A Discourse by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, April 8, 1855.

As I arise I am cautioned by President Kimball to be careful that my hair does not blow off; I shall exercise as much care and caution as possible on the subject; but if it should actually come off, I have very few friends here today in this numerous audience but what know very well how my head looks perfectly bare, and consequently I should not feel as though I was subject to any particular disgrace, while I can enjoy the comfort of sitting in the congregation without having my head tied up in a handkerchief, or suffering with a cold.

I feel a little sorry this morning that our meetinghouse is so small; really it seems too bad that we have not a little more room, but it fulfills very clearly the early predictions of the first President of the Church (Joseph Smith), that we may build as many houses as we would, and we should never get one big enough to hold the Saints; and I presume, before this immense Bowery is absolutely enclosed, and comfortably seated, that we shall find it too small to accommodate those who wish to attend here on the Sabbath day, or on any important occasion.

In rising to speak to so vast an assembly, I am reminded of the old rupture of my lungs, which was made while preaching in the streets of London to scattered assemblies, to persons in the courts, in the squares, in the windows of buildings four and five stories high, and on different sides of the streets, in the midst of a foggy, smoky, damp atmosphere. It is a rupture which caused my lungs to bleed, and which has been a constant caution and effectual check to my course in life, requiring me to keep within a certain limit, with, however, this condition, that, live or die, or whatsoever might be in the road, the Gospel of Jesus Christ I would preach, and the testimony of the fulness of the Gospel of the Lord to the Saints in the last days I would bear, wherever and whenever I had the opportunity, backed with a faith in me that I would have power and health to do this; at the same time any kind of exercise, that would heat my blood for one half hour, would produce considerable bleeding from the lungs, and yet by the aid of your faith I undertake to address this immense audience, with full confidence that I shall succeed so that a great portion will hear me, and by the stillness of the balance I may be enabled to make them all hear me, though it requires a great effort for even a man with sound lungs to make ten thousand persons hear him speak distinctly.

I have been a member of this Church from my childhood: I commenced to advocate the Book of Mormon when only thirteen years of age. The second day after I got hold of it I read it nearly through. News flew round the neighborhood that the “golden bible” had come, and a large company of neighbors came in to see the book; they commenced to examine and find fault with it, and I to ans– wer their objections, as I thought they looked so unreasonable; although I had not made my mind up on the subject, yet I tried to remove their objections; the result was, the whole company went away confounded, leaving me surprised that they could not raise any stronger objections against it; and from that day to this I have not let any proper occasion slip that presented to me an opportunity of defending the mission of Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon, to the very best of my ability. It may be said of me that I never knew anything else but “Mormonism,” yet I have found that some of the traditions of my early education (as I was piously educated at the Sunday school in the doctrine and principles of Presbyterianism)—some of these principles which I received in my youth have clung to me so closely that I have had to stop at times and reflect whether I had learned that from the proper source, or whether it was part of my old catechism, which I must confess I have forgotten.

I introduce these remarks as a preface to my discourse, because I have been pleased by the remarks of the First Presidency, especially by those of President Brigham Young, on the subject of the appointment of Bishops; he wishes to appoint those who have grown up in the Church, who have not lived a great portion of their days under the influence of sectarian traditions of their fathers, and been subject to the slavish notions of cast-iron creeds, that when they entered into this Church, they were so bound in them, they never could be unbound, and that even now in performing the duties of their callings they do not learn enough of the things of God to in every instance discriminate between the two. I had discovered in a number of instances that appointments of this kind to different offices did not work well; and that when men who are not very old when they come into the Church, all they have learned is the truth, and are not under the necessity of unlearning what they might have learned in twenty, forty, or fifty years, of old tenets, creeds, doctrines, and nonsense, but have taken a start from the right foundation, and what they did learn have learned it right.

I thought I would take the liberty of addressing the younger brethren, as a great portion of this congregation are what might be termed in the States, Young America, if you please, or among us, “Young Mormons,” those who have been raised in the midst of persecutions, and the instructions the Saints have enjoyed. President Young, in the course of his remarks, introduces the subject of the divisions that exist in New York politics; for instance, it is customary in the political circles of New York, and has extended from that capital throughout the Union, to denominate men that have become somewhat superannuated in their veins, or have got the old-fashioned slow motion about them, “old fogies.” For instance, there are but few of us but what can remember when railroads were first introduced into the United States. It is not difficult for old men to remember when the first steamboat was built, or when the first telegraph wire was put in operation; and it is properly denominated the “fast age.” Men who have got the old principles of locomotion—that cannot accommodate their feelings to the great improvements of the fast age—that have got their education on the slow track, and are determined to follow it, it would be better for them to stand aside, and clear the track for the telegraph speed of the present generation just rising up on their heels.

I was pleased with the resolution, as far as it was necessary to apply it; but there are a great many men of the most mature age, who were at a mature age when they received this Gospel, that never had imbibed scarcely any sectarian prejudices; and those that they had got, when they discovered they were of little use, they have cast them behind the lighthouse, and let them go with the waves. There are others who have stood in the stream of light until every single particle of the old imperfections and old prejudices that could possibly have adhered to them, have been carried away; the light of the Spirit has showered upon them so brilliantly that all of us who were younger when we entered the work, were instructed, taught, and made acquainted with the things of God, through the wisdom and light which God has given them.

Mankind is capable of a great many extravagances; we very well remember the time when a very zealous man named Hawley, arraigned Joseph Smith before Bishop’s counsel in Kirtland, and charged him with having forfeited his office as a Prophet of God, because he had not prohibited the aged sisters from wearing caps. I attended the Council, which was held very late, and the man there advocated that he was cut off from the Church, for God had cut him off from the Church, as well as from his Apostleship, because he had suffered the men to wear little cushions on the shoulders of their coat sleeves. It being then fashionable to wear a little cotton on the shoulders, and in consequence of some of the brethren wearing such coats, the Prophet of God was cut off from the Church by this man, and persecuted as an impostor, and another was placed in his stead.

That man was possessed of such wisdom as man could reasonably manifest, yet he was so perfectly full of folly and of his own traditions and notions he had fancied over in his own head, that seemingly it was im– possible for him to understand anything better; he was blinded, and lifted his hand against the Prophet of God. Instances of this kind have been continually accumulating, and it is one of the most perfect illustrations of the sayings of the Prophet, that He would sift His people as with a sieve. It has been a constant sifting from the time we entered the Church up to the present; some would compel it, while in others none of the old prejudices have predominated; and so it has continued until twenty-five years have passed away, and until a great number of persons have risen up who have not the prejudices of their fathers to contend with, and if they will humble themselves with all their might, knowledge, and intelligence, power will grow in them, and they will approximate nearer to the things of God, to get more light, more knowledge, more intelligence, more faith, and more power to spread forth the work of God, and to roll forth the kingdom their fathers have been able to obtain.

It is an old proverb, that as the old birds crow the young ones learn. There are a great many habits, a great many customs which our fathers have imbibed, and which their children have been induced more or less to practice, which are decidedly in opposition to the true principles of life and prosperity; now for us who are young, we are full of life and vigor, to think, because our fathers or mothers indulged in a good cup of tea, or cup of coffee, and a hundred other different luxuries which are at variance with the Word of Wisdom, that we must follow the same track, pursue the same course, and not only ourselves become slaves to the same habits, but transmit them to our posterity, and continue them, that we may preserve the old Gentile customs which have been established under a system of tactics that have been introduced by medical men, to injure the health of the community and to make for themselves a growing business! I do not believe in the constant use of tobacco and hot drinks, although they have been for a long time steadily recommended by men in the medical profession as beneficial to health; I believe that learned doctors do know, when they are doing so, they are introducing a system of things to make men sick throughout their lives, weaken the human race, and make business for medical practitioners. If men wish to grow up in these mountains, free from disease, and from the power of the destroyer, and become strong and powerful like tigers—like giants in Israel, let them observe the principles laid down in the words of wisdom, let them observe them when they are children, let them grow up breathing a pure atmosphere, drinking pure water, and partaking of the wholesome vegetation, observing the words of wisdom, and they will grow up mighty men; one of them will be worth five dozen of those who are steeped and boiled by hot drinks, and tanned in tobacco juice.

While I address you, brethren, upon this subject, I speak more from observation of the conduct of others than from my own experience; I have observed considerable upon this matter; I know that indulging in habits of this kind, however simple they may seem, they lead in the end to great evil, and I know from experience that our tastes are in a great measure artificial. Now when a “Mormon” Elder comes up to me, and wants to get a little counsel, and his breath smells as though he had swallowed a stillhouse, it is all I can possibly do to remain near enough to him to hear his story; he necessarily wishes to come up close to me, as such men are sure to have a secret they wish to whisper, and their breath is so offensive, I am forced to retire. When I am called upon to give counsel to a man who is indulging in these intemperate practices, I feel at a loss to know whether my counsel is going to do him good or harm, or whether he will pay any attention to it after he gets it.

I know that many men have persisted in the use of these stimulating articles until they cannot do without them, or they think they cannot. Perhaps sometimes when they have been reduced by sickness or fatigue, they have then been under the necessity of taking some of these things as a medicine to revive sinking nature, and this was probably when they first began to practice the use of them, and laid the foundation for a short life. They now wish me to prolong their days, like the old toper who had undermined his constitution, and who was about to die in consequence of drinking a quart of brandy a day; he sent for the doctor; he, being anxious to preserve the life of his patient, dared not stop the use of brandy entirely, nor yet suffer the inebriate to persist in his usual course, ordered his patient three glasses of French brandy with loaf sugar per day, upon which the old toper shrugged his shoulders and said, “Doctor, aint it bad to take?” In introducing the use of things injurious to our health, when we commence it, it is not so pleasant; perhaps in a fit of sickness, prostrated by the ague, cut down by disease, we will indulge in these kinds of habits, until by and by a taste is formed for them, and we feel that we really must have our tea or our coffee; a glass of liquor does us good occasionally. How often does “occasionally” come? “O, once in a while.” How often is that? “Why, every now and then.” And it gets so, by and by, if a man has addicted himself to it and don’t have it, he feels quite lonely, he feels lost, as though there was something wrong about him, and he be– comes such a perfect slave to it, he cannot exercise his talents or his ingenuity. I have seen distinguished members of the bar with whom it was absolutely necessary they should take a drink of spirits in the middle of a plea, to brighten their ideas; the result is, it will bring a man to a premature grave.

I say to Young America, brethren and sisters, if we have imbibed such habits, let us lay them off; let us suffer our fathers and mothers to drink the tea and the coffee, and chew all the tobacco they want, and as long as we can get it for them, because they have imbibed this practice years ago, and now to deprive them of these things altogether might endanger their lives; but when it comes to us, who have not been believers in the doctrine, let us take these things as we would calomel, opium, arsenic, lobelia, corrosive sublimate, or any other drugs which are so much valued among physicians. Now if a man really felt as if he were dying, and was anxious to hurry himself away, a dose of strychnine might assist him. Now anything that a man takes that stimulates his nerves above their proper mode of action when he is in health, his system will fall in the same proportion below a healthy action, and it will require a little more the next time to stimulate it to the same height, and so on, until the system refuses to be stimulated, and the person will suddenly fall into the grave. So much, then, will answer for my remarks upon this subject.

I believe, brethren, many of us have accustomed ourselves to using articles prohibited in the Word of Wisdom, which prohibition is desired for the benefit of the Saints in Zion, and in all the world; we frequently use them merely out of compliment. For instance, I call in a brother’s house, the lady of the house knows I am an Apostle, and she wishes to treat me with marked respect, and she supposes I am entirely unmindful of the precepts contained in the Word of Wisdom, makes me a cup of tea or coffee; well, I think it is a pity to throw it away, after it has spoiled half a gallon of the best American creek water, and I drink it to save it. This is not only the case with me, but with other young men also (for I can call myself a young man with a perfect grace now, for I have as fine a head of hair as any of you); a great many of us take these stimulating drinks for the sake of fashion. If I should happen to come across those who know how to use “the good crater,” they will invite me to partake with them; if I refuse, they will then begin to urge; but the best policy to be observed in cases of this kind is to do as we have a mind to; if we do not want “the intoxicating drink,” let them take it all; and if we do, we will take it without urging, and bear the responsibility ourselves. This is the best policy I would wish to be governed by, though I have had to say, once or twice in my life, “Gentlemen, I do not wish to be urged.” If a man refuses to drink with those who indulge in the use of strong drinks, it is customary to consider it a want of friendship. Let us be our own masters, and not believe we must be chained down to these foolish and hurtful traditions.

It has happened to be my lot to visit a good many of the Branches; a great portion of the time that I have been in this Church, I have spent in traveling. Last year, in performing the duties of historian, when I found that constant application to these duties became severe on my health, I would go out in the neighboring settlements and preach to the people, and stir them up to diligence and obedience; in this way I have had a good opportunity to observe the feelings and sentiments of the people, which operate upon the hearts of the Saints in the different settlements of these valleys.

The view that I wish to take on this subject is, that there is in many of the settlements a want of union. For instance, they will get together in a meeting, and conclude that they will have a certain man for a President, or for a Bishop, they will all agree to it, then some few individuals will go back into a corner and say, “Well, brother, don’t you think that such a man would have made a great deal the best President?” And whenever the President steps forward to introduce a measure, the next thing he would come across would be, two or three of the brethren will kindly say to one another, “I, for one, don’t like that measure.” You understand the simple lever power, the most simple of all mechanical principles; you know that I can take a lever, and by getting a first-rate good purchase, I can hold as much as twenty men can roll; the result is, if I cannot have it my way, I might by that means prevent the President from having it his way. I am more intimate with the City of Provo; its population I do not now exactly recollect, but it is probably about three thousand five hundred; its locality is one of the best in the mountains, from the fact that the position is in the midst of a heavy amount of water power, which can be easily applied to machinery to the best possible advantage; it is also surrounded with the best farming land, with an abundant means of irrigation by the application of a very little labor, and the facilities for timber are a great deal more convenient than in other places, referring especially to this Territory. Provo is also the County Seat of Utah County, gathering to its center a great amount of county business, at any rate such a portion of it as pertains to keeping of records, which makes it a kind of general place of resort for men from every part of the county, who wish to do business of this kind.

I give you this description to show you that they have every facility to make it one of the handsomest and most wealthy cities, according to the number of its inhabitants; they have a rich soil as well as an abundance of water and mill privileges; and yet, for want of union in the feelings of that community, the place has been a great portion of the time at a kind of drag, the progress of the place has been slow; for when any measure would be presented, a few individuals would use their influence to check the wheel. The fact is, if they were not disposed to roll the load over, they could clog the wheels and hinder in a great measure its progress.

That has been the difficulty which has existed in that place, and in other places, and it has had the effect of retarding the progress of the place in wealth, in prosperity, in public buildings, schools, roads, bridges, and other improvements, in private interests, and in farming facilities. To any man who has an idea of what men can accomplish, this arrangement is positively obnoxious; it seems as a clear illustration of the necessity of Saints being united. There is a city in Utah County, by the name of Springville; in consequence of a little division which has arisen there occasionally, they have been prevented, for several years, from building anything like a reasonable amount of schoolhouses, compared with the number of its inhabitants; there are individuals there who have been all the time blocking the wheels, and by that means they hinder the onward progress of the whole community in their labor of public improvements.

Now, brethren, almost all the difficulties that have been brought on the Saints from the beginning, were in the first place in consequence of this kind of division. There is nothing we ought to guard against so much, on the face of the earth, as against division of this kind, or any other kind. It is an old adage that “union is strength,” and a very true one. An old Scythian king, who had many sons, on his death bed called them around him, and some of them suggested to him the propriety of his dividing his dominions among all his sons. He took a bundle of arrows, and gave them to his sons, saying, “Break that bundle of arrows.” They passed the arrows round and all tried to break them, as the old man lay upon his death bed, and they could not. He then said, “Now untie them, and then break them;” which was easily done. He then said to his sons, “If you are all united as one man, you can never be overpowered or destroyed, but if you divide you will be easily conquered.” We can now behold the result in the Russian Empire. This principle applies to the Saints, and to every principle of division that sticks out in any Branch of the Church; hang together, and love, and faithfully carry out the measures of those who preside, for they know the best what measures to adopt.

The principle of division aims directly at the foundation of the Church. “But,” say some, “I am nobody, and if I stick out I cannot do much hurt anyhow.” You can do a little, you can do all the hurt you are able to do; and the little influence you have, if it counts in any way, it should count in favor of the common cause, and not against it; if it counts in its favor, it counts twice. My exertions would count for what they are worth; not only this, but if I was operating against the cause, it would take one of equal capacity of myself to balance against me.

The time is coming when one shall chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight. When will that be? When Israel is united. If all this people were absolutely united with all their hearts to pull upon one grand thread, upon one grand cord, they would have power and dominion over the whole earth; all the men and devils in hell, on the earth, or anywhere else could not make a successful opposition against us. The chief point we have got to maintain is the point of union; that is all that is necessary to be done to secure all we anticipate. That is what we have been schooled for in the schoolhouse of trouble and affliction.

It is hard to make the Saints united, and we have to be sifted and sifted until we are perfectly united, that every man in the kingdom will be united as one man, and then no power can break our ranks. Talk about the power of men, only let the Saints be united, and their power vanishes away; it becomes weakness. But how is it? How is it in families? How many men are there that can take their families, and gather round the family altar, and all of them bow before the Lord without a jar of feeling, with one perfect unity, every one willing to submit with the most perfect submission to the will of the Lord, as clay in the hands of the potter? How many families, I say, are there in Israel where this union exists in this style, in all its purity and power? How many men would be permitted to rear a family altar of this kind even in his own house? How many wards can we find in all Israel that could unite so that they would not find a single word of fault with each other, or grumble at the Bishop? The only way we can ever obtain this point is to look at our own faults and not at our neighbors’, and listen to the counsel of those men whom God sets to counsel us; correct the errors in ourselves, and dwell on our own faults.

I recollect once in Iron County one of the brethren got irritated at me, and threatened to report my conduct to the First President; I wanted to know what I had done, and he went on and gave a whole list of my sins for six months past, he seemed to be as well acquainted with them as though he had counted them over every day after his prayers, as the Catholic counts his beads. One sin was, I had threatened to beat a teamster if he did not stop abusing his oxen, and a great many more such like. After he had read all my sins over at once, the list rather shocked me, but I suspected, instead of counting his own faults, and keeping a record of them, he had been at work to keep a record of mine; instead of living to correct his own faults, he was trying to correct my errors.

When he got through, I said if he reported me to the Presidency, they would correct my faults, and that would do me good. I was ready to make all due acknowledgment, and was prepared to receive reproof with a thankful heart, whenever it was necessary, for all my faults; at the same time I really did feel as though he had dwelt more upon my faults than his own; he subsequently acknowledged that was the fact, and I consequently escaped being brought before the Presidency. I always did feel, when I saw a man abusing his oxen, who could not defend themselves, to lay the whip about his back, and I have once or twice come very near trying the operation. I believe every man in Israel is responsible as to how he uses his cattle; I can speak with perfect safety on this subject, for I am not possessed of cattle so as to have any person criticize me; a great proportion of animals that are used among men on the California and Oregon roads are abused in a shameful manner, and thousands have been killed with the Missouri whip; I never believed it was right, and when I had the control of moving a camp, I used a little extra exertion to prevent it.

Now, brethren, I want every one of you to let these principles sink deep in your hearts, that we may cultivate a principle of union, and look first at ourselves, reckon first with ourselves, and dwell upon our own faults, instead of dwelling upon the faults of others. We have to know for ourselves, and every wrong another person may do, it is no excuse for me: and I tell you that every man who raises his hand in the Branches, among the wards, or wherever he may be, to injure and destroy the counsel and instructions given to them, and operate in opposition to those instructions, will fall into a snare; and I do absolutely know, that if the Saints in the settlements, especially in the South, had listened to the counsel of the Presidency in the foundation of those settlements, instead of the Church property ranging at a value of seven or eight hundred thousand dollars, it might have increased to as many millions just as well, if the brethren had listened with one spirit to the counsels and instructions given them from the head which God has appointed to lead and direct us.

But no, some of us thought they had a better plan, and there were as many plans as men, and never found out their mistake till the Indian war set in. We have got along, by the mercy of God, and by His blessings, as well as we have, learning by the things which we suffer, and we all ought to continually thank Him for it, and not our own wisdom. With these remarks I will close by bearing my testimony that this is the work of God, and these men are His servants, and God has placed in His Church a Prophet, Priest, and President, who is just as good and as wise a man as we are capable of keeping in our society; if he was any better than he is, God would have to take him, or we would have to improve with the rapidity of lightning to keep up with him. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, and that which he has conferred upon this peo– ple is a true Priesthood, and if you listen to the instructions and be led by the keys of this kingdom, you are in the path to an eternal exaltation, and we shall overcome every power that would seek to prevail against us. Let us be as one, and we can never be broken. May God preserve us in the light and law of Christ, that we may be redeemed. Amen.

A Sermon by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 18, 1855.

Brethren and Sisters—I must express my gratification at the address which was delivered for our consideration in the former part of the day. I do not feel as much in the spirit of preaching as I do in that of listening; but as there is still a short time to be occupied, at the request of the brethren I will offer for your consideration a few remarks.

According to the example already given this afternoon, I shall commence by taking a text, which will be found recorded in the 23rd chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthews—“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”

While I call your attention to this passage of Scripture, I have in view the rich items that have been presented here today, the light of the Spirit which has been manifest in revealing to us our duty, that purity of life, that submission of conduct, that correct course which are calculated in all things to enlighten the Saints, and prepare them for exaltation and eternal lives. How often, says the Savior, would I have gathered thy children together, O! Jerusalem, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and would have nourished you, but you would not.

These words were uttered by the Savior while looking at the vast city and surrounding country which was then inhabited by the Jews, who were residing there in security, surrounded with plenty, and were at the same time almost universally in open rebellion against the law of heaven.

It has been a very common saying in the world that the Lord was able to do everything, that he could do anything he had a mind to do, and accomplish what he pleased; that he possessed universal power, and could accomplish what he undertook. But what says our text? “How oft would I have gathered you, but you would not.” This indicates that he could not do it, because they were not willing; that is the way we understand the language. It is plain also from the text, that if the people of Jerusalem, the children of Israel, would have listened, and would have been gathered, he would have nourished them, and conferred upon them the principles of salvation, the laws of exaltation which it was his desire to give them. Let me say, then, that from the foundation of the world, or, in other words, from the fall of man until the period of the declaration of the words of our text, we find plainly illustrated, in the whole history contained in the sacred book, the principle that the Lord wished to reveal unto the children of men things which had been hid from before the foundation of the world, principles which would exalt them to celestial thrones, but they would not, or, which amounts to the same, He could never find a people, could never communicate with a generation or a very numerous body of men that would obey His commandments, listen to His counsel, and observe His wisdom, or be led by His revelations.

Some of my friends may think I am doing injustice by these remarks to the Zion of Enoch. I am aware that the Lord did in the days of Enoch gather together enough of the inhabitants of the earth to build a city, but in consequence of the rebellion, the wickedness, and oppression of the great mass of mankind, He could not save that city from destruction, only by taking it unto His own bosom; hence went forth the saying of old, “Zion is fled.” So far as revealed records show, that is the nearest He ever came to the point of accomplishing the end of His undertaking, touching the redemption of the human family, up to the days of the Savior.

As we have learned, from Elder Hyde’s sermon this afternoon, the same thing is illustrated in the history of Joseph; he wished to reveal the will of God to his brethren, but they rebelled, and sold him into Egypt. Moses undertook to give the children of Israel the laws of the Priesthood, to make them a holy people, a chosen generation, a kingdom of Priests, but what was the result? They would not receive it; and although God had delivered them from the plagues of Egypt, from the hands of Pharaoh, brought them through the Red Sea, and led them by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, yet, when Moses went into the presence of God to receive His law, to receive those principles that were to magnify them, and make them a kingdom of Priests, a holy people, they, a whole people, concluded that it was best to worship a calf. “Why,” said they, “our neighbors worship calves, they have gods, they have idols, and we wish to worship something that we can see, for we do not know what has become of this Moses, and we want a god that we can see and handle.”

In taking a passing glance of this subject, we find the same attempt was made in the days of Solomon, the wise king of Israel. The Lord undertook to prepare a place, a house wherein He could reveal unto His people the law of exaltation. He made the attempt, but before that house could be completed, one of the very men through whom the ordinances of exaltation were to be revealed must be put to death by the cruel treachery of wicked men, stirred up by the adversary, which frustrated the design. The keys of the Priesthood consequently had to be kept a secret, and years after, the Prophets were lamenting, mourning, complaining, and finding fault with the people because the Lord could never be permitted to reveal the fulness of His will to the children of men. Micah, after reflecting how often the Lord had attempted to reveal His law, and as his eye by the spirit of prophecy glanced down through the vista of time to the last days, exclaims in a transport of joy, “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

This was just a glimpse that the Prophet had of the establishment of the purposes of Jehovah in the last days. He saw the nations flowing to the tops of the mountains to receive that law of redemption which the world would not receive in the meridian of time, when the Savior made his appearance, and presented himself to the house of Israel, chose his Apostles, conferred upon them the keys of the Priesthood, and sent them forth to bear testimony to the sons of men. The result of his divine mission is manifested in the words of our text, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not.”

Says John, when speaking of our Savior, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” Power was given them to become the sons of God, and joint heirs with Christ; hence the principles of exaltation were clearly illustrated by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, yet the people would not receive them. In a few years afterwards we find that every person who preached the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ was doomed to destruction by the hands of wicked men, the power of the adversary increased, Paganism overwhelmed the true Church, and Pagan institutions were substituted instead, and the Christian religion either had to hide itself in the dens and caves of the earth, or bow to the unmeaning mummeries of ancient Pagan Rome. Notwithstanding this, the Lord had His eye upon the great point to be attained, the great object to be accomplished, when He would again attempt to gather the children of Israel together, and nourish them, and teach them of His ways, and learn them to walk in His paths.

The very first moment after the angel of God had communicated to Joseph Smith the revelation of the fulness of the Gospel, what do we discover? We discover that all the bloodhounds of earth and hell were let loose upon him. The very first attempt that could be made to bear testimony of the Gospel was to be thwarted by persecution, the editorial thunder was immediately let loose, and as the old Quaker said to the dog that came to his store, being a little offended at the animal, “I will not kill thee, but I will give thee a bad name,” so he turns him out and halloos, “Bad dog,” judging rightly that somebody would suppose him to be mad, and shoot him. That was the devil’s plan, when this Gospel was first introduced, the cry was, “False prophet, impostor, delusion, fornication,” mixed up with every kind of slander.

Every person who is well acquainted with the history of this Church, knows that at the commencement of it the persecutions commenced, and they continued to increase until the death of the Prophet. Forty-seven times he was arraigned before the tribunals of law, and had to sustain all the expense of defending himself in those vexatious suits, and was every time acquitted. He was never found guilty but once. I have been told, by Patriarch Emer Harris, that on a certain occasion he was brought before a magistrate in the State of New York, and charged with having cast out devils; the magistrate, after hearing the witnesses, decided that he was guilty, but as the statutes of New York did not provide a punishment for casting out devils, he was acquitted.

The limited amount of time which I may use this afternoon, compels me to take but a partial glance at certain points that I wish to notice in connection with our text.

Among the first principles that were revealed to the children of men in the last days was the gathering; the first revelations that were given to the Church were to command them to gather, and send Elders to seek out a place for the gathering of the Saints. What is the gathering for? Why was it that the Savior wished the children of Israel to gather together? It was that they might become united and provide a place wherein he could reveal unto them keys which have been hid from before the foundation of the world; that he could unfold unto them the laws of exaltation, and make them a kingdom of Priests, even the whole people, and exalt them to thrones and dominions in the celestial world.

For this purpose, in 1833, the Saints commenced to build a Temple in Kirtland, the cost of which was not less than one hundred thousand dollars. A mere handful of Saints commenced that work, but they were full of faith and energy, and willing, as they supposed, to sacrifice everything for the building up of Zion. In a few weeks some of them apostatized; the trials were too great, the troubles were too severe. I know persons who apostatized because they supposed they had reasons; for instance, a certain family, after having traveled a long journey, arrived in Kirtland, and the Prophet asked them to stop with him until they could find a place. Sister Emma, in the mean time, asked the old lady if she would have a cup of tea to refresh her after the fatigues of the journey, or a cup of coffee. This whole family apostatized because they were invited to take a cup of tea or coffee, after the Word of Wisdom was given.

Another family, about the same time, apostatized because Joseph Smith came down out of the translating room, where he had been translating by the gift and power of God, and commenced playing with his little children. Some such trials as these, you know, had to be encountered.

I recollect a gentleman who came from Canada, and who had been a Methodist, and had always been in the habit of praying to a God who had no ears, and as a matter of course had to shout and halloo pretty loud to make him hear. Father Johnson asked him to pray in their family worship in the evening, and he got on such a high key, and hallooed so loud that he alarmed the whole village. Among others, Joseph came running out, saying, “What is the matter? I thought by the noise that the heavens and the earth were coming together,” and said to the man, “that he ought not to give way to such an enthusiastic spirit, and bray so much like a jackass.” Because Joseph said that, the poor man put back to Canada, and apostatized; he thought he would not pray to a God who did not want to be screamed at with all one’s might.

We progressed in this way while we were building the Kirtland Temple. The Saints had a great many traditions which they had borrowed from their fathers, and laid the foundations, and built that Temple with great toil and suffering, compared with what we have now to endure. They got that building so far finished as to be dedicated; this was what the Lord wanted, He wished them to provide a place wherein He could reveal to the children of men those principles that will exalt them to eternal glory, and make them Saviors on mount Zion. Four hundred and sixteen Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons met in the Kirtland Temple on the evening of its dedication. I can see faces here that were in that assembly. The Lord poured His Spirit upon us, and gave us some little idea of the law of anointing, and conferred upon us some blessings. He taught us how to shout hosannah, gave Joseph the keys of the gathering together of Israel, and revealed to us, what? Why the fact of it was, He dare not yet trust us with the first key of the Priesthood. He told us to wash ourselves, and that almost made the women mad, and they said, as they were not admitted into the Temple while this washing was being performed, that some mischief was going on, and some of them were right huffy about it.

We were instructed to wash each other’s feet, as an evidence that we had borne testimony of the truth of the Gospel to the world. We were taught to anoint each other’s head with oil in the name of the Lord, as an ordinance of anointing. All these things were to be done in their time, place, and season. All this was plain and simple, yet some apostatized because there was not more of it, and others because there was too much.

On the evening after the dedication of the Temple, hundreds of the brethren received the ministering of angels, saw the light and personages of angels, and bore testimony of it. They spake in new tongues, and had a greater manifestation of the power of God than that described by Luke on the day of Pentecost. Yet a great portion of the persons who saw these manifestations, in a few years, and some of them in a few weeks, apostatized. If the Lord had on that occasion revealed one single sentiment more, or went one step further to reveal more fully the law of redemption, I believe He would have upset the whole of us. The fact was, He dare not, on that very account, reveal to us a single principle farther than He had done, for He had tried, over and over again, to do it. He tried at Je– rusalem; He tried away back before the flood; He tried in the days of Moses; and He had tried, from time to time, to find a people to whom He could reveal the law of salvation, and He never could fully accomplish it; and He was determined this time to be so careful, and advance the idea so slowly, to communicate them to the children of men with such great caution that, at all hazards, a few of them might be able to understand and obey. For, says the Lord, my ways are not as your ways, nor my thoughts as your thoughts; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For instance, you tell a man he must be baptized for the remission of his sins; then the query arises, “What use is it to dip a man in water?” You tell a man he should repent of his sins, cease to do evil, and learn to do well, and the answer is, “Well, and what is the reason of all that!” Tell him that he should receive the imposition of hands on his head for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and he will feel some as the old woman did where I was preaching and baptizing in England. An old lady came to be baptized; we accordingly baptized her. When the time came to attend to the ordinance of confirmation, I began to confirm the company of new disciples. I had noticed that she lacked soap and water, things that evidently were scarce about her house. When I came up to lay my hands upon her, says she, “Don’t you lay your filthy paws upon my head.” The fact of it was, she had received all the law of redemption she could receive, and the law of laying on of hands looked so foolish to her that she would not have anything to do with it.

This serves to illustrate the saying, that our ways are not as the ways of the Lord, nor our thoughts as His; neither do the plans which the Lord has devised for the good of man correspond with the plans and views which men devise for their own good. Now if the Lord had considered it wisdom, on the day of the Kirtland endowment and great solemn assembly, to come forward and reveal to the children of men the facts that are laid down plainly in the Bible, and had told them that, without the law of sealing, no man could be exalted to a throne in the celestial kingdom, that is, without he had a woman by his side; and that no woman could be exalted in the celestial world, without she was exalted with a man at her head; that the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord; had He revealed this simple sentiment, up would have jumped some man, saying, “What! Got to have a woman sealed to me in order to be saved, in order to be exalted to thrones, dominions, and eternal increase?” “Yes.” “I do not believe a word of it, I cannot stand that, for I never intended to get married, I do not believe in any of this nonsense.” At the same time, perhaps somebody else might have had faith to receive it. Again up jumps somebody else, “Brother Joseph, I have had two wives in my lifetime, cannot I have them both in eternity?” “No.” If he had said yes, perhaps we should all have apostatized at once.

Now I will illustrate this still further. The Lord did actually reveal one principle to us there, and that one principle was apparently so simple, and so foolish in their eyes, that a great many apostatized over it, because it was so contrary to their notions and views. It was this, after the people had fasted all day, they sent out and got wine and bread, and blessed them, and distributed them to the multitude, that is, to the whole assembly of the brethren, and they ate and drank, and prophesied, and bore testimony, and continued so to do until some of the High Council of Missouri stepped into the stand, and, as righteous Noah did when he awoke from his wine, commenced to curse their enemies. You never felt such a shock go through any house or company in the world as went through that. There was almost a rebellion because men would get up and curse their enemies; although they could remember well that it is written that Noah cursed his own grandson, and that God recognized that curse to such an extent that, at this day, millions of his posterity are consigned to perpetual servitude.

Many men are foolish enough to think that they can thwart the power of God, and can liberate the sons of Ham from that curse before its time has expired. Some of the brethren thought it was best to apostatize, because the spirit of cursing was with men who had been driven from Missouri by mob violence. Yet every word that they prophesied has been fulfilled. They prophesied that the bones of many of those murderers should bleach on the prairie, and that birds should pick out their eyes, and beasts devour their flesh. Men who have traversed the plains of Mexico, California, Nebraska, and Kansas, have often seen the fulfillment of that prophecy in the most marvelous manner. We have seen their names upon trees, on the heads of old trunks, and bits of boards; the names of men that I knew, and I knew just as well, in the Kirtland Temple, what would be their fate, as I know now. But that tried us, some of us were awfully tried about it. The Lord dared not then reveal anything more; He had given us all we could swallow; and persecution raged around us to such an extent that we were obliged to forsake our beautiful Temple, and flee into the State of Missouri.

He there put us into another sieve, and sifted us good, and we were then driven from the State of Missouri, leaving the Prophet and a good many of his brethren in prison. We thus passed on from the year 1837 until the year 1843, when the Lord concluded that the people who had been gathered, since the scattering from Missouri, had been made acquainted with the principles of His kingdom so long, that they must have become strong enough for Him to reveal one sentiment more.

Whereupon, the Prophet goes up on the stand, and, after preaching about everything else he could think of in the world, at last hints at the idea of the law of redemption, makes a bare hint at the law of sealing, and it produced such a tremendous excitement that, as soon as he had got his dinner half eaten, he had to go back to the stand, and unpreach all that he had preached, and left the people to guess at the matter. While he was thus preaching he turned to the men sitting in the stand, and who were the men who should have backed him up, for instance, to our good old President Marks, William and Wilson Law, and father Cowles, and a number of other individuals about Nauvoo, for this occurred when the Twelve were in the Eastern portions of the United States, and said, “If I were to reveal the things that God has revealed to me, if I were to reveal to this people the doctrines that I know are for their exaltation, these men would spill my blood.” This shows the improvement that had been, the advancement that had been made, and the light that had been attained. He also said, that there were men and women in that congregation who imagined themselves almost perfect, and who would oppose and reject the principles of exaltation, and would never fully realize their mistake until the morning of the resurrection. I was not there, and did not hear the discourse; but persons were there who could write two or three words of a sentence, and I profess to be good enough at guessing, to tell what the balance was.

In tracing the history of this Church through the records, I make myself acquainted with circumstances, and I cannot but see illustrated before the eyes of the whole people the fatherly care that God had to take in revealing to this people the law of exaltation. Finally, He revealed so much of it that William Law, one of the First Presidency, and one of the most sanctimonious men in Israel, got alarmed for fear that Joseph was going to kill him, and he called the whole of the Police before the City Council, and had them all sworn, and cross examined, to find out if Joseph had instructed any of them to kill him. I told some of the boys at that time, that he knew he had done something that he ought to die for, or he would not be so afraid of his best friends. Joseph said to the Council and Police, “I might live, as Caesar might have lived, were it not for a right hand Brutus;” and the illustration of that saying is most clearly shown by William Law’s operations in bringing about the murder of the Prophet. The men who were in his bosom, shared his confidence, and professed to be his warmest and best friends, were the men to treacherously shed his blood.

Why? Because he had revealed one additional principle of the law of redemption, that is, that the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord; that if a man went to the eternal world without obeying the law of sealing, he would remain forever alone, forever a servant, and could never have any increase; that if a woman entered the celestial world without having complied with the law of sealing, as entrusted by the Savior to his Apostles, she would remain forever alone, and without any increase; and if either man or woman should reject the principles of that law, they would forever lament and mourn that they might have been exalted to an eternal increase, and an everlasting dominion, but they would not have it.

There was a very high degree of hypocrisy manifested in the manners of this President William Law that always astonished me. I have learned, in writing history, one or two very singular instances.

In 1843 Joseph Smith was arrested two hundred and fifty miles from home; the Saints felt a great anxiety for his safety; hundreds of individuals went out of Nauvoo on horseback, and took possession of all the roads between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and some set out on a steamboat, with a determination to examine every boat on the rivers, and attack anyone that had him on board; and some of the most rapid marches on record were performed on that occasion. Among others William Law started out with a party; when he met Joseph, he rushed up to him and took him in his arms, and hugged him, and kissed him before some fifty or a hundred witnesses. He must have loved him wonderfully, for, about half an hour previous to his meeting Joseph, he had got the idea that he had been shipped on board a steamboat into Missouri, and he was dreadfully excited. Brother A. P. Rockwood, or John Butler, can tell you how he talked. “O!” says he, “I would not have Joseph taken to Missouri and killed for anything in the world, for property would fall more than one half its value in Nauvoo.” There is the saying of a man who, like Judas, could kiss the Prophet, when probably there were not many men in the whole city that would have cared a farthing for all the property in the world, when compared with saving Joseph’s life.

After the death of the Prophet, the world and the devil thought that they had once more destroyed the attempt of the Almighty to reveal the law of exaltation, as only part of the work of rearing the Temple was then done. The news spread all over the United States that the Governor of Illinois had treacherously pledged the faith of the State for the safety of Joseph Smith, and also how honorably the Prophet had acted in everything under these trying circumstances, being well aware that his death was intended, and the people were really shocked at such base treachery, but generally exclaimed, “How disgraceful! How disgraceful!! To murder him so treacherously!!! But on second thoughts, it is a good thing he is dead.”

By and by the devil discovered that brother Joseph’s blood was not spilled before the Lord had said, “You have done enough, you may rest from your labors.” He had conferred upon others the knowledge of the Priesthood; and God raised up another man to be a Prophet unto Israel, to be a President, a Ruler, and Instructor. I once heard a person say, “O! I do wish brother Brigham was as good a man as Joseph was.” Now let me tell you, brethren, that if brother Brigham was one particle better man than he is, he could not stay among us, he would have to leave us; he is just as good a man as we are at present worthy of having in our midst. The Lord in mercy to us has given us a great Prophet and a wise Ruler in Israel that we may exert our powers, influence, and wisdom, under his direction, to prepare for the revelation of the law of exaltation which has been so long promised.

We went to work in Nauvoo and finished the Temple, and had no sooner got it done but we had to leave it to be burned by our enemies; and they then thought that if we were only driven into the wilderness, our sufferings would be so great in the desert that we should all perish, and that would be the end of the matter. The devil wisely got up a new system of treatment; after they had robbed us of everything we had, and driven us from all the comforts and necessaries of life into the desert, he commenced to adopt the “let alone system” upon us, under the impression that we would die of our own accord. They commenced this under glorious auspices, when we had nothing to eat, nothing to wear, not a drop of rain to water the earth, and a desert all around us, of the apparent fertility of which you may judge, when the mountaineers said that they would give a thousand dollars for the first bushel of wheat or corn that was raised in the Valley. While letting us alone, a considerable change took place; but it was hard to let us alone long, they had to give us an occasional poke, that we might know they were still alive.

While letting us alone the Gospel was introduced into the Sandwich Islands, and into Denmark, and has begun to pour out its blessings in Sweden, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Africa, Australia, Malta, Gibraltar, the Crimea, and the East Indies, and is spreading all over the world ten times more rapidly than ever. All this came through “letting us alone.” I do not know but they may conclude it to be the best to give us another blow up; if they do, it will be precisely as it was with the man who did not like the mustard stalk in his garden, which grew up, and became large and full of seed. The owner saw it had gone to seed in the garden, and became dreadfully irritated with the gardener, and got the hoe, and beat the stalks to pieces in his anger, and scattered the seed all over the garden. That is the way our enemies have operated the whole time, so they may as well take the “let alone system” as any other. Joseph pro– phesied that if they would let us alone, we would spread the Gospel all over the world, and if they did not let us alone, we would spread it anyhow, only a little quicker.

But to my text, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Let me tell you, my friends, that the foundation of another Temple is laid, and the very moment the first stone was placed, that moment the devil began to rage again; and if this people will be united, they will be the identical people that will “learn the ways of the Lord,” and the Lord will reveal unto them things that have been hid from before the foundation of the world. We find ourselves here, not by our own will but forced by our enemies, in the midst of the tops of the mountains, about a mile above the Christian world, surrounded by mountains whose tops are covered with perpetual snows; and we also find the fulfillment of the prophecy that many people of all nations are saying, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”

We are here, and the Lord is determined, if He can accomplish it, if we will let Him, to reveal unto us the laws of exaltation. He is determined to make this people “Kings and Priests unto God and his Father;” to give them the keys of exaltation for the redemption of themselves, and of all their dead back to the time when the covenant was broken. If this people will be submissive and obedient to the laws and instructions of His Prophet and His Apostles, obey the teachings that are given unto them, and keep themselves pure, He will reveal unto them all those blessings; and will not say unto us, as he said to Jerusalem, “How oft would I have gathered you, but you would not.” If we will be submissive and listen to the revelations of the Most High, remembering that His ways are not as our ways, and His thoughts as our thoughts, for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts; if we will remember this, and act upon it, we are in the way to obtain those keys of power, and profit by them; that is to say, we are right on the grand turnpike to exaltation.

I recollect a story I heard Joseph once tell to a sectarian minister; he had been preaching to him some of the first principles of the Gospel; the minister acknowledged that the doctrines were strictly according to the New Testament, but gave a kind of a pious sigh, and said, “I am afraid there is something wrong at the bottom of it.” Joseph replied, “I feel a good deal as the honest Irishman did, who landed in America, and started to go into the country, and see how it looked. As he was walking along the road, he came across a very pious minister of the Methodist order, who came up to the Irishman, and, thinking that he must say something about religion, as he sat in his two wheeled gig, says, ‘Patrick, have you made your peace with your God?’ ‘Ah, faith, sir, and sure we never had a falling out.’ That rather shocked the priest, and he gave vent to an unearthly grunt, and said, ‘You are lost, lost.’ ‘Faith, sir, how can I be lost in the middle of the big turnpike?’” I tell you we are in the middle of the “big turnpike,” and if we continue in it the keys of exaltation are with us and the great work of God will unfold to this people things that have been hid from before the foundation of the world. Let us be as clay in the hands of the potter, and strive with our mights to build up this work, and it will not be said of us, as it was of Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you, but ye would not.”

May God bless you, and enable us to fulfil and carry out His great and glorious designs, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

An Address by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 6, 1854.

I can say, in connection with brethren who have addressed you in the former part of the day, that it is with the greatest pleasure I arise at the present Conference to cast in my mite, and offer a few reflections upon the things of the kingdom as they are rolling before us.

Our beloved President, at the close of the forenoon service, gave us a text he wished to have considered.

It has been my lot to be somewhat conversant with the Saints who dwell in the Valleys of the Mountains, or especially those who reside south of this city. My acquaintance with them has been very great for the last five years. There is no doubt but that a feeling of carelessness and indifference has been manifested by many in these valleys in relation to bequeathing their debts to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund for the assistance they have received. It is not only an indifference which has been felt towards the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, but also to individuals who have expended their means to help their friends, neighbors, or brethren to this valley. They have frequently been treated with indifference and neglect, and I may say almost with cruelty, by some persons who have thus been helped. They are unwilling, until they can be very comfortable themselves, to assist those who have helped them. I have had my feelings hurt by instances of this kind which have been laid before me.

Now, then, if I understand the text, it amounts to about this—namely, our Savior’s golden rule—“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Or, to use this expression of the Savior’s, in connection with that of our President, which would be, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, under like circumstances; for this is the law of the Prophets.”

There is no object on the face of the earth more to be desired, than to bring the poor and honest Saints from the condition in which they are placed in the Old World, and set them down here in the midst of these mountains, where, by their own industry, economy, and prudence, they can provide for their wants and for the wants of their children. The difficulties which surround the Saints in the Old World are increasing. The great wars are involving the principal nations of the earth at this time in very serious expenses, which are taking from the laboring masses millions and millions of dollars to supply the fighting hosts with weapons of death, and engines for the destruction of their enemies and the prosecution of their ambitious designs. While the Allied Powers are thus engaged, they are consuming the very source upon which the millions of the poor and needy are depending for their bread—for their existence.

If, during the time of peace that has prevailed in Europe for the last ten years, it was necessary to help the poor and the needy away, it becomes tenfold more so under the present circumstances, when the nations are involving themselves in very expensive and disastrous wars.

It may be supposed that I am a little partial to some particular parties that are connected in this war. I am referring more particularly to the Allied Powers; but really I feel very little interest in the matter, any further than wherever Britain carries her sway the Gospel can follow in her liberal wake. To be sure, when a boy, my playmates used to say, “Two upon one is one too many;” and consequently, if there is any sympathy, it would be in favor of Russia, as they are the weaker party, and are likely to have the worst of it. Then, as far as the contest is concerned, there may be a very great feeling of indifference in the minds of many whether Turkey is actually devoured by the Russian bear, or carved up by the lion of the west of Europe. The event is precisely the same, let it turn which way it may, as far as it affects us in our emigration movements: it serves to stop the channel of trade, and consequently affects the interests of the laboring classes of Great Britain, and a great proportion of the members of our Church are of this class.

I would say to those who are in arrears to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, who know themselves to be such—If you have got houses, lands, cows, sheep, farms, or property of any description, come forward like honest men and settle up to the uttermost farthing, and begin again to amass property; and if you have been owing to this institution for one year; or from the first of its operations, give a liberal interest for the capital you have held, and which could not be used or increased by the operations of the Fund. That would be my advice upon this subject; and then, if you are able to subscribe enough in addition to bring one or two families, do that also. My advice to those who have just arrived is that they fall not in the rear, as it has been this day complained of; but let them make it their first business to square off with the Fund that brought them here—to furnish this means as soon as it is in their power, to bring somebody else out from distant countries; and then you can take a fresh start in this mountain world. Even if you are a little behind when you have done this, scramble until you catch up again; for the facilities are a thousand to one in these valleys to what they were seven years ago.

When the Pioneers came here, it looked a hard chance. There was not a single house to rent; and as to there being any prospect of having any, it looked very slim. But there have been slight changes since, and a very great change in relation to breadstuff. We have bread in abundance now; but then the only prospect of supply we had was millions of black crickets. The change has been effected, and persons who land here with nothing but their hands, their bone and sinew, if they are indebted to the Fund or to persons for bringing them, they can soon pay these debts; and not only that, but they can soon establish themselves comfortably, and be prepared to help others.

I have noticed, in the course of my travels, an occasional individual, which, I presume, had lost by some of those who have not been willing to pay up. Be that as it may, I have come across individuals who would lurk among the Saints. “Why,” say they, “what can be the matter? Something is dreadfully wrong: this is not ancient ‘Mormonism’—this is not the old religion we used to have years ago in the days of Joseph: something is entirely wrong. I do not see things as I used to; I do not understand them.” And they finally begin to complain, and find fault, and murmur; and so it goes on from one time to another, until they wonder if they could not get a better location in California. I have heard men murmur when they were surrounded with plenty, with peace, and the blessings of heaven. What is the cause of this? The cause is in themselves. Do you who have crossed the Plains this season expect to find the inhabitants of these valleys perfect? I think, from all accounts, you were ill prepared to associate with them, if you had found them perfect: there would have been room, at least, for a doubt whether you could have been admitted at all. The great fault lies in individuals not doing right themselves, but undertaking to make others do right, or to find fault with others for not doing right.

It is some time since I read the New Testament; but I believe, if I recollect rightly, there is a passage, somewhere in the Gospel according to St. Mark, which says, “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed in the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” Well, I met a man that in the days of Joseph Smith used to be a very great man, in his own eyes at least—very spirited in the Church—tremendously so; and he tells me that things are going wrong. “Why,” says he, “things are not now as they used to be.” We will admit it: things are entirely different to what they were twenty years ago. Did any of you ever raise Indian corn in your lives? If so, you remember, when it is six inches high, it is very beautiful to the eye; it looks green and lovely; and it will grow very rapidly, if you will only keep the weeds out of it: it will grow so rapidly that you can almost see it growing from day to day, and it is a pleasure to cultivate it. Suppose a man should go into a cornfield when the corn is six, eight, or ten inches high, who had not been raised in a country where it was cultivated, but in some corner of the earth where it did not grow, and he had never seen such a plant before, and let him employ himself a few days in hoeing it and admiring its beauty—suppose by some means he becomes perfectly blind for two or three months, and then goes into the field after he has received his sight, he now beholds corn seven, eight, and ten feet high, with large ears upon it—he would exclaim, “What is this? Who has destroyed the beautiful plants that were here two months ago? What has become of them?” He is told it is the same corn. “Oh, it cannot be, for the corn is little stuff, and only grows eight or ten inches high, and very unlike this awkward stuff.”

This compares well with some of our “Mormons,” who are a little afflicted with the grunts: they do not know that the work of the Lord has been spreading rapidly, and growing stronger, and become more formidable than it was twenty years ago. There has been considerable advance since we used to gather around Joseph and Hyrum, in Kirtland, to keep the mob from killing them.

I remember on a certain occasion the brethren were called together to prepare to defend Joseph against the mob, who were coming to destroy him, if possible. Brother Cahoon was appointed captain of one of the largest companies, and it had ten men in it: it was the biggest company we could raise but one, and that contained fourteen men. Brother Cahoon gave us some advice: he advised us, if the mob came, and we were obliged to fire, to shoot at their legs. But, should they advance upon us now, we would shoot higher than that: so, if anybody will look at it candidly, they will see that we have grown and improved considerably in our ideas. To shoot at the legs of a mob is now altogether behind the times in “Mormonism.” After brother Cahoon had advised us, brother Brigham rose and said that if the mob tackled him, he would shoot at their hearts; and some of the company nearly apostatized. We must remember that we are in the advance; for the Lord has said, in these days, he has commenced to do a great work, and called upon his servants to lay the foundation of it. The foundation being laid, then the work has to be done. In order to be participators in this, we must be honest with ourselves, with our brethren, and with the poor among the Lord’s people. If we are, the blessings of God will flow upon us, and our knowledge will increase, and all the light and intelligence that we desire from God will be poured out upon us, and our means will increase, and our substance will be blessed unto us. But if we adopt the other principle, although men do it from covetousness, it is the identical way to become poor. The Prophet said, The liberal deviseth liberal things, and by his liberality he shall stand. This is the truth: it has been so among all generations, and with this people from the beginning.

It was customary, before we entered this Church, to hear a great deal of text preaching. The learned ministers would select a text or passage of Scripture, measure it by a theological rule, divide it into heads, and then preach from it, preaching about everything in the world but the thing in the text. After they had gone through this kind of maneuvering long enough, they would then appeal to the congregation to know if they had not preached to them the doctrine laid down in the text. Well, if I have preached from the text, excuse me.

I will close my remarks with the old-fashioned appeal; and if I have not preached the doctrines contained in the text, let me advise my friends to give heed to those doctrines anyhow.

An Address by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered to the Children who formed the Procession at the Anniversary of the Entrance of the Pioneers into Great Salt Lake Valley, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, July 24, 1854

My Young Friends—It is with pleasure I rise to address you on the present occasion.

Having been called upon to walk in the Procession, as the Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it created in my breast feelings not easily described; it brought up reminiscences of past scenes, and of celebrations similar to this, wherein I have acted in company with my worthy predecessor, Dr. Willard Richards, one of the First Presidency of the Church of God on earth, and one of the Pioneers who first entered this Valley. He has gone to rest, after being worn out by trials, persecutions, and adversities, and by the difficulties incident in the forming of this settlement in the Valleys of the mountains.

I could have stopped to drop a tear to the memory of departed worthies—the Historian, the aged Patriarch John Smith, and many others; at the same time, I could but feel joyful to see such an immense assembly, gathered together to commemorate the day on which the Pioneers first arrived in this region to inhabit these valleys.

Should we refer to the pages of the history that is no doubt written in many a private journal, our memories would be refreshed with the startling truth, that the first fifteen years of our existence had been a continued scene of trials, persecutions, afflictions, and murders; including the murder of the Prophet, the Patriarch, and a great many others of the ablest and most energetic members of the Church.

At a Council of the leading men of this community in Nauvoo, it was concluded that on finishing the Temple there, a company of one thousand or fifteen hundred pioneers should establish themselves in the mountains, to prepare the way for a safe retreat from the tyranny and oppression which had so long followed this people. This conclusion was unknown to the public, hence the surprise of the mob at our willingness to depart.

In a very few days afterwards, bands of organized mobbers commenced the work of burning our houses in Yelrom, Green Plains, and Bear Creek settlements, and throughout the country. As if they were not satisfied with the destruction of the hundreds of lives their persecutions had already sacrificed, and the millions of property they had already destroyed in Missouri; as if dissatisfied with the blood of the Prophet still smoking from the ground as it were; they lighted anew the torch of the incendiary, and the Governor of the State was silently willing to fan its fires. It will be recollected that he did not stop the house burning, but we stopped it ourselves, under the direction of the Sheriff of the County.

The moment that was done, General Harden, mounted on a white horse, backed up and accompanied by other dignitaries of the State came into Nauvoo with four hundred men. What was said to us by these worthies? They said, that in consequence of the combination against us throughout the State, the Governor did not feel at liberty to do anything for us; so we were abandoned to the rage of unprincipled men.

They then informed us they had come to search for some men that were missing, and formed a square around the Temple, also around the stables of the Nauvoo house, but more particularly around the Masonic Hall, the basement story of which contained a quantity of wine. General Hardin, and others of his band, went into the stables where a horse had just been bled, and concluded a man had been killed there, but fortunately the horse was there to answer for the blood. The General and his Staff then pierced with their swords the heaps of manure, thinking, I presume, that if they pricked a dead man, he would squeal. I thought they acted a little simple, for they might have presumed that if anybody had been killed, they would have been thrown in the Mississippi, which was not more than ten rods from the stables.

This was all that was done to punish the house burners; and the State authorities said they could do nothing for us; hence the only alternative was to leave, as nine counties of the State had concluded in Convention, that we must leave or be exterminated. The fact is, this was the very conclusion we had already come to, ourselves, in a Council a few days before. Yet it was thought proper not to reveal the secret of our intention to flee to the mountains; but as a kind of put off, it was communicated in the strictest confidence to General Hardin, who promised never to tell of it, that we intended to settle Vancouver’s Island. This report, however, was industriously circulated, as we anticipated it would be.

The persecution was blazing on every hand, and the reputable authorities “could do nothing for us;” which was equal to saying, “Hold on, and let us run our daggers into you.”

The first companies which left, in consequence of those persecutions, were obliged to start in the dead of winter, in the beginning of February, 1846. Many of the companies crossed the Mississippi, with their wagons, on the ice, and the rest in flatboats, and winding their way through a new and trackless country, making a road of nearly four hundred miles in length, stopped to winter on the right bank of the Missouri, where they built quite a town, called Winter Quarters.

Finding that our numbers in Nauvoo were reduced to a mere handful, the mob, numbering some 1,800 armed men, supplied with scientific engineers, and good artillery, attacked the remaining few, who were chiefly lame, blind, widows, fatherless children, and those too poor to get away. There were not one hundred able bodied men to stand against this superior force in defense of the helpless; this is called the battle of Nauvoo, and was fought in September. They cannonaded the citizens of Nauvoo, and finally, after three days’ fighting, and being forced to retreat three times, they succeeded in driving them over the river.

What was the result of all this? In April, 1847, we started from Winter Quarters, with a hundred and forty-three men (instead of 1,000) as Pioneers. We were “few,” and I was going to say “far between,” but we were close together. We set out, and made a new road to this valley, the greater portion of the way; we thus worked the path through, and arrived here on the day we now commemorate.

This is a hasty glance of history. To enter into details would introduce matters that would unnecessarily harrow up the minds of many. Suffice it to say, like the pilgrim fathers who first landed upon Plymouth Rock, we are here pilgrims, and exiles from liberty; and instead of being driven into the wilderness to perish, as our enemies had designed, we find ourselves in the middle of the floor, or on the top of the heap. Right in the country that scientific men and other travelers had declared worthless, we are becoming rich in the comforts and blessings of life, we are now rocking in the cradle of liberty, in which we are daily growing; and I challenge the Union to produce a parallel of this day’s Celebration.

I say to my young friends, be firm to extend the principles of freedom and liberty to this country, and never suffer the hand of oppression to invade it.

In the history of our persecutions there have arisen a great many anecdotes; but one will perhaps serve to illustrate the condition in which I wish to see every man that raises in these mountains the hand of oppression upon the innocent. I wish to see such men rigged out with the same honors and comforts as was the honorable Samuel C. Owen, Commander-in-Chief of the Jackson County mob. He, with eleven men, was engaged at a mass meeting, to raise a mob to drive the Saints from Clay County. This was in the year 1834, in the month of June. They had made speeches, and done everything to raise the indignation of the people against the Saints. In the evening, himself, James Campbell, and nine others, commenced to cross the Missouri River on their way home again; and the Lord, or some accident, knocked a hole in the bottom of the boat. When they discovered it, says Commander Owen to the company on the ferry boat, “We must strip to the bone, or we shall all perish.” Mr. Campbell replied, “I will go to hell before I will land naked.” He had his choice, and went to the bottom. Owen stripped himself of every article of clothing, and commenced floating down the river. After making several attempts he finally landed on the Jackson side of the river, after a swim of about fourteen miles. He rested some time, being perfectly exhausted, and then started into the nettles, which grow very thick and to a great height, in the Missouri bottoms, and which was his only possible chance in making from the river to the settlements. He had to walk four miles through the nettles, which took him the remainder of the night, and when he got through the nettles, he came to a road, and saw a young lady approaching on horseback, who was the belle of Jackson County. In this miserable condition he laid himself behind a log, so that she could not see him. When she arrived opposite the log, he says, “Madam, I am Samuel C. Owen, the Commander-in-Chief of the mob against the Mormons; I wish you to send some men from the next house with clothing, for I am naked.” The lady in her philanthropy dismounted, and left him a light shawl and a certain unmentionable undergarment, and passed on. So His Excellency Samuel C. Owen, who was afterwards killed in Mexico by foolishly exposing himself, contrary to orders, took up his line of march for the town, in the shawl and petticoat uniform, after his expedition against the “Mormons.”

My young friends, have the goodness to use every man so, who comes into your country to mob and oppress the innocent; and LADIES, DON’T LEND HIM ANY CLOTHING.

An Address by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, July 4, 1854.

Gentlemen and Ladies—Fellow Citizens—I arise here to address you a few moments upon a subject which has, perhaps, been worn threadbare by orators, statesmen, and divines, for the last seventy years, in the minds of a great portion of those who have been in the habit of listening to speeches upon the battles of the Revolution, and the causes which put it in motion. The subject has become trite. Every schoolboy who reads American history is, perhaps, better versed in it than he could be with anything that I can advance, by pursuing the old beaten track, or continuing in the channel which has been so long worn. Yet I may safely say, with all that has been said, its real merits have scarcely been approached.

The causes which produced the American Revolution were so far behind the veil, that the writers of American history and the orators who expatiate on the subject on occasions like this, and on other occasions, have not acknowledged that it was the Almighty—the invisible and omnipotent hand of Him who made the heavens and the earth and the fountains of waters, who worked the secret wires, and opened up the revolutionary scene, to lay a foundation and prepare a people, with a system of government, among whom his work of the last days could be commenced upon this earth.

Persons present today may consider that no other country in the world would have allowed the persecutions and oppressions that have fallen upon the work of God in this land, of which many of you have been partakers. But in this you are mistaken; for there is no nation under heaven among whom the kingdom of God could have been established and rolled forth with as little opposition as it has received in the United States. Every species of oppression and opposition, which has aimed at the destruction of the lives and liberties of the members of this Church, has been in open violation of the laws of the country; while, among other nations, the links of the chain of government are so formed that the very constitution and laws of the country would oppose the government of God. This is the case almost without an exception.

I will say, then, the American Revolution had its beginning behind the veil. The invisible providence of the Almighty, by his Spirit, inspired the hearts of the Revolutionary Fathers to resist the Government of England and the oppressions they had submitted to for ages. When ground to dust, as it were, in their mother country, the first settlers in this land looked to the West. They fled from oppression, and planted their standard upon American soil, which was then a wilderness in the possession of savages. The climate, productions, extent, and nature of the country was then unknown to distant nations. It appeared, however, to offer an asylum for the oppressed, even at that early day.

A party escaped from oppression, and landed in Massachusetts; another party, for a similar cause, left the mother country, and landed in Connecticut; and so a number of the early States were formed by settlers who fled from their native country through religious oppression. The young colonies grew until they became somewhat formidable, and began to realize that they were entitled to some common national privileges; that they had a right to the protection of certain laws by which their ancestors were protected; and also that they had a right to an equal voice in the making of those laws.

It is my intention to notice a multiplicity of minor circumstances, to portray the tyrannical spirit that prevailed in the English Parliament, and which were only so many sparks to feed the flame of revolution. What was the greatest trouble? The right of making their own laws was denied them by the King and Parliament; and if they made laws, the King claimed the right of abrogating those laws at pleasure, and also appointed officers who could dissolve the National Assembly and levy taxes without the consent of the inhabitants of the Colonies.

These were the main causes of the Revolution. God caused these causes to operate upon the minds of the colonists, until they nobly resisted the power of the mother country. At that time Great Britain stood pre-eminent among the nations of Europe, and had just finished the wars against several of them combined. God inspired our fathers to make the Declaration of Independence, and sustained them in their struggles for liberty until they conquered. Thus they separated themselves from the parent stock; and, as an historian of that age quaintly said, when they signed that Declaration, if they did not all hang together, they would be sure to all hang separately. Union is strength.

But how does this Revolution progress? That is the question. Has the great principle that colonies, territories, states, and nations have the right to make their own laws, yet become established in the world? I think if some of our lawyers would peruse the musty statutes at large, they would find that there are several colonies of the United States who have seen proper, under the limited provisions then given them, to enact laws for their own convenience; but they suffered the mortification of having them vetoed by the General Congress. Look, for instance, at the statutes in relation to the Territory of Florida, and see the number of laws enacted by that people, and repealed by act of Congress.

It is curious to me that the progress of the Revolution has been so small, referring to that which is produced in the minds of the whole American people. Every organized Territory, wherever it exists, has the same right that the early revolutionary fathers claimed of Great Britain, and bled to obtain—that is, of making its own laws and being represented in the General Assembly as a confederate power.

This Revolution may possibly increase in the future, and is, no doubt, progressing at the present time. One individual in particular, during the present session of Congress, has become so enlightened as to say in the House, “You have no business with the domestic relations of Utah;” and, consequently, I think the principle is making headway.

The United States have increased greatly in power, majesty, dominion, and extent, having half-a-dozen Territories at once already organized, and others calling for an organization. Says the General Government to these organized bodies at a distance, “You may send a Delegate here, but he shall have no voice in the General Assembly; and if you make any laws that do not suit us, we will repeal them, and we will send you a Governor who will veto everything you do that does not exactly suit us.” I want to see the Revolution progress, so that the great head of the American nation can say to every separate colony, “Make your own laws, and cleave to the principles of the Constitution which gives that right.”

For me to rehearse the battles of Washington, and the incidents in the struggle for freedom which every schoolboy knows, would only be to consume time to little advantage. What has been the result? Our forefathers, by their blood, have purchased for us liberty; but as far as the rights of the weak are concerned, the Revolution has progressed slowly. For instance, the Territory of Oregon forms a provisional Government for itself, and then petitions Congress to receive her under their fostering care. The result is, they send them a convoy of Governmental officers, which, by-the-by, never have time to get there; and if they should happen to arrive there, they are unwilling to stay; and thus the people have been left, a whole year at a time, without a regular set of officers. They are deprived of the privilege of voting in favor of or against the officers who are appointed to rule them, and of being heard, through their Representative, in the halls of Congress. Who wants to go there, and not have a voice with the rest of them? Although we have sent a most eloquent gentleman to represent this portion of the American nation, and one who can cry “poor pussy” among them to a charm, yet, at the same time, he cannot have the privilege of voting on any question, however detrimental to liberty and the Constitution.

But the Revolution is progressing, and the time is not far distant when Territories will enjoy privileges that have been held back for the purpose of pandering to a relict of that monarchy which oppressed the American people. Is it reasonable that people dwelling thousands of miles from the parent Government should not have the same privilege of regulating their own affairs as those who live in its vicinity? It is the same kind of oppression and restraint that was placed upon our Revolutionary Fathers by the King and his Parliament. The American Government has fallen into the same errors, touching this point, as the British Government did at the commencement of the Revolution.

This is what I have to say on the rise and progress of the American Revolution. It is progressing slowly. While the nation is extending itself, and increasing in power, wisdom, and wealth, it seems, at the same time, to remain, in some respects, on the old ground occupied by the mother country in the early settlement of this land. I raise my voice against it, for I love American Independence: the principle is dear to my heart. When I have been in foreign countries, I have felt proud of the American flag, and have desired that they could have the enjoyment of as much liberty as the American people.

At the same time, we have a right to more liberty; we have a right to elect our own officers and have a voice in Congress in the management of the affairs of the nation. The time is coming when we shall have it. The Revolution will by-and-by spread far and wide, and extend the hand of liberty and the principles of protection to all nations who are willing to place themselves under the broad folds of its banner.

These are about the remarks I wished to make, and the ideas that were in my mind. May God bless us all, and save us in his kingdom. Amen.

An Address by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, at the General Conference, Oct. 7, 1853.

It is with pleasure that I have listened to the remarks of President Kimball. The sentiments he has advanced are true and just, and I am certain no person can have listened to them without having felt edified and instructed.

There is no doubt that a great proportion of the people who have been here in these valleys for years past, can bear witness to the counsel and instructions that have been given, for the preservation of the settlements, and the establishment of the stakes of Zion within the limits of these mountains. Perhaps those persons, when they see me arise to occupy the stand, will at once say within themselves, “We are going to hear something in relation to enlarging the new settlements, making entirely new ones, establishing iron works, or some other thing of that nature, to draw our feelings out of the channel they have run in,” for it is so really certain, that I have scarcely attended a single Conference since I have been in the Valley, without having something of this kind to present during the term of Conference. I think, however, for the last year, it has not been my lot to address an assembly in this place, perhaps more than once or twice, and as I had been noted for short sermons and short prayers, my addresses have also been few. But although my voice has not been heard from this stand, I have not been silent, neither have I been idle.

I was appointed to preside over the affairs of the Church in the county of Utah. I have also made two trips annually through the southern portions of the territory, visiting all the Branches, taking considerable time and a great deal of interest in the affairs of Iron County, besides making as many missions to this place as were necessary, to obtain counsel, and acquire information to carry on the work entrusted to my charge.

Any man that knows the country, and is acquainted with the business that has been placed before me, will be aware, that, lazy as I might be, I have had plenty to occupy my thoughts, and to give me active exertion, at least for the past year, in the exercise of my ministry and calling.

I present myself before you, then, to offer a few reflections upon what I feel to be important for this Conference to consider for the safety, welfare, and protection of the Saints in the valleys of these mountains. I have been made familiar with the condition of our settlements south, and am aware somewhat of the condition of our settlements in other parts of the territory.

In the commencement of my remarks, I will say, that the people almost universally do not realize the importance of listening to the voice of God through His servant Brigham. My heart has been pained by the things that are past, when I have been traveling and laboring in different parts of the territory; it has been pained to see the carelessness and indifference with which the words of the Almighty, through His servant, have been received.

Numbers were counseled to go to Iron County, and make there a strong settlement, sufficiently so to enable the people to protect themselves, and establish iron works. Many started in that direction, and succeeded in making the distance of from thirty to seventy miles, and concluded they had traveled far enough on good land without settling upon it.

Last spring, when President Young made his visit through the settlements, the county of Utah was very flourishing in appearance. Many splendid farms had been opened, and men were living upon them with the same security and carelessness as heretofore the people have done in the State of New York, where they need not fear the attacks of hostile Indians. The President had previously counseled them to settle in forts, and not scatter asunder so as to render themselves in a state of helplessness in the case of attack by the red men. Forts had accordingly been surveyed, and cities had been surveyed, where the people could gather together and fortify themselves; yet the great mass, I may say, or, at any rate, all the wealthy portions of them, had selected good farms, and were building good buildings, and making improvements upon them, and were dwelling safely, scattered all over the valley; a great many of them had lately come from England, and different parts of the world, and were in a flourishing condition; cattle were increasing around them, corn was growing in abundance, and fruit and all things seemingly were beginning to flourish exceedingly.

On viewing this state of things, I said to myself, “Is this to be the order of things? Are the people going to prosper in this way, while in open violation of the counsels that have been given, namely, to gather into forts?” I knew that that state of affairs would not continue a great length of time, and can call the men and women in every settlement to bear witness that I have publicly testified that that order of things could not remain; for when God has a Prophet on the earth, and that Prophet tells the people what to do, and they neglect to do it, they must suffer for it. I bear witness before you, this day, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that no people can treat lightly the sayings of a Prophet of God, whom He places on the earth to direct His people, and prosper. I know it is impossible. I have borne this testimony to the settlements, in my preachings, when I have visited them. In reply, the folks would say, “There is no danger, brother Smith, if we do live in the country, upon our farms, for it is so unpleasant to live in town.”

When President Young was going south last season, in one of the large meetings he addressed at Palmyra, in Utah County, he bore testimony, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that if the people did not gather into cities and forts, and fortify themselves, they should be driven out of these mountains. If God had come down upon one of these mountains as He did upon Mount Sinai, and kicked up a tremendous thunderstorm, I could not have been impressed with the truth of those remarks one particle more than I was on that occasion. I knew Brigham to be a Prophet of the Lord, and esteemed his words as the voice of God to the people.

I straightway commenced to encourage the people, and preached to them, and proposed laying out a fort for them, when they would perhaps turn round and say, “Really, brother Smith, do you think there is any danger?” I would say within myself, “Here are hundreds and thousands of brethren that have never been proved; they have never borne the heat and burden of the day, but they are picking up the fat valleys of Ephraim, and selecting good farms, and securing to themselves beautiful situations, and making splendid improvements, and living in peace, and eating of the fat of the land, and forgetting their God. Can this state of things remain?”

I went to every settlement, and attempted to encourage them to fort, but failed to accomplish anything towards getting them to obey the word of the Lord on this matter. Some of them said they would move into forts in the fall of the year.

Sometime in the summer, however, a man, known in these mountains by the name of Walker, found that the people cared nothing about God, or the instructions of brother Brigham, and brother George A., so he said, “I wonder if you will mind me;” and in less than one solitary week, he had more than three hundred families on the move, houses were thrown down in every direction, and I presume one hundred thousand dollars worth of property was wasted.

Had the people listened to the counsel of President Young, in the first place, and put their property in a proper place, it would have been protected. In the counties of Utah, Juab, and San Pete, the houses were vacated, and the Indians got into them, and shot the brethren, so they had to be entirely demolished, which rendered it necessary for great numbers to move into forts. This has been affected by brother Walker. That bloodthirsty Indian, in this matter, had more influence to make the Saints obey counsel than the Presidency of this Church had, and could actually kick up a bigger fuss in a few days than they could by simply telling the people the will of the Lord.

When God places a man on the earth to be His mouth, he says this or that is the law, and this is the thing for the people to obey. “Well, but,” says one, “I cannot make as good a living in town as I can away out on a farm, where I can keep a great many cattle.” It appears probable to me, you might make more by going to parts of California, or Australia, than you can make even out on a farm in this country. If your object is to make as much earthly gain as possible, why not go where you can get the most of it? This business of having one hand in the golden honeypots of heaven, and the other in the dark regions of hell, undertaking to serve both God and Mammon at once, will not answer.

Aside from the settlements in San Pete, I believe I have, more or less, been with nearly all the settlements south, and I have also visited the San Pete settlements two or three times, and I do know, that if the counsel and instructions of President Young could have been observed, it would have saved the people at least one hundred thousand dollars. And I do further know, to my satisfaction, that if the counsel of President Young had been observed, not one of the Saints would have lost his life by an Indian. I am certain of these facts; and yet occasionally some man falls a prey to some cruel savage, and whole villages have to be removed, and farms vacated, and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage is done all the time, because men will not live according to the instructions given to them by the Prophet of God. If you ask men to build in a fort, they will say, “It is a free country, and we can build where we please.” I admit that a man is free to serve the devil if he thinks proper; but let me tell you, it is the cheapest in the end to do right.

There was no more necessity of having this Indian war than there is of our going out to kill the cattle on the plains of Jordan, and leave them for the wolves to devour. If we had taken the course that was marked out to us, and observed the advice given to us, all our past troubles would not have occurred. I know this language will hurt the feelings of a great many.

But I will talk about Iron County, as I am the “Iron Major;” I am advancing in the ranks. They used to say, in Utah, I was a pretty good sort of a fellow until I got to be a Colonel, and then I became more savage. Be this as it may, I do know, that if the people of Iron County had listened to the counsel given to them, they would have saved to themselves in that little settlement—not over eight hundred strong, not less than twenty-five thousand dollars, which they have actually lost, or I may more properly say, wasted, in consequence of the disposition to do as they pleased. When we first went to iron County, we went with the same instructions the people had in all the other settlements, and accordingly we laid out forts as well as we were capable of. We will admit that those efforts were not planned as well as they might have been, but they were planned as well as we knew how to plan them at the time. A considerable number of men went to work at building forts, and those who did so were subjected to very little loss. But almost every time I have visited any settlement in Iron County, from the time it first commenced, up to the present, and I have been through a great proportion of them, I have had from one to fifty applicants saying, “Brother Smith, may I not go further, this way or that way, to make me a farm? Or, to the other place, to make me a ranch?” And so it would be almost continually—asking for privileges to do things that they knew were contrary to counsel. My answer would be, “Yes, of course, just as soon as the settlements are strong enough to secure to you protection; but it will not do to venture out, and separate far from each other, for two or three years. Until the settlements get strong, we must stay together, lest some evil influence should stir up the Indians, and destroy our settlements entirely.”

With all the influence I could use in those parts of the country, some of the brethren broke through and established several posts for cattle ranches, and commenced to open farms, but it was afterwards found necessary to gather these distant posts in, and those who were living on large farms, and erecting fine buildings, which either had to be removed away or entirely abandoned. All this trouble and loss of property could have been prevented, only for that reckless disposition—“I want a little more liberty to go a little further off.”

As I had the honor to preside over Provo, I take the liberty to talk about my own place, and tell its history, and I want all the newcomers to profit by it. In the first place, there was a number of men wanted to go to Provo and make a settlement, and have a chance to fish in the waters, and trade with the Indians. They accordingly begged of the President to let them go in accordance with their wishes. He finally gave them the privilege of going there, if they would build a fort for their protection. They went, and made a beginning; they built something, but I never knew what it was. I have passed there, but not being very well acquainted with the science of fortification, nor with the science of topography, I never could find or frame a name for the thing which they built.

They then petitioned for the privilege of laying out a city with small lots, and living in the capacity of a town, as it is so much more convenient to live in a town than in a fort. The President gave them the privilege, because he was afraid, I presume, if he had not granted it to them, some of their own careless boys, or the Indians, would set their hay on fire and burn up the whole concern. They went to work and laid out a city. The President of that company is one of the most righteous men I ever was acquainted with; there is not a man living, I presume, would say any evil of him, and I am the last man to do it on any account; but he wanted to set an example, you know; for it is generally expected that Presidents and Bishops love to set an example to the flock of Christ; so he went off up the creek, and found a splendid piece of farming land. He took his cabin from the miserable huddle they meant for a fort, and put it on this piece of land, and said, “Now, you poor brethren (if he did not say it, I always thought he did), you stay in town, and I will remain here, and when I get rich I will remove into town, and build me a fine house, for these log cabins will not look well in town.” Every man that wanted to get rich went up the creek to what we technically call “the Bushes,” and pretty much all the property went into the bushes, and there it remained until Walker spoke, and it was not a week after before this good President, and all who followed his brave example, came bundling into town, after he had put up a thing up the creek among the bushes, that I call one of the mysteries of the kingdom.

Now if that man had taken the good and wholesome advice that was given him, he would now have been well off, it would have been over two thousand dollars in his pocket, and so it is with all the balance of the people who have acted as he has. They have had to sacrifice all this property by taking their own way.

The Indian war is the result of our thinking we know better than our President, the result of following our own counsel instead of the counsel of Brigham Young. It has been the cause of almost all the loss of life and property that has been sustained from the Indians; that is, in the southern departments. Understand me, I do not pretend to say anything about matters this side the Utah mountains, but I will tell you what I think: I think that all the forting I have seen in Great Salt Lake County—it is true I have not seen much of it, but the most of what I have seen amounts to nothing more than a humbug; and if ever an Indian war comes upon you, you will be no better off than the distant settlements, unless you make timely calculations for it beforehand, and make them right. Such a war will cost you nearly all you possess. I do not know that you will ever have one, but I should think, allowing me to judge, that you have one on your hands now. And if I had a family scattered out on any of these creeks, or living in any of these unfortified settlements, I should think it prudent for me to move them into the city, or into a fort, and do it the first thing I did. After the Indians have come and peeled your heads clean, murdered your wives, killed off your children, burnt your houses, and plundered your property, then you can move into forts, and it will be all right. That appears to me to be the kind of forting I can observe in the thinly settled parts of this county; in the cities the people are more wide awake.

I expect, brethren, I shall preach here again, if I live, and I shall probably preach about the Indian difficulties, about the Indian war, if they did say I was the biggest coward south of the Utah mountains, and that I dare not go out anywhere, not even for my cows, without my gun, and generally with somebody with me; and consequently, being so nervously afraid, I shall say to the newcomers, especially if they want to be preserved and to save their property, and labor to preserve the lives of their families, they have got to take the counsel of President Young, and that is, to SETTLE IN FORTS—and have fortified cities; and not only to settle in forts and cities, but to go armed, and not be overtaken and murdered by the way, in the manner that some have been.

You might suppose, because I am so cowardly, that I am very anxious to kill the Indians; but no man ever heard me undertake to advocate the business of killing Indians, unless it was in self-defense; and in no orders that I have issued (and I have issued a great many under different circumstances since the war commenced, being the “Iron Colonel”), have I ever given license of this kind, but to act in defense of ourselves and property. For I do believe, if the people can be made to listen to President Young’s counsel, we can close the war without bloodshed. I have believed it all the time, and I have acted upon it. With the exception of a few bloodthirsty individuals that may have to be punished for their crimes, the great body of the Indians that have been affected, can be brought to peace and duty, if the people themselves will observe their instructions.

I know not what my friends may think of me for talking as I have today; but I have expressed freely my candid sentiments, and I can express nothing else; at the same time I do not consider that the Indians have had any provocation in any shape or manner, to cause them to commence this war upon their friends. I believe it was commenced through the influence of some corrupt individuals who were fired with a desire for plunder; and that it never would have been commenced at all, if the people had all been in forts, as they ought to have been, notwithstanding this influence. But when the Indians saw property scattered all over the plains, thousands of cattle and horses, with grain and everything spread before them, in an unprotected condition, those that were evil minded among them coveted our property, and thought we could not defend it. And sure enough we could not, for we have more property than we can defend, we have more cattle than we can take care of; Indians can steal from us all the time, and we cannot take care of that which God has given us, because we have so much of it; and for want of its being brought under a proper organization, it is badly scattered and exposed; and until we make proper provisions to take care of our stock, evil-minded persons will plunder us.

If we had built our forts, established our corrals, and taken care of everything we had, according to the instructions that all the new settlements received, this Indian war never would have commenced, because the Indians would have discovered there was no chance for plunder. They had no idea we would move into forts as we have done.

I advised one individual, before he built a house out on a farm, to build in the city. O no, he must have more room; and he built in one of the most dangerous positions in the mountains. By and by the Indians drove him in. I absolutely did know, if I let that man’s house stand, his family would sooner or later be murdered, which might have occurred any day; so I issued an order for it to be removed. He durst not trust me to remove it, for fear I should break something; and don’t you think the poor miserable fellow broke two joists in removing it himself, which did not appear so small a matter to him as it does to us. He lost considerable, because he would not build in a safe place. His house was situated in a position to completely command the mouth of a canyon, and at the same time a more dangerous place did not exist in the district; the safety of the settlement actually required its removal.

There were several men wounded through leaving their houses and not throwing them down, for they became a barricade for the Indians; so I took upon me the responsibility of removing such dangerous places as would give shelter to our enemies, while they pierced us with their bullets.

Some men would tell me such a course was not strictly according to law. I told them I should save the lives of the people. And if they had not been gathered up, scores of men, women, and children would have been butchered before now.

I presume I have talked to you long enough. It is a matter I feel considerable about. I know men are careless, women are careless; and if there is not greater care taken, women will be carried away prisoners; and their children will be murdered, if they wander off carelessly and unprotected. I tell you, in a country like this, where women are scarce and hard to get, we have great need to take care of them, and not let the Indians have them.

Walker himself has teased me for a white wife; and if any of the sisters will volunteer to marry him, I believe I can close the war forthwith. I am certain, unless men take better care of their women, Walker may supply himself on a liberal scale, and without closing the war either.

In conclusion I will say, if any lady wishes to be Mrs. Walker, if she will report herself to me, I will agree to negotiate the match.

Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, Delivered at a Special Conference held in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 28, 1852.

What has been said, brethren and sisters, is verily true. The kingdom of God has been built up by his distinguished blessings and the exertion and energy of those whom God has called to bear it off. When men refuse to fulfil their callings and magnify them in the proclamation of the fulness of the Gospel to the nations of the earth, they certainly lay the foundation for their own ruin. When men, on the other hand, become so puffed up in their own estimation as to think that the kingdom of God could not roll forth without their mighty exertions, they fall into transgression; they are fools in Israel, and their greatness will vanish like smoke.

The fact is, God has planned for us the best sieve that could be imagined. He is determined to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity, and he has placed us here on the edge of the mountains, where a little shaking of the winds will cause everything without weight easily to slide off to the diggings; and in this way the work of sifting is going on daily, and hourly, and yearly, from time to time, according to the nature of the materials that happen to be thrown upon the sieve.

No doubt many of us may be called upon, if not today, at some other time, to bear the message of the Gospel of salvation to the nations of the earth; for this was one of the commandments of the Prophet. He enjoined upon us that we preach the Gospel to all nations—that we should send forth the word to all people. This responsibility has been laid upon the Priesthood of the Church, and they are required to fulfil his commandment. There is not an Elder, a Priest, a Teacher, or a member of this Church but what bears a share of this responsibility.

The missions we will call for during this Conference are generally not to be very long ones: probably from three to seven years will be as long as any man will be absent from his family. If any of the Elders refuse to go, they may expect that their wives will not live with them; for there is not a “Mormon” sister who would live with a man a day who would refuse to go on a mission. There is no other way for a man to save his family; and in order to save himself, he must fulfill his calling and magnify his Priesthood in proclaiming the fulness of the Gospel to the nations of the earth; and this certainly ought to be greatest joy to the family of any man who feels the importance of building up the kingdom—that he is actually considered worthy, in these last days, to be one of the number to go forth, as one of the horns of Joseph, to push the nations together, to gather out the honest in heart, to run for the prize which we all labor for.

I feel deeply interested in these matters, and I hope and pray that every man who is called upon to go forth on missions to preach the Gospel may have the faith of the Church upon his head, and that they all may lift up their voices in faith before the people, that the light of truth may be a lamp in their path; and that, by their exertions and the blessings of God, it may be lighted up in distant nations.

I recollect a little incident in history, that is told of William the Conqueror. After he had been king in England twenty years, he became very corpulent. In consequence of a little joke upon his corpulency by the French king, he declared war, and the declaration was made in these words—“Tell my fair uncle I will pay him a visit, and I will bring along tapers enough to set all France on fire.” You may suppose we are sending out but a few Elders—probably not more than one hundred or one hundred and fifty; but we intend to continue the work, and send out Elders enough to set the world on fire, spiritually.

An Oration by Hon. George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake Valley, July 24, 1852.

My Friends—It is with a heart lifted up in gratitude to Him who reigns above, for the privilege of rising before you to express my feelings, and of beholding so many persons happily situated in the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, that I have the privilege this day, in the company of the thousands that surround me, of rejoicing in the celebration of the 24th of July, it being the first day for seventeen years since the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that they could lie down to rest in perfect peace—without being disturbed by the cruel hand of persecution. Yes, my friends, after seventeen years of cruel, bloody persecution, inflicted in the most ruthless and savage manner upon the people of the Church of Latter-day Saints, they—a few pioneers, 143 in number, had at last the privilege, on the 24th of July, 1847, of lying down in this secluded valley, in this desolate and mountain country; of establishing institutions that insure freedom to all, liberty to every person—the liberty of conscience, as well as every privilege which can be desired by any citizens of this earth.

As I walked with the procession from the habitation of the President to this place, with heart and eyes filled with weeping, I saw the beauty and the glory of the liberty and the happiness that surrounded us: my mind was caught back in an instant to the days of bloody persecution. Joseph was not there; Hyrum was not there; David (Patten) was not there in the procession. Where are they? Sleeping in the silent tomb. They were murdered, cruelly murdered, in violation of all law, and every principle of justice; cruelly murdered for their religion, and we survive their ashes that are mingling with the dust, after being sacrificed; after, as martyrs, sealing their testimony, we are even permitted to live, and enjoy five years of our lives where no man has power to murder, or to rob, or to burn our houses, or destroy our property, or ravish our women, or kill our children; no man has the power to do it without justice overtaking him.

The history of our persecutions is unparalleled in the history of past ages. To be sure, persecutions have existed in countries where religion was established by law, and where any other religion than the one established, was decreed by law to be heretical, and its votaries doomed to persecution and the flames. But in the countries where we suffered our persecution, there is a good government; there are good institutions that are calculated to protect every person in the enjoyment of every right that is dear to man.

The persecutions we have suffered were in violation of every good institution, of every wholesome law, of every institution and constitution which exist in the countries where they have been inflicted. And what is more singular, out of the hundreds of murders which have been committed upon men, women, and children, in the most barbarous, ruthless, and reckless manner—not one murderer has ever been brought to justice; not a single man who has shed the blood of a Latter-day Saint has ever been punished or brought to justice; but they are permitted to run at large, in the face and eyes of every officer of government, who are directly concerned to preserve the laws, and see them faithfully executed. The history of no country on the earth affords a parallel to this; it cannot be found; that is, such a wholesale murder, robbery, house burning, butchering of men, women, and children, and, finally, the wholesale banishment of tens of thousands of souls from their homes and country; this has actually been effected in violation of the laws and regulations of the country where it occurred, and not one person has ever been punished for these crimes. I challenge the world to produce the record upon the face of the earth, that shows, in all these murders, cold-blooded butcheries, house burnings, and wholesale robberies, that a single person has suffered the just penalty of the law; that a solitary criminal was punished; that any of the unprincipled savages who were guilty of these high-handed depredations, were ever brought to justice. Ought we not, then, to rejoice, that there is a spot upon the footstool of God, where law is respected; where the Constitution for which our fathers bled is revered; where the people who dwell here can enjoy liberty, and worship God in three or in twenty different ways, and no man be permitted to plague his head about it? I rejoice that this is the case; and when I reflect upon the scenes we have passed through, and realize our present prosperity, my heart is filled with joy.

I have looked upon scenes that are calculated to stir up the stoutest heart, without shedding a tear; but I cannot look upon the procession of this day, and consider the blessings that now surround this people, without shedding tears of gratitude, that God has so kindly delivered us out of all our distresses, and given to us our liberty. To be sure, after working our way into these valleys, making the roads through mountains, seeking out the route, and coming here, our persecutions did not cease; our enemies were like the good old Quaker when he turned the dog out of doors: said he, “I won’t kill thee, thou hast got out of my reach; I cannot kill thee, but I will give thee a bad name;” and he hallooed out “bad dog,” and somebody, supposing the dog to be mad, shot him. So with us; after robbing us of millions of property, and driving us cruelly from the land of our birth; after violating every solitary law of the government; in which many of the officers were partakers; expelling us into the wilderness, where they thought we would actually perish (and there is not to be found in the history of the world, a parallel case of suffering that this people endured); while in the midst of this, the cry of mad dog was raised, to finish, as they thought, the work of destruction and murder. Without a guide, without a knowledge of the country, without reading even the notes of any traveler upon this earth, or seeing the face of a being whoever set foot upon this land, we were led by the hand of God, through His servant Brigham, threading the difficult passes of these mountains, until we set our foot upon this place, which was, at that time, a desert, containing nothing but a few bunches of dead grass, and crickets enough to fence the land. We were more than one thousand miles from where provisions could be obtained, and found not game enough to support an Indian population. We set down here, and we called upon God to bless our undertakings. We formed a government here; and a government has been in existence in this Territory of Utah for five years.

I now want to ask a few grave questions upon this subject. It is customary for the General Government to extend a fostering hand and parental care to all new territories. When we first settled here, this was Mexican territory; but it was soon after acquired by treaty, and became U.S. territory. Four years and a half a government has been supported here, governmental laws and regulations have been kept up.

I inquire, has the Government of the U.S. ever expended one dollar to support that government? No! with the exception of the U.S. officers in the Territory a little over one year; 20,000 dollars for the erection of public buildings; and 5,000 dollars for a library.

Has the Legislative Department ever received one dollar? No! And why? Because they are “Mormons;” and fugitive officers could run home to see their mammy, and cry out “Bad dog, bad dog,” “They are Mormons, they are Mormons.”

What is the reason that a citizen of this Territory cannot get a foot of land to call his own? for there is in reality no such thing. Why has not the Indian title been extinguished, and the people here been permitted to hold titles to land? Let the people answer.

Why is it that the inhabitants of this Territory have never had one dime expended to defray the expenses of their Legislature? Four or five winters they have held their session, and not one solitary dime has been expended by the General Government, as has been done in all other Territories. What is the reason?

What is the reason that the Oregon land law was not extended over Utah, which gives to the citizens who broke up the new ground, a home free, for themselves, as was the case in other Territories? Why are these hardworking pioneers, who dug down the mountains, not permitted a title to their homes?

Let me ask again. The people here have sustained three Indian wars at their own expense. Who pays for the Indian wars of Oregon? The Indian wars in California? Or in New Mexico? For the difficulties in Minnesota? And other sundry wars and difficulties that have occurred or may occur in the Territories? Whose duty I ask, is it to pay for them? It is the duty of the Government of the United States.

Why has not Utah the same privilege, the same treatment? Why is it that these three wars have to be totally and entirely sustained by those citizens, without a dollar of aid from the parental Government?

I need not follow up this train of reflection, but I will add one question more. Why was it that the judges and the secretary returned home last year without performing one particle of their duty? You can read it in their own report; say they, “When we got there, we found that the people were all Mormons;” as if we were horses, or elephants, or Cyclops, whose business it was to get up into these mountains and forge thunderbolts. “Oh! we will run home again, because when we got there, we found the people all Mormons.”

I will say, with all reverence to the constituted authority that exists in the General Government, that I do believe that the same spirit of tradition, and the same spirit of persecution, that have ever followed the people of God, have more or less influence with them; and that if we would actually go to work, and alter our name, we might possibly be treated as other men. Be this as it may, I feel, while I stand upon the face of the earth, determined to defend my right, and the rights of my friends and brethren. I know that there is no “Mormonism” known in the constitution of the U.S., but all men are there considered equal, and free to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and enjoy equal rights and privileges.

There is one item of history which I have observed among this people. The very men who were the murderers of our fathers, and our brothers, the burners of our houses, have come here among this people since that time, where they have received protection; they have been fed when they were hungry. The very man who burned the house of Elder Moses Clawson, at Lima, came to him and said, “Mr. Clawson, I want to get some provisions from you.” Now, these very persecutors knew that our religion was true, and that we were men of sterling integrity, or else they never would have thrown themselves in our way, and called upon us for aid afterwards; and I am proud to say, that kind aid and assistance on their journey to the gold mines, have been extended to hundreds of these robbers, and thus coals of fire have been heaped upon their heads; but their skulls were so thick, it never burned many of them a bit.

I have but a few more remarks to make, which will be directed to the twenty-four young men, and the braves and warriors of these mountains. Young men, braves and warriors, who sit before me this day, let me admonish you, never to let the hand of tyranny or oppression rise in these mountains, but stand unflinchingly true by the Constitution of the United States, which our fathers sealed with their blood; never suffer its provisions to be infringed upon; and if any man, or set of men form themselves into a mob in these mountains, to violate that sacred document, by taking away the civil or religious rights of any man, if he should be one of the most inferior beings that exist upon the face of the earth, be sure you crush it, or spend the last drop of blood in your veins with the words of—Truth and Liberty, Liberty and Truth, forever!

A Speech by Mr. George A. Smith, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, on the Anniversary of the Fourth of July, 1852.

As a humble private from the ranks of the Deseret Mountaineers of the Nauvoo Legion, I have the honor, though unexpectedly, to rise and offer a few of our feelings in view of the great matters which have been presented before us this day, and of the great events of which this is the anniversary. From the remarks of the gentlemen who have occupied this stand previous to my rising, we might think, that a people who have been driven, and who have suffered so many difficulties, robbings; shaking of the ague, catching birds with hands, and for a time living on crickets, &c., that we would be very lean and poor; but my friends, I think I am a pretty fair specimen of the privates who compose the Nauvoo Legion. The experiment has been tried of living in the deserts, of wandering among mountains, and of solving the philosophical problem of almost living upon the air; and it has answered exceedingly well.

It is with the greatest pleasure that I address you; for I can assure you that the Nauvoo Legion view with the strictest jealousy, every violation of the provisions of the federal constitution; every infringement of the rights of the people is regarded by the Nauvoo Legion with the most fiery indignation. Whenever the rights of a religious body are invaded—whenever the privileges of a civil community are trampled upon with impunity—whenever any man in power, or any man out of power shall trample upon the provisions of that legacy bequeathed us by our ancestors, there rises in us an unbounded indignation; for our fathers’ legacy was sealed with their blood, and we are determined to maintain it inviolable. When an executive of a state rises up and assumes to himself a dignity and a power that no autocrat of all the Russias dare presume to exercise, and issues a bloody order as did L. W. Boggs, for the utter extermination of all the “Mormons;” men, women, and children, that may belong to, or be in any way connected with them, it raises the indignation of the Nauvoo Legion to an unbounded pitch.

What is more curious than all the rest; it frequently occurs in all governments that corruption arises among the people; the people become corrupt, and to a great extent, it must affect the government also; no matter how good its form may be, the corruptions that arise among the body of the people, must in a great measure paralyze the head of the government. The Roman Catholics in Philadelphia were attacked by a lawless mob, and thousands turned out to demolish their churches and dwellings, and murder their people, and the perpetrators of such deeds are suffered to go unpunished—this fills the Nauvoo Legion with burning indignation. The legacy bequeathed to us by our forefathers was a constitution which will protect every man in his civil and religious rights; and where this Legion is, woe to him that infringes upon these constitutional liberties. Being called upon without reflection, or time to prepare a speech; and not possessing the requisite talents for preparing notes, I must give you what I have to say in an offhand style.

Men will rise up in distant countries; and say that the inhabitants of these mountains are rebellious. Rebellious! Against what? Against the power of mobs, lawless robbery, and the infringement and violation of the constitution of the United States—against the lawless destruction of property and life—against the deprivation of human beings of religious liberty—that is what we are rebellious against; and the Nauvoo Legion are ready to rebel against every aggression of this kind, as long as there is one drop of blood left in their veins.

These bayonets now before me have been carried upon the shoulders of these men to extend “the area of the American Liberty,” over 4,000 miles, suffering almost every kind of distress and fatigue; sometimes traveling on foot ever a hundred miles of desert, from water to water. Such a march has not been equaled by any body of infantry in the world; and General Kearney said, that there was no other set of troops in his army that could endure such service.

Talk of rebellion! Or want of loyalty! Men might as well say the sun does not shine, as to argue that this people are enemies to their country’s freedom. There is a spirit of religious intolerance that has arisen in the minds of a great many men against this people in the present age; they say, “you shall think as I think, or damn you, we’ll destroy you.” General Joseph Smith, the commander of our Legion, was treacherously murdered, and his noble brother by his side also, while under the pledge of safety of Governor Thomas Ford. The grandfather of that murdered general (murdered while under the sacred pledge of the State of Illinois), his paternal grandfather; I say, was at the elbow of Colonel Ethan Allen, at Ticonderoga, and with Stark at Bennington; and his maternal grandfather was in the first naval battle, and at the elbow of the first Commodore of the American navy, when the first naval battle was fought by Americans against Great Britain, and served during the entire war. Why was he murdered? Because he thought different from his neighbors. Religious toleration was not in accordance with the feelings of narrow minded men; he must be butchered—basely murdered—and to accomplish it the faith of a sovereign state had to be pledged. We love the constitution of the United States in its organization; but we detest southern secession, and northern disunion, or anything that would be calculated to destroy our glorious Union, and the institutions which have been sealed by the blood of our fathers.

Gentlemen, appearing as I appear in your midst, lean though I may be (Mr. Smith now weighing 230 lbs.), I will tell you that I have the honor of having descended from an officer of the revolution, who marched 150 miles under the command of General Morgan, from the battle of the Cow Pens, with nothing to eat but the rawhide belt of his cartridge box. That cannot be the cause of my fine appearance; but it must be the noble living my ancestors have had, when fighting for the liberties we enjoy this day, in these mountains. And although I have passed through so many trials and afflictions to get here, having been driven out of three dwelling houses in different states, by mob force; as many times deprived of my property; and having buried most of my family from suffering on the plains; been three days at a time, without taking food, that there is now scarcely a hair left on my head between me and heaven; yet I am on hand, and with the Nauvoo Legion, rejoice that there is a place amid the mountains where men are free to enjoy civil and religious liberty and truth. Truth and Liberty forever! Amen.

Before the Hon. Z. Snow, Judge of the First Judicial District Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah.

Please the court, and gentlemen of the jury—With the blessing of the Almighty, although not in a proper state of health, I feel disposed to offer a few reasons, and to present a few arguments, and perhaps a few authorities, upon the point in question. In the first place, I will say, gentlemen of the Jury, you will have to bear with me in my manner of communication, being but a new member of the bar, and unaccustomed to addressing a Jury. The case upon which I am called to address you is one of no small moment. It is one which presents before you, and to investigate which involves, the life of a fellow citizen.

I am not prepared to refer to authorities on legal points, as I would have been had not the trial been so hasty; but as it is, I shall present my arguments upon a plain, simple principle of reasoning. Not being acquainted with the dead languages, I shall simply talk the common mountain English, without reference to anything that may be technical. All I want is simple truth and justice. This defendant asks not his life, if he deserves to die; but if he has done nothing but an act of justice, he wishes that justice awarded to him.

It is highly probable that the manner in which I may present my arguments, may be exceptionable to the learned, or to the technical policy of modern times; be that as it may, the plain simple truth is what I am aiming at.

I am happy to behold an intelligent jury, who are looking for justice instead of some dark, sly, or technical course by which to bias their judgment. I shall refer in the first instance to an item of law, which was quoted by the learned prosecutor yesterday, in which he stated to this jury, that the person killed should be, or must be, a reasonable creature. Now what dark meaning, what unknown interpretation the learned and deep-read men of law may give by which to interpret this language, it is impossible for me to say; as I said before, it is the plain mountain English I profess to talk. It was admitted on the part of the prosecution, that James Monroe, who is alleged in this indictment to have been killed by Howard Egan, had seduced Egan’s wife; that he had come into this place in the absence of her husband, and had seduced his family, in consequence of which, an illegitimate child had been brought into the world; and the disgrace which must arise from such a transaction in his family, had fallen on the head of the defendant. This was admitted by the prosecution. Now, gentlemen of the jury, according to plain mountain English, a reasonable creature will not commit such an outrage upon his fellow man; that is the plain positive truth, as we understand things.

But, perhaps, this defendant is to be tried by the laws of England, and perhaps in England they have a different understanding of the passage. Suppose I admit it for argument’s sake. It was a point repeatedly argued and decided by Chancellor Kent, that every honest man was a lawyer, and that the intent of the law was to do justice. The Statute or Organic Law of Utah, which extends the laws of the United States, and secondly, in a degree, the laws of England, over this country, makes a reservation in the matter, which reservation I wish you to consider favorably, for the benefit of my client—“The laws of the United States are hereby extended, and decreed to be in force for said territory, so far as the same or any provision thereof may be applicable.” Now we do not consider the wise legislators extended these laws over this territory, only that they should be extended where they should be applicable; they no doubt supposed they might not be applicable in certain cases, and therefore wisely inserted that clause. Then, if a law is to be in force upon us, it must be plain and simple to the understanding, and be applicable to our situation.

I will quote history instead of law. I will go back to the time when Rome was a young and flourishing state; when in the midst of prosperity they thought proper to procure a code of laws; and being wilderness men, they sent to the wise and learned Greeks for a code of laws. The wisest lawyers of Greece were selected, who formed first a code written upon ten tables, and finally added two others, which were received by the Roman Senate. Now I wish you to understand me as bringing this up by way of illustration, knowing that these men before me are sworn to execute justice, and if I can illustrate this to their understanding, one point is gained, so far as it has a bearing upon this case.

The laws of the twelve tables were formed for a people possessing the Greek refinements and Greek ideas, Greek notions of right and wrong; these laws were made according to a genius of liberty known among that ripened confederacy. They were brought to Rome, to a people entirely different in their genius, who placed different values upon different points, and had different views of right and wrong; they had to put them in force: and, let me ask you, what was the result? Read the pages of history, and hundreds of mourning families will tell the sad tale! The truth is written with the blood of thousands, through taking the rules, laws, and regulations of an old and rotten confederacy, and applying them to a new and flourishing territory! I argue, then, that these laws, which may have force in Old England, are totally inapplicable to plain mountain men.

I want to inquire whether the genius, and the spirit, and the actual existing principle of justice and right, which abide in the inhabitants of these mountains, are the same as those found among the nations of the old world? And whether such an application of law and justice as that I have just noticed is applicable to us?

In England, when a man seduces the wife or relative of another, the injured enters a civil suit for damages, which may perhaps cost him five hundred pounds, to get his case through; and, as a matter of course, if he unfortunately belongs to the toiling million, he may get twenty pounds as damages. In this case, character is not estimated, neither reputation, but the number of pounds, shillings, and pence alone bear the sway, which is common in courts of all old and rotten governments.

In taking this point into considera- tion, I argue that in this territory it is a principle of mountain common law, that no man can seduce the wife of another without endangering his own life. I may be asked for books. Common law is, in reality, unwritten law; and all the common law that has been written is the decision of courts; and every time some new decision comes up, it is written, which you may find stacked up in the Attorney General’s office, in Great Britain. This is continuing: fresh decisions are still being made, and new written authorities added, and precedent upon precedent established in the courts of the United States and Great Britain; and must we be judged by these ten thousand books?

What is natural justice with this people? Does a civil suit for damages answer the purpose, not with an isolated individual, but with this whole community? No! It does not! The principle, the only one that beats and throbs through the heart of the entire inhabitants of this Territory, is simply this: The man who seduces his neighbor’s wife must die, and her nearest relative must kill him!

Call up the testimony of the witness, Mr. Horner, and what does he say? After Mr. Egan had killed Monroe, he was the first one to meet him. Egan said, “Do you know the cause?” Mr. Horner had been made acquainted with it; he said he advised Monroe, and told him for God’s sake to leave the train, for he did not wish to see him killed in his train. Mr. Horner knew the common law of this Territory: he was acquainted with the genius and spirit of this people: he knew that Monroe’s life was forfeited, and the executor was after him, or he (the executor) was damned in the eyes of this people forever. “Do leave the train,” says Horner; “I would not have you travel in it for a thousand dollars.“ Was Monroe a reasonable creature? A dog that steals a bone will hide away; but will a man be called a reasonable creature, when he knows the executioner is on his track, and at the same time walk right over the law, crawl between the sheets of a fellow citizen, and there lay his crocodile eggs, and then think to stow away gunpowder in a glowing furnace? If we are called upon here to say whether a reasonable creature has been killed, a negative reply is certain.

Not Mr. Horner only, who has testified that he knew the cause of the deed, but a number of others. When the news reached Iron County, that Egan’s wife had been seduced by Monroe, the universal conclusion was, “there has to be another execution;” and if Howard Egan had not killed that man, he would have been damned by the community forever, and could not have lived peaceably, without the frown of every man. Now we see that the laws of England only require a civil suit for damages, in a case of seduction; but are these laws to be applied to us who inhabit these mountain heights? The idea is preposterous. You might as well think of applying to us the law of England which pertains to the sovereign lady, the Queen, alone. I will apply it, and with much better sense: “To seduce the sovereign lady, the Queen, is death by the law.” I will say, here, in our own Territory, we are the sovereign people, and to seduce the wife of a citizen is death by the common law.

There is no doubt but this case may be questioned, but there is an American common law, as well as an English common law. Had I the books before me, which are at hand in the public library, I might show you parallel instances in the United States, where persons standing in a like position to this defendant have been cleared. I will refer to the case of “New Jersey v. Mercer,” for killing Hibberton, the seducer of his sister. The circumstance took place upon a public ferryboat, where Hibberton was shot in a close carriage in the most public manner. After repeated jury sittings upon his case, the decision was not guilty. We will allow this to be set down as a precedent, and, if you please, call it American common law. I will refer to another case: that of “Louisiana v. Horton,” for the killing of the seducer of his sister. The jury in this case also found the prisoner not guilty. This is the common practice in the United States, that a man who kills the seducer of his relative is set free.

A case of this kind came under my own observation in Kentucky. A man, for taking the life of the seducer of his sister, was tried and acquitted, although he did the deed in the presence of hundreds of persons: he shot him not more than ten feet from the Court House. I saw the prosecutor, and conversed with him, and have a knowledge of the leading facts. I bring these instances before the jury, to show that there are parallel cases to the one before us in American jurisprudence; and yet, in some of the States a civil suit for damages will answer the purpose.

Walker, on this subject, for instance, in the State of Ohio, tells us in cases of this kind a civil suit may be instituted, and a fine be imposed; the civil suit may bring damages according to the character of the person, and that is considered an equivalent for the crime. What is the reason that these civil suits are tried in this way? It is because the spirit which actually reigns in these rotten and overgrown countries is to prostitute female virtue.

Go to the cities of Great Britain where the census reports between two and three hundred thousand prostitutes: if a man seduces a female, no matter how it occurs, a few pence is all the scoundrel pays. He damns the woman, who is consigned to in-famy, and compelled to linger out a short existence, and ultimately covers her shame, seeking repose in a premature grave; and this is the spirit and genius, not only of the people of Great Britain, but of some of the States also. How is it here in these mountains, where the genius, spirit, and regulations of society are different from those old nations? Why, men are under the necessity of respecting female chastity, when a seducer is no more secure abroad than the dog is that is found killing sheep. Female virtue is not protected by those old governments; but they are corrupt institutions, which prostitute and destroy the female character and race.

Just consider this matter. Are the law, the genius, the spirit, and the institutions of a people who go in for preserving inviolate—in perfect innocence, the chastity of the entire female sex—are they to compare with the spirit and the genius of communities that only value it by a few dimes? Is that law to be executed on us? I say that the Congress of the United States have wisely provided that the laws of the United States shall not extend over us any further than that they are applicable.

The Jury will please to excuse my manner of treating this matter: I am but a young lawyer—this is my first case, and the first time I ever undertook to talk to a Jury in a court of justice. I say, in my own manner of talking upon the point before you, a fellow citizen, known among us for years, is tried for his life; and for what? For the justified killing of a hyena, that entered his sheets, seduced his wife, and introduced a monster into his family! And to be tried, too, by the laws of a government ten thousand miles from here!

If Howard Egan did kill James Monroe, it was in accordance with the established principles of justice known in these mountains. That the people of this Territory would have regarded him as accessory to the crimes of that creature, had he not done it, is also a plain case. Every man knew the style of old Israel, that the nearest relation would be at his heels to fulfil the requirements of justice.

Now I wish you, gentlemen of the jury, to consider that the United States have not got the jurisdiction to hang that man for this offense: the laws are not applicable to it; they have ceded away the power to do that thing: it belongs to the people of this territory; and, as a matter of course, we deny the right of this court to hang this defendant, on principles that have been ceded away to somebody else to act upon.

For instance, the learned attorney for the prosecution read a certain item in the law of the United States yesterday to the jury, that they might know how to act. Now this is presented to us as a case of exclusive jurisdiction, and, as a matter of course, no common law must be brought in, but we are called upon to hang a man according to the customs of a nation ten thousand miles from here, whose principles, organization, spirit, ideas of right and wrong, of crime and justice, are quite different from those which prevail in this young and flourishing territory. To enforce these laws would be highly pernicious to our prosperity as a people, and as a nation. Therefore, Congress has wisely provided that the people of this territory should not be thus imposed upon; for instance, as long ago as Sept. 9, 1850, they passed an act providing for the organization of a judiciary, that an original jurisdiction should be acknowledged, as far as the same be applicable to us, and no further. This act of killing has been committed within the Territory of Utah, and is not therefore under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.

I have been admitted to speak before this intelligent court, for which I feel grateful; and I come before you, not for the pence of that gentleman, the defendant, but to plead for the honor and rights of this whole people, and the defendant in particular; and, gentlemen of the jury, with the limited knowledge I have of law, were I a juryman, I would lie in the jury room until the worms should draw me through the keyhole, before I would give in my verdict to hang a man for doing an act of justice, for the neglect of which he would have been damned in the eyes of this whole community.

I make this appeal to you, that you may give unto us a righteous verdict, which will acquit Mr. Egan, that it may be known that the man who shall insinuate himself into the community, and seduce his neighbor’s wife, or seduce or prostitute any female, may expect to find no more protection than the wolf would find, or the dog that the shepherd finds killing the sheep: that he may be made aware that he cannot escape for a moment.

God said to Cain, I will put a mark upon you, that no man may kill you. I want the crocodile, the hyena, that would destroy the reputation of our females to feel that the mark is upon him; and the avenger upon his path, ready to pounce upon him at any moment to take vengeance; and this, that the chastity of our women, our wives and daughters, may be preserved: that the community may rest in peace, and no more be annoyed by such vile depredations.

Should the jury feel it their duty to return a verdict in favor of the defense, you are aware that you are borne out in this by the precedents already set up by the Courts of the United States in the few instances I have noticed; that the jurisdiction of the United States extending to this case, does not exist; that the laws of the United States do not apply to it at all; and as men who look for justice, as intelligent lawyers, knowing what is right and wrong, must know, that a verdict, such as the defendant desires, will alone bear justly on the case.

I feel very thankful to the honorable court, and to the jury, as also to the spectators, for the audience given me; and, as I said, in the commencement, my health not being good, I was unable to take hold of this business so as to treat it in a manner to satisfy myself, and do justice to the case of my client; and I would say further, what I have said has been in my own mountain English; what the learned prosecutor may be able to show I cannot tell; enough has been said to show you that this defendant has a right, upon just and pure principles, to be acquitted.