| Show TA thac MORMONS AND THE NATIONAL FLAG A loo LOCAL publication which is ie never so ao well pleased as when it can so score ore a point against the mormons cormons Mor mons and nd prefers it IT if it be an untruth was wa in great glee a few days ago at receiving a letter from a correspondent anonymous of course who had bad found another antii mormon mares nest it consists of a paragraph from a french book on the mormons cormons Mor mons written in 1853 in which the author speaks of a flag raised on OB ensign peak which contained the colors ol of all nations and was a representation of the entire human family this he be considered quite unique and ancl worthy of special mention from these remarks the anonymous correspondent jumps at the conclusion that this was the flag that the mormons cormons Mor mons raised on ensign heakon peak on july 26 1847 as chronicled in Sten houses history oblivious of the fact act that SteD stenhouse house said it was the national flag and the paper referred to cries out in ecstasy this makes everything ex 0 jar ar it is the most reasonable explanation the only explanation with any reason at all that we have ever seen of the act of those men on that famous day of july 1847 they mingled the flag of the united states stales with the flag of england with the flag of france with the nag flag ot of germany with the flag probably of the sandwich islands the flag of eve every y people among whom their missionaries had been and they had as much reverence for one as another the whole act was meant simply as establishing the sovereignty of the mormon kingdom over everthia erthia ov thit region 1 I what a pity it is to dampen the ardor of this of historical truth and to cast a cloud of doubt on oa this story that to is so exceedingly clear but nevertheless it becomes our painful duty to point out a few facts which will necessarily produce these effects it will be perceived by the careful reador reader that the french writer who would not quite recognize his bis contribution to the literature of the age in the extraordinary french which to is given give n as his language does pot not say that the combination he be describes was the flag fla raised by the pioneers nor that it was unfurled in 1847 nor that no national flag was then flung to the breeze these are merely the pretended deductions of the anonymous correspondent who ho calls himself history and of the paper that publishes his strained and unwarranted inferences we will not stop to dispute with the french writer about the unique flag which be describes except to say eay that no euch ensign was raised on the peak in 1847 nor to contend as to whether president brigham young and the other brethren who scaled ensign peak and named it on july 1847 at i that time hoisted the national flag od oh top lop of the peak but we will state as a well known historical fact that the flag raised here when the pioneers came was the national flag the stars and stripes which they had bad at winter quarters which there flog floated ted over their camp and which they brought here and raised on a pole erected for the purpose in the old fort now called the sixth ward square it was flung to the breeze when this was mexican sol soil when president george ceorge Q cavous cannon who came in ib the next company about two months later arrived here an other national flag brought by that company was hoisted oi on that pole ip in his presence next year he be assisted with his own hands in placing a sheaf of wheat raised in this valley on the same pole and above it the stars and stripes at the celebration of the Plo pioneers anniversary july 1849 a new national flag made by mormon ladies was flung bung to the breeze etwas it was sixty five feet long on a nole dole feet hi high h and was greeted with cheers E music the booming of guns and the honors of the assembly corn com banies and organizations of different kinds carried special banners but con among several of them was the national flag the declaration of independence was read and the constitution of the united states state was placed in the hands of president young trOung who waived it aloft and shouted amay may it live for ever and ever amid deafening shouts from the assembly the national flag was always conspicuous on public occasions from the coming of the pioneers through all the varied scones scenes of utah life it has been upheld as the symbol or that liberty which the venerated fathers of our country struggled to establish and which the mormon people desire all people in this I 1 land and to enjoy and maintain the stories that have been told as to its attempted dishonor are either untrue as ab to the fact or such perversions of the truth as to be fully equal to positive falsehood being made in the same earns spirit as prompted the inferences drawn in the present instance from the remarks of the preach french writer this spirit is exhibited in the annexed editorial comments on those inferences feren ces A very verv careful reading of the literature of the saints falls fails to reveal one kindly expression toward either the government or the people of the united states irom the time of their arrival here almost indefinitely at least until some time after the close of the rebellion of 1865 11 aaa let us see atthe at the celebration of pioneers day in 1860 1850 president brigham brigt briet ham barn young after the national flag was unfurled on the liberty colein pole in front of the bowery made an address in which he said paid in our exercises this day we shall take the liberta to exhibit in word our patrio patriotism independence and good feeling to lo that government which is said to be free and extend the arm of protection to every man woman and child within its corporate powers dr willard richards on the same occasion maintained the devotion of the mormons cormons Mor mons to their country and gave this f solemn note of warning inthe if the authoritative powers of states and the nation will speedily turn away from their ahful ul neglect of the peoples business and of spending the peoples money by milli millions ors without returning a just equivalent and consider the nation one and not a northern and southern two they may yet preserve our sacred union but it they shall coni continue nue their present course of operation no power of earth can save the union although we morcom mormons Mor mons mom 1 1 will mil contend for it as long ds as a shoe latchet is left with which to tie zt a together 11 I 1 I 1 II 11 at t the celebration july 1867 1857 tnt stars and stripes were carried in 14 emhe the procession by both ladles ladies and gen t lemen amen and a huge national flag was i unfurled on the temple block north 1 out et of the bowery on a lofty liberty liv pole lo in an oration by president daniel H wells he said after refer i rinK to the persecutions endured by cy the ahe saints sainte and and the service reD rendered dered v to the country by the mormon bat tal iop that country that constitution whose institutions were all ours they are still ours oura 91 because demagogues had arisen and 1 seized the reins or of power should we re linquish our interest in that country made dear to us ua by every tie of assoria tion and consanguinity should we for rea reasons such as these array ours ourselves ives in the mantle of insulted dignity and pride even thou though h e enclosing 0 ng in our arms the innocent victims timson of trea treachery cherf and bloods honor and ad seek the overthrow of that government of that country of those institutions whose only fault rethe want of good and faithful administrators who dare in the hour of their count rys peril step forth and stem the torrent that threatens to engulf all the widespread vortex of anarchy and ruin those who have indulged such sentiments have not read mormonism nim aright for never no never WW we desert our count rys cause never 4 will we be found arrayed by the side aide of her enemies although she herself may cherish them in her own bosom it was sentiments such as aa these which inspired the people and their leaders at that early date th ugh driven from their homes unlawfully and denied that protection to which they were entitled to organize under the american flag and constitution a provisional government and seek admission i into the union in their memorial to congress they said the inhabitants of the state of des aret ret in view of their security ind for the preservation of the constitutional right of the united states to hold jurisdiction there have organized a provisional state government under which the civil policy of the nation to is duly maintained 10 we have bave not space for fu further arther quotations we have made these to show what were the feelings of the toward the country when they were isolated and an 1 when it was thought that because of what they had 4 suffered they intended to cast off allegiance legi ance to the government whatever has been said at any time in re ferebe to officials who have misused the ibe power conferred upon them as servants of the people the constitution the government the natian have been upheld in the affections and by the acts of the mormon people and the tan stars and stripes have always been to them an emblem of authority as ae well adof as of liberty tj 0 which they were as teady ready to do honor when they first opened this desert to civilization as ou on the day of laying the capstone of the tem temple ale when the national flag floated above president woodruff woo Wool ruff as repressed he pressed the button that laid the stone and when the stars and stripes were run up to the tup top of the tower as B the ignal was given that the work was done |
