Let us now examine into the political views of the Mormons, and follow
Smith in his lofty and aspiring visions of sovereignty for the future.
He is a rogue and a swindler,--no one can doubt that; yet there is
something grand in his composition. Joe, the mean, miserable,
half-starved money-digger of western New York, was, as I have before
observed, cast in the mould of conquerors, and out of that same clay
which Nature had employed for the creation of a Mahomet.
His first struggle was successful; the greater portion of his followers
surrounded him in Kirkland, and acknowledged his power, as that of God's
right hand; while many individuals from among the better classes
repaired to him, attracted by the ascendency of a bold genius, or by the
expectation of obtaining a share in his fame, power, and glory.
Kirkland, however, was an inland place; there, on every side, Smith had
to contend with opposition; his power was confined and his plans had not
sufficient room for development. He turned his mind towards the western
borders of Missouri: it was but a thought; but with him, rapid action
was as much a natural consequence of thought as thunder is of lightning.
Examine into the topography of that country, the holy Zion and promised
land of the Mormons, and it will be easy to recognise the fixed and
unchangeable views of Smith, as connected with the formation of a vast
empire.
For the last twelve or fifteen years the government of the United States
has, through a mistaken policy, been constantly engaged in sending to
the western borders all the eastern Indian tribes that were disposed to
sell their land, and also the various tribes who, having rebelled
against their cowardly despotism, had been overpowered and conquered
during the struggle. This gross want of policy is obvious.
Surrounded and demoralised by white men, the Indian falls into a
complete state of _decadence_ and _abrutissement_. Witness the Choctaw
tribes that hover constantly about Mobile and New Orleans; the
Winnebegoes, who have of late come into immediate contact with the
settlers of Wisconsin; the Pottawatomies, on both shores of Lake
Michigan; the Miamis of North Indiana, and many more. On the contrary,
the tribes on the borders, or in the wilderness, are on the increase.
Of course, there are a few exceptions, such as the Kansas, or the poor
Mandans, who have lately been almost entirely swept away from the earth
by the small-pox. Some of the smaller tribes may be destroyed by
warfare, or they may incorporate themselves with others, and thus lose
their name and nationality; but the increase of the Indian population is
considerable among the great uncontrolled nations; such as the Chippewas
and Dahcotahs (Siouxes), of the north United States; the Comanches and
the Pawnees, on the boundaries, or even in the very heart, of Texas; the
Shoshones (Snakes), on the southern limits of Oregon; and the brave
Apaches of Sonora, those bold Bedouins of the Mexican deserts, who,
constantly on horseback, wander, in immense phalanxes, from the eastern
shores of the Gulf of California to the very waters of the Rio Grande.
Admitting, therefore, as a fact, that the tribes on the borders do
increase, in the same ratio with their material strength, grows also
their invincible, stern, and unchangeable hatred towards the American.
In fact, more or less, they have all been ill-treated and abused, and
every additional outrage to one tribe is locked up in the memory of all,
who wait for the moment of retaliation and revenge. In the Wisconsin
war (Black Hawk, 1832), even after the poor starved warriors had
surrendered themselves by treaty, after a noble struggle, more than two
hundred old men, women, and children were forced by the Americans to
cross the river without boats or canoes. The poor things endeavoured to
pass it with the help of their horses; the river there was more than
half a mile broad, and while these unfortunates were struggling for life
against a current of nine miles an hour, they were treacherously shot in
the water.
This fact is known to all the tribes--even to the Comanches, who are so
distant. It has satisfied them as to what they may expect from those
who thus violate all treaties and all faith. The remainder of that
brave tribe is now dwelling on the west borders of Ioway, but their
wrongs are too deeply dyed with their own blood to be forgotten even by
generations, and their cause is ready to be espoused by every tribe,
even those who have been their hereditary enemies; for what is, after
all, their history but the history of almost every Indian nation
transplanted on the other side of the Mississippi?
This belt of Indian tribes, therefore, is rather an unsafe neighbour,
especially in the event of a civil war or of a contest with England.
Having themselves, by a mistaken policy, collected together a cordon of
offended warriors, the United States will some day deplore, when too
late, their former greediness, cowardice, and cruelty towards the
natural owners of their vast territories.
It is among these tribes that Joe Smith wishes to lay the foundation of
his future empire; and settling at Independence, he was interposing as a
neutral force between two opponents, who would, each of them, have
purchased his massive strength and effective energy with the gift of
supremacy over an immense and wealthy territory. As we have seen,
chance and the fortune of war have thrown Smith and the Mormons back on
the eastern shores of the Mississippi, opposite the entrance of
Desmoines river; but when forced back, the Mormons were an unruly and
turbulent crowd, without means or military tactics; now, such is not the
case. Already, the prophet has sent able agents over the river; the
Sacs and Foxes, the same tribe we have just spoken of as the much-abused
nation of Wisconsin, and actually residing at about eighty miles North
North West from Nauvoo, besides many others, are on a good understanding
with the Latter-day Saints. A few bold apostles of Mormonism have also
gone to the far, far west, among the unconquered tribes of the prairies,
to organise an offensive power, ever ready for action.
Thus, link after link, Smith extends his influence, which is already
felt in Illinois, in Iowa, in Missouri, at Washington, and at the very
foot of the Rocky Mountains. Moreover, hundreds of Mormons, without
avowing their creed, have gone to Texas, and established themselves
there. They save all their crops, and have numerous cattle and droves
of horses, undoubtedly to feed and sustain a Mormon army on any future
invasion. Let us now examine further into this cunning and long-sighted
policy, and we shall admire the great genius that presides over it. We
are not one of those, so common in these days, who have adopted the _nil
admirari_ for their motto. Genius, well or ill guided, is still genius;
and if we load with shame the former life of Smith and his present
abominable religious impositions, still we are bound to do justice to
that conquering spirit which can form such vast ideas, and work such a
multitude to his will.
The population of Texas does not amount to seventy thousand souls, among
whom there are twenty-five different forms of religion. Two-thirds of
the inhabitants are scoundrels, who have there sought a refuge against
the offended laws of their country. They are not only a curse and a
check to civilisation, but they reflect dishonour upon the remaining
third portion of the Texians, who have come from distant climes for the
honest purposes of trade and agriculture. This mongrel and mixed
congregation of beings, though firmly united in one point (war with
Mexico, and that in the expectation of a rich plunder), are continually
at variance on other points. Three thousand Texians would fight against
Mexico, but not two hundred against the Mormons; and that for many
reasons: government alone, and not an individual, would be a gainer by a
victory in Texas, not a soul cares for any thing but himself. Besides,
the Mormons are Yankees, and can handle a rifle, setting aside their
good drilling and excellent discipline. In number, they would also have
the advantage; while I am now writing, they can muster five thousand
well-drilled soldiers, and, in the event of an invasion of Texas, they
could easily march ten thousand men from the Sabine to the Rio Grande,
from the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico. Opposition they will not
meet. A year after the capture, the whole of Texas becomes Mormon,
while Joe--king, emperor, Pharaoh, judge or regenerator--rules over a
host of two hundred and fifty thousand devoted subjects.
Let our reader observe that these are not the wild utopias of a heated
imagination. No; we speak as we do believe, and our intercourse with
the Mormons, during our travels, has been sufficiently close to give us
a clear insight into their designs for the future.
Joe's policy is, above all, to conciliate the Indians, and that once
done, there will not be in America a power capable of successfully
opposing him. In order to assist this he joins them in his new faith.
In admitting the Indians to be the "right, though guilty," descendants
of the sacred tribes, he flatters them with an acknowledgment of their
antiquity, the only point on which a white can captivate and even blind
the shrewd though untutored man of the wilds.
In explanation of the plans and proceedings of Joe Smith and the
Mormons, it may not be amiss to make some remarks upon the locality
which he has designed as the seat of his empire and dominion, and where
he has already established his followers, as the destined instruments of
his ambition.
According to the Mormon prophets, the whole region of country between
the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies was, at a period of about
thirteen hundred years ago, densely peopled by nations descended from a
Jewish family, who emigrated from Jerusalem in the time of the prophet
Jeremiah, some six or seven hundred years before Christ; immense cities
were founded, and sumptuous edifices reared, and the whole land
overspread with the results of a high and extensive civilisation.
The Book of Mormon speaks of cities with stupendous stone walls, and of
battles, in which hundreds of thousands were slain. The land afterwards
became a waste and howling wilderness, traversed by a few straggling
bands or tribes of savages, descended from a branch of the aforesaid
Jewish family, who, in consequence of their wickedness, had their
complexion changed from white to red; but the emigrants from Europe and
their descendants, having filled the land, and God having been pleased
to grant a revelation by which is made known the true history of the
past in America, and the events which are about to take place, he has
also commanded the Saints of the Latter Day to assemble themselves
together there, and occupy the land which was once held by the members
of the true church.
The states of Missouri and Illinois, and the territory of Iowa, are the
regions to which the prophet has hitherto chiefly directed his schemes
of aggrandisement, and which are to form the nucleus of the Mormon
empire. The remaining states are to be _licked up_ like salt, and fall
before the sweeping falchion of glorious prophetic dominion, like the
defenceless lamb before the mighty king of the forest.
I have given the results of my notes taken relative to the Mormons, not,
perhaps, in very chronological order, but as I gathered them from time
to time. The reader will agree with me, that the subject is well worth
attention. Absurd and ridiculous as the creed may be, no creed ever, in
so short a period, obtained so many or such devoted proselytes. From
information I have since received, they may now amount to three hundred
thousand; and they have wealth, energy, and unity--they have every thing
in their favour; and the federal government has been so long passive,
that I doubt if it has the power to disperse them. Indeed, to obtain
their political support, they have received so many advantages, and, I
may say, such assistance, that they are now so strong, that any attempt
to wrest from them the privileges which have been conceded would be the
signal for a general rising.
They have fortified Nauvoo; they can turn out a disciplined force as
large as the States are likely to oppose to them, and, if successful,
can always expect the co-operation of seventy thousand Indians, or, if
defeated, a retreat among them, which will enable them to coalesce for a
more fortunate opportunity of action. Neither do I imagine that the
loss of their leader, Joe Smith, would now much affect their strength;
there are plenty to replace him, equally capable, not perhaps to have
formed the confederacy, religious and political, which he has done, but
to uphold it, now that it is so strong. The United States appear to me
to be just now in a most peculiar state of progression, and very soon
the eyes of the whole world will be directed towards them and the result
of their institutions. A change is about to take place; what that
change will be, it is difficult to say; but a few years will decide the
question.