertions having been, and still being made, to propagate the
doctrines of this book, and such fruits having already appeared from the
labours of its friends, it becomes a matter of some interest to
investigate the history of this strange delusion, and, although it does
not deserve it, treat the subject seriously.
The Book of Mormon purports to be the record or history of a certain
people who inhabited America previous to its discovery by Columbus.
According to the book, this people were the descendants of one Lehi, who
crossed the ocean from the eastern continent to that of America. Their
history and records, containing prophecies and revelations, were
engraven, by the command of God, on small plates, and deposited in the
hill Comora, which appears to be situated in Western New York. Thus was
preserved an account of this race (together with their religious creed)
up to the period when the descendants of Laman, Lemuel, and Sam, who
were the three eldest sons of Lehi, arose and destroyed the descendants
of Nephi, who was the youngest son. From this period the descendants of
the eldest sons "dwindled in unbelief," and "became a dark, loathsome,
and filthy people." These last-mentioned are the present American
Indians.
The plates above mentioned remained in their depository until 1827, when
they were found by Joseph Smith, junior, who was directed in the
discovery by the angel of the Lord. On these plates were certain
hieroglyphics, said to be of the Egyptian character, which Smith, by the
direction of God, being instructed by inspiration as to their meaning,
proceeded to translate.
It will be here proper to remark, that a narrative so extraordinary as
that contained in the book of Mormon, translated from hieroglyphics, of
which even the most learned have but a limited knowledge, and that too,
by an ignorant man, who pretended to no other knowledge of the
characters than what he derived from inspiration, requires more than
ordinary evidence to substantiate it. It will, therefore, be our
purpose to inquire into the nature and degree of testimony which has
been given to the world to substantiate the claims of this extraordinary
book.
In the first place, the existence of the plates themselves has ever
since their alleged discovery been in dispute. On this point it would
be extremely easy to give some proofs, by making an exhibition of them
to the world. If they are so ancient as they are claimed to be, and
designed for the purpose of transmitting the history of a people, and if
they have lain for ages deposited in the earth, their appearance would
certainly indicate the fact. What evidence, then, have we of the
_existence_ of these plates? Why, none other than the mere _dictum_ of
Smith himself and the certificates of eleven other individuals, who say
that they have seen them; and upon this testimony we are required to
believe this most extraordinary narrative.
Now, even admitting, for the sake of argument, that these witnesses are
all honest and credible men, yet what would be easier than for Smith to
deceive them? Could he not easily procure plates and inscribe thereon a
set of characters, no matter what, and exhibit them to the intended
witnesses as genuine? What would be easier than thus to impose on their
credulity and weakness? And if it were necessary to give them the
appearances of antiquity, a chemical process could effect the matter.
But we do not admit that these witnesses were honest; for six of them,
after having made the attestation to the world that they had seen the
plates, left the Church, thus contradicting that to which they had
certified. And one of these witnesses, Martin Harris, who is frequently
mentioned in the Book of Covenants--who was a high-priest of the
Church--who was one of the most infatuated of Smith's followers--who
even gave his property in order to procure the publication of the Book
of Mormon, afterwards seceded from the Church. Smith, in speaking of
him in connection with others, said that they were so far beneath
contempt, that a notice of them would be too great a sacrifice for a
gentleman to make.
Some of the Mormons have said that a copy of the plates was presented to
Professor Anthon, a gentleman standing in the first rank as a classical
scholar, and that he attested to the faithfulness of the translation of
the Book of Mormon. Now, let us read what the professor himself has to
say on this matter. In a letter recently published he expresses himself
thus:--
"Many years ago, the precise date I do not now recollect, a
plain-looking countryman called upon me, with a letter from Dr Samuel
L. Mitchell, requesting me to examine and give my opinion upon a certain
paper, marked with various characters, which the doctor confessed he
could not decipher, and which the bearer of the note was very anxious to
have explained. A very brief examination of the paper convinced me that
it was not only a mere hoax, but a very clumsy one. The characters were
arranged in columns, like the Chinese mode of writing, and presented the
most singular medley I ever beheld. Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of
letters, more or less distorted, either through unskilfulness or from
actual design, were intermingled with sundry delineations of half-moons,
stars, and other natural objects, and the whole ended in a rude
representation of the Mexican zodiac. The conclusion was irresistible,
that some cunning fellow had prepared the paper in question, for the
purpose of imposing upon the countryman who brought it, and I told the
man so, without any hesitation. He then proceeded to give me the
history of the whole affair, which convinced me that he had fallen into
the hands of some sharper, while it left me in great astonishment at his
simplicity."
The professor also states that he gave his opinion in writing to the
man, that "the marks on the paper appeared to be merely an imitation of
various alphabetic characters, and had no meaning at all connected with
them."
The following letter, which I received, relative to the occupation of
Joe Smith, as a treasure-finder, will probably remind the reader of the
character of Dousterswivel, in Walter Scott's tale of the Antiquary.
One could almost imagine that either Walter Scott had borrowed from Joe,
or that Joe had borrowed from the great novelist.
"I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, senior, and his family, in
1820. They lived at that time in Palmyra, about one mile and a half
from my residence. A great part of their time was devoted to digging
for money: especially in the night-time, when, they said, the money
could be most easily obtained. I have heard them tell marvellous tales
respecting the discoveries they have made in their peculiar occupation
of money-digging. They would say, for instance, that in such and such a
place, in such a hill, or a certain man's farm, there were deposited
kegs, barrels, and hogsheads of coined silver and gold, bars of gold,
golden images, brass kettles filled, with gold and silver, gold
candlesticks, swords, etcetera, etcetera. They would also say, that
nearly all the hills in this part of New York were thrown by human
hands, and in them were large caves, which Joseph, junior, could see, by
placing a stone of singular appearance in his hat, in such a manner as
to exclude all light; at which time they pretended he could see all
things within and under the earth; that he could spy within the
above-mentioned caves large gold bars and silver plates; that he could
also discover the spirits in whose charge these treasures were, clothed
in ancient dresses. At certain times, these treasures could be obtained
very easily; at others, the obtaining of them was difficult. The
facility of approaching them depended in a great measure on the state of
the moon. New moon and Good Friday, I believe, were regarded as the
most favourable times for obtaining these treasures. These tales, of
course, I regarded as visionary. However, being prompted by curiosity,
I at length accepted their invitation to join them in their nocturnal
excursions. I will now relate a few incidents attending these nocturnal
excursions.
"Joseph Smith, senior, came to me one night, and told me that Joseph,
junior, had been looking in his stone, and had seen, not many rods from
his house, two or three kegs of gold and silver, some feet under the
surface of the earth, and that none others but the elder Joseph and
myself could get them. I accordingly consented to go, and early in the
evening repaired to the place of deposit. Joseph, senior, first made a
circle, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter: `This circle,' said he,
`contains the treasure.' He then stuck in the ground a row of
witch-hazel sticks around the said circle, for the purpose of keeping
off the evil spirits. Within this circle he made another, of about
eight or ten feet in diameter. He walked around three times on the
periphery of this last circle, muttering to himself something I could
not understand. He next stuck a steel rod in the centre of the circles,
and then enjoined profound silence, lest we should arouse the evil
spirit who had the charge of these treasures. After we had dug a trench
of about five feet in depth around the rod, the old man, by signs and
motions asked leave of absence, and went to the house to inquire of the
son the cause of our disappointment. He soon returned, and said, that
Joe had remained all the time in the house, looking in his stone and
watching the motions of the evil spirit; that he saw the spirit come up
to the ring, and as soon as it beheld the cone which we had formed
around the rod, it caused the money to sink. We then went into the
house, and the old man observed that we had made a mistake in the
commencement of the operation; `If it had not been for that,' said he,
`we should have got the money.'
"At another time, they devised a scheme by which they might satiate
their hunger with the flesh of one of my sheep. They had seen in my
flock of sheep a large, fat, black wether. Old Joseph and one of the
boys came to me one day, and said, that Joseph, junior, had discovered
some very remarkable and valuable treasures, which could be procured
only in one way. That way was as follows:--that a black sheep should be
taken on the ground where the treasures were concealed; that, after
cutting its throat, it should be led around a circle while bleeding;
this being done, the wrath of the evil spirit would be appeased, the
treasures could then be obtained, and my share of them would be
four-fold. To gratify my curiosity, I let them have the sheep. They
afterwards informed me that the sheep was killed pursuant to
commandment; but, as there was some mistake in the process, it did not
have the desired effect. This, I believe, is the only time they ever
made money-digging a profitable business. They, however, had constantly
around them a worthless gang, whose employment it was to dig for money
at night, and who, during day, had more to do with mutton than money.
"When they found that the better classes of people of this vicinity
would no longer put any faith in their schemes for digging money, they
then pretended to find a gold bible, of which they said the Book of
Mormon was only an introduction. This latter book was at length fitted
for the press. No means were taken by any individual to suppress its
publication; no one apprehended danger from a book originating with
individuals who had neither influence, honesty, nor honour. The two
Josephs and Hiram promised to shew me the plates after the Book of
Mormon was translated; but afterwards, they pretended to have received
an express commandment, forbidding them to shew the plates. Respecting
the manner of obtaining and translating the Book of Mormon, their
statements were always discordant. The elder Joseph would say, that he
had seen the plates, and that he knew them to be gold; at other times he
would say they looked like gold; and at other times he asserted he had
not seen the plates at all.
"I have thus briefly stated a few of the facts, in relation to the
conduct and character of this family of Smiths; probably sufficient has
been stated without my going into detail.
"WILLIAM STAFFORD."
The following is a curious document from one of the very individuals who
printed the Mormon Bible:--
"Having noticed in a late number of the _Signs of the Times_, a notice
of a work entitled `Mormon Delusions and Monstrosities,' it occurred to
me that it might, perhaps, be of service to the cause of truth to state
one circumstance, relative to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon,
which occurred during its publication, at which time I was a practical
printer and engaged in the office where it was printed, and became
familiar with the men and their principles, through whose agency it was
`got up.'
"The circumstance alluded to was as follows:--We had heard much said by
Martin Harris, the man who paid for the printing, and the only one in
the concern worth any property, about the wonderful wisdom of the
translators of the mysterious plates, and we resolved to test their
wisdom. Accordingly, after putting one sheet in type, we laid it aside,
and told Harris it was lost, and there would be a serious defection in
the book in consequence, unless another sheet, like the original, could
be produced. The announcement threw the old gentleman into great
excitement; but, after few a moments' reflection, he said he would try
to obtain another. After two or three weeks, another sheet was
produced, but no more like the original than any other sheet of paper
would have been, written over by a common schoolboy, after having read,
as they had, the manuscript preceding and succeeding the lost sheet. As
might be expected, the disclosure of this trick greatly annoyed the
authors, and caused no little merriment among those who were acquainted
with the circumstance. As we were none of us _Christians_, and only
laboured for the `gold that perisheth,' we did not care for the
delusion, only so far as to be careful to avoid it ourselves and enjoy
the hoax. _Not one_ of the hands in the office where the wonderful book
was printed ever became a convert to the system, although the writer of
this was often assured by Harris, that if he did not, he would be
destroyed in 1832.
"T.N.S. TUCKER."