"There are thousands of you who are Americans, who have been born in

this land, whose fathers fought for the liberties we used to enjoy,

but have not enjoyed for some years past. There are thousands of such

men here who feel the same spirit that used to burn in their father's

bosoms--the spirit of liberty and equal rights--the spirit of according

to every man that which belongs to him, and of robbing no man of his

rights. Your fathers and grandfathers met the tyrant when he sought to

put a yoke on their necks; as men and true patriots, they came forward

and fought for their rights and in defense of that liberty which we, as

their children, ought to enjoy. You feel the same spirit that inspired

them; the same blood that coursed through their veins flows in yours;

you feel true patriotism and a strong attachment to the Constitution

and institutions bought by the blood of your fathers, and bequeathed

to you by them as your richest patrimony. There are others of you that

have taken the oath of allegiance to the United States; and some of

you not understanding correct principles, may, perhaps, feel qualms of

conscience, and think, probably, that if we undertake to resist the

powers that are seeking to make aggression upon us, we are doing wrong.

No such thing. You let your conscience sleep at ease; let it be quiet;

it is not we who are doing wrong; it is others who are committing wrong

upon us."

He then referred to the circumstance of the Saints being driven

from Missouri, and of their expulsion from Nauvoo--not for any ill

that they had done, not that they had interfered with the rights of

others; but because there was not virtue enough either in state or

general government to protect an innocent, helpless people in the

enjoyment of their Constitutional rights; because, for sooth, they were

unpopular--friendless. The speaker then asked:

"What did we do when we came here? We framed a Constitution, a

provisional government, and reported our doings to the United States.

Right on the back of all the insults, robbery and fraud which we had

endured, we still went Constitutionally to work. Afterwards they gave

us a territorial government. Is there any step that we have taken that

is contrary to law? There is not. They have appointed our governor,

our secretaries, our judges, our marshals; they have done to us the

same in this matter as they have done with other Territories. I do not

believe in their right Constitutionally to appoint our officers. Still

they have done it, and we have submitted to it. And they have sent some

of the worst scoundrels here that ever existed on the earth. Instead

of being fathers, they have tried every influence they could bring

to bear in order to destroy us. Such have been our protectors! Those

have been the men who have been sworn to fulfill their public duties;

but they have foresworn themselves in the face of high heaven. * * *

We have submitted to their sending officers here; that is all right

enough if we have a mind to. We are citizens of the United States, and

profess to support the Constitution of the United States; and wherein

that binds us we are bound; wherein it does not, we are not bound. *

* * If there is any man in this congregation, or anywhere else, that

will show me any principle or authority in the Constitution of the

United States that authorizes the President of the United States to

send out governors and judges to this Territory, I would like to see

it. I cannot find such authority. I will admit that a usage of that

kind has obtained--that it is quite customary for the President of

the United States, by and with the consent of the senate to appoint

governors, judges, marshals, secretaries, and all of those officers

that you have had here. But it is a thing that is not authorized by the

Constitution,--much less to force them upon us by an armed soldiery.

There is no such authority existing.

"I will quote to you from the Constitution--if I had the Constitution

here I would read it to you--it is to the effect 'that the powers not

delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited

by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to

the people.' No matter, therefore, whether the people live in the

states or territories, they possess constitutional privileges alike.

The most that is said in regard to Territories and the authority of

the President or Congress is, that 'The Congress shall have power to

dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the

territory _or other property_ of the United States,' that is speaking

of it as land; and some of the most prominent statesmen of the United

States have so construed it. It is property as land--territory as land

they have a right to interfere with, not territory as regards people.

I published this in _The Mormon_ long ago, and said the Missouri

Compromise was unconstitutional. [1] By and by the United States judges

gave the same decision. I gave mine, however, before they gave theirs.

It is a true principle--they have not the authority. If they have it at

all, it is in the people ceding it to them, and not what they possess

by the Constitution of the United States. * * * So far as right is

concerned, then, they have no right to appoint officers for this or any

other Territory; and I will defy any man to prove that there is any

such right in the Constitution.

"I conversed with a judge Black who was coming up to Nebraska Territory

on a steam boat--an intelligent man, a Democrat, of course. When

talking about these principles to him, which he acceded to, I said:

'Judge, what are you doing here?'

'I am here,' said he, 'according to the usage that has obtained; but if

the people do not want me, all they have to do is to express it, and I

will go away again.' I wish we had only half such decent men as that

sent here.

"* * * We are not lacking for men in the United States, at the present

time who want to make it appear that the United States have a right

to lord it over the Territories, the same as the British government

used to over their colonies. Thousands of you before me were citizens

of the United States, where you came from. You had the right of

franchise--had a right to say who should be your governor and who

should be municipal and state officers. You came out here by thousands

or by tens of thousands. _By what right or upon what principle are

you disfranchised_? Can anybody tell me? Say some: 'You need not have

come out here unless you had a mind to.' Of course not. But we had a

mind to; we were American citizens before we came out, and we have

transgressed no law in coming; and by what rule are we deprived of our

citizenship. If we had a right then to vote for anything, we have a

right now; and nobody has a right to crowd this or that man upon us

without our consent,--much less have they a right to dragoon us into

servility to their unconstitutional exactions.

"* * * In the Declaration of Independence, it is stated [as one of

the just causes of complaint against the English government] that the

people had rulers placed over them, and they had no voice in their

election. Read that instrument. It describes our wrongs as plainly

as it did the wrongs the people then labored under and discarded.

Our government is doing the very things against us that our fathers

complained of--'They send armed mercenaries among us to subjugate us.'

What is our government doing? The same thing."

"As American citizens and patriots, and as sons of those venerable

sires can we, without disgracing ourselves, our fathers and our nation,

submit to these insults, and tamely bow to such tyranny? We cannot do

it, and we will not do it. We will rally round the Constitution, and

declare our rights as American citizens; and we will sustain them in

the face of high heaven and the world.

"No man need have any qualms of conscience that he is doing wrong.

You are patriots, standing by your rights and opposing the wrong

which affects all lovers of freedom as well as you; for those acts

of aggression have a withering, deadly effect, and are gnawing like

a canker worm at the very vitals of civil and religious liberty. You

are standing by the Declaration of Independence, and sustaining the

Constitution which was given by inspiration of God; and you are the

only people in the United States at this time that are doing it. You

dare do it, and you feel right about the matter.

"* * * We are not taking any steps contrary to the laws and the

Constitution of the United States, but in everything we are upholding

and sustaining them. _Gentlemen, hands off_! We are free men; we

possess equal rights with other men; and if you send your sealed orders

[2] here, we may break the seal, and it shall be the opening of the

first seal!"

Such, then, were the principles which justified the resistance of Utah

to the encroachments of the general government. The Mormons were not

religious enthusiasts--fanatics--rebels--seeking to become a law unto

themselves; but patriots demanding their rights--rights based upon

the broad principles of liberty as set forth in the Declaration of

Independence, and guaranteed in the Constitution of their country. They

were contending for the right to regulate their own local affairs in

their own way, and to be governed by men of their own choosing--they

were but walking in the footsteps of their Revolutionary Fathers.

Footnotes

1. This Missouri Compromise was the adjustment of the Territorial

question respecting slavery, by which it was agreed in Congress that

slavery should not be introduced in the territory ceded by France to

the United States north of 36 deg. 30' north latitude. The anti-slavery

party in Congress, when Missouri applied for admission in to the Union,

in 1820, sought to prohibit slavery in that state; this they could

not do; but as a compromise between them and the pro-slavery party,

they accepted the provision restricting slavery in the territory above

indicated. This was the Missouri Compromise; and it was this compromise

which Elder Taylor held to be unconstitutional and which the supreme

court of the United States decided was unconstitutional in the Dred

Scott decision, given in 1857; in which it was held that Congress had

no power to prohibit slavery in any of the territories of the Union.

2. The army approaching Utah was coming with sealed orders.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN VAN VLIET IN SALT LAKE--ELDER TAYLOR ON THE

APPROACHING ARMY--HOW IT WOULD BE MET--VAN VLIET'S SURPRISE AND

PERPLEXITY--HIS REPORT TO SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR--CAPTAIN MARCY'S

LETTER--ELDER TAYLOR'S REPLY.

The advanced companies of the "Army of Utah," having reached Ham's

Fork, a tributary of Green River, late in the autumn of 1857, Captain

Van Vliet was sent to Salt Lake to purchase forage and lumber and

assure the people of Utah that the troops would not harm or molest

them. The captain arrived on the 8th of September and was cordially

received by the leading Elders of the Church, among others by Elder

Taylor.

His mission as to forage and lumber was unsuccessful, neither did he

make the people believe the statement that the troops would not harm

them. The very natural question was, Why are they coming to Utah, then?

An army naturally suggests the idea of war, and war means violence.

The captain's visit, however, was not in vain. He learned that the

Mormons had much to justify them in the stand they had taken, and,

moreover, that they were very determined in it. He attended service

the Sabbath after his arrival, and that day Elder Taylor addressed the

assembly. In the course of his remarks he asked the people:

"What would be your feelings if the United States wanted to have

the honor of driving us from our homes, and bringing us subject to

their depraved standard of moral and religious truth? Would you, if

necessary, brethren, put the torch to your buildings and lay them in

ashes and wander houseless into these mountains? I know what you would

say and what you would do."

President Brigham Young.--"Try the vote."

Elder Taylor.--"All you that are willing to set fire to your property

and lay it in ashes rather than submit to their military rule and

oppression, manifest it by raising your hands."

The congregation, numbering more than four thousand, unanimously raised

their hands.

Elder Taylor.--"I know what your feelings are. We have been persecuted

and robbed long enough; and in the name of Israel's God, we will be

free!"

Congregation responded "Amen!"

President Young.--"I say amen all the time to that."

Elder Taylor.--"I feel to thank God that I am associated with such men,

with such people, where honesty and truth dwell in the heart--where men

have a religion that they are not afraid to live by, and that they are

not afraid to die by; and I would not give a straw for anything short

of that."

Captain Van Vliet's surprise was little short of astonishment. He

was not prepared to expect such unanimity of sentiment nor such

determination of purpose. He admired their courage, but trembled for

their safety in a conflict with the government. He pointed out the fact

that if they successfully resisted the army then on their borders, the

next year would see an overwhelming force sent to suppress and punish

them. His remonstrance was answered:

"We know that will be the case; but when these troops arrive they

will find Utah a desert; every house will be burned to the ground;

every tree cut down and every field laid waste. We have three years'

provisions on hand, which we will cache, and then take to the mountains

and bid defiance to all the powers of the government."

The captain returned to the army on Ham's Fork deeply impressed with

the seriousness and perhaps with the absurdity of the government's

movement against Utah. Moreover he had become the friend of the Mormon

people, and his report to the Secretary of War, made at Washington

the November following, did much, doubtless, in paving the way for an

amicable adjustment of the Utah difficulties.

Shortly after the departure of the captain, Elder Taylor received a

letter from Captain Marcy, of the 5th Infantry, camped with the army on

Ham's Fork; and as Elder Taylor's reply to that letter is a thoughtful

exposition of the causes which led up to the Utah expedition, and a

scathing rebuke to the administration that inaugurated it, as well

as a fair sample of Elder Taylor's literary style and gentlemanly

sensibility, I give the correspondence _in extenso_:

Captain MARCY'S LETTER.

"CAMP OF THE 5TH INFANTRY ON HAM'S FORK,

"October 13th, 1857.

"Herewith I take the liberty of sending you a letter of introduction

from our mutual friend, W. J. A. Fuller, of New York City. I also beg

leave to trouble you with the accompanying note of introduction to

Governor Young from Mr. W. I. Appleby, which I will thank you to read

to the governor at your convenience.

"When I left the states I expected to have the honor of delivering

these letters in person, but as our movements are so slow, I have

thought it better to transmit them by the bearer, hoping that the

opportunity may be afforded me of paying my personal respects at some

future time.

"In the meantime, suffer me to assure you that within the circle of my

observation among the officers of this army, there has not been the

slightest disposition to meddle with or in any way interfere with the

religious or social customs of your people; on the contrary, there

has, from the commencement of our march, been an almost universal

manifestation of a desire for a kind and friendly intercourse: and I

most sincerely hope that this desirable result may be brought about.

"I verily believe that all the officers entertain the same feelings

towards the Mormons as Captain Van Vliet, and I entertain no doubt that

an acquaintance with them would satisfy you that such is the fact.

"I am very respectfully and truly yours,

"R. B. MARCY.

"_Rev. John Taylor_,

"_Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory_."

ELDER TAYLOR'S REPLY.

"GREAT SALT LAKE CITY,

"October 21, 1857.

"_Captain Marcy_.

"MY DEAR SIR: I embrace this the earliest opportunity of answering your

communication to me, embracing a letter from Mr. Fuller, New York, to

you, an introductory letter to me, and also one from W. I. Appleby to

Governor Young; the latter immediately on its receipt I forwarded to

His Excellency. And here let me state, sir, that I sincerely regret

that circumstances now existing have hitherto prevented a personal

interview.

"I can readily believe your statement that it is very far from your

feelings and most of the command that are with you to interfere with

our social habits or religious views. One must naturally suppose that

among gentlemen educated for the army alone, who have been occupied by

the study of the art of war, whose pulses have throbbed with pleasure

at the contemplation of the deeds of our venerated fathers, whose minds

have been elated by the recital of the heroic deeds of other nations,

and who have listened almost exclusively to the declamations of

patriots and heroes, that there is not much time and less inclination

to listen to the low party bickerings of political demagogues,

the interested twaddle of sectional declaimers, or the throes and

contortions of contracted religious bigots. You are supposed to stand

on elevated ground, representing the power and securing the interests

of the whole of a great and mighty nation. That many of you are thus

honorable, I am proud as an American citizen to acknowledge, but you

must excuse me, my dear sir, if I cannot concede with you that all your

officials are so high-toned, disinterested, humane and gentlemanly, as

a knowledge of some of their antecedents would expressly demonstrate.

However, it is not with the personal character, the amiable qualities,

high-toned feelings, or gentlemanly deportment of the officers in your

expedition that we at present have to do. The question that concerns

us is one that is independent of your personal, generous, friendly and

humane feeling, or any individual predilection of yours; it is one that

involves the dearest rights of American citizens, strikes at the root

of our social and political existence, if it does not threaten our

entire annihilation from the earth. Excuse me, sir, when I say that

you are merely the servants of a lamentably corrupt administration,

that your primary law is obedience to orders, and that you come here

with armed foreigners, with cannons, rifles, bayonets and broadswords,

expressly and for the openly avowed purpose of 'cutting out the

loathsome ulcer from the body politic.'

"I am aware what our friend Fuller says in relation to this matter,

and I entertain no doubt of his generous and humane feelings, nor do

I of yours, sir, but I do know that he is mistaken in relation to the

rabid tone and false, furious attacks of a venal and corrupt press. I

do know that they are merely the mouthpiece, the tools, the barking

dogs of a corrupt administration. I do know that Mr. Buchanan was

well apprised of the nature of the testimony adduced against us by

ex-Judge Drummond and others, for he was informed of it to my knowledge

by a member of his own cabinet. And I further know from personal

intercourse with members of the Senate and House of Representatives

of the United States, that there have been various plans concocted

at headquarters for some time past for the overthrow of this people.

Captain, Mr. Fuller informs me that you are a politician. If so, you

must know that in the last presidential campaign that the Republican

party had opposition to slavery and polygamy as two of the principal

planks in their platform. You may know, sir, that Utah was picked out,

and the only Territory excluded from a participation in pre-emption

rights to land. You may also be aware that bills were introduced into

Congress for the prosecution of the Mormons, but other business was too

pressing at that time for them to receive attention. You may be aware

that measures were also set on foot and bills prepared to divide up

Utah among the Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and New Mexico,

(giving a slice to California) for the purpose of bringing us into

collision with the people of those Territories.

"I might enumerate injuries by the score--not to say anything

about thousands of our letters detained at the post office at

Independence--and if these things are not so, why is it that Utah is

so _knotty a question?_ If people were no more ready to interfere

with us and our institutions than we are with them and theirs,

these difficulties would vanish into thin air. Why, again I ask,

could Drummond and a host of other mean scribblers, palm off their

bare-faced lies with such impunity and have their infamous slanders

swallowed with such gusto? Was it not that the administration and their

satellites having planned our destruction, were eager to catch at

anything to render specious their contemplated acts of blood? Or, in

plain terms, the Democrats advocated strongly popular sovereignty. The

Republicans tell them that if they join in maintaining inviolate the

domestic institutions of the south, they must also swallow polygamy.

The Democrats thought this would not do, as it would interfere with

the religious scruples of many of their supporters, and they looked

about for some means to dispose of the knotty question. Buchanan,

with Douglas, Cass, Thompson and others of his advisers, after

failing to devise legal means, hit upon the expedient of an armed

force against Utah, and thus thought by the sacrifice of the Mormons

to untie the knotty question; do a thousand times worse than the

Republicans ever meant,--fairly out-Herod Herod, and by religiously

expatriating, destroying or killing a hundred thousand innocent

American citizens satisfy the pious, humane, patriotic feeling of

their constituents, take the wind out of the sails of the Republicans,

and gain to themselves immortal laurels. Captain, I have heard of a

pious Presbyterian doctrine that would inculcate thankfulness to the

all-wise Creator for the privilege of being damned. Now, as we are not

Presbyterians nor believers in this kind of self-abnegation, you will,

I am sure, excuse us for finding fault at being thus summarily dealt

with, no matter how agreeable the excision or expatriation might be to

our political, patriotic, or very pious friends. We have lived long

enough in the world to know that we are a portion of the body politic,

that we have some rights as well as other people, and that if others do

not respect us, we at least have manhood enough to respect ourselves.

"Permit me here to refer to a remark made by our friend, Mr. Fuller,

to you viz., 'that he had rendered me certain services in the city of

New York, and that he had no doubt that when you had seen and known us

as he had, that you would report as favorably as he had unflinchingly

done.' Now those favors, to which Mr. Fuller refers, were simply

telling a few plain matters of fact, that had come under his own

observation during a short sojourn at Salt Lake. This, of course, I

could duly appreciate, for I always admire a man who dare tell the

truth. But, Captain, does it not strike you as humiliating to manhood

and to the pride of all honorable American citizens, when among the

thousands that have passed through and sojourned among us, and know

as well as Mr. Fuller did, our true social and moral position, that

perhaps only one in ten thousand dare state his honest convictions? and

further, that Mr. Fuller with his knowledge of human nature, should

look upon you as a _rare avis_, possessing the moral courage and

integrity to declare the truth in opposition to the floods of falsehood

that have deluged our nation? Surely we have fallen on unlucky times

when honesty is avowed to be at so great a premium!

"In regard to our religion, it is perhaps unnecessary to say much,

yet whatever others' feelings may be about it, with us it is honestly

a matter of conscience. This is a right guaranteed unto us by the

Constitution of our country, yet it is on this ground, and this

alone, that we have suffered a continued series of persecutions, and

that this present crusade is set on foot against us. In regard to

this people, I have traveled extensively in the United States, and

through Europe, yet have never found so moral, chaste and virtuous a

people, nor do I expect to find them. And if let alone, they are the

most patriotic and appreciate more fully the blessing of religious,

civil, and political freedom than any other portion of the United

States. They have, however, discovered the difference between a blind

submission to the caprices of political demagogues, and obedience to

the Constitution, laws, and institutions of the United States; nor can

they in the present instance be hood-winked by the cry of 'treason.'

If it be treason to stand up for our Constitutional rights: if it be

treason to resist the unconstitutional acts of a vitiated and corrupt

administration, who by a mercenary armed force would seek to rob us of

the rights of franchise, cut our throats to subserve their own party,

and seek to force upon us their corrupt tools, and violently invade the

rights of American citizens; if it be treason to maintain inviolate our

homes, our firesides, our wives, and our honor, from the corrupting,

and withering blight of a debauched soldiery; if it be treason to

maintain inviolate the Constitution and institutions of the United

States, when nearly all the states are seeking to trample them under

their feet--then indeed are we guilty of treason. We have carefully

considered all these matters, and are prepared to meet the 'terrible

vengeance' we have been very politely informed will be the result

of our acts. It is in vain to hide it from you that the people have

suffered so much from every kind of official that they will endure it

no longer. It is not with them an idle phantom, but a stern reality. It

is not as some suppose the 'voice of Brigham' only, but the universal,

deep settled feeling of the whole community. Their cry is 'Give us

our Constitutional rights; give us liberty or death.' A strange cry,

indeed, in our boasted model republic, but a truth deeply and indelibly

graven on the hearts of 100,000 American citizens by a series of

twenty-seven years unmitigated, and unprovoked, yet unrequited wrongs.

Having told you of this, you will not be surprised, that when fifty

have been called to assist in repelling our aggressors, hundreds have

volunteered; and when a hundred have been called, the number has been

more than doubled; the only feeling is, 'don't let us be overlooked

or forgotten.' And here let me inform you that I have seen thousands

of hands raised simultaneously voting to burn our property rather

than let it fall into the hands of our enemies. Our people have been

so frequently robbed and despoiled without redress, that they have

solemnly decreed that if they cannot enjoy their own property nobody

else shall. You will see by this that it would be literally madness

for your small force to attempt to come into the settlements. It would

only be courting destruction. But say you: have you counted the cost?

have you considered the wealth and power of the United States and the

fearful odds against you? Yes, and here let me inform you that if

necessitated we would as soon meet 100,000 as 1,000, and if driven to

the necessity, will burn every house, tree, shrub, rail, every patch of

grass, and stack of straw and hay, and flee to the mountains. You will

then obtain a barren, desolate wilderness, but will not have conquered

the people, and the same principle in regard to other property will be

carried out. If this people have to burn their property to save it from

the hands of legalized mobs, they will see to it that their enemies

shall be without fuel; they will haunt them by day and by night.

Such is in part our plan. The 300,000 dollars worth of our property

destroyed already in Green River County is only a faint sample of what

will be done throughout the Territory. We have been thrice driven by

tamely submitting to the authority of corrupt officials, and left our

houses and homes for others to inhabit; but are now determined that if

we are again robbed of our possessions, our enemies shall also feel how

pleasant it is to be houseless at least for once, and be permitted as

they have sought to do to us,--

"'To dig their own dark graves,

Creep into them and die.'

"You see we are not backward in showing our hands. Is it not strange to

what lengths the human family may be goaded by a continued series of

oppression? The administration may yet find leisure to pause over the

consequences of their acts, and it may yet become a question for them

to solve whether they have blood and treasure enough to crush out the

sacred principles of liberty from the bosoms of one hundred thousand

freemen, and make them bow in craven servility to the mendacious acts

of a perjured, degraded tyrant.

"You may have learned already that it is anything but pleasant

for even a small army to contend with the chilling blasts of this

inhospitable climate. How a large army would fare without resources

you can picture to yourself. We have weighed those matters; it is

for the administration to post their own accounts. It may not be

amiss, however, here to state that if they continue to prosecute this

inhuman fratricidal war, and our Nero would light the fires, and,

sitting complacently in his chair of state, laugh at burning Rome,

there is a day of reckoning even for Neroes. There are generally two

sides to a question. As I before said we wish for peace, but that

we are determined on having if we have to fight for it. We will not

have officers forced upon us who are so degraded as to submit to be

sustained by the bayonet's point. We cannot be dragooned into servile

obedience to any man.

"These things settled, Captain, and all the little preliminaries of

etiquette are easily arranged; and permit me here to state that no man

would be more courteous and civil than Governor Young, and neither

could you find in your capacity of an officer of the United States a

more generous and hearty welcome than at the hands of His Excellency.

But when, instead of battling with the enemies of our country, you come

(though probably reluctantly) to make war upon my family and friends,

our civilities are naturally cooled and we instinctively grasp the

sword. Minie rifles, Colt's revolvers, sabres and cannon may display

very good workmanship and great artistic skill, but we very much object

to having their temper and capabilities tried upon us. We may admire

the capabilities, gentlemanly deportment, heroism and patriotism of

United States officers; but in an official capacity as enemies, we

would rather see their backs than their faces. The guillotine may be a

very pretty instrument and show great artistic skill, but I don't like

to try my neck in it.

"Now, Captain, notwithstanding all this, I shall be very happy to see

you if circumstances should so transpire as to make it convenient for

you to come, and to extend to you the courtesies of our city, for I am

sure you are not our personal enemy. I shall be happy to render you any

information in my power in regard to your contemplated explorations.

"I am heartily sorry that things are so unpleasant at the present time,

and I cannot but realize the awkwardness of your position and that of

your compatriots; and let me here say that anything that lies in my

power compatible with the conduct of a gentleman, you can command.

"If you have leisure I should be most happy to hear from you. You will,

I am sure, excuse me, if I disclaim the prefix of Rev. to my name.

Address: John Taylor, Great Salt Lake City.

"I need not here assure you that personally there can be no feelings of

enmity between us and your officers. We regard you as the agents of the

administration only, in the discharge of a probably unpleasant duty,

and very likely ignorant of the ultimate designs of the administration.

As I left the east this summer you will excuse me when I say I am

probably better posted in some of these matters than you are, having

been one of a delegation from the citizens of this Territory to apply

for admission into the Union. I can only regret that it is not our real

enemies that are here instead of you. We do not wish to harm you nor

any of the command to which you belong, and I can assure you that in

any other capacity than the one you now occupy, you would be received

as civilly and treated as courteously as in any other portion of our

Union.

"On my departure from the states the fluctuating tide of popular

opinion against us seemed to be on the wane. By this time there may

be quite a reaction in the public mind. If so it may probably affect

materially the position of the administration, and tend to more

constitutional, pacific and humane measures. In such an event our

relative positions would be materially changed, and instead of meeting

as enemies we could meet as all Americans should, friends to each

other, and united against our legitimate enemies only. Such an issue

is devoutly to be desired, and I can assure you that no one could more

appreciate so happy a result to our present awkward and unpleasant

position than

"Yours Truly,

"John Taylor."

CHAPTER XXXIII.

MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN UTAH--THE LEGISLATURE TO CONGRESS--"WE

SHALL NOT ABANDON OUR RELIGION"--GIVE US OUR RIGHTS AND WE ARE AT

HOME--ARRIVAL OF COL. KANE--COMPROMISES--ENTRANCE OF GOVERNOR CUMMING

INTO SALT LAKE--REMAINING DIFFICULTIES--PREPARATIONS FOR AN EXODUS--THE

PEACE COMMISSION--DIFFICULTIES ADJUSTED--ELDER TAYLOR'S PART.

It was but a few days after the departure of Captain Van Vliet on

his return to the army, that Governor Young issued his proclamation

forbidding all armed forces from entering the Territory. He called

on the territorial militia to enforce the proclamation, and declared

martial law to exist throughout Utah. This action was followed by

sending a portion of the militia to watch the movements of the army,

and prevent its marching into the Territory.

These military movements were under the immediate supervision of

Lieutenant-General Daniel H. Wells; but when he went to the front

he was accompanied by Elders Taylor and Geo. A. Smith. Elder Taylor

remained with the militia at the front until about the middle of

December, when he returned to Salt Lake City, as the legislature, to

which he had been elected a member from Salt Lake County, convened in

the latter part of that month. He was unanimously chosen Speaker of the

House.

The most important action of this legislature was the passage of a

memorial to the President and Congress of the United States. It called

attention to the fact that a previous legislature had memorialized

Congress in respect to the situation in Utah, had set forth the

grievances of the people and made known their wishes in regard to the

appointment of the U. S. officials for the Territory. They had asked

that the said officials be selected from the citizens of Utah, whose

interests would be identical with those of the people among whom they

administered the law.

The present memorialists reminded the President and Congress that

no action had been taken, no answer made to this former memorial,

"unless," said they, "it is to be understood that the appointment of a

full set of officers for this Territory, backed by an army to enforce

them upon us * * is to be deemed an answer." And then, notwithstanding

an army was encamped on their borders, with the prospect of being

re-enforced and marched into Salt Lake Valley in the spring, the

legislature had the spirit to talk to Congress in the following strain:

"We appeal to you as American citizens who have been wronged, insulted,

abused and persecuted; driven before our relentless foes from city to

city--from state to state--until we were finally expelled from the

confines of civilization to seek a shelter in a barren, inhospitable

clime, amid the wild, savage tribes of the desert plains. We claim

to be a portion of the people, and as such have rights that must be

respected, and which we have a right to demand. We claim that in a

republican form of government, such as our fathers established, and

such as ours still professes to be, the officers are and should be the

servants of the people--not their masters, dictators or tyrants.

"To the numerous charges of our enemies we plead not guilty, and

challenge the world before any just tribunal to the proof. * * Try on

the plaster of friendly intercourse and honorable dealing instead of

foul aggression and war. Treat us as friends--as citizens entitled to

and possessing equal rights with our fellows--and not as alien enemies,

lest you make us such. * * All we want is the truth and fair play.

The administration have been imposed upon by false, designing men;

their acts have been precipitate and hasty, perhaps through lack of

due consideration. Please to let us know what you want of us before

you prepare your halters to hang, or 'apply the knife to cut out the

loathsome, disgusting ulcer.' Do you wish us to deny our God and

renounce our religion? That we shall not do. * * Withdraw your troops,

give us our Constitutional rights and we are at home."

This document was signed by Elder Taylor, Speaker of the House; and

Heber C. Kimball, President of the council.

During the winter of 1857-8 the "army for Utah" was kept encamped on

or near Ham's Fork, and about Fort Bridger, unable to move into Salt

Lake Valley, as large numbers of its stock had been run off; and a

forced march into the Valley was impracticable as the mountain passes

were well fortified and guarded by the Utah militia, determined to

resist such a movement. Meantime the favorable report given of the

Mormons by Captain Van Vliet at Washington, had produced a change in

public sentiment; and President Buchanan found himself with his Utah

expedition on his hands without being able to assign any reasonable

cause for having inaugurated it.

It was at this juncture that Colonel Thomas L. Kane, of Pennsylvania,

offered his services to the perplexed President. Colonel Kane had been

a witness of the cruel expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois, and

had become their firm and fast friend. It was, therefore, as much the

object of the Colonel to render further service to a people to whom

he had become attached, as it was to prevent the administration at

Washington from making a further blunder, that induced him to offer his

services as mediator between the President and the people of Utah.

The Colonel arrived in Salt Lake City in February, 1858, and was

heartily welcomed by the Church leaders and the Saints. The result

of his mediation was that the people received and acknowledged the

President's appointee for Governor of the Territory, Alfred Cumming, of

Georgia, provided he would agree to come to Salt Lake City without the

army--conditions which Governor Cumming readily accepted.

He was escorted to Salt Lake City by Colonel Kane and several

companies of the Utah militia; and everywhere was met with a hearty

welcome and acknowledged Governor of Utah. He notified General Albert

Sidney Johnston--who had succeeded Harney in the command of the Utah

expedition--to this effect; and informed him that the presence of the

army was not necessary to maintain his authority.

In his report to the Secretary of State, Governor Cumming denied the

charges made against the Mormon people--charges which had been pointed

to as justifying the President in sending the army--so that there was

left not even the shadow of a justification for this inconsiderate,

hostile demonstration. But even before Governor Cumming's report

reached Washington, President Buchanan had become so heartily sick of

his blunder that he issued a proclamation [1] pardoning the people for

their alleged rebellion and treason.

Governor Cumming had entered the Territory, his authority had been

acknowledged, he was in the full discharge of his official duties and

congratulated himself that all the Utah difficulties were approaching

a happy termination. His rejoicing was premature. The difficulties

were not ended. The army was within a few days' march of the capital

and other thickly settled portions of the Territory, and might rush

in at any time to be quartered in Salt Lake City or encamped in close

proximity to other settlements to insult, abuse and oppress the people.

Furthermore, with the army and its camp followers once settled in or

near Salt Lake City, with judges deeply prejudiced against them, and

with an idea that they were judges with a mission, it was more than

possible, it was quite probable, that juries composed of teamsters and

camp followers would be packed to set in judgment on the old settlers

of Utah in respect to events which had occurred during the unsettled

state of affairs of the past two years. To these things the leaders of

the people had determined not to submit; and rather than brook such

treatment, an exodus from the Territory was determined upon.

Early spring saw the people in the northern settlements moving

_en masse_ for the south, leaving only enough men in the deserted

settlements to fire them and lay waste the country. Alfred Cumming

might be Governor of the Territory, but the people leaving would make

his sceptre a barren one. The army might march into the Territory with

all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war, but the country would be

a blackened waste--not much glory to be reaped on such a field for the

army of the great Republic!

By June, Salt Lake City and all the settlements north of Lehi were

deserted, save by those left to destroy them. Such was the state of

things in Utah when President Buchanan's Peace Commissioners--L. W.

Powell, Senator-elect from Kentucky, and ex-Governor of that state, and

Major-General Ben McCullough--arrived. A conference between them and

the leaders of the Church, in which Elder Taylor took part, resulted in

an adjustment of the Utah difficulties. The past was to be buried. In

the language of Commissioner Powell, "Bygones are to be bygones;" and

while the army was to be permitted to enter the Territory it was not to

be encamped nearer than forty miles of Salt Lake City, and not adjacent

to densely settled districts.

The location decided upon for its encampment was in Cedar Valley,

south-west of Salt Lake City. The troops marched through the deserted

city _en route_ for this point, but made no stay in it. Their permanent

encampment in Ceder Valley was made at Fairfield, and named Camp Floyd,

in honor of the then Secretary of War.

These stipulations carried out on the part of the Governor, the

Commission and the army, and assurances given that they should be

faithfully observed, the people returned to their deserted homes in

time to reap the volunteer harvest with which their fields were spread;

and affairs in troubled Utah began to settle to normal conditions.

In all these stirring events Elder Taylor took a prominent part. Having

implicit faith in God his glorious hopes for the future, lined the dark

and threatening clouds with brightest silver. Confident, as he ever

was, that God held the destiny of His people and that of their enemies

in His own hands, he was ready for peace or war; or for the abandonment

and destruction of his home, if such were the will of God. This spirit

of trust and confidence in the Lord he not only possessed himself,

but had also the faculty of imbuing others with it. He encouraged the

disheartened, cheered the sorrowful, strengthened the weak, reproved

the fearful, convinced the unbelieving, counseled even the wise; and

throughout those dark and turbulent times, bore himself with dignity,

courage and true manliness which intensified the love of the Saints for

him, and called forth the admiration of his brethren.

Footnotes

1. Governor Cumming's report to Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, bears

the date of May 2, 1858: The President issued his proclamation, on the

sixth of April, of the same year.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

LABORS AFTER THE UTAH WAR--A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE--SPEAKER OF THE

HOUSE--PROBATE JUDGE--GREAT DISCUSSION WITH VICE-PRESIDENT SCHUYLER

COLFAX.

After the close of the "Mormon War," Elder Taylor's public labors were

mostly confined to Utah. For a number of years he traveled extensively

through all the settlements of the Saints, preaching the gospel,

usually accompanying President Brigham Young in his annual preaching

tours. He also attended all conferences and councils, and assisted in a

general way all public enterprises.

He was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature from 1857 to 1876;

and was elected speaker of the House for five successive sessions,

beginning in 1857. As the Speaker of the House he won the esteem of the

members by his uniform courtesy and fairness. As a member he sought

to promote the interests of his constituents and at the same time to

legislate for the welfare of the entire Territory.

In 1868 he was elected Probate Judge of Utah County, and continued

in office until the December term of that court in 1870. As the laws

of Utah then provided that the probate courts should "have power to

exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, and as well

in chancery as in common law," the position was one of considerable

importance. Especially in those days when the perverseness of Federal

judges led them frequently to close the district courts indefinitely,

because, forsooth, the grand juries insisted on indicting men only when

the facts before them warranted such action, and petit juries insisted

on the right to judge the guilt or innocence of men accused of crime

according to the facts proven in open court, instead of finding them

guilty or innocent according as the wishes or prejudices of the judge

would have them condemned or liberated.

During these years, too, he continued to stand up in defense of the

rights and liberties of the Saints, missing no opportunity to speak out

in his bold, manly style against those who would wrong them.

In October, 1869, Utah for the second time was visited by the Hon.

Schuyler Colfax, then vice-President of the United States. On the 5th

of the month he delivered a speech from the portico of the Townsend

House, now the Continental Hotel. In that speech, which was extensively

published in the east, the vice-president made an attack on the Mormon

religion, and justified Congress in the enactment of laws against

the practice of plural marriage. To this speech Elder Taylor, then

temporarily absent from the Territory, in Boston, replied through the

columns of the New York _Tribune_.

In his speech the vice-president took the position that the marriage

institution of the Saints did not involve the question of religion;

his exact words were: "I do not concede that the institution you have

established here, and which is condemned by the law, is a question of

religion;" and from that basis argued the question. His main point

of argument I quote, observing only in passing that it has been the

argument of tyrants and persecutors, acting under the cloak of law,

ever since liberty had to struggle against oppression:

"I have no strictures to utter as to your creed on any really religious

question. Our land is a land of civil and religious liberty, and the

faith of every man is a matter between himself and God alone. You have

as much right to worship the Creator through a President and twelve

apostles of your church organization, as I have through the ministers

and elders and creed of mine. And this right I would defend for you

with as much zeal as the right of every other denomination throughout

the land.

"But our country is governed by law, and no assumed revelation

justifies any one in trampling on the law. If it did, every wrong-doer

would use that argument to protect himself in his disobedience to it."

Replying to this part of the Vice-President's argument, Elder Taylor

commended the magnanimity and even-handed justice of the first

paragraph saying that the sentiments did honor to the author of them

and that they ought to be engraven on every American heart. To the

second paragraph he replied:

"That our country is governed by law all admit; but when it is said

that 'no assumed revelation justifies any one in trampling on the

law,' I should respectfully ask, What! not if it interferes with my

religious faith, which you state 'is a matter between God and myself

alone?' Allow me, sir, here to state that the assumed revelation

referred to is one of the most vital parts of our religious faith; it

emanated from God and cannot be legislated away; it is part of the

'Everlasting Covenant' which God has given to man. Our marriages are

solemnized by proper authority; a woman is sealed unto a man for time

and for eternity, by the power of which Jesus speaks, which 'seals on

earth and it is sealed in heaven.' With us it is 'Celestial Marriage;'

take this from us and you rob us of our hopes and associations in the

resurrection of the just. This not our religion? You do not see things

as we do. * * * I make these remarks to show that it is considered,

by us, a part of our religious faith, which I have no doubt, did you

understand it as we do, you would defend, as you state, 'with as much

zeal as the right of every other denomination throughout the land.'

Permit me here to say, however, that it was the revelation (I will

not say assumed) that Joseph and Mary had, which made them look upon

Jesus as the Messiah; which made them flee from the wrath of Herod,

who was seeking the young child's life. This they did in contravention

of law which was his decree. Did they do wrong in protecting Jesus

from the law? But Herod was a tyrant. That makes no difference; it was

the law of the land, and I have yet to learn the difference between a

tyrannical king and a tyrannical Congress. When we talk of executing

law in either case, that means force,--force means an army, and an

army means death. Now I am not sufficiently versed in metaphysics to

discover the difference in its effects, between the asp of Cleopatra,

the dagger of Brutus, the chalice of Lucretia Borgia, or the bullet or

sabre of an American soldier.

"I have, sir, written the above in consequence of some remarks which

follow:

"'I do not concede that the institution you have established here, and

which is condemned by the law, is a question of religion.'

"Now, with all due deference, I do think that if Mr. Colfax had

carefully examined our religious faith he would have arrived at other

conclusions. In the absence of this I might ask, who constituted Mr.

Colfax a judge of my religious faith? I think he has stated that 'The

faith of every man _is a matter between himself and God alone_.'

"Mr. Colfax has a perfect right to state and feel that he does not

believe in the revelation on which my religious faith is based, nor in

my faith at all; but has he the right to _dictate_ my religious faith?

I think not; he does not consider it religion, but it is nevertheless

mine.

"If a revelation from God is not a religion, what is?

"His not believing it from God makes no difference; I know it is. The

Jews did not believe in Jesus but Mr. Colfax and I do; their unbelief

does not alter the revelation."

Commenting more at length on the Vice-President's assumption that the

marriage system of the Saints had nothing to do with religion, he said:

"Are we to understand that Mr. Colfax is created an umpire to decide

upon what is religion and what is not, upon what is true religion and

what is false? If so, by whom and what authority is he created judge? I

am sure he has not reflected upon the bearing of this hypothesis, or he

would not have made such an utterance.

"According to this theory no persons ever were persecuted for their

religion, there never was such a thing known. Could anybody suppose

that that erudite, venerable, and profoundly learned body of men,--the

great Sanhedrim of the Jews; or that those holy men, the chief priests,

scribes and Pharisees, would persecute anybody for religion? Jesus was

put to death,--not for His religion,--but because He was a blasphemer;

because He had a devil and cast out devils through Beelzebub the prince

of devils; because He, being a carpenter's son, and known among them

as such, declared Himself the Son of God. So they said, and they were

the then judges. Could anybody be more horrified than those Jews at

such pretensions? His disciples were persecuted, proscribed and put to

death, not for their religion, but because they 'were pestilent fellows

and stirrers up of sedition,' and because they believed in an 'assumed

revelation' concerning 'one Jesus, who was put to death, and who, they

said, had risen again.' It was for false pretensions and a lack of

religion that they were persecuted. Their religion was not like that of

the Jews; ours, not like that of Mr. Colfax.

"Loyola did not invent and put into use the faggot, the flame, the

sword, the thumbscrews, the rack and gibbet to persecute anybody, it

was to purify the Church of heretics, as others would purify Utah. His

zeal was for the Holy Mother Church. The Nonconformists of England and

Holland, the Huguenots of France and the Scottish non-Covenanters were

not persecuted or put to death for their religion; it was for being

schismatics, turbulent and unbelievers. All of the above claimed that

they were persecuted for their religion. All of the persecutors, as Mr.

Colfax said about us, did 'not concede that the institution they had

established which was condemned by the law, was religion;' or, in other

terms, it was an imposture or false religion."

Referring to the injustice and oppression which had been perpetrated

on humanity in the name of law, he wrote the following fine vein of

sarcasm:

"When Jesus was plotted against by Herod and the infants were put of

death, who could complain? _It was law_: we must submit to _law_.

The Lord Jehovah, or Jesus, the Savior of the world, has no right to

interfere with _law_. Jesus was crucified _according to law_. Who can

complain? Daniel was thrown into a den of lions strictly _according

to law_. The king would have saved him, if he could; but he could not

resist law. The massacre of St. Bartholomew was in accordance with

_law_. The guillotine of Robespierre, of France, which cut heads off

by the thousand, did it according to _law_. What right had the victims

to complain? But these things were done in barbarous ages. Do not let

us, then, who boast of our civilization, follow their example; let us

be more just, more generous, more forbearing, more magnanimous. We are

told that we are living in a more enlightened age. Our morals are more

pure, (?) our ideas more refined and enlarged, our institutions more

liberal. 'Ours,' says Mr. Colfax, 'is a land of civil and religious

liberty, and the faith of every man is a matter between himself and

God alone,' providing God don't shock our moral ideas by introducing

something we don't believe in. If He does, let Him look out. We won't

persecute, very far be that from us; but we will make our platforms,

pass Congressional laws and make you submit to them. We may, it is

true, have to send out an army, and shed the blood of many; but what of

that? It is so much more pleasant to be proscribed and killed according

to the laws of the Great Republic, in the 'asylum for the oppressed,'

than to perish ignobly by the decrees of kings, through their miserable

minions, in the barbaric ages."

The reply of Elder Taylor to the Vice-President's speech brought that

gentleman out again in a long article on the Mormon question, published

in the New York _Independent_. In addition to repeating the main

argument of his speech, Mr. Colfax, undertook to trace out the history

of the Mormons and answer the arguments of Elder Taylor. To this second

production Elder Taylor made an elaborate and masterly reply that was

quite as extensively published in the east as was the Vice-President's

article. He followed his opponent through all his meanderings in

dealing with the Mormon question; he corrected his errors, reproved his

blunders, answered his arguments, laughed at his folly; now belaboring

him with the knotty cudgel of unanswerable argument, and now roasting

him before the slow fire of his sarcasm; now honoring him for his zeal,

which, however mistaken, had the smack of honesty about it; and now

pitying him for being led astray on some historical fact.

In the opening of his article the Vice-President made a rather

ungenerous effort to belittle the achievements of the Mormon people,

in redeeming the desert valleys of Utah. "For this," said he, "they

claim great credit: and I would not detract one iota from all they are

legitimately entitled to. It _was_ a desert when they first emigrated

thither. They have made large portions of it fruitful and productive,

and their chief city is beautiful in location and attractive in

its gardens and shrubbery. But the solution of it all is in one

word--_water_. What seemed to the eye a desert became fruitful when

irrigated; and the mountains whose crests are clothed in perpetual

snow, furnished, in the unfailing supplies of their ravines, the

necessary fertilizer."

This afforded Elder Taylor a fine opportunity for one of those poetic

flights so frequently to be met with both in his writings and sermons.

"Water!" he exclaimed. "_Mirabile dictu_! Here I must help Mr. C. out."

"This wonderful little water nymph, after playing with the clouds on

our mountain tops, frolicking with the snow and rain in our rugged

gorges for generations, coquetting with the sun and dancing to the

sheen of the moon, about the time the Mormons came here, took upon

herself to perform a great miracle, and descending to the valley with

a wave of her magic wand and the mysterious words, 'hiccory, diccory,

dock,' cities and streets were laid out, crystal waters flowed in ten

thousand rippling streams, fruit trees and shrubbery sprang up, gardens

and orchards abounded, cottages and mansions were organized, fruits,

flowers and grain in all their elysian glory appeared and the desert

blossomed as the rose; and this little frolicking elf, so long confined

to the mountains and water courses proved herself far more powerful

than Cinderella or Aladdin. Oh! Jealousy, thou green-eyed monster! Can

no station in life be protected from the shimmer of thy glamour? must

our talented and honorable Vice-President be subjected to thy jaundiced

touch? But to be serious, did water tunnel through our mountains,

construct dams, canals and ditches, lay out our cities and towns,

import and plant choice fruit-trees, shrubs and flowers, cultivate the

land and cover it with the cattle on a thousand hills, erect churches,

school-houses and factories, and transform a howling wilderness into

a fruitful field and a garden? * * * * * * * Unfortunately for Mr.

Colfax, it was Mormon polygamists who did it. * * * * * What if a

stranger on gazing upon the statuary in Washington and our magnificent

Capitol, and after rubbing his eyes were to exclaim, 'Eureka! it

is only rock and mortar and wood!' This discoverer would announce

that instead of the development of art, intelligence, industry and

enterprise, its component parts were simply stone, mortar and wood. Mr.

Colfax has discovered that our improvements are attributable to water!"

Replying to the Vice-President's arguments and illustrations that the

United States was justified in suppressing what it considered to be

immoral, notwithstanding the Mormons claimed it to be part of their

religious faith--in the course of which Mr. Colfax referred to the now

familiar conduct of the English government in suppressing the suttee in

India--Elder Taylor said:

"To present Mr. Colfax's argument fairly, it stands thus: The burning

of Hindoo widows was considered a religious rite by the Hindoos. The

British were horrified at the practice, and suppressed it. The Mormons

believe polygamy to be a religious rite. The American nation consider

it a scandal, and that they ought to put it down. Without entering into

all the details, I think the above a fair statement of the question.

He says 'The claim that religious faith commanded it was powerless,

and it went down, as a relic of barbarism.' He says: 'History tells us

what a civilized nation, akin to ours, actually did, where they had the

power.' I wish to treat this argument with candor: * * * * * *

"The British suppressed the suttee in India, and therefore we must

be equally moral and suppress polygamy in the United States. Hold!

not so fast; let us state facts as they are and remove the dust. The

British suppressed the suttee, but tolerated eighty-three millions

of polygamists in India. The suppression of the suttee and that of

polygamy are two very different things. If the British are indeed to be

our exemplars, Congress had better wait until polygamy is suppressed

in India. But it is absurd to compare the suttee to polygamy; one is

murder and the destruction of life, the other is national economy

and the increase and perpetuation of life. _Suttee_ ranks truly with

_infanticide_, both of which are destructive of human life. _Polygamy_

is salvation compared with either, and tends even more than monogamy to

increase and perpetuate the human race."

Elder Taylor closed the discussion with a vivid expose of the loathsome

immorality and crime that existed in the villages, towns and cities

of the East; and called the attention of the Vice-President to the

fact that there was work enough for himself, for Congress and also

for the moralists and ministers in the United States nearer home,

in suppressing the evils by which they were immediately surrounded,

without plunging into the isolated valleys of Utah to legislate away

the religion of the Mormons, under the specious plea of suppressing

crime.

Taking it all in all, this is doubtless the most important discussion

in the history of the Church. The great reputation of Mr. Colfax as a

speaker and writer; the fact that he had for many years been a member

of Congress and accustomed to debate, together with the high station

he occupied at the time of the discussion, gave to it a national

importance. It occurred, too, at a critical time in the history of the

Church. The Republican party had pledged itself to the accomplishment

of two objects: the suppression of slavery and polygamy. Slavery it

had abolished; and it was now expected that polygamy would receive its

attention.

There was also, just then, an effort being made by prominent and

wealthy members of the Church, to destroy the influence of President

Brigham Young, or, if that failed, to weaken it by dividing the Church

into parties. Of this movement the Vice-President was aware, as was

also the President and the members of his Cabinet; and lent their

influence as far as they could, to this scheme of disintegration;

hoping, by fostering it, to solve the Mormon problem. That it failed

miserably is notorious; but these considerations make the discussion

between Elder Taylor and the Vice-President all the more important.

The discussion also serves another purpose. It affords an opportunity

of comparing Elder Taylor with a man of acknowledged ability, liberal

education and wide experience. In that comparison Elder Taylor loses

nothing. In fact he gains by it; for, maugre the experience and

learning and position of his opponent, he surpassed him not only

in the force of argument, but in literary style, in the elegance,

ease and beauty of his diction; while for courtesy, fair dealing and

frankness, he was not surpassed by the Vice-President, who was noted

for possessing these admirable qualities.

CHAPTER XXXV.

A REIGN OF JUDICIAL TERROR--JUDGES WITH A MISSION--JAMES B. MCKEAN--A

JUDICIAL CRUSADE--A SYSTEM ON TRIAL--THE HIGH-HANDED MEASURES STOPPED

BY THE SUPREME COURT--"MASTERLY INACTIVITY"--ELDER TAYLOR ON THE

CRUSADE--"BE QUIET"--THE COUNSEL VINDICATED.

The years from 1871 to 1875 are notable in the history of Utah for the

judicial reign of terror which prevailed. In the spring of 1871, James

B. McKean, of New York, arrived in Salt Lake City and entered upon the

duties of his office as Chief Justice of the Territory. He was a man

of moderate capacity, a sectarian bigot, fanatical in his opposition

to the Mormon people: in a word, he was "a judge with a mission," and

utterly reckless in his methods of executing it.

His conception of the work appointed to him to perform as Chief Justice

of Utah, is best expressed in what are said to be his own words to

Judge Louis Dent, brother-in-law to President Grant:

"Judge Dent, the mission which God has called upon me to perform in

Utah, is as much above the duties of other courts and judges as the

heavens are above the earth, and whenever or wherever I may find the

local or federal laws obstructing or interfering therewith, by God's

blessing I shall trample them under my feet."

While it seems too monstrous for belief that a United States judge

should make such remarks as these, it is a stubborn fact, borne out by

the records of the proceedings of his court, that James B. McKean did

all he threatened to do in the above reported conversation.

His first attack was upon the Territorial attorney-general and marshal,

both of whom, without the authority of law, were pushed out of office

and their duties performed by the United States district attorney and

marshal. The next step was to ignore the Territorial statutes providing

for the impanelling of grand and petit jurors; and authorizing the

United States marshal to select them at his own pleasure. The result

was packed juries of pronounced anti-Mormons, chosen to convict the

Church leaders. One more step and the machinery of the court was ready

for the evidently contemplated judicial crusade; the United States

prosecuting attorney having resigned, Judge McKean appointed as his

successor R. N. Baskin, a man as bitter in his hatred of the Church of

Jesus Christ and its chief officers as the judge himself; and not one

whit behind him in recklessness. This appointment was made in violation

of law, since only the President of the United States with the consent

of the senate, has power to appoint that officer.

The machinery all being ready, a number of indictments were found

against men high in authority in the Church, under an old Territorial

statute defining and punishing adultery. It was notorious throughout

the United States that if these men in their polygamous relations were

guilty of any offense at all, it must have been the violation of the

anti-polygamy laws of Congress, and not the aforesaid Territorial law

enacted by a legislature the members of which were chiefly polygamists.

Among those indicated under this _regime_ was President Brigham Young,

against whom an indictment with sixteen separate counts was found. Each

count constituting a separate offense. He appeared in court to answer

to these charges; and the judge in over-ruling a motion to quash the

indictment took occasion to say:

"Courts are bound to take notice of the political and social condition

of the country which they judicially rule. It is therefore proper

to say, that while the case at bar is called 'The People _versus_

Brigham Young,' its other and real name is 'Federal Authority _versus_

Polygamous Theocracy."'

Public sentiment was outraged by the high-handed measures of Judge

McKean. Popular excitement ran high. For a time there was a threatened

collision between the court and the people. It was at this juncture

that Elder Taylor published five letters in the _Deseret News_,

reviewing the situation in Utah, and denouncing the Territorial

government as un-American in principle and oppressive in its operation;

but at the same time warned the people against violent resistance to

the court, insolent and oppressive as it was.

He was in court with President Young when Judge McKean made the

statement: "It is therefore proper to say that while the case at bar is

called 'The People _versus_ Brigham Young,' its other and real name is

'Federal Authority _versus_ Polygamous Theocracy.' * * A system is on

trial in the person of Brigham Young." This he took for his text in the

letters above referred to, and interpreted it to mean, which it did,

that war was declared against the Church of Jesus Christ. "Stripped

of all its tinsel and wrappings," said he, "it simply resolves itself

into this: that the government of the United States is at war with the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Elder Taylor then proceeds to show that in making war on a system

of religion, the great principle of religious liberty itself is

threatened, and that such a crusade as that foreshadowed in the

declaration of Judge McKean, could but end in disaster to the liberties

of the people.

Giving himself wide latitude in the discussion, he inquired into the

principles underlying American institutions, and from that inquiry

arrives at the following conclusion:

"The whole foundation and superstructure of American ethics or

jurisprudence is based upon the popular will. That its executive,

legislative and judicial powers originate with the people, and that

the people having granted to the men of their choice, certain powers,

agencies and authorities, to act for and in their behalf; limiting all

of them by the provisions of the Constitution which all of them take an

oath to support, they reserve to themselves, to their state or to 'the

people,' all the remainder.

"If indeed the above is a correct exposition of our rights and

privileges as American citizens," he writes, "how is it that such

infamies can transpire as have lately been exhibited in our courts?

I may be here met with the statement that we are only a territory;

but we are American citizens, and have never abjured our citizenship

nor relinquished our Constitutional guarantees. * * If the above be

true, and the axiom of the declarers of Independence be correct,

that governments 'derive their just powers from the consent of the

governed,' what becomes of our federal officers? For not one of our

citizens invited them here, or had any vote in their coming, nor was

their consent asked. If all just powers are derived from the consent

of the governed, then the powers exercised by them [the Territorial

officials appointed by the President] must be unjust.

" * * The facts are the people, one hundred thousand American citizens,

living in the Territory of Utah, with the full rights of free men,

and the protecting guarantees of a written constitution, find in the

persons of federal officers 'another government' not of the people, and

in violation of Constitutional guarantees and authority; claiming to

come from the United States, '_imperium in imperio_,' whose policy and

practices are in grave particulars at variance with its own; and I ask

by what authority it presumes to set itself up against the legitimately

constituted authority of the people of the territory or state; by what

authority it ignores its laws; by what authority it over-rides and

tears down the safeguards of society, fosters in our midst drunkenness,

gambling and whoredoms, those infamous adjuncts and institutions of

professed civilization; by what authority it repudiates its officers;

by what authority it interferes with the religion of the people, with

their social, religious, political and moral rights?"

He then proceeds at some length to show that some of the most

eminent statesmen of America held to the view that the people of the

territories possessed the right to manage their own municipal, social

and domestic affairs in that way which to them seemed best, limited

only in the exercise of these powers by the Constitution of the United

States.

These letters, however, were most valuable in allaying the excitement

of the people, who by the infamous proceedings of the courts were fast

approaching that condition of mind when men throw off all restraint,

and regardless of consequences avenge their own wrongs. He called the

attention of the people to the fact that this was probably the object

of the crusade, that a pretext might be found for further oppression

and robbery.

"The lamb is drinking below, the wolf is fouling the water above. The

big boy is strutting about with a chip on his shoulder, daring you

to knock it off. Some pretext is needed. Don't give it to them. * *

Let the same wisdom that has governed your acts hitherto still be

continued. They want a cause of quarrel, that they may rob and pillage

according to law. Don't give it to them. * * Let them pack juries fresh

from houses of ill-fame to try you on virtue. Never mind, it is their

virtue that suffers, not yours. Let them try you for living with and

protecting your wives and providing for your children; fidelity and

virtue are not crimes in the eyes of the Almighty, only in theirs.

"' * * But they are accusing some of our best and most honorable men of

murder!' What of that? Who have they suborned as their accusers? They

themselves call them by the mild name of assassins--these are their

fellow-pirates with whom they hob nob and associate. Be quiet!

"'But other aggressions are contemplated; they are bent on provoking a

quarrel and mischief.' No matter, it takes two to make a quarrel, don't

you be one of them.

"'They offer themselves to be kicked.' Don't do it, have some respect

for your boots.

"'But they insult us on every hand.' What! they insult you! Nature has

provided for many animals and insects a certain species of aggression

and defense. Some snakes crush their victims in their folds; others

carry poison in their teeth; the wasp and scorpion sting you; the ant

poisons with its bite; the vampire sucks your blood; while the pole-cat

protects itself by its insufferable odor--

"'Their power to hurt each little creature feels,

Bulls use their horns and asses use their heels.'

"Now who would consider himself insulted by the hissing of a snake,

the attack of the wasp, or the odor of a skunk? You would simply avoid

them. It is not in their power to insult you.'

"There is no law they can place us under which we cannot obey. We must

live above all law, and nothing can harm us if we are 'followers of

that which is good,' so keep quiet!'

" * * There is something heroic in being able calmly to view with firm

nerves and unblanched cheek the acts of your petty tormentors. Filled

with the light of eternal truth, rejoicing in the possession of the

favor of God, 'having the promise of the life which now is, and that

which is to come," standing on a more elevated platform, you can smile

with complacency on their feeble attacks, and"

'Like Moses' bush ascend the higher,

And flourish unconsumed by fire.'

"But independent of this, it is our very best policy to be quiet. The

court can proceed, yet the sun will rise and set, the earth will roll

on its axis, potatoes and corn will grow irrespective of the decrees of

courts. Hitherto you have been subject to the misrepresentations and

manufactured lies from the small fry of this coterie--little whelps

who lick the hands of their master, and vomit their lies by wholesale,

to pervert public opinion; but they are found out. They have run their

erratic race. You have no fear from them. Your cause is before the

public. The eyes of the great American nation are now upon you, and men

of honor, probity and position represent your acts. (And to their honor

be it spoken the intelligent press, irrespective of party, denounce

your persecutors.) This clique are not representatives of American

sentiment. The majority of strangers in our midst repudiate them; and

there are hundreds of thousands of honest, high-minded, honorable men

throughout the land, who despise as much as you do, these infamous

acts. We live in the most liberal and enlightened nation in the world;

if there are evils, they can be corrected; but the undercurrent, the

vital, strong, living sentiment of America is fair play, justice

for all, equal rights, liberty, equality and brotherhood; they are

opposed to hypocrisy, fraud, injustice and piracy, and will sustain

republicanism, democracy, equity and the inalienable rights of man.

Men of standing and position are now noting your acts, and they will

report them truly and correctly; therefore keep quiet, and do not play

into your enemies' hands. For they war, not only against you, but

against the liberal, enlightened sentiment of the nation, against the

time-honored principles of republicanism and equal rights."

The wisdom of the policy advised by Elder Taylor was soon vindicated

by glorious results. The Supreme Court of the United States decided

that the grand and petit jurors summoned by McKean, were both drawn in

violation of law, and as "a legal consequence, all the indictments now

pending in the courts of Utah are null and void. Brigham Young and his

Mormon brethren must be discharged from confinement, and the records

of this judicial conspiracy expunged." McKean had the mortification

of setting in the Supreme Court at Washington during the reading of

this decision which so utterly condemned his fanatical and illegal

proceedings.

But the end was not yet. McKean still had sole control of judicial

affairs in Utah, in the district courts; and not being able to

prosecute Mormons according to the plan he had first adopted, he

determined to follow the policy of "masterly inactivity," by which

he hindered and delayed the business of the courts, both civil and

criminal, by refusing to empanel either grand or petit juries,

hoping by this means to compel Congress to enact such a jury law for

Utah as would keep Mormons off all juries, whether they were actual

polygamists or only believers in it; and thus enable him to drag the

class of men he had singled out as his victims, before their avowed

enemies for trial. In these measures he was partially successful for

Congress passed the Poland Bill in 1874, which virtually abolished

the office of Territorial marshal and Territorial attorney general,

by enlarging the duties and powers of the United States marshal and

United States prosecuting attorney. The powers of the probate courts

were also cut down, being limited by the Poland Bill to jurisdiction

in the settlement of the estates of deceased persons and their

descendants, guardianship and other like matters; but otherwise they

were to have no civil, chancery or criminal jurisdiction whatever. They

were permitted to hold concurrent jurisdiction in divorce cases with

the United States district courts, but an appeal could be taken from

them after appearance, before plea or answer. Thus the courts of the

people were practically abolished and others set up in their place.

Changes were also made in the manner of selecting juries, so that the

Gentile population--at the time but an insignificant minority of the

inhabitants of Utah--was given equal representation on the juries with

the overwhelming majority of the people.

The conduct of Judge McKean and the measures introduced into Congress

respecting Utah affairs, again brought Elder Taylor out in a series

of six letters to the press, in which he made a scathing exposure of

federal official corruption in our Territory, and a searching criticism

of the various measures pending in Congress, previous to the passage

of the Poland Bill. In closing one of these letters that reviewed some

of the bills in Congress, he made the following stirring appeal to the

national legislators:

"With all the reverence and respect due to the rulers of a mighty

nation, from the tops of these distant mountains I call upon you to

pause in your career, for I also am a teacher, and have a right to be

heard. I speak in behalf of one hundred and fifty thousand citizens of

Utah. I speak in behalf of forty millions of free American citizens

in the United States. I conjure you out of respect for the memory of

the dead, as the rightful guardians of the liberties of a vast nation,

that stands proudly prominent among the nations of the earth, and

in behalf of unborn millions, to pause. I conjure you, in behalf of

our honor and integrity, in behalf of republican principles, and the

cause of freedom throughout the world. I plead with you in behalf of

our common humanity, and the rights of man, to reflect. Would you,

to gratify a morbid sentimentality desecrate and tear down one of

the most magnificent temples of human liberty, ever erected? Would

you wantonly deliver up the sacred principles of liberty, equity and

justice, bequeathed by your fathers, to the grim Moloch of party who is

crushing, grinding and trampling under foot our God-given rights, and

whose sanguinary jaws are extended to gorge and devour the quivering

remnants of our feeble, expiring liberty? Have we not had more than

enough trouble already with Virginia, North Carolina, Louisana and

Utah? Can we ever be satisfied? 'Let us have peace.'"

The opening of the "Black Book," as he called his inquiry into the

conduct of federal officials in Utah, revealed a lamentable state of

affairs. Men who had come to the Territory for the ostensible purpose

of administering the law were found to be among the chief transgressors

thereof, and the aiders and abettors of criminals. But I allow Elder

Taylor to make his own indictment against them, only adding that he

demonstrated the truth of every item charged in it, by publishing

the time when, the places where, and the names of the criminals they

liberated. Elder Taylor writes:

"While our territorial courts, officers and municipal authorities, have

been always foremost in punishing crime, whether committed by Mormons

or Gentiles, some of the United States officials have shielded and

protected criminals, and for this purpose every subterfuge known to

the law has been brought into requisition. Thus, by writs of error,

injunctions, _habeas corpus_, pardons, and officious and indecent

interference, they have exhibited themselves as the abettors and

protectors of crime. They have liberated _felons_ and murderers,

encouraged drunkenness and riot, protected and shielded brothel-houses,

winked at and sustained gambling, and so clogged the wheels of justice,

in both civil and criminal cases, that they have brought the judiciary

into such contempt that it has become a stink in the nostrils of honest

men."

These charges and the facts he published to prove them he prefaced with

the following:

"I am not writing under the very questionable shelter of a _nom de

plume_, and have nothing but facts to relate, for which I hold myself

responsible."

The parties he indicted before the bar of public opinion made no

attempt to refute his statements--a tacit admission of the truth of his

charges.

Judge McKean and his coadjutors, however, continued their lawless

course. The judge entertained a suit for divorce and alimony brought

into his court by Ann Eliza Webb, the plural wife of President Brigham

Young. The marriage between Ann Eliza Webb and Brigham Young was not

recognized by the law of the land. It was illegal, and therefore

void from the beginning; consequently there could be neither divorce

nor alimony. Still Judge McKean entertained the suit, and ordered

the defendant to pay $3,000 attorney's fees to plaintiff's counsel,

$9,500 alimony to plaintiff, and also $500 per month to her, pending a

decision in the case.

President Young, acting on the advice of his counsel, pending an appeal

to the supreme court of the United States, did not obey the orders of

the judge; whereupon he was found guilty of contempt of court, fined

twenty-five dollars, and sentenced to one day's imprisonment in the

penitentiary. In this James B. McKean displayed the petty, personal

spite of a small man, instead of the courage of a dignified judge

defending the honor of the bench. The rash and illegal act cost the

Judge his official head. No sooner did the country become acquainted

with the course he had taken than a storm of public indignation arose,

and clamored loudly for his removal from office. Four days afterwards

he was dismissed from the bench.

The federal officers which followed the McKean ring were a better class

of men; and for some years Utah had a period of peace. A circumstance

which vindicated the wisdom of Elder Taylor's counsel to "Be quiet."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

INTEREST IN EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS--CHOSEN SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON

SCHOOLS--COMMENDED BY AUTHORITIES AT WASHINGTON--DEATH OF PRESIDENT

YOUNG--THE NEW LEADER--STANDING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES--ELDER TAYLOR'S

PLACE IN THE QUORUM--THE HAND OF THE LORD.

The interest which Elder Taylor had taken for some years in the

educational affairs of Utah, resulted in his election, in 1877, to the

office of Territorial Superintendent of district schools. His labor

in that department of the public service, however, was considerably

interfered with, at least as to details, by his being called to operate

in a higher and more important sphere. Still school interests were, by

no means, neglected. He called to his assistance the most competent

educators in the Territory, and under his direction the work they

accomplished, was perfectly satisfactory.

In his bi-annual reports to the Territorial Legislature, in addition

to giving the usual general and statistical information from his own

Territory, he incorporated a brief summary of important educational

statistics for all the states and territories, which led Charles

Warren, Esq., acting commissioner of education at Washington, to write

him a letter of commendation, in which the following occurs:

"The example thus set is a good one, and only by this means, while

Congress limits the circulation of our reports, can the statistics,

laboriously collected at this central office, reach the vast body of

minor school officers and teachers, for whose benefit they should be

spread abroad. It is to be hoped that other superintendents will follow

the pattern thus presented, and thus enable all school officers and

teachers in their several states or territories, to compare their own

statistics with those of others elsewhere."

The circumstances which called Elder Taylor to a higher sphere of

labor than that of superintendent of district schools, was the death

of President Brigham Young. He died on the afternoon of the 25th of

August, 1877. It was a sorrowful event. For thirty-three years Brigham

Young had stood as the earthly head of the Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints, its President, and the Lord's prophet, seer

and revelator to it. Under God's direction he delivered the Saints

from the oppression of mob rule and violence at Nauvoo, and led them

in an unparalleled exodus from civilization through wilderness and

desert to the valleys of Utah. He located their settlements, taught

them how to build forts for their protection from the savages; how to

subdue the desert and make it fruitful; how to become self-sustaining,

independent: and by these labors, he laid the foundation of a great

commonwealth. He had not only been President of the people, he was,

as well, their counselor, friend and brother. He had never betrayed

their interests, they could and did trust him implicitly. In times of

trial and sorrow they turned to him for comfort; in times of danger

they looked to him to direct their action; in times of perplexity they

went to him for the word of the Lord; and Brigham Young, full of a

heaven-inspired wisdom, never failed them in any of these things. It is

not to be wondered at, therefore, that the Saints had come to look upon

him as well nigh indispensable to the work of the Lord, or that a cloud

of sorrow settled upon all Israel at his death.

But the work the Lord has established in these last days is independent

of any man, be he ever so wise, or influential. This has been so

frequently demonstrated that it is now accepted as a truism by the

faithful. The work, called by the world "Mormonism," is God's work.

He is its founder and its Grand Head. Earthly leaders,--Joseph Smith,

Brigham Young and others, operate under His directions. They are but

instruments in His hands; and as one passes away, He raises up another

competent to carry out His purposes. Brigham Young was dead, but the

Church of Christ still lived; and its Great Head, the Lord Jesus

Christ, though in heaven,--far above the power of death, of mobs or

any earthly accident,--was watching over its interests and guiding

its destiny. Surely He is able to raise up another earthly leader for

Israel! Indeed the man is already at hand. The Saints while weeping

for the departure of their late President, recognize him through the

mists of their tears. It is the man who in a voice full of power and

inspiration that thrills every soul in the vast congregation assembled

to pay the last tribute of respect to the remains of Brigham Young--it

is the man who is saying:

"We are not alone! God is with us, and He will continue with us from

this time henceforth and forever. And while we mourn a good and great

man dead, I see thousands of staunch and faithful ones around me, and

before me, who are for Israel, for God and His kingdom; men who are

desirous to see His will done on earth, as angels do it in heaven."

We are not alone! God is with us! Israel did not doubt it. How could

they? He who proclaimed it knew whereof he spake; and the Spirit of God

which penetrated the hearts of the Saints as he uttered those words,

bore witness that they were true. It was John Taylor who thus spoke.

At the death of President Young, Elder John Taylor was President of

the quorum of Twelve Apostles. It is a principle well established now

by precedent, that at the death of the President of the Church, the

authority of presidency devolves upon the next quorum--the Twelve

Apostles: and as Elder Taylor was the President of the Twelve, he

became the mouth-piece of the Lord to the people, by virtue of that

position so long as that quorum presided over the Church. Not alone

by precedent, however, did the Twelve succeed to the presidency of

the Church with Elder Taylor at their head, the arrangement was also

sanctioned by the spirit of inspiration.

On the 4th of September, 1877, the two counselors of the late President

Young and ten of the Twelve Apostles--Orson Pratt and Joseph F.

Smith, the other two members, were absent in England--held a meeting

and waited upon the Lord. With humble, contrite and saddened hearts

they earnestly sought to learn His will concerning themselves and the

Church. The Lord blessed them with the spirit of union, and revealed to

them what steps should be taken, and the following is what was done:

Elder Taylor was unanimously sustained as the President of the Twelve;

and with the same unanimity it was voted that the Twelve Apostles

should be sustained as the presiding authority in the Church, while

the counselors to the late President Young, John W. Young and Daniel

H. Wells, were sustained as one with, counselors to and associated

in action with the Twelve Apostles. To facilitate the transaction of

business it was also voted that for the time being President Taylor

should be assisted by John W. Young, Daniel H. Wells and George Q.

Cannon, in attending to business connected with the temples, the public

works and other financial affairs of the Church. They were a kind of

executive committee. These preparations were made for pushing forward

the work of the Lord in the earth, without even a halt or jostle.

Here it will be proper to note those circumstances which brought Elder

Taylor to the exalted station he now occupied. The position in which

the members of the Twelve stand in their quorum is determined by

seniority of ordination, not of age. Therefore it is always the senior

member by ordination that of right is the president of the quorum.

For a number of years, however, there were three members of the quorum

living at the death of President Young whose names stood before

President Taylor's: Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff.

Doubtless Wilford Woodruff's name was placed upon the records before

the name of John Taylor through some inadvertence, or perhaps through

the incorrect idea that seniority of age decided the order in which

the members of the quorum stood--Wilford Woodruff was the older man.

John Taylor, however, was ordained before Wilford Woodruff, in fact,

the former assisted at the ordination of the latter, so there could

be no question as to his seniority of ordination. The attention of

President Young and his counselors being called to these facts, it was

decided--the Twelve also concurring--that John Taylor stood before

Wilford Woodruff in the quorum, the names after this were so arranged.

During the troublous times at Far West, Missouri, Orson Hyde became

involved in some difficulty, in connection with Thomas B. Marsh, which

resulted in his excommunication, so that he lost his place in the

quorum.

Orson Pratt was also involved in some difficulty in Nauvoo which led to

his being dropped from his quorum, and Amasa Lyman was ordained to fill

the vacancy.

Both Brother Hyde and Brother Pratt afterwards repented, were forgiven

and received back into the quorum by ordination; and without any

particular investigation or arrangement they took the positions

formerly occupied by them. But both these brethren had been dropped

from the quorum, and when they were received back by ordination, it is

evident that all those who had remained in the quorum out-ranked them

by seniority of ordination.

It was this consideration, doubtless, which led President Young,

several years before his death, to have the name of John Taylor placed

at the head of the quorum. Thus he stood in the same position that

President Young did at the death of the Prophet Joseph; and like him

was upheld "the President of the quorum of the Twelve, as one of the

Twelve, and First Presidency of the Church."

But aside from his succeeding to this position by virtue of his

standing in his quorum, his long experience in the Church, the love the

Saints had for him, their confidence in his fidelity, together with

his great abilities as a leader among men, pre-eminently qualified

him for the position he was called upon to fill. And in those changes

made under the direction of President Young, by which Elder Taylor

was assigned his proper place in the quorum of the Apostles, may we

not discern the inspiration of God preparing the way for the man whom

the Lord designed to succeed to the leadership of His people, when

President Brigham Young should be called home?

CHAPTER XXXVII.

CHARACTER OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION--THE GARDO HOUSE VOTED

AS HIS RESIDENCE--THE GREAT JUBILEE CONFERENCE--A GREAT TESTIMONY

MEETING.

Great energy characterized President Taylor's administration of

affairs in the Church, both in Zion and abroad. He pushed forward

with increased zeal the work on the temples, of which three were in

course of erection, at the time of his taking control of affairs. He

required bishops to hold weekly priesthood meetings in their wards;

presidents of stakes to hold general priesthood meetings monthly in

their respective stakes; and appointed quarterly conferences in all the

stakes of Zion, publishing the dates of holding them for half a year in

advance, a custom which has continued until the present.

He personally attended as many of these quarterly conferences as he

could, without neglecting the executive branch of his calling, which

necessarily occupied much of his time, and kept him at or within easy

reach of Salt Lake City. But where he could not go himself, he sent

members of his quorum, so that the Saints received much teaching and

instruction from the Apostles, more perhaps than at any previous

time in the history of the Church. The result was a great spiritual

awakening among the Saints.

The work abroad received increased impetus by a greater number of

elders being sent to the world. A missionary himself nearly all his

life, it was but natural for President Taylor to be interested in the

work of preaching the gospel abroad.

Pioneer Day--the 24th of July--1880, was celebrated with unusual

grandeur in Salt Lake City. One feature of the splendid procession

which marched through the gaily decorated streets of the city was

three cars filled with representatives of the various countries where

the gospel, as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, had been

received. A man and a woman, dressed in native costume, represented

each country; the women bearing shields with the national colors

and the name of the nation represented. In the tabernacle, these

nationalities were arranged on a platform in front of the pulpits;

and after Apostle Orson Pratt, the Church historian, finished reading

a brief account of the introduction of the gospel to the various

countries of the earth, the nationalities, twenty-five in number, [1]

with their shields and banners, stepped forward in line, facing the

congregation. President Taylor then rose behind them and said: "The

Lord commanded His servants to go forth to all the world to preach the

gospel to every creature. We have not yet been to _all_ the world, but

here are twenty-five nations represented today, and thus far we have

fulfilled our mission; and it is for us to continue our labors until

all the world shall hear us, that all who are desirous may obey, and we

fulfill the mission given us."

That mission, during the presidency of John Taylor, was faithfully

pushed forward among all the nations who would receive it.

At the April conference of 1879, President Taylor was voted the use of

the Gardo House as a family residence. The Gardo, located on the corner

of South Temple and First East streets, at that time was doubtless

the largest and finest residence in Salt Lake City. I call attention

to this fact, not because of any petty pride the subject of this

writing had in mansions, splendid furnishings, soft carpets, statuary,

paintings,--the gewgaws that flatter and engross small minds--but to

call attention to a prophecy made by Elder Heber C. Kimball, who, when

President Taylor's circumstances were the poorest, boldly prophesied

that he would yet live in the largest and best house in Salt Lake

City--a prediction that was fulfilled when President Taylor took

possession of the Gardo House as his family residence.

It was with considerable reluctance that he accepted the proposition of

his brethren. His habits of life were simple; free from ostentation, as

were also those of his family; and had he followed the bent of his own

inclination he would have remained in his own humbler home. Not until

the change was repeatedly urged upon him did he consent to it. The

spirit in which he accepted the house as a residence may be best judged

from his own words at the conference which voted its use to him:

"I will state that I feel very much obliged to my brethren for the

generous feeling manifested to myself. Permit me, however, to say

with regard to some of these ideas presented to the conference by

Brother George Q. Cannon, and which, as he he has said, he has

frequently presented to me and others of the Twelve, that while I duly

appreciate the feelings and views of my brethren, and am not ignorant

of the proprieties of life, individually I would not wish to change

my position. Personally I care nothing about the outside show, the

glitter and the appearance of men; but I do care about the great and

eternal principles associated with the Church and kingdom of God upon

the earth. And as stated it was some time before I could make up my

mind to accept a proposition of this kind, and I accept it now simply

in the capacity of your servant for Christ's sake, for the benefit of

the kingdom of God, and that all things may be conducted in a proper

manner."

The general conferences of the Church--those mammoth semi-annual

gatherings of the Saints of God, where representatives from all the

Stakes of Zion assemble to hear instruction, council, reproof and

the word of the Lord--under President Taylor's administration were

spirited, valuable and soul-stirring. The one held in April, 1880,

known as the Jubilee Conference, was especially so. The Church had just

completed the fiftieth year of its existence. Half a century before

it had been organized in a log room, possibly fourteen feet square,

with six members. During that time a knowledge of the work had spread

throughout the civilized world, and among some of the tribes of the

heathen.

The Church had survived the ridicule of the worldly-wise, the clamor

of bigots, the intrigues of demagogues, the violence of mobs, its

banishment from civilization. Neither fire nor sword, nor intrigue,

nor ridicule, nor banishment, nor its journey through the wilderness,

nor any other thing had prevailed against the Church of Christ. It was

fitting, then, at the close of the first half century of its existence

that the Saints should rejoice mightily before the Lord.

To ancient Israel every fiftieth year was a jubilee. In it the

inheritance which had been sold in the days of misfortune or poverty

was restored to the original possessor, and his family returned to

the old homestead. The poor debtor was released; the man who had sold

himself to his brother, to be his hired servant, was set free, together

with all that was his, his wives and his children and they returned to

their inheritance.

"Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year," was the word of the Lord to

them, "and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the

inhabitants thereof." President Taylor resolved that something of this

spirit should enter into the teachings and proceedings of the Jubilee

Conference. "It occurred to me," said he to the Saints assembled on

that occasion, "that we ought to do something, as they did in former

times, to relieve those that are oppressed with debt, to assist those

that are needy, to break off the yoke of those that may feel themselves

crowded upon, and to make it a time of general rejoicing."

Many of the Saints had been gathered from the Eastern States and the

countries of the old world through means furnished by the Perpetual

Emigration Fund Company. A company organized for the gathering of the

poor. The manner in which the poor were assisted to emigrate by this

company was as follows:

The company forwarded the means necessary for their emigration and took

their notes at the legal rate of interest. When the notes were paid,

the money was thrown back into the fund to be used again in assisting

others. But many of those thus assisted were old and decrepit; and

after their arrival in Utah, poverty refused to release his clutch upon

them, and they found it difficult and in some instances impossible

to meet their obligations. Then others, the fund company not being

importunate in its demands upon them, became careless and neglected to

take up their notes. Others lost the faith, and with it, in most cases,

all sense of honor, and ignored their obligations. Through these causes

a large indebtedness to the fund had accumulated by the year 1880.

The principal of the indebtedness amounted to $704,000. The interest,

extending along for many years, at 10 per cent. per annum, amounted to

$900,000, making in all $1,604,000.

President Taylor proposed that one-half of this amount of the people's

indebtedness to the Fund, $802,000, be released; that is, that the

worthy poor throughout Zion who were unable to meet their engagements

with the Fund be forgiven their indebtedness, not half of it, but

the whole. The amount released was to be applied to their benefit in

this way. The debtors able to pay were to be held accountable for

the amounts they owed. "In former times," said President Taylor, in

explaining this matter, "they did not release the rich, it was the

poor. The rich can always take care of themselves--that is, so far as

this world is concerned."

Then there was a tithing indebtedness on the books of the bishop of

the Church against the Saints, amounting to $151,798. President Taylor

proposed that one half of that, $75,899, be released to the poor on the

same principle that one-half of the Fund indebtedness was released.

Both of these propositions were carried by the unanimous vote of the

conference.

The year 1879 was a very trying one in Utah. The drouth was excessive,

and crops consequently light. The winter was one of the severest ever

experienced, and thousands of cattle and sheep perished. Some people

had lost their last cow, and others all the sheep they had. "Now," said

President Taylor, "we propose to raise 1000 head of cows--not old cows

which do not give any milk, nor any one teated cows, but good milk

cows--and have them distributed among those that may be destitute in

the different stakes, under the direction of the authorities thereof."

The Church was to put in 300 head of the 1,000, the other 700 head to

be furnished by the stakes.

He also proposed that 5,000 head of sheep be appropriated to the poor,

to be distributed by the same authorities, 2,000 of which the Church

was to furnish, and the stakes the remainder.

For years the servants of the Lord had urged the Saints to store up

grain, but only a few had acted upon their advice. The result was that

many were without grain even for seed. The Female Relief Society,

however, had been wiser than individuals, and had stored up wheat in

nearly all the settlements of the Saints. President Taylor now saw an

opportunity to use it, and give a practical illustration of the wisdom

that had counseled storing up grain. "Inasmuch as the brethren," he

remarked, "had been careless and slow to heed the counsel of President

Young in relation to storing away wheat, he [President Young] requested

the sisters to do it, and some of us 'lords of creation' thought it

a very little thing for our sisters to be engaged in. But we find

now they are of some use, and that the 'ladies of creation' can do

something as well as we 'lords.' * * They have 34,761 bushels of wheat?

Who of you men can raise that much? Where's your wheat?" (Laughter.)

"Now," he continued, "those 34,761 bushels of wheat will be of

considerable importance judiciously managed, and loaned out to some of

our poor brethren. It will furnish seed wheat and after harvest they

can return it again. We do not want any more harsh talk about the woman

question after this."

A voice. "May they [the sisters] vote now?"

President Taylor. "Oh, yes, they may vote now if they choose to,

everybody is willing they should vote now. [Laughter.] That is, they

are willing the sisters shall vote on the wheat question. [Renewed

laughter.] We may as well call a vote on this question now. All you

sisters who are in favor of carrying out this request, hold up your

right hand. [A forest of hands went up.] There they go, you see!

[Laughter.] I think that is the most hearty vote yet. I knew they would

do it."

A voice. "Is it to be loaned without interest?"

President Taylor. "Somebody asks if it is to be loaned without

interest. Why, of course it is; we do not want any nonsense of that

kind." Then raising his splendid voice to its grandest notes, so that

it sent a thrill through the entire audience, he exclaimed, "IT IS THE

TIME OF JUBILEE!"

Having finished with these public matters, President Taylor reminded

the brethren that it was just as praiseworthy for private people to

forgive one another their debts as it was for corporations to do it.

"If you find people owing you who are distressed, if you will go

to work and try to relieve them as much as you can, under the

circumstances, God will relieve you when you get into difficulties. I

will tell you that in the name of the Lord."

Then in a circular issued to the officers of the Church a few days

after the close of the conference, he added: "The rich * * * have a

fitting opportunity for remembering the Lord's poor. If you are holding

their notes and they are unable to pay, forgive the interest and the

principal, or as much thereof as you might desire them to forgive

were their and your circumstances reversed, thus doing unto others

as you would that others should do unto you. For upon this hang the

law and the prophets. If you have mortgages upon the homes of your

brethren and sisters who are poor, worthy and honest, and who desire

to pay you but cannot, free them in whole or in part. Extend to them

a jubilee, if you can consistently. You will have their faith and

prayers and confidence, which may be worth more than money. We invite

Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution as the parent, all other

co-operative institutions as the children, and our brethren who are

engaged in profitable railroad, banking, mercantile, manufacturing or

other remunerative enterprises, to extend a helping hand. Free the

worthy, debt-bound brother if you can. Let there be no rich among us

from whose tables fall only crumbs to feed a wounded Lazarus. * * The

Church of Christ has set us a worthy example, let us follow it, so that

God may forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors."

I have given a detailed account of these philanthropic transactions

connected with the Jubilee Conference, hoping that the transactions

themselves may not prove uninteresting, but more especially because

they throw out in bold relief the noble generosity of President

Taylor's character.

Apart from these acts of generosity, looking to the relief and blessing

of the poor, the Jubilee Conference was noted for the out-pouring of

spiritual power upon the Apostles and other Elders in their teachings,

admonitions and testimonies. The regular conference was preceded by a

two days' meeting in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, and the last meeting

of the conference was made memorable by ten of the Apostles bearing

testimony to the truth of the great work of the last days, President

Taylor closing that grand testimony meeting with these words:

"I testify as my brethren have done, that this is the work of God

that has been revealed by the Almighty, and I know it. God will

sustain Israel; no power can injure us if we will do what is right.

This kingdom will roll on, the purposes of God will progress, Zion

will arise and shine, and the glory of God will rest upon her. We

will continue to grow and increase, until the kingdoms of this world

shall become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ, and He will reign

forever and forever."

Footnotes

1. The nations and peoples represented were: United States,

American Indians, Canada, Hawaii, Holland, Germany, France, Spain,

Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland,

Schleswig-Holstein, Russia, Ancient Britain, England, Ireland,

Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, British India and Australasia. In the

procession they carried a banner on which was emblazoned the text: "I

will gather you from all nations."

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE QUORUM OF APOSTLES NOT THE PERMANENT PRESIDING QUORUM OF THE

CHURCH--FIRST PRESIDENCY CHOSEN--A GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF QUORUMS--THE

VOTING--VOX DEI ET VOX POPULI--DIGNITY OF PRESIDENCY--CHARACTER OF

GOVERNMENT--ONE OF THE NOBLE ONES.

While it is a well established rule that the quorum of Twelve Apostles

become the presiding quorum at the death or removal of the President of

the Church, it is not in accordance with the order of the Priesthood

that the Twelve should become the permanent presidency of the Church.

The Lord has said [1] that three Presiding High Priests, chosen by

the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the

confidence, faith and prayer of the Church, form a quorum of the

presidency of the Church. Therefore it must follow that the presidency

of the Twelve Apostles over the Church can only be temporary. But as

they stand next, and form a quorum equal in authority to the First

Presidency, they have the power and of right preside when for any cause

the First Presidency becomes disorganized.

For more than three years the quorum of Twelve Apostles had presided

over the Church, from the death of President Young in August, 1877,

to October, 1880. The Lord then inspired His servants to organize

the First Presidency. For President there was but one choice--John

Taylor. The spirit of revelation indicated that he was the man; and

he received the unanimous vote of his fellow Apostles for that high

office. He named George Q. Cannon as his first counselor, and Joseph F.

Smith, the son of Hyrum Smith, for his second. These brethren were also

unanimously sustained by their fellow Apostles. But it is not enough

that they be sustained by that quorum alone. All the other quorums of

the Priesthood have a voice in these important transactions, as also

have all the members of the Church.

It was presenting this action of the Apostles for the approval of

the various quorums of the Priesthood and the members of the Church,

which constituted the leading feature of the Semi-Annual Conference of

October, 1880.

Nothing can be more solemn and impressive than the voting of the

quorums of the Priesthood, when they meet to act as a general assembly

of quorums. The _States-General_ of France, assembled in the _Salle

des Menus_ just before the French Revolution, in all the glory of

raised platforms for Throne, Court and Blood-royal; with space for six

hundred Commons Deputies in front; with three hundred clergy on the

right of the throne and as many _noblesse_ on the left; with lofty

galleries filled with two thousand spectators, dames of honor, foreign

deplomacies, "and other gilt-edge and white-frilled individuals,"

though constituting the most remarkable assembly the world ever saw,

is not equal in imposing grandeur to the assembly and action of the

quorums of the Priesthood.