Show A frenchmans FRENCH MANS VIEW OF THE 7 MORMONS to the editor of the san francisco laler courier ogden utah feb sir here I 1 am in the midst of the latter day saints of course I 1 cannot fail fall to obtain my salvation whilst waiting for my conversion I 1 am forced to admire this people who have been so much slandered under the name of mormons cormons Mor mons it is a positive fact that all the country that forms the desert of great salt lake would yet i be a wilderness with no inhabitants sa save ve the men paid by the overland mail company to take care of the hors horses es on the road had not the mormons cormons fled from persecution in order cotlon to enjoy the rights bequeathed by the Co constitution tion to practice freely their religion and had they not had the noble energy to leave their fertile fields of illinois to cross the desert plains and pitch their tents on this side of the rocky mountains on the barren shores of the great salt lake which until then presented the wildest aspect of horrid desolation to the bold explorers who visited its ita shores that are today so delightful the city of salt lake with its twenty thousand inhabitants is situated to the northeast north east of a valley which was considered incapable of producing a single bushel of grain thousands of farms sustaining at present more than a hundred thousand people are scattered on that desert so much dreaded that formerly but few would venture to cross it 11 the irrigating canals which abound in the country produce everywhere abundance and fertility those soils which had until then produced nothing but the sage brush are today to day covered with cereals and gardens of fruit trees the desert has been changed to an oasis and not only supports its inhabitants but furnishes provisions to the neighboring Terri terni territories tories all this is the work of the mormons cormons Mor mons ns the work of a people who came here with no other help but the strength of their own hands in order to preserve their faith they have accomplished that miracle with the sweat of their brows their hard labor and indomitable pre severance have been rewarded and now that through their marvellous marcellous marv ellous industry that people have dotted large portions of the country with fertile fields of inexhaustible wealth pie vie alth aith is it not a heinous crime to bring trouble on that peaceful and population and molest them in the enjoyment of their labors under the pretext that their religious ideas do not agree with those of the people who surround them the american government to which they pay their tax tak should should it not as well as the constitution give them protection why enact laws contrary to their doctrines and manners when under the boon of freedom and when they only claim the right to live as hon est and peaceable citizens of the united states but some will say they practice polygamy oly ois gamy that practice is abominable iio ele and immoral let me say that this assertion must be proved polygamy has been practiced by the most civilized people of antiquity and is now practiced practiced by those who are not christians ians lans the abomination is not very great with regard to immorality I 1 wish some one to give me a precise definition fini tion of what is moral so that I 1 may at once beable be able abie to mauel makel make maue 11 Qi iha pha 1 titi N 0 WS w between moral and immoral immor alt ait V e H ae see get if morality is a unit as dl has been is I 1 now a and ud alway sUii seli of ot every everywhere re the same Howbeit pol dol bo gamy was considered moral by byne hear jear artt t tal tai th the e whole universe before jesus jesua chrit mi WI and since his coming has been doag dohs t eoaS 0 ig we vc dered as such by almost half the ine gd ed tants of the earth ak jr dr I 1 will admit that christiam christianity as qu changed our ideas on that subjects at ad aln in a country that professes no re reig of and u under n der a constitution that decse el that the government must not noting in ui with the affairs of conscience ia is a IF pa a veritable persecution hy by the g go i v e VF ment against a religion of ai al constitution enjoins free exercise ff I 1 am no mormon and I 1 am per pen e a ac r disinterested in the question I 1 s tb only as a citizen when one has hasi nr ur ways in ones mouth the words oo 00 bonss tn tu aution and liberty and uses thema them w his own behalf one must give ot otus 0 tn t r the same privilege the stronger shot de not oppress the weaker not even in 6 5 lit name of liberty because ilbert libert liberty y wol woi wo su then be only disguised tyranny I 1 so my ideas may perhaps hurt somei some pa your our readers but when orie one has a i down n a principle it must be admitum ma with all its con sequences consequences N W V polygamy is is not enforced here berely cl mr D entirely optional A woman marri marries es man already married of her full fall coi 0 na n sent she does it of her own fa arl C ci will and does not complain about ato aro b at 31 she does it because it pleases her h e arf a I 1 BO moreover because she thinks she doi d tr right under the inspire inspiration t on of her r w legious convictions and th the e laws of ochs 4 a country utah which a allow nilow low her to di 6 D so Is she she bhe more to blame than fa t young girl who takes the veil and cos oos cos Q fines herself in a convent under tn impulsion of her conscience and ii virtue of her free agency liberty fa fat all is what the mormons cormons require ad aili they have a right to claim it respectfully ac cn cir DE LABAUME a through the courtesy of elder george fi 8 0 A smith we are enabled to present the t readers of the news with the following n interesting letter a b ST LOUIS july ath 1867 hon george A smith L dear brother henry G boyle W ic c N dusenbury john P lee and my a self arrived in this city on the 2nd and dinst in good health br lee has gone to 1 kentucky and br dusenbury has gone y into illinois to spend a few days wit f his friends I 1 shall go today to day in int f southern illinois to visit my rel nei relatives tive br boyle will remain here until eider elder id e noward toward coray arrives when they w wil wll proceed to virginia j we found eider elder lorenzo D rud kudu here laboring for the cause there ere is i a branch of the church here bere wit nearly a members and bap baptisms is S ar arg quite frequent A good feeling pre pret t vails 1 we left great salt lake city on th tn of may and we had a prosperous journey our n ey though owing to the bad stat state of the road we traveled very slowly fot fok fo a while we had no accidents or trow ble on the way and all enjoyed good gooc health we saw no hostile indians al though we looked closely for them ni night hf and day and if they saw us they failed to let us know it either our vigilance br or some kind providence caused the them to respect our rights as pilgrims on th the plains we watched closely prayed fervently and relied upon the promises an and blessings conferred upon us and we passed unscathed the rascals were all ail around us they stole four mules from froni a station on bitter creek about three hours before we got to it and the day after they drove oss off 60 head of horses and mules from the same station we saw the stations still smoking for seventy five miles where they hadl hadi burnt them a few d days ays before we saw sav some fresh graves where men had just been buried killed by indians and mules that were killed in an attack a few days before fragments of mail mall matter were scattered all around we traveled so slowly during the fore part of the journey that thad some got very impatient for which those afflicted would see no remedy short of Ju lesburg where we expected to meet with the cars and go by steam upon arriving at Ju lesburg tickets to omaha were soon secured for 24 of us the train was vas i to start and no time was to be lost all persons were to be he at the wafer water tank and get aboard while a apply t of or water was taken in for the engine A general rush was made and pretty soon men were seen stringing out from camp with bundles in their hands some on foot and others in wagons trotting across the bottom and sand his uis hails in search of the tank which was said to be about four miles off after a run of that dista distance uce nce ve vre reached the tank and were informed that the iron horse had taken his drink and started skirted for omaha about three quarters of an hour before our arrival and that it would be 24 hours before another would be along here was another hard job for us to pitch camp and use up another day we finally accomplished it and gotto got to traveling by steam when impatience seemed to give way and contentment began to apper after we had run about miles we came to an empty feight train smashed up on the track six cars had run off and tore up the track three of the cars were turned over and we left the others and were placed on the track again and the track repaired no one was hurt this detained us about three hours another little trial of patience and the feeling suggested the inquiry why could not some inventor mature a plan to carry passengers by telegraph at omaha we found several returning missionaries among whom were bishop william smith abraham hatch leonard rice elmer taylor and others the union pacific badroad company are rapidly laying the track up pole creek from 21 2 to 3 miles a day was about the rate we saw thousands of men at work in parties for a great distance along the line parties of soldiers were scattered along for protection among whom were a number of paw nees in the federal uniform gilem give my best respects to the presidency and ait alT all ail associated with you your brother in the gospel i J jolin jolln BROWN |