MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV), FREDERICK MARRYAT [easy novels to read .txt] 📗

Subscribers For Stock Were Allowed to Pay The

Amount Of Their Subscriptions In town Lots, At Five Or Six Times Their

Real Value; Others Paid In personal Property At A High Valuation; And

Some Paid The Cash. When The Notes Were First Issued, They Were Current

In The Vicinity, And Smith Took Advantage Of Their Credit To Pay Off

With Them The Debts He And The Brethren Had Contracted in the

Neighbourhood For Land And Other Purchases. The Eastern Creditors,

However, Refused to Take Their Notes. This Led to The Expedient Of

Exchanging Them For The Notes Of Other Banks.

 

 

 

Accordingly, The Elders Were Sent Off The Country To Barter Kirkland

Money, Which They Did With Great Zeal, And Continued the Operation Until

The Notes Were Not Worth Sixpence To The Dollar. As Might Have Been

Expected, This Institution Exploded after A Few Months, Involving Smith

And His Brethren In inextricable Difficulties. The Consequence Was That

He And Most Of The Members Of The Church Set Off. In the Spring Of 1838,

For Missouri, Pursued by Their Creditors, But To No Effect.

 

 

 

We Must Now Go Back For A Short Period To State Another Circumstance. In

1836 An Endowment Meeting, Or Solemn Assembly, Was Called, To Be Held In

The Temple At Kirkland. It Was Given Out That Those Who Were In

Attendance At The Meeting Should Receive An Endowment Or Blessing

Similar To That Experienced by The Disciples Of Christ On The Day Of

Pentecost. When The Day Arrived, Great Numbers Convened from The

Different Churches In the Country. They Spent The Day In fasting and

Prayer, And In washing and Perfuming Their Bodies; They Also Washed

Their Feet And Anointed their Heads With What They Called holy Oil, And

Pronounced blessings.

 

 

 

In The Evening They Met For The Endowment; The Fast Was Then Broken, By

Eating Light Wheat Bread, And Drinking as Much Wine As They Thought

Proper. Smith Knew Well How To Infuse The Spirit Which They Expected to

Receive; So He Encouraged the Brethren To Drink Freely, Telling Them

That The Wine Was Consecrated, And Would Not Make Them Drank. As May Be

Supposed, They Drank To Some Purpose; After This, They Began To

Prophesy, Pronouncing Blessings Upon Their Friends And Curses Upon Their

Enemies; After Which The Meeting adjourned.

 

 

 

We Now Return To Missouri. The Mormons Who Had Settled in and About

Independence, In the Year 1831, Having Become Very Arrogant, Claiming

The Land As Their Own, Saying, The Lord Had Given It To Them, And Making

The Most Haughty Assumptions, So Exasperated the Old Citizens, That A

Mob Was Raised in 1833, And Expelled the Whole Mormon Body From The

County. They Fled to Clay County, Where The Citizens Permitted them To

Live In quiet Till 1836, When A Mob Spirit Began To Manifest Itself, And

The Mormons Retired to A Very Thinly Settled district Of The Country,

Where They Began To Make Improvements.

 

 

 

This District Was At The Session Of 1836-7 Of The Missouri Legislature,

Erected into A County By The Name Of Caldwell, With Far-West For Its

Capital. Here The Mormons Remained in quiet Until After The Bank

Explosion In kirkland, In 1838, When Smith, Rigdon, And Others Of The

Heads Of The Sect Arrived. Shortly After This, The Danite Society Was

Organised, The Object Of Which, At First, Was To Drive The Dissenters

Out Of The County. The Members Of This Society Were Bound By An Oath And

Covenant, With The Penalty Of Death Attached to A Breach Of It, To

Defend The Presidency, And Each Other, Unto Death, Right Or Wrong. They

Had Their Secret Signs, By Which They Knew Each Other, Either By Day Or

Night; And Were Divided into Bands Of Tens And Fifties, With A Captain

Over Each Band, And A General Over The Whole. After This Body Was

Formed, Notice Was Given To Several Of The Dissenters To Leave The

County, And They Were Threatened severely In case Of Disobedience. The

Effect Of This Was That Many Of The Dissenters Left. Among These Were

David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Hiram Page, And Oliver Cowdery, All

Witnesses To The Book Of Mormon; Also Lyman Johnson, One Of The

Twelve Apostles.

 

 

 

The Day After John Whitmer Left His House In far-West, It Was Taken

Possession Of By Sidney Rigdon. About This Time Rigdon Preached his

Famous "Salt Sermon." The Text Was--"Ye Are The Salt Of The Earth, But

If The Salt Has Lost Its Savour, Wherewith Shall It Be Salted? It Is

Thenceforth Good For Nothing, But To Be Cast Out, And To Be Trodden

Under Foot Of Men." He Informed the Mormons That The Church Was The

Salt; That Dissenters Were The Salt That Had Lost Its Savour; And That

They Were Literally To Be Trodden Under The Foot Of The Church, Until

Their Bowels Should Gush Out.

 

 

 

In One Of The Meetings Of The Danite Band, One Of The Leaders Informed

Them That The Time Was Not Far Distant When The Elders Of The Church

Should Go Forth To The World With Swords At Their Sides, And That They

Would Soon Have To Go Through The State Of Missouri, And Slay Every Man,

Woman, And Child! They Had It In contemplation At One Time To Prophesy A

Dreadful Pestilence In missouri, And Then To Poison The Waters Of The

State, To Bring It About, And Thus To Destroy The Inhabitants.

 

 

 

In The Early Part Of The Fall Of The Year 1838, The Last Disturbance

Between The Mormons And The Missourians Commenced. It Had Its Origin At

An Election In davies County, Some Of The Mormons Had Located. A Citizen

Of Davies, In a Conversation With A Mormon, Remarked that The Mormons

All Voted one Way. This Was Denied with Warmth; A Violent Contest

Ensued, When, At Last, The Mormon Called the Missourian A Liar. They

Came To Blows, And The Quarrel Was Followed by A Row Between The Mormons

And The Missourians.

 

 

 

A Day Or Two After This, Smith, With A Company Of Men From Far-West,

Went Into Davies County, For The Purpose, As They Said, Of Quelling The

Mob; But When They Arrived, The Mob Had Dispersed. The Citizens Of

Davies Gathered in their Turn; However, The Mormons Soon Collected a

Force To The Amount Of Five Hundred men, And Compelled the Citizens To

Retire; They Fled, Leaving The Country Deserted for Many Miles Around.

At This Time, The Mormons Killed between Two And Three Hundred hogs, And

A Number Of Cattle; Took At Least Forty Or Fifty Stands Of Honey, And At

The Same Time Destroyed several Fields Of Corn. The Word Was Given Out

That The Lord Had Consecrated, Through The Church, The Spoils Unto

His Host.

 

 

 

All This Was Done When They Had Plenty Of Their Own, And Previous To The

Citizens In that Section Of The Country Taking anything From Them. They

Continued these Depredations For Near A Week, When The Clay County

Militia Was Ordered out. The Contest Was A Bloody One: Suffice It To Say

That, Finally, Smith, Rigdon, And Many Others Were Taken, And, At A

Court Of Inquiry, Were Remanded over For Trial. Rigdon Was Afterwards

Discharged on _Habeas Corpus_, And Smith And His Comrades, After Being

In Prison Several Months, Escaped from Their Guards, And Reached quincy,

Illinois. The Mormons Had Been Before Ordered to Leave The State, By

Direction Of The Governor, And Many Had Retired to Illinois Previous To

Smith'S Arrival.

 

 

 

The Mormons, As A Body, Arrived in illinois In the Early Part Of The

Year 1839, In a State Of Great Destitution And Wretchedness. Their

Condition, With Their Tales Of Persecutions And Privations, Wrought

Powerfully Upon The Sympathies Of The Citizens, And Caused them To Be

Received with The Greatest Hospitality And Kindness. After The Arrival

Of Smith, The Greater Part Of Them Settled at Commerce, Situated upon

The Mississippi River, At The Lower Rapids, Just Opposite The Entrance

Of The River Des Monies, A Site Equal In beauty To Any On The River.

Here They Began To Build, And In the Short Time Of Four Years They Have

Raised a City. At First, As Was Before Said, On Account Of Their Former

Sufferings, And Also From The Great Political Power Which They

Possessed, From Their Unity, They Were Treated by The Citizens Of

Illinois With Great Respect; But Subsequent Events Have Turned the Tide

Of Feeling against Them.

 

 

 

In The Winter Of 1840, They Applied to The Legislature Of The State For

Several Charters; One For The City Of Nauvoo, The Name Smith Had Given

To The Town Of Commerce; One For The Nauvoo Legion, A Military Body; One

For Manufacturing Purposes, And One For The Nauvoo University. The

Privileges Which They Asked for Were Very Extensive, And Such Was The

Desire To Secure Their Political Support, That All Were Granted for The

Mere Asking; Indeed, The Leaders Of The American Legislature Seemed to

Vie With Each Other In sycophancy Towards This Body Of Fanatical

Strangers, So Anxious Was Each Party To Do Them Some Favour That Would

Secure Their Gratitude. This Tended to Produce Jealousy In the Minds Of

The Neighbouring Citizens, And Fears Were Expressed lest A Body So

United, Religiously And Politically, Might Become Dangerous To Liberal

Institutions.

 

 

 

The Mormons Had At Every Election Voted in a Body With Their Leaders;

This Alone Made Them Formidable. The Legion Of Mormons Had Been Amply

Supplied with Arms By The State, And The Whole Body Was Under The

Strictest Military Discipline. These Facts, Together With Complaints

Similar To Those Which Were Made In missouri, Tended to Arouse A Strong

Feeling against Them, And At Last, In the Early Part Of The Summer Of

1841, The Citizens Of Illinois Organized a Strong Force In opposition;

The Mormons Were Beaten In the Contest. The Disposition Now Manifested

By The Citizens Appears To Be To Act Upon The Defensive, But At All

Hazards To Maintain Their Rights.

 

 

 

As Regards The Pecuniary Transactions Of The Mormons Since They Have

Been In illinois, Smith Still Uses His Power For His Own Benefit. His

Present Arrangements Are To Purchase Land At A Low Rate, Lay It Off Into

Town Lots, Which He Sells To His Followers At A High Price; Thus Lots

That Scarcely Cost Him A Dollar, Are Frequently Sold For A Thousand. He

Has Raised several Towns In this Manner, Both In illinois And In iowa.

 

 

 

During The Last Year, He Has Made Two Proclamations To His Followers

Abroad, To Come And Settle In the County Of Hancock. These Proclamations

Have Been Obeyed to A Great Extent, And, Strange To Say, Hundreds Have

Been Flocking In from The Great Manufacturing Cities Of England. What

Is To Be The Result Of All This, It Is Impossible To Tell; But One Thing

Is Certain, That, In a Political Point Of View, The Mormons Are Already

Powerful, And That The Object Of Smith Is Evidently To Collect All His

Followers Into One Focus, And Thus Concentrate All His Power And Wealth.

 

 

 

The Designs Of Smith And His Coadjutors, At The Time Of The First

Publication Of The Book Of Mormon, Was, Doubtlessly, Nothing More Than

Pecuniary Aggrandizement. We Do Not Believe They Expected at That Time

That So Many Could Ever Be Duped to Be Converted; When, However, The

Delusion Began To Spread, The Publishers Saw The Door Opened not Only

For Wealth, But Also For Extensive Power, And Their History Throughout

Shows That They Have Not Been Remiss In their Efforts To Acquire Both.

The Extent Of Their Desires Is Now By No Means Limited, For Their

Writings And Actions Show A Design To Pursue The Same Path, And Attain

The Same End By The Same Means, As Did Mahomet. The Idea Of A Second

Mahomet Arising In the Nineteenth Century May Excite A Smile, But When

We Consider The Steps Now Taken By The Mormons To Concentrate Their

Numbers, And Their Ultimate Design To Unite Themselves With The Indians,

It Will Not Be At All Surprising, If Scenes Unheard Of Since The Days Of

Feudalism Should Soon Be Re-Enacted.

 

 

 

I Will Here Submit To My Readers A Letter Directed to Mr. Courtenay In

1842, By A Superior Officer Of The United states Artillery.

 

 

 

"Yesterday (July The 10Th) Was A Great Day Among The Mormons; Their

Legion, To The Number Of Three Thousand Men, Was Reviewed by Generals

Smith, Bennet, And Others, And Certainly Made A Very Noble And Imposing

Appearance; The Evolutions Of The Troops Commanded by Joe Would Do

Honour To Any Body Of Regular Soldiers In england. France, Or Prussia.

What Does This Mean? Why This Exact Discipline Of The Mormon Corps? Do

They Intend To Conquer Missouri, Illinois, Mexico? It Is True They Are

Part Of The Militia Of The State Of Illinois, By The Charter Of Their

Legion, But Then There Are No Troops In the States Like Them In point Of

Discipline And Enthusiasm; And Led on By Ambitious And Talented

Officers, What May Not Be Effected by Them? Perhaps The Subversion Of

The Constitution Of The United