A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Part 16

The new governor was a good man. He said the troops would have to come into the valley in the spring, but the people's rights would be respected, and no harm should be done to any of them. The Saints, however, could not trust the army. They remembered the scenes of the past, and resolved that they should not be enacted over again in the valleys of Utah. So, early in the spring, the order came for all the Saints to pack up their goods, get together their stock, and move southward, leaving their deserted homes in the care of a few guards who were to set fire to everything should the army attempt to locate in the settlements.

On seeing the Saints thus leaving their hard-earned homes, the kind-hearted old governor entreated them not to do so, promising them full protection.

When his wife arrived from the camp of the army and saw the towns lonely and deserted, she burst into tears and pleaded with her husband to bring the people back. The governor, however, could do nothing. The 30,000 people in Salt Lake City and northward took all their goods and moved south, most of them into Utah Valley.

President Buchanan, now having learned the true condition of affairs, sent two gentlemen to arrange for peace. They arrived in Salt Lake in June and had a number of meetings with the leading brethren who came from the south for that purpose. A letter was read from President Buchanan which, after telling of the many crimes committed by the "Mormons" against the government, offered to pardon all who would submit to the laws. In reply President Young said that he and his brethren had simply stood up for their rights, and they had done nothing to be pardoned for, except, perhaps the burning of some government trains, and for that act they accepted the President's pardon. President Young then said they were willing the troops should come into the country. They might march through the city but they were not to make a camp less than forty miles away. "No mobs shall live in the homes we have built in these mountains," said the president. "That's the program, gentlemen, whether you like it or not. If you want war, you can have it; but, if you want peace, peace it is; and we shall be glad of it." After the meetings the brethren went back to the Saints in the south.

June 26, 1858, "Johnston's Army," marched through Salt Lake City. All day long the troops and trains pa.s.sed through the city. The only sounds heard was the noise made by the horses' hoofs and the roll of the wagons. The city seemed as if dead. Hardly a person was seen on the streets. Quietly and orderly the soldiers marched on. Colonel Cooke, once the commander of the Mormon Battalion, bared his head as he rode through the streets in honor of the brave "Mormon" boys who had marched under his command.

The army camped that night across the Jordan, and then continued its march to Cedar Valley, thirty-six miles south of the city. About two years later, the soldiers went back to the east where they took part in the great Civil War. The commander, Albert Sidney Johnston, fought on the side of the south, and fell in the great battle of s.h.i.+loh.

The Saints returned to their homes in July, 1858. Thus again, the Lord preserved his people, and protected them from their enemies.

Topics.--1. The mission of Colonel Kane. 2. Governor c.u.mming installed.

3. Meeting with peace commissioners. 4. The move south. 5. The entrance of the army.

Questions and Review.--1. What did Colonel Kane do at Was.h.i.+ngton? 2.

What was his mission to Utah? 3. Where was the army camped? 4. Who was Governor c.u.mming? 5. What did Colonel Kane get the governor to do? 6. What did the governor find in Salt Lake City? 7. Why did the Saints move south?

8. What did they propose doing if the army came to harm them? 9. What were Governor c.u.mming's feelings? 10. Tell about the meeting with the peace commissioners. 11. Describe the march of the army through Salt Lake City.

12. Where did the soldiers camp? 13. When did they leave Utah, and where did they go?

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

PROSPERITY.

The action of the "Mormons" in again leaving the homes they had newly made in the wilderness of the West, called the whole world's attention to them.

Many honest people began to see what a mistake it had been to send armed soldiers against an innocent people.

When the army was withdrawn, peace once more prevailed, and the Church was again busy preaching the Gospel to the world and gathering the honest from the nations. Many missionaries were sent out and new fields were opened.

From Europe the Saints came by the thousands. Sometimes a whole s.h.i.+p would be engaged to take a company of Saints across the ocean, in charge of one of the Apostles or some leading elder. From the sea, they would travel in train loads to the end of the railroad, where companies of teams and wagons would take them the remainder of the journey to Utah.

Now came the telegraph line westward. October 17, 1861, it was completed to Salt Lake City, and the next day President Young sent the first message east. At this time the war between the north and the south was beginning, and in this first telegram President Young said that Utah had not seceded, but was firm for the Union.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SALT LAKE TABERNACLE (INTERIOR.)]

Following the telegraph came the railroads. The Union Pacific was being built from the east, while the Central Pacific came from the west. May 10, 1869, the two roads met in Northern Utah near the Promontory, and the last spike was driven with much ceremony. Thus was completed the first iron road across the continent.

But true to the past history of the Latter-day Saints, peace was not a blessing they were permitted to enjoy for many years at a time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SALT LAKE TABERNACLE (EXTERIOR.)]

In the year 1869 a number of prominent elders in the Church opposed President Young and the authorities, and were cut off from the Church. One of these elders was Wm. S. G.o.dbe, therefore those who followed him were sometimes called "G.o.dbeites." These men joined with the anti-"Mormons" and formed what was called the Liberal Party. It was the object of this organization to oppose the "Mormons," and they were aided in this by the officers sent to Utah by the government. It had been the policy of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson to let the "Mormons" alone, but when General Grant became president he changed the program and at once sent officers to Utah to "straighten out" the "Mormons." President Grant, no doubt obtained much of his information about the "Mormons" from his friend, the Rev. J.P.

Newman. This minister had held a three days' discussion in the Tabernacle at Salt Lake City with Apostle Orson Pratt on the subject of polygamy.

Elder Pratt seems to have got the better of the argument, and it can well be imagined what kind of information this preacher gave to the president.

The Saints never had more bitter enemies than some of these territorial officers, especially Governor Shaffer and Chief Judge McKean. For years these officials, aided by the Liberal Party, tried to run affairs their own way; and you can easily understand that they could do a great many hateful things against the "Mormons," having the officers of the law, if not the law itself, on their side. Especially was their hate directed towards President Young and the leading brethren who were accused of all manner of crimes. They were arrested, tried, and placed in prison in many unlawful ways.

Notwithstanding all these annoyances, the Church continued to grow in strength and numbers. The Sunday Schools, the first of which was organized in 1849, by Elder Richard Ballantyne, in the Fourteenth Ward of Salt Lake City, had by this time grown to be a strong inst.i.tution. The Mutual Improvement a.s.sociations were organized in 1875, and soon did much good among the young.

President Young and his brethren were busy organizing stakes of Zion, setting the quorums of the priesthood in order, directing the building of temples, laying out towns and cities, and attending to the general duties of the Church. Thus Zion grew and became stronger day by day.

Brigham City is named after President Young. August 19, 1877, the president was at that place and the Box Elder Stake of Zion was organized.

Shortly after his return home, he was taken ill and died August 29th, at the age of seventy-six.

Thus pa.s.sed away the second president of the Church. Joseph had laid the foundation deep and strong. Brigham had built upon it. For thirty years he had stood at the head of the Church and had led the Saints through some of the most trying scenes of their history. Brigham Young was the leading spirit in the removal from Nauvoo, in the march across the wild prairies and mountains, in the building up of a great state in the desert valleys of the Rocky Mountains; and his name will be ever honored as the great pioneer of the west.

Topics.--1. Prosperity of the Saints. 2. The telegraph and railroad. 3.

The Liberal Party. 4. Death of President Young.

Questions and Review.--1. How did the Saints come from Europe in early days? 2. Tell about the overland telegraph line in Utah and the first telegram. 3. Tell about the railroads. 4. Who composed the Liberal party?

5. What was its object? 6. How did President Grant treat the "Mormons?" 7.

Tell about the Newman-Pratt discussion. 8. Why could the Utah officials greatly annoy the Saints? 9. Who organized the first Sunday School? 10.

Where and when was it? 11. Tell of the death of President Young. 12. Tell what you can of his life.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

THE "CRUSADE."

Those who did not understand the true nature of "Mormonism" thought that at the death of Brigham Young, the Church would go to pieces; but they soon found out that the work of G.o.d does not depend on any one man. The Twelve again became the leading quorum in the Church, with John Taylor at its head. Three years after the death of President Young, October 10, 1880, the First Presidency was again organized. John Taylor became President, and he chose George Q. Cannon as first and Joseph F. Smith as second counselor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR.]

President Taylor was seventy-two years old at this time. He had been with the Church nearly from the beginning, having been an Apostle for forty-two years. He had filled many missions both in the United States and in Europe, had written much on gospel subjects, and was in reality as some called him, the "Champion of Liberty." You will remember that he was with Joseph and Hyrum at the time of their martyrdom in Carthage jail and was then severely wounded.

The year 1880 was the jubilee year of the Church, being fifty years since it was organized. As was the custom in ancient Israel, it was a time of forgiveness. The Church remitted many debts of the poor, besides giving them many sheep and cattle. "While G.o.d is blessing us, let us bless one another," said President Taylor; and thus much good feeling was manifested among the Saints.

But another storm was coming. A trial of another kind was in store for the Church.

In the days of Nauvoo, in 1843, Joseph the Prophet had received a revelation from G.o.d, saying that it was right for good men holding the priesthood to have more wives than one. By the time the Church had been in Utah a few years, quite a number of the Saints had obeyed this law and entered plural marriage. The enemies of the Church call this practice a great sin, even though they can read in the Bible that good men of old whom the Lord loved had many wives. In 1862 Congress pa.s.sed a law against plural marriage or polygamy. As many thought it was an unjust law, it was not enforced for many years. Elder George Reynolds offered to be arrested and tried under the law in order to have it tested. This was done, and Elder Reynolds was convicted and sent to prison. His case was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States where the law was decided to be const.i.tutional.

But this law was not hard enough on the "Mormons" to suit their enemies.

Sectarian preachers and politicians who wanted some office began to spread falsehoods all over the country about Utah and its people, all of which had its effect on Congress. Notwithstanding the protest of the "Mormons,"

another law was pa.s.sed against them, (March, 1882), called the Edmunds Act.

This law provided that no polygamist should vote or hold office; and if found guilty of polygamy a man might be fined five hundred dollars and put in prison for three years. If a man lived with more than one wife, he could be fined three hundred dollars and imprisoned for six months.

Officers were now sent to Utah to enforce this law, and what is called the "Crusade" began in earnest. "Mormons" were not allowed to sit on juries or have anything to do with the courts, so it was an easy matter to convict all "Mormons" who came to trial.

Arrests now followed fast, and it was indeed a sad time for many of the Saints. Officers, called deputy marshals, were sent into all the settlements of the Saints to spy out and arrest those supposed to be guilty. Many of the brethren left the country or went away in hiding to avoid being arrested, leaving the women and children to manage as best they could. In Idaho no "Mormon" was allowed to vote or hold office, no matter whether he had broken the law or not. Three brethren were sent from Arizona to the penitentiary at Detroit, Michigan. Nearly all the leading brethren were in hiding; and, as they could not speak to the people in their meetings, they wrote epistles which were read to the Saints at their conferences.

For a number of years this persecution went on. Seemingly, the strongest anti-"Mormons" should have been satisfied. But no; they asked Congress to make yet stronger laws to put down the "Mormons." Accordingly, in 1887, another law was pa.s.sed, called the Edmunds-Tucker Bill. This law, among other things, provided that the property of the Church should be confiscated, that is, taken from the Church. United States officers went to work at once and took from the Church nearly $800,000 worth of property.

After the officers had gotten some good salaries out of it, the property was at last given back to the Church.