Show 2 r i 11 C Q i tabernacle I 1 I 1 j f I 1 APRIL 2nd and 1854 1 parley P pratt arose to address the congregation I 1 stand before you this morning to address you for a few moments variety is in a treat and it is not always we are favored in this stand with a text previous to preaching a sermon neither have we ben fa bored with hearing written sermons I 1 thought I 1 would offer for your consideration this his morning a text and a short discourse written to be read before you I 1 do not know however that I 1 ought to call it a sermon as it will not be of the usual length that sermons gene en rally are it has been written within half haaf an 1 hour from this time and is ia uncorrected or rewritten from the first copy 11 the tae mormons cormons have learned by sad experience that they cannot live in the midst of civilized SOCIE TIrY the foregoing text will be found in a newspaper entitled the missouri democrat ita it has been also copied into the washington globe j of Jari january uary ath and finally into the deseret news of march now as it is perfectly true as applied to that particular r civilization with which they were sur rounded in the states of missouri and illinois and as the mormons cormons Mor mons are in a habit of adopting 9 truth wherever found perhaps I 1 may be in indulged in selecting it for a text and thus it may yet be considered a part of sacred scripture the first feature of civilization from which the mormons cormons shrank in missouri was develop ed in jackson county in 1833 in which lilburn lilbarn W boggs then lieutenant governor of the aided by civil and military officers of various grades and by the populace and even the clergy expelled some twelve hundred citizens from their own hands and possessions burned upwards of two hundred houses robbed or destroyed property and grain to the amount of hundreds of thousands and killed several citizens and wounded whipped and maltreated mal treated not only men but women and children insomuch that miny died of their ill treatment this kind of civilization finally spread over the whole state said boggs the murderer and robbers robber was elected governor and finally in 1838 upwards of I 1 citi citizens zens were driven out of the state and their houses and lands taken possession of and their property a again gain i robbed or destroyed to the amount of millions men women and children childre nv were again murdered by wholesale and mothers wives and daughters were by force polluted till they died in the hands of their ravishers ravi think of shoal creek crooked river par far west Di dishmon Diah ahmon inon and hauns hanns mill was this really missouri civilization yes and the horrid perpetrators acted under executive authority and were paid for committing these crimes out of the public treasury of missouri by special act of the legislature I 1 these are samples of missouri civilization in contact with which the mormons cormons could not live the survivors fled to illinois but here the missouri civilization soon spread the fruits of it were manifested in the massacre of the smiths at carthage jail in the burning of a few hundred houses in hancock county in in the expulsion of 20 or citizen is from that state in the murder of many wad and finally in the destruction of the great city and temple of nauvoo this my friends is a faint description of a few of the operations of that civilization from which the mormons cormons shrank and on account of which they took refuge in these deserts and mountain wilds and the crimes of which they were then accused falsely by the perpetrators of these horrid acts of civilization were just fust as true as it now is that we hold to adultery and prom promiscuous intercourse of the sexes that we have driven out the united states judges rejected the jurisdiction of the united states driven out and plundered mr bridger murdered a man on the oregon ferry driven out from our country those of other faiths sought exclusiveness in our territory opposed tle the explorations thereof or murdered captain gunnison and party or that we are at war with the indian tribes about us or that we have ever sought anything ait peace with the indians and all mankind and in conclusion we would remark that the Wis missouri democrat is so ignorant of a any ny other civilization than that which has obtained in his own and a neighboring states state that he intimates in the same article which contains our text that should the railroad again bring civilization to our territory and the laws of the united states be extended over it then the mormons cormons would be again driven out from their himes as they have heretofore been driven now for the special information of such em editors and their readers we would inform them that the laws of the united states are already in in operation in this territory that they are here for the protection of mormons cormons and all other good citizens and the mormons cormons and good citizens in i n general in utah hope to live to see a just administration ni of those laws extended over missouri and illinois which would naturally result in the hanging of a few thousand of robbers and murderers who have occupied a reat feat in the executive legislature and judicial departments of those two states and would teach the remainder a better civilized policy than they have heretofore learned we fondly hope that the coming generation in HI those two states stales will go to school and learn that the laws and constitutions of the united states do not result when properly administered in murder plunder robbery houseburg ing rape and exile their torment goes up on sundays as well as aa on week days it blows blow away in a yell yellow 0 w cloud miles to leeward and I 1 never see it I 1 without thinking what a hell bell on earth these islands must be that I 1 do not exaggerate this account any one who has been here will readily beer bear witness the fact that some of the chinese almost every week commit suicide to escape their fate shows the true state of their case I 1 was told that more than sixty had killed themselves during the year chiefly by throwing themselves from the cliffs they are buried as they live like so many dogs I 1 saw one who had been I 1 drowned it was not known whether accidentally or not lying alyin on the guano when I 1 first went ashore ua all the morning his dead body lay in the sun in the afternoon they had covered it a few inches and there it lies along with many similar heap swithin a few yards of where they are digging i on the north island the chinese carry heavy water casks slung on poles between beaw een two u up th the steep hill they can in ali this I 1 8 way as w well elp as in in barrows take weights altogether disproportionate to their slender forms th they ae loot look unhappy as well they may we know that the chinese are strongly y attached to their native soil wretched and half barbarous as they may be dark as may be their souls they still have human feelings a and I 1 am not so constituted that I 1 can witness the in justic of their treatment and their sufferings without compassion without indignation it ought to be made known wherever english law prevails that these poor creatures are deceived and sold into a servitude from which they almost daily seek escape through death by englishmen it is not domestic slavery in in which they are placed they were not born bom slaves they are not protected by any laws there are no women with them 1 their condition is worse than that of any criminals exiles or prisoners in in any civilized nation it ought to be everywhere known americans who have to bear the reproaches pro aches of the english for institutions entailed upon them thein and which they could not avoid have a right to reply that the worst slavery that exists among the civilized nations of f the earth is maintained by british subjects who transport coolies to the chin oba islands it is not the fault of the english that the same system is not carried on in australia the coolies brought there however have not turned out a good speculation but the taking and selling free men to such task masters as the peruvians who are little better than the chinese is an outrage to bu humanity manity and a reproach to british rule let the next slaver the english cruisers capture be one of their own ships with a cargo of coolies for this market |