OCR Text |
Show Iff I JOSiAH QUINCY'S WRITING ON 1 j ' JOSEPH SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET I if I 11 ls v no mcnns I'npiobnblo that some f ', future tcxt-iioo!;. for the use of sencrn- Pj! : il Hons yot unborn, will contain a question Jijj !? something like this: What historical Kl IV American of the nineteenth century has (J!ll.P( exerted tho most powerful Influence 1 upon the dcstlnle of his countrymen': I'lVjll And il Is by no means Impossible that I I the answer to that Interrogatory may bo 3LfU' lluls ffl'llton: Joseph Smith, the Mormon XrJ ST Prophet. , , nr iW And the reply, absurd as It doubtless ufca:' seems to most men now living;, may be Sf-'JR an obvious commonplace to their doscend- ri ants. History deals In surprisi-s and I ,! paradoxes quite as startling as this. Tho M. . man who established a religion In this fcM'Ji& nice of free debate, who was and is ac- fli I $ eepted today bv hundreds of thousands K ' as a direct emissary of the Most IMpli j ! such a rare being is not to be disposed i of bv pelting his memory with unsavory i Ji" epithets. Fanatic, impostor, charlatan, t p he may have been; but these hard names I I : furnish no solution to the problem that bo presents to us. Fanatics and inipos- t tors arc living and dying every day. and ; i : their memory is buried with them; but 4' ' Sr the wonderful Inlluencc which this found - kfi A or of a religion exerted, and still exerts. yji Hi throws him into relief before us. not as a i" i r rogue to be critlclsrd. but as a phenom- t enon to be explained. The most vital ' 1 . questions Americans are asking each f ft. other today have to do with this man. a- and whnt he has left us. 81! IB i there anv remedy heroic enough to C J meet the case, yet in tho natural doc- f J trlncs of liberty and toleration, which can f I bo applied to the demoralizing doctrine"! f ,i I now advanced by the sect which he erc- r" 1,1 ated? The possibilities of the Mormon i svstem are unfathomable. Polygamy It; I inoy be followed by darker roveln lions. IS f r II re is a society resting upon fonn- I datlons which may a', any moment be ' I made subversive of every duty which wo v claim from the citizen. Must It be k reached bv the last argument which quenched the evil fanntlclsms of Mul- i ' i ( liausen and Monster? A generation other than mine must deal with those ques- 11 lions. Burning questions they are which II I . ! !,.., I n I., tile. !ll: III. lory of the country to that sturdy sclf- nrM, asaerter whom I visited at Nauvoo. Jo- II soph Smith, claiming to be an Inspired P teacher, faced adversity such as few men K have been called upon to meet, enjoyed I , a brief season of prosperity such as f'-w i; men have ever attained, and, finallv. 7' r , fortv-three daws after I saw him. went 1 chcerfullv to a martyr's death. When I ? L he surrendered h!s person to Governor I fi Ford, in order tr. prevent the shedding I . v of blood, the prophet had a presentiment bjt of what was before him. "I am going PT like a lamb to ihe slaughter." he is re- r'J' jiorted to-have said; "but I am calm as jj n summer's morning. I have a conscience Ii void of offense and shall die innocent. Bf ' , I have no theory to advance respect- F 'F Ing this extraordinary man. I shall sini- f I ni v give the facts of my Intercourse with Ft.' vlj, him.' At some time th?y mav be found i n'm to have some hearing upon the theories . ,rV of others who are more competent to J make tlein. losiah Qulncy. in "Figures k L of Ihe Past." Mil. hi f The whole nrlielo of Mr. Qtnncy is I a candid, truthful relation of what lie I saw and heard, nnd some of his impres-' impres-' sions. I Lis .iudgment wns by no means j favorable; on the co'ntrary, lie candidlj' expresses his grave apprehensions of tho I outcome, and frankly says ho has no explanation of the man. nor can he I suggest a remedy for tho insidious evil , w li ifli he elearly'secs in Morinonisiu. The entire article may be summarized under these heads: There was a studied effort on the part of Joseph .Smith to impress and I please his distinguished visitors. He presented Mormunism to them, I first as a secular institution, nnd related i what he had done for his people. He inveighed against those who had I persecuted them, destroyed their prop-! prop-! erty and taken many lives. j ; tie next proceeded to unfold Mor-monisln Mor-monisln as a religion; told a "puerile! fable" of undecipherable gold plates and gigantic spectacles. At tho sag- j gestiou of some of his friends ho readily j consented to preach them a sermon. Then he unfolded to thorn, in some manner, his future plans. Tho past had j showed him the necessity of a militia which would be at his own command: that he had three thousand drilled and ! equipped men. which would enable tho saints to fight us well as work; that he, j the commander of the troops, was aj lieutenant-general, boasting that he , could be tried by a courlmartial composed com-posed of his equals in rank: and, said he. "I guess ihey would find it pretty I hard to try me' t j Ho showed them his curiosities, for which his mother paid six thousand dollars; four mummies and some ancient j parchments. One the parchment of i Abraham, another the parchment of Moses, containing his autograph, and j some lines written by Aaron. As ho i closed the drawers of the cabinet in : which these relics were kept, he said: "Gentlemen, those who see these j curiosities generalb- give my mother aj quarror of a dollar." ) lie drove them to see tho growing ( temple, and over the country about N.iuvoo. that tlicv might witness tho prosperity which liad been achieved. lie spoke of his candidacy as president, presi-dent, and declared thai one day he might so hold the balance of power between be-tween political parties as to render his election as president not unlikely. Willi the appearance of the man, Mr. Quincy expressed a favorable impression. impres-sion. "A fine looking man." is what the passer-by would say, on meeting j him. j "A man of commanding appearance," , a "tall, hearty, athletic fellow, blue ; eyes standing out prominently upon his t light complexion, a long nose and a retreating re-treating forehead. " When he first saw him the prophet wns "clad as a journeyman journey-man carpenter." striped pantaloons, a linen jacket which had not lately seen the washtnb, and a beard of some three days' growth. While the guests were at breakfast he shifted into broadcloth, prepared to fill the place of host re-spectsibly. re-spectsibly. "One 'could not resist tho impression that capacity and resource were natural to tho man": that he and Klisha II. Potter of Khode Island were tho two men who "seemed best endowed with the kingly faculty, which directs, as by intrinsic right, the feeble or confused souls who are looking fur guidance." Yet with this phvsic.nl and temperamental tempera-mental superiority, there was much that was puerile and blocking in his conversation, con-versation, lie sot forth "demoralizing doctrines," "unexpected absurdities, "blasphemous assumptions," "repulsive "repul-sive claims"; his society "rested upon foundations which may, al anv moment, lie made subversive of every duty which we claim from the citizen." lie calls him "the bourgeois Mahomet." When Mr. Quincy said to him that it. j was dangerous for any man to exercise j the powe.r he possessed. Joseph Smith ! replied: " Yes. dangerous for most men. j for all men indeed, except myself," and added sotto voce, "for L am a prophet, you know. ' ' Mr. Quincy savs ho has met liis class of men before, tut they were lunatics, possessed of the delusion that they had received tho appointment, as vicogernnt , of the "Deity upon the earth; "a mad; man, ruling a people who were as mad as he." Mr. Quincy 's article unmistakably! reveals that he read Morinonism aright: j (1) The most vital questions Americans Ameri-cans are asking today have to do with this man and what he left us. "Is there any remedy hemic enough,) yet within the limits of liberty and toleration" tol-eration" which will meet the case, or' must it be destroyed, annihilated, bv force-? "Polygamy may be followed bv darker dark-er revelation's '" for "the possibilities of ' Morinonism are unfathomable." History affirms the sageness of his judgment, and men are still asking the question as to the remedy. i (2) The artful cunning of -the man: He presented the commercial sido first; then dilated upon their perse- cutions, and, last, discoursed upon 1 or- I monism. j ! Smith 's purpose in raising tho Nnuvoo j 1 Legion nnd securing his own appoint- ! j mcnt as lieuienttnt-general, tin office at oneo illegal and superlatively great in rank for the commander of ihree. thou- ! sand militia, but which he believed i would screen him from punishment, be- cause of the impossibility of creating a i military court to try hi in. (3) In one day's observations of j Morinonism in (he concrete. Mr. Quincy saw tho danger which it brings to tho . I nation. ! Siinremc power vested in one man, ; j and lie appointid by divine authority, I is dangerous; principles that lie at tho 1 I very foundation of Mormonisin aro sub- j versive of every duty which we claim j I from the eitisun. lie saw that the be-! be-! Mover in Joseph Smith as a prophet of God, would necessarily transfer his per- 1 I soual alh'pance from the government I to the prophet, and count himself first ! and always :i Mormon. ' I He is careful to relate the eon versa- ! I tion which t licited Smith's political! plans. In 1S44 he had no hope of an election; but he did hope that in some ! other and nol distant election he would hold the balance of power and compel i one of the parries to name and elect ; him. This he could nol hope lo do un- I less he could keep absolute control of his followers politically, 'ind rotain i their solidarity at the polls. I Wo know today, from the history of . his followers in Utali that this is tho menace which Morinonism makes to tho Kepublie. The doctrines can easilv be mot and i Overthrown in thn arena of freo, nn-( trammeled discussion; the people are! not at heart disloyal to the nation; thry are in the main sincere, earnest, devoted to their church, and capablo of self-government; self-government; but, as long as they con tinue passive, inert, and move oiilv as , they receive the permission and direction direc-tion of their "authorities,' they will bo ' a menace to free government. Thoo- , eracy and democracy nre incompatible, not onlv in Russia, but in Utah also. The Mormon people have no power of , initiative or review; nn conventions ni" j called among them for anj' other w . pose than to be "instructed"' and to farcically "sustain'." Repression is oppression op-pression in this free land. Mr. Quiuc, with keen insight, saw puerility, absurd ity, ambition, self-assertion, blasphcmv, autocracy, and danger in the Mormon- , ism of Nauvoo, in BISHOP SMITH. , |