Mormon History
Gentiles Against the State of Deseret - 1850
Mention is frequently made of Deseret, as the name of a territory
settled by the people commonly called Mormons, and now praying to be
admitted into the Union under the name just stated. It is a matter of
surprise that this subject has not attracted a greater degree of public
attention. This circumstance can only be accounted for by the fact that
other subjects of a more urgent nature have for the last few months
occupied the thoughts and time of Congress and the people. Under
ordinary circumstances, there are many questions connected with the
settlement of the Mormons, and their present application to be admitted
into the federal Union, which would have been thought to require very
serious consequences.
In the first place, who and what are the Mormons? The answer is, they
are a sect of fanatics, who have sprung up within the last few years,
and who believe in the late Joe Smith as a divine prophet. Since the
cruel murder of Joe Smith, they believe that his gift and power of
prophecy have passed to his successors, and that Divine revelations are
regularly and even frequently made by them and their followers. The
"Book of Mormon" is a pretended revelation, which Joe Smith alleged was
communicated to him on golden plates, dug up in the State of New York,
written in an unknown language, but translated into English by himself.
In point of fact, the greater part of this pretended new Bible was a
sort of religious romance written by a clergyman of New York, not with
any intention to deceive, but as an effort (a very ill-judged one) at
an innocent exercise of the imagination. By some accident it fell into
Joe Smith's hands, and was by him made the subject of the abominable
fraud just named. The deluded followers of Smith, calling themselves
"Latter-day Saints," emigrated, we believe from New York to the West,
Whether their first establishment there was in the State of Missouri,
we are not accurately informed. They had not been long in that State
before they incurred the ill-will and odium of their neighbors, and
were illegally and violently driven out of the State. They took refuge
in Illinois, founded the city of Nauvoo, built an abortion of
architecture which they called a temple, and grew rapidly in numbers
and wealth. Recruits of two descriptions flocked to them; first, simple
fanatics, who believed in the pretensions of Joe Smith, a considerable
number of whom were enlisted by his missionaries. not only on the
Middle and Northern States, but in England; and second, adventurers of
every kind, who flocked to Nauvoo to speculate upon the credulity of
the other portion.
To the disgrace of the age this wicked imposture flourished. As a
specimen of its grossness, we may mention a fact, stated by an
extremely respectable gentleman of this city, as one within his
personal knowledge. Being on a tour to the West, he visited Nauvoo from
curiosity. In the temple he was shown a collection of curiosities, and
among them were one or two mummies, which had been imported from Egypt
by Joe Smith. The attention of the visitor was called by Smith to the
mummy clothes and the writing upon them. "There," said Smith, "that's
the hand writing of the patriarch Abraham, and I am the only man that
can read it," which he then proceeded to do!
In the course of a few years the scenes of violence which had occurred
in Missouri, were repeated, and with still more fatal results, in
Illinois, and the Mormons were driven from the State by armed and
organized bodies -- not acting, however, with any legal authority. We
do not, by any means, justify or palliate the manner in which the
Mormons were treated, either in Missouri or Illinois. It was illegal
and cruel, and this without any reference to the character and conduct
of the Mormons. What credit is to be given to the reports which
circulated to their disadvantage we have no means of knowing. They were
believed to be guilty of the grossest immoralities; it has been
constantly stated that they professed and practiced on the doctrine of
community, or plurality of wives; and it was believed in their
neighborhood that they made up their separate organization to screen
each other in a general violation of the laws of the land and good
morals. Whether this is true, false, or exaggerated, we have no
knowledge; but it seems scarcely possible that, unless there had been
some foundation for the prejudice, they should in so short a time have
become the object of such bitter hostility in Missouri and Illinois.
In the conflict between the Mormons and the neighboring population of
Illinois, Joe Smith was murdered in the prison in which he had been
committed. His followers fled from the State and formed the resolution
to emigrate to California; not then known to abound in gold. Having
reached the region of the great Salt Lake they halted there and
established a settlement, which has produced, and is now said to
contain twenty thousand persons, one half of whom are unnaturalized
foreigners, principally English. It is probable that their settlement
has received a good many recruits from emigrants who had started for
California. Their pretended theocratic government is still kept up; and
revelations are a regularly announced to them as the orders of the day
by a commanding general in time of war.
Such is the people, who having founded a few straggling settlements on
the public land of the United States -- of which they do not own an
inch, of which the Indian title has not been extinguished -- have
formed a constitution of government, chosen a Delegate to Congress, and
asked admission to the Union as an organized territory by the name of
Deseret. As far as we can judge, the region modestly included within
the boundaries which they have granted themselves is about as big as
all New England and New York. This is "vote yourself a farm" with a
vengeance. If Congress admits the pretensions of these people, they all
them to vote themselves to each adult male a domain about as big as
Rhode Island; or rather, Congress will in so doing, grant its sanction
to this most monstrous and unexpected appropriation, which has already
been made by the Mormons.
Had the Mormons addressed a memorial to Congress praying for a small
tract of land, say five or six townships 00 a quarter section for each
head of a family (!) -- our individual feelings might have been in
favor of complying with their request, and thus allowing them a place
of asylum from persecutions. We very much doubt, however, whether
Congress would have granted such a petition. It is entirely against the
spirit of our legislation to bestow any such favor on large organized
sects. It never has been done, and it may be doubted whether it ever
ought to be done. There are about twenty thousand Shakers in New York
and the Eastern States; they own valuable tracts of land, honestly
bought and paid for, or acquired by gift. Suppose they should (with or
without reason) become odious to their neighbors, be the subjects if a
general persecution, and finally be driven by violence from their
present homes; does any man propose for a moment that Congress would
grant them an ample tract out of the public domain? Would such a grant
be made to any sect -- to Mennonites, Rappists, to Trinitarians,
Unitarians, Orthodox or Liberal? Is there any one of the kindred sects
that fill the dictionary of denominations, to which Congress would
grant an acre of land, or even a charter of incorporation? We think not.
But Congress is asked to make to this sect, not of Christians but of
Mormons, of believers not in Jesus Christ but of Joe Smith, a more than
imperial grant; to bestow upon them, not a township, but a region as
large as Great Britain; not an act of incorporation, but an act of
admission, on terms of equal membership, to this Union of States!
The name by which the Mormons have begun to call their new settlement,
and propose to call their new State, is Deseret; and if there were no
other objection to this name, it would be a sufficient and fatal
objection that its adoption by Congress would be a direct recognition
of the wretched fraud called the Book of Mormon. The following is the
account which we find cited from the Frontier Guardian: "The name
selected for that country is borrowed from the Book of Mormon, where a
description is given of a voyage of the ancient Jaredites, from the
Tower of Babel to the American continent, more than four thousand years
ago. It is said they brought with them seeds of all kinds, and also
'Deseret,' which by interpretation is the 'honey bee.' The bee and the
hive being emblems of industry, the citizens there, wishing ever to
exhibit those qualifications, have chosen the above name, as being
adapted to the character which they ever wish to sustain."
It is unnecessary to state that this whole attempt to connect the
history of the Mormons -- a sect of fanatics formed in our own day --
with the dispersion of mankind at the tower of Babel is pure fiction.
It is a part of the romance to which we allude above, and which Joe
Smith adopted as his revelation. There is not the slightest reason for
thinking that the word Deseret means Honey Bee in any language ever
spoken by man. We have seen it stated, and that in a respectable
journal, that Deseret is the ancient Egyptian word for Bee.
Of this we have no proof. Sir Gardner Wilkinson does not appear to have
known the ancient Egyptian name of the bee, (see his Manners and
Customs, second series, vol. 1, p. 81,) and if not known to him, it is
not likely to have been known to any one else. In fact, we understand
that the Mormons do not themselves pretend that Deseret is the ancient
Egyptian word for bee, but that a certain ancient race called Jaredites
(existing only in the imagination of Joe Smith and his followers)
brought from the tower of Babel a something which they called Deseret,
and which is, by the Mormon interpretation, honey-bee. The entire Book
of Mormon being a forgery out of whole cloth, it is of course idle to
discuss the meaning of anything contained in it. But we protest against
the incorporation of any of this jargon into the statute book of the
United States.
We have lately seen in the Washington papers handsome testimonials to
the moral character of the Mormons in their present location, to their
thrift, good conduct, and consequent general prosperity. How far these
testimonials are well-founded we do not know. We do not at all enter
into the question of the morality of the Mormons nor in the slightest
degree apologize for the treatment which they received in Missouri and
Illinois. At the same time, however, there is reason for believing that
they hold some dangerous principles of practical morality, which should
make Congress pause before they constitute them a coequal sovereign
member of the Union. If their future history is to resemble the past,
Congress, in taking steps to organize them into a permanent political
community, will be laying the foundation of convulsions of a most
dangerous character. If they were, or believed to be, a community which
neither Missouri nor Illinois would tolerate, even in the number of a
few thousands, is it likely that they can live in peace and harmony
with neighboring states, when they themselves have grown into a
powerful State, wielded by artful chiefs who pretend to add Divine to
human power?
It has been publicly stated by seceding members of the Mormon body that
their leaders already threaten vengeance for the wrongs they have
suffered; and among the wild visions of Joe Smith's heated brain was
that of acting over again the part of Mahomet, and founding a new
Mormon caliphate on this continent. We may smile at the egregious
absurdity of these delusions, and yet not think it prudent to assist
his followers, already boasting of their tens of thousands, to plant
themselves on the high-road to California, and give them complete
control of our line of communications between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. FRANKLIN.
DESERET.
We notice that Mr. Wentworth
has introduced a petition into the House of Representatives, remonstrating
against the admission of Deseret into the Union. They object on the grounds that
the leaders there are enemies to the United States -- are robbers, murderers,
polygamists, &c., &c. The petitioners represent themselves to be Mormons
residing in the State of Illinois, and we presume are Strangites belonging to
Mr. Wentworth's District.
The attention of our readers is directed to an article on the subject of the
admission of Deseret, from the National Intelligencer, to be found on the
outside of our paper to-day.
Note 1: The petitioners "residing in the State of Illinois" were not
exactly "Strangites;" rather, they were former Strangites, allied with
William Smith at Shelbourne, Lee Co., Illinois. Shelbourne was the
western terminus of Palestine Grove, immediately south of what is now
Amboy, Illinois. This was the headquarters of William Smith's
"Palestine Stake of Zion." In Chapter 5 of his 1901 book on the
Mormons, William Alexander Linn provides the following information:
"The constitution of Deseret was presented to the House of
Representatives by Mr. Boyd, a Kentucky Democrat, on January 28, 1850,
and referred to the Committee on Territories. On July [sic] 25, John
Wentworth, an Illinois Democrat, presented a petition from citizens of
Lee County, in his state, asking Congress to protect the rights of
American citizens passing through the Salt Lake Valley, and charging on
the organizers of the State of Deseret treason, a desire for a kingly
government, murder, robbery, and polygamy." According to the Journal of
the House of Representatives of the United States, Wentworth's
presentation was made on February 25, 1850 -- the relevant entry for
that date reads: "Mr. Wentworth presented the petition of Thomas Hunt
and other citizens of the State of Illinois, praying Congress to
protect the rights of American citizens while trading through the
valley of the Salt Lake, and setting forth other matters concerning the
treasonable designs of the Salt Lake Mormons. On motion of Mr.
Wentworth, the said petition was read. Mr. Wentworth moved that the
petition be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. And debate
arising thereon, the petition was laid upon the table under the rule."
See Feb. 26, 1850 issue of the Washington D. C. Congressional Globe for
further information on this petition.
Note 2: According to the Journal of the House of Representatives of the
United States, on July 19, 1850, "Mr. Robert M. McLane reported that
the... Committee of Elections, to whom were referred the credentials of
Almon W. Babbitt, esq., and his memorial, praying to be admitted to a
seat in the House as a delegate from the provisional State of Deseret,
together with the resolution reported by the said committee, had come
to no resolution thereon." The issue for July 20, 1850 records that
John Wentworth voted against tabling the resolution to admit Almon W.
Babbitt, Esq., as the "delegate from the alleged State of Deseret."