| Show raban KANAB feb ard 3rd erdt 1872 1972 editor deseret news dear bir sir I 1 first drew breath in the atmosphere which floats the banner of our great republic in early youth A my political faith was embodied in ty the ohe 0 maxim that all men man were born free and equal I 1 then believed that within the pale of our own republic republican aa institutions was protection for oon the oppressed and the enjoyment of the great eai eat freedom compatible with the rights of others and especially for all men to worship god according to their perceptions of his attributes untrammeled by legislative enactments while contributing my mite in the contest with mexico towards redressing the wrongs of american citizens and enlarging the public domain re report ports reached me of the expulsion or of the mormons cormons Mor mons from nauvoo accompany ed by the suggestion that they might perish in the storms of winter on the bleak prairies in the spring of I 1 joined their fortunes by embracing their doctrines the same season in company with wilh many others I 1 followed the tho trail of their pioneers across the desolate wastes betge between orl erl the missouri river and the shores shored of the great bait sait lake the first object on the route which particularly interested me was a collection of dilapidated and sad tenantless tenant lesa cabina cabins on the west baak bask of the Misso missouri uri river near where the town of florence now stands on inquiry I 1 was informed that this had been the resting place of the cormons mormons Mor mons after their expulsion from the beautiful city of nauvoo the rest denied them hem in their own homes on the soil of illinois they had sought from the mercy of savages beyond the oon Don tines fines of civilization after a short lapite rea reb pite however they were compelled by h government govern lovern ment meni agents to remove to tha th bait ilde kide of the missouri river neaz netz MM this thia waymark way mark of W waa was whore where betl in ia thi the secure repose of death stern and enduring manhood elastic youth and prattling innocence alike the victims of relentless persecution no substantial fence protected this thia humble mausoleum leun from the tread of the reckless emigrant the prowling savage and the wild beasts who found protection in the very desolateness of its ita surroundings no costly monuments with finely chiseled epitaphs epitaph a ornamented the grounds and reminded the passer by that hore here rested the remains of the opulent and influential but the humble condition of surviving friends was evident from the rude rede pieces of timber and the ill III stones which occupied pied the heads of graves these were perhaps fent to indicate thet thel place where wounded affection might drop a few parting tears when the still operative forces of persecution compelled the remnant of this shattered people to bid adieu to the resting places of departed loved ones and seek a home in the solitudes of the great desert A fast age and the great continental railway are rapidly making the trail of the mormon mermon exodus to the interior of the continent a thing of the past but the dusty road the dreary plains the rocky heights the almost impossible caf canons lons ions the stampedes of cattle the lurking savage the nights of sleepless vigils the days of watchfulness and of weary labor the dying friend who had long hoped to enjoy a season of rest in a desert home the grave by the wayside way side hastily dug but deep to protect the debris of humanity from ravenous wolves will forever remain fresh in the memory of those to whom they have been a living reality on my arrival in great bait balb lake valley in the autumn of 1849 1 found a destitute but che cheerful erful erfal people struggling with tho the sterile elements for existence nature had poorly remunerated the labors of the husbandmen the country was wab nearly destitute of game and the scarcity ol of cattle rendered their preservation necessary for the future prosperity of the increasing population the settlers sett fera lera were a thousand miles from outside resources P and necessity compelled the utmost economy in the use of food hoping for a better future with no other resources than their hands bands and with their rid fid ralth raith th in their god for the sheet anchor of their existence they were forced to organize the means of subsistence from the elements and learn the invaluable lesson how to te turn deserts into gardens and desolate places into fruitful fields baptized in the fires of persecution tempered to resist oppression and wrong to the limit of human endurance practically outlawed and expelled from the soil of missouri and illinois by their fellow citizens for their ous ou belief neglected by the general government the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the constitution of their country have become indelibly stamped on their hearts by the brand of affliction and they will leave them as a sacred heritage e to theli thell caily dren drem that from the ashes of the republic may arise a more beautiful and permanent edifice of freedom and that the skeleton of the goddess of liberty whose flesh is being devoured by political cormorant sand whose comeliness is wasting away through domestic infelicity and social corruption may be again clothed upon with beauty and majesty and become the terror of the evil doer and a refuge of safety to the oppressed modern history records no other instance where a people have havet accomplished buch such good results with such slender resources while few communities according to their numbers have been of so much practical benefit to their country fewer still have received so little care and so BO many insults from their government taught self reliance by the necessity of self preservation accustomed to hardship and toll from the force of circumstances cum stances indifferent india erent alike to the attacks of slander and the sneers of contempt through implicit confidence in the rectitude tudo of their principles they have thus far in the end been masters misters of every S situation itu 6 tion in which they h have ave been placed when threatened in the autumn of 1857 with invasion for aggressive purposes by one of the finest equipped armies arales that ever trod american soll soli backed by the resources of a great nation 1 with a chief magistrate towards whom who r no respect could be entertained there was no araking in the councils of the pioneers plo pio of the great debert desert A few indomitable spirits occupied the defiles of the wasatch mountains and the fine military their plumes and froze out their enthat 1 th the rigors of ft a mountain gln gin ter and gave the hero of the war james jamea buchanan time to discover his folly whether unprejudiced observers be lieve the doctrines of the latter latteri day saints or not they are compelled to admit that they have laid the foundations of p h stata slata in public virtue and that they are purifying the fountains of life from the evils which ara are destroying the vitality of the human race when the railway commenced to stretch its iron bands hands across the continent many believed mormonism mormonism to be doomed do orned they expected to see it in the cess pools of sectarian christi christianity I 1 11 As the process of absorption by the operations of the railroad I 1 seemed blow biow a clique of corrupt officials have been imposed upon the territory who have endeavored to force the long desired issue issuer but the saints sainto presen preson t that same ame calm invincible front of resist wee ace ence to tl the insults of tyrannical oppression that has ever characterized them they are astill still masters of the situation and will marchon on to the fulfillment fulfilment of their glorious glori ous oua destiny with the firmness of inexorable fate brought into direct contact with what to them has heretofore been the outside world w orld orid they are ready to meet the issue they are ready to have the fruits of their lc social system coln colu compared pared with the results of monogamy they are willing to bring the thur their lr interpretation of the constitution of their country to bear on the perversions of political parties and the malad mal mai admi ad ministration of corrupt officials and to bring the principles of the gospel as taught by our savior in direct antagonism with the creeds of christendom and the errors of ages they are re ready ady to prove by their works religious liberty is not only a part of their civil code but also of their religious faith by the most uncompromising hostility to lo that Ju intolerance tolerance which lit up the public gardens of pagan rome romme with burning christians which filled the gloomy dungeons of t he the inquisition with the victims of torture which devastated cities and laid waste whole provinces which slaughtered the hugens Hu genc genf of france and drove the puritan fathers from protestant england to the shores of the new world thib this spirit of intolerance which bas bag descended from pagan rome romme as a religious heritage through the revolutions and changes of many hundred years Is culminating amidst the enlightenment of the iotch century ln in oppressing a peo plew piew hose bose motto is peace and good will to all men for following the practices of the patri patriarch atch and holy men man of old history abundantly proves that the fires of perie persecution cution hava have invariably consumed the sanctuaries of those that lit them the persecutions of the primitive christians christiana placed the crosb cross instead of the eagles at the head of the roman legions instituted the image of the virgin mary for that of the thil goddess of victory and relies relics of saints and martyrs for tho the numerous idols of heathen mythology overthrew overthrow the magnificent edifice of pagan civilization and erected on its ruins the bigoted rule of roman boman catholicism the persecutions of dissenters from I 1 he the church has subjected the relics of saints aud and martyrs to ridicule discarded the images of the virgin and of the cross and overthrown the temporal power of the roman koman pon tiff the revelations of heaven and the administrations of joseph smith have introduced into the creed iem lem of this ngo age the same gospel which jesus promulgated amid the paganism of rome romme and the burning rage of that intolerance which bas bag ever followed the saints bas has lit the funeral pile of sectarian creeds and the end is not vet yet JAMES A LITTLE GUNNISON F feb fob eb 7 1872 editor deseret news some indians indiana in this neighborhood seem inclined to be troublesome they have driven ox some of our cooperative stock st also far as known yette have received it t again except a span spin of horses belong belonging ng to this place A young man w wab was a out hunting a horse yesterday when three indiana fired at him one bullet whistled through his hat bat he returned their firing with what whai result is not known but every body living on the frontiers will do d 0 weli well weli to look out for themselves and their stock I 1 have had bad several returns of mail to this office letters sent from here the mail mall day before have come again two 0 farther or ri three days after having heving gone no further farther furo faro th er than to our beares nearest t neighboring post poet yo your youn ur brother H uri url |
