THE WORK INTRODUCED INTO PARIS—INTERVIEW WITH M. KROLOKOSKI—"WHICH IS BEST, YOUR PHILOSOPHY OR OUR RELIGION?"—FRENCH PHILOSOPHY OR FRIED FROTH—TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON INTO FRENCH—CHARACTERISTIC LETTER—UNSETTLED STATE OF AFFAIRS IN FRANCE—FRENCH LIBERTY—GOSPEL INTRODUCED INTO GERMANY—TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON INTO THE GERMAN—ZION'S PANIER—A CONFERENCE UNDER DIFFICULTIES—DEPARTURE FROM FRANCE—A KNOWING OFFICER AND A TRUE FRIEND.
Shortly after the discussion Elder Taylor left Boulogne for Paris, where he began studying the French language, and teaching the gospel. Among the interesting people whom he met there was M. Krolokoski, a disciple of M. Fourier, the distinguished French socialist. M. Krolokoski was a gentleman of some standing, being the editor of a paper published in Paris in support of Fourier's views. Another thing which makes the visit of this gentleman to Elder Taylor interesting is the fact that it was the society to which he belonged that sent M. Cabet to Nauvoo with the French Icarians, to establish a community on Fourier's principles. At his request Elder Taylor explained to him the leading principles of the gospel. At the conclusion of that explanation the following conversation occurred:
M. Krolokoski.—"Mr. Taylor, do you propose no other plan to ameliorate the condition of mankind than that of baptism for the remission of sins?"
Elder Taylor.—"This is all I propose about the matter."
M. Krolokoski.—"Well, I wish you every success; but I am afraid you will not succeed."
Elder Taylor.—"Monsieur Krolokoski, you sent Monsieur Cabet to Nauvoo, some time ago. He was considered your leader—the most talented man you had. He went to Nauvoo shortly after we had deserted it. Houses and lands could be obtained at a mere nominal sum. Rich farms were deserted, and thousands of us had left our houses and furniture in them, and almost everything calculated to promote the happiness of man was there. Never could a person go to a place under more happy circumstances. Besides all the advantages of having everything made ready to his hand, M. Cabet had a select company of colonists. He and his company went to Nauvoo—what is the result? I read in all your reports from there—published in your own paper here, in Paris, a continued cry for help. The cry is money, money! We want money to help us carry out our designs.[1]While your colony in Nauvoo with all the advantages of our deserted fields and homes—that they had only to move into—have been dragging out a miserable existence, the Latter-day Saints, though stripped of their all and banished from civilized society into the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, to seek that protection among savages—among thepeau rougesas you call our Indians—which Christian civilization denied us—there our people have built houses, enclosed lands, cultivated gardens, built school-houses, and have organized a government and are prospering in all the blessings of civilized life. Not only this, but they have sent thousands and thousands of dollars over to Europe to assist the suffering poor to go to America, where they might find an asylum.
"The society I represent, M. Krolokoski," he continued, "comes with the fear of God—the worship of the Great Eloheim; we offer the simple plan ordained of God, viz: repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Our people have not been seeking the influence of the world, nor the power of government, but they have obtained both. Whilst you, with your philosophy, independent of God, have been seeking to build up a system of communism and a government which is, according to your own accounts, the way to introduce the Millennial reign. Now, which is the best, our religion, or your philosophy?"
M. Krolokoski.—"Well, Mr. Taylor, I can say nothing."
"Philosophy" has always been a passion with the French; but Elder Taylor seems not to have had a very high regard for what he saw of it among them. He held it in the same esteem that Paul did the "science" of the Greeks—he considered it a misnomer—philosophy, falsely so called.
One day in walking through the splendid grounds of theFardin des Planteswith a number of friends, one of the party purchased a curious kind of cake, so thin and light, that you could blow it away, and eat all day of it and still not be satisfied. Some one of the company asked Elder Taylor if he knew the name of it. "No," he replied, "I don't know the proper name; but in the absence of one, I can give it a name—I will call it French philosophy, or fried froth, which ever you like."
During his stay in Paris he visited the Palace Vendome, and with a number of friends ascended Napoleon's Column of Victory. His companions scratched their names on the column as thousands had done before them. Seeing that Elder Taylor had not written his name, they asked him to write it with theirs. "No," he replied,"I will not write my name there; but I will yet write it in living, imperishable characters !"
Having baptized a number of people in Paris, he organized a branch of the Church in that city early in December. During the summer, too, he had made arrangements for translating the Book of Mormon into the French language, and publishing a monthly periodical, also in French, calledEtoile Du Deseret—The Star of Deseret,—a royal octavo sheet, the first number of which appeared in May, 1851.
In the work of translating the Book of Mormon he was greatly assisted by the patient labors of Elder Curtis E. Bolton, Brother Louis Bertrand and several highly educated gentlemen whom he baptized in Paris, but whose names unfortunately cannot be obtained.
When he announced his intention of publishing the Book of Mormon in French, Elder Franklin D. Richards called upon the conferences of the British Mission to come to his assistance with means; but he made other arrangements to meet his engagements with the publishing house; and wrote the following characteristic letter to Elder Richards:
"I feel very much obliged to you for the remarks you made on the subject of the French mission, a short time ago, wherein you requested the presiding Elders, of the conferences, to raise means for publishing the Book of Mormon in French. In noticing, however, the position of the churches in this country, and the many calls that have been made upon the brethren, I have been seeking to make other arrangements without troubling them, which I am very happy to inform you, I have accomplished, and therefore shall not be necessitated to make any calls upon the conferences. * * The scriptures say, that, 'it is more blessed to give than to receive,' and if in making the above move, I may have deprived some of an anticipated blessing, I hope they will excuse me; for perhaps there may be an opportunity afforded them of assisting some of my brethren in another way. If not, the world is large, and there is ample opportunity to do good."
A few wealthy members of the Church in England had privately furnished him the means, and he made such arrangements with the publishers that when copies of the book were sold a certain amount of the proceeds was put away for printing another edition. "And thus it can be continued from time to time," writes Elder Taylor, "as necessity shall require, until 200,000 copies are printed without any additional expense."
The translation is said to be a very correct one, the original simplicity of the Nephite writers is retained, and it is as literal as the genius and idiom of the French language will admit.
In addition to these literary labors Elder Taylor applied to the government authorities for permission for himself and the Elders to preach throughout France; and the prospects were fair for obtaining it; but at that juncture, a mob arose against the Saints in Denmark, their meeting house where they assembled was torn down and much excitement created. It was this circumstance which doubtless led the French ministry to prohibit the Elders from preaching altogether, instead of granting them the liberty for which they asked.
The political situation in France at the time was precarious, and did much to prevent Elder Taylor and his companions from spreading the gospel among that people. In 1848 Louis Philippe had been compelled to abdicate the throne of France by an insurrection of the people; the provisional government that succeeded was soon supplanted by the republic which was proclaimed by the voice of the people; of which Louis Napoleon, the nephew of the great Napoleon, was elected president for four years, as provided for in the constitution. This term of office was altogether too brief and too precarious for a Bonaparte, and the newly elected President soon set on foot secret measures for an increase of power and an extension of time in office.
Having won over the army to his views, he boldly seized such members of the National Assembly, and other prominent citizens, who were opposed to his interests and imprisoned them, suppressed the newspapers and proclaimed the dissolution of the assembly and council of state. He hastily sketched a new and more despotic constitution, which was accepted by the people, and had himself elected president for ten years.
These movements were soon followed by even bolder acts of usurpation. He secured the passage of a decree by the new senate, making him hereditary Emperor with the title of Napoleon III. And thus an empire was erected on the ruins of the fallen republic.
Such were the agitations and revolutions going on in France during the time that Elder Taylor was there introducing the gospel; and with such an irreligious and excitable people as the French, it is not to be expected that they will turn away from excited multitudes shouting nowvive la Republique, and thenvive l'empereur, with the whole country on the verge of civil war—it is not to be expected, I say, that a people, and especially the French people, are going to turn from all this to listen to a stranger preach on the peaceable things of the kingdom of heaven!
Still, meetings were held in Paris twice a week, and the work spread into Havre, Calais, Boulogne and other places. In the three cities named, as well as in Paris, branches of the Church were organized. In June, 1851, the Channel Islands,—hitherto belonging to the British mission—in which there were several branches of the Church, were added to the French mission and of course considerably increased its strength.
In the latter part of July or about the first of August, 1851, Elder Taylor accompanied by Elder Viet, a German, and a teacher of that language in France, and Elder George P. Dykes, went to the city of Hamburg, Germany. Here, with the aid of Elder Viet, a Mr. Charles Miller, whom he baptized shortly after his arrival there, and George P. Dykes, he made arrangements for and supervised the translation of the Book of Mormon into the German language. The work was finally completed and stereotyped; and the text so arranged that the French and German would face each other, each page containing the same matter in the same opening, and thus both could be bound together.
In Hamburg as in Paris, he published a monthly periodical, a royal octavo sheet, which was calledZion's Panier—Zion's Banner. The first number was issued November 1st, 1851. He also preached the gospel and raised up a branch of the Church in Hamburg; after which he returned to Paris, to attend a conference of the French mission appointed to convene there.
He ran considerable risk in appointing this conference, for the law prohibited more than twenty persons assembling together, and a number of times the meetings of the Saints in Paris were entered by the police, and the number present counted to see if they were violators of the law. Referring to this cramped situation of affairs Elder Taylor remarks: "'Liberty,' 'Equality,' 'Fraternity,' were written upon almost every door. You had liberty to speak, but might be put in prison for doing so. You had liberty to print, but they might burn what you had printed, and put you in confinement for it"—such was French liberty!
Elder Taylor arrived in Paris about the 18th or 19th of December. On the 2nd of the same month Louis Napoleon by his famouscoup d'etathad overthrown the first republic succeeding the government of Louis Philippe; and in the meantime had sketched the more despotic constitution which was to succeed it, with himself elected President for ten years. Paris was in the hands of the soldiers; her streets had recently been soaked with blood; many of the buildings had been battered down into shapeless ruins; and about five hundred prisoners, untried before any tribunal—even that of a drum-head court martial—had been shipped off to Cayenne.
It happened, too, that the day appointed for the holding of this conference was the very day on which the people were to vote for Napoleon for president—it would evidently be a day of excitement; and altogether the circumstances would have been considered sufficient, by ordinary men, to have postponed the conference indefinitely. Not so with Elder Taylor. A French revolution was not to hinder him in his work. The revolution would give the authorities of Paris something else to do than to look after him. So the conference was held.
There were about four hundred represented at the conference. A number of elders, priests and teachers were ordained; a conference was regularly organized and a presidency appointed over the Church in France. "At the very time they [the French people] were voting for their president," Elder Taylor remarks, "we were voting for our president; and building up the kingdom of God; and I prophesied that our cause would stand when theirs is crushed to pieces; and the kingdom of God will roll on and spread from nation to nation, and from kingdom to kingdom."
It scarcely need be said that the prophecy has been, or is being fulfilled. The work the French people did that day was undone in less than a year by the usurping "Prince President" becoming Emperor, and crushing out the life of the republic by founding a despotism as absolute as any kingdom of the middle ages; and which in its turn was violently overthrown, a few years afterwards, by another revolution. Meantime the kingdom of God goes steadily forward—slowly, perhaps, but none the less surely on that account. The Almighty is not anxious to reap results today from promises He laid down yesterday. The oak grows slowly; but every year adds something to its size; the winds which beat upon it only fix its mighty roots deeper in the earth and increase the strength of its fiber; and at last, in spite of slowness of growth, in spite of howling tempest and the thunder-bolt, the grand oak stands monarch of the forest. So shall it be with the kingdom of God among the nations of the earth.
Elder Taylor's mission in France and Germany was now completed; and he began making his arrangements for returning home. It was the day after the conference in Paris that he started for England, intending to call at the Channel Islandsen route.
It was not more than ten minutes after he had taken the cab and started to the railway station to take his departure from France, when one of the high police officials came to inquire for him. The gentleman with whom he had stayed in Paris, M. Ducloux, was a very affectionate friend to him, and he, with his sister-in-law, kept the officer in conversation for two hours, speaking very highly of their late guest, maintaining that he was a respectable, high-minded gentleman. In turn the officer told him every place Elder Taylor had been since his arrival in Paris; when he came to France, what hotel he stayed at; when he went to England, and how long he remained; when he went to Germany, and how long he stayed there; what books he had printed, etc. In fact he gave a most minute account of all his movements, all of which were recorded in the police records.
Whether an attempt to intercept Elder Taylor was made or not is unknown. It might have been done by telegraphing their police agents, which were so numerous as to be ubiquitous, but without any design on his part to avoid them, for he did not know they were after him, he turned off the main route to England, to visit a little seashore town where he remained a week, and thus missed what might have been something more serious than a mere annoyance.
1. A year or two after this conversation, the Icarian society at Nauvoo miserably failed. It also failed in France.
BUSTS OF THE MARTYRS—THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD—MANUFACTURING COMPANY ORGANIZED—FAREWELL TO FRANCE—TO EUROPE—A BIGOTED CAPTAIN—VISIT TO WASHINGTON—MEETING AN OLD FRIEND—COLONEL KANE—ARRIVAL IN SALT LAKE—GREETINGS.
Elder Taylor took advantage of his visit to England and Europe, where skill in the fine arts was more perfect than in the United States, to get out the busts of his friends and fellow-martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He evidently contemplated this work before leaving home, since he had with him in England casts taken from the faces of the martyrs immediately after their death. He also had with him the various drawings made of them during their lives, to assist the artist in his work. The modeller, Mr. Gahagan, was one of the first artists of England, in proof of which it is only necessary to say that he had taken the busts of the duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson, Sir Robert Peel, the emperor of Russia and a number of the principal nobility and gentry of England. The work was done under the personal direction of Elder Taylor, and he was successful in obtaining for himself and future generations a correct outline of the heads and features of the two martys, and as perfect a likeness of them as it was possible to obtain so long after their death.
It was while he was on this French and German mission, too, that he wrote his admirable work "The Government of God,"[1]a book of some two hundred pages. The author defines the kingdom of God to be the government of God, on the earth, or in the heavens; and then in his first two chapters proceeds to place the magnificence, harmony, beauty and strength of the government of God, as seen throughout the universe, in contrast with the meanness, confusion and weakness of the government of men.
It is a bold picture he draws in each case; one displaying the intelligence, the light, the glory, the beneficence and power of God; the other the ignorance, the folly, the littleness and imbecility of man. The great evils, both national and individual which He depicts with such vividness, the author maintains are beyond the power of human agency to correct. "They are diseases," he remarks, "that have been generating for centuries; that have entered into the vitals of all institutions, religious and political, that have prostrated the powers and energies of all bodies politic, and left the world to groan under them, for they are evils that exist in church and state, at home and abroad; among Jew and Gentile, Christian, Pagan and Mahometan; king, prince, courtier and peasant; like the deadly simoon, they have paralyzed the energies, broken the spirits, damped the enterprise, corrupted the morals and crushed the hopes of the world. * * * No power on this side of heaven can correct this evil. It is a world that is degenerated, and it requires a God to put it right."
BUST OF JOSEPH SMITH
BUST OF JOSEPH SMITH
BUST OF JOSEPH SMITH
BUST OF JOSEPH SMITH
BUST OF HYRUM SMITH
BUST OF HYRUM SMITH
BUST OF HYRUM SMITH
BUST OF HYRUM SMITH
The author then rather hurriedly reviews the incompetency of the means made use of by man to regenerate the world; showing that neither the Roman Catholic nor Greek churches, though having full sway in some countries, and backed by national and even international power, have been able to make happy, prosperous, unselfish and righteous those countries whose destinies they have directed; and being unable to accomplish these desirable objects in the nations where their power has been supreme, the author argues that they would be unsuccessful in regenerating the world should their dominion be universal.
Nor is our author more hopeful that the reformed churches, the Protestants, would be any more successful than the Greek and Roman churches have been. So far Protestantism has but increased division, and multiplied strife without changing materially the moral and spiritual condition of the world.
Turning from those who would regenerate the world through the medium of Christianity—a false, a corrupted Christianity, for such is the so-called Christian religion of the churches above mentioned—turning from these to those who would take their destiny into their own hands, and who, either denying the existence of God or ignoring His right to direct in the affairs of men, seek by their own wisdom to establish institutions for the amelioration of mankind, our author remarks:
"If skepticism is to be the basis of the happiness of man, we shall be in a poor situation to improve the world. It is practical infidelity that has placed the world in its present condition; how far the unblushing profession of it will lead to restoration and happiness, I must leave my readers to judge. It is our departure from God that has brought upon us all our misery. It is not a very reasonable way to alleviate it by confirming mankind is skepticism."
Neither has man been able to devise any form of government that is a panacea for the numerous ills with which the world is cursed. Poverty, iniquity, crime, injustice, greed, pride, lust, oppression, exist in republics as well as in kingdoms or empires; in limited monarchies as well as in those that are absolute. Our author maintains that neither religion nor philosophy, the church nor the state, nor education nor all of these combined, as they exist among men, are sufficient to regenerate the world; "our past failures," he writes, "make it evident that any future effort, with the same means, would be useless."
The author then proceeds to discuss the questions—What is man? What his destiny and relationship to God? The object of his existence on the earth, his relationship thereto; and his accountability to God. To say that Elder Taylor treats these grave questions with marked ability is unnecessary.
He then deals with God's course in the moral government of the world; and then of the question—"Whose right is it to govern the world?" He clearly proves that it is God's right, basing that right on the fact that God created it—that it is His; and He, and they to whom He delegates His power are the only ones who have legitimate authority to govern it. But men have usurped authority; they have taken the management of affairs, so far as they have the power into their own hands; they have rejected God and his counsels; and, as a consequence, the evils and corruptions of which all nations and peoples are sick follow.
This leads him to the question: Will man always be permitted to usurp authority over his fellow-men, and over the works of God? He answers in the negative. It would be unreasonable, unjust, unscriptural—contrary to the promises of God—and would frustrate His designs in the creation of the world. No, the time must come when the moral world, like the physical universe, shall be under the direction of the Almighty, and God's will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The manner in which this is to be brought about, the peace, prosperity, happiness and general blessedness which are to follow the establishment of the government of God on earth, are the subjects of his concluding chapters.
Such, in brief, is an outline of this fine work—Elder Taylor's masterpiece! A work which is sufficient at once to establish both his literary ability and his power as a moral philosopher. One can only regret that in the later years of his life he did not find time to enlarge it. The flight is splendid, but one wishes he had remained longer on the wing. He wrote this work, as he tells us in his foot-note on the first page, to believers in the Bible. I regret that he did not so add to it that its sublime truths would appeal with equal force to those who reject the Jewish Scriptures. No writer in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has yet, in any manner worth mentioning, undertaken to establish the divinity of the Jewish Scriptures, or made answer to the indictments brought against the Bible by infidels; but no one can read the "Government of God" without being convinced that its author was pre-eminently qualified for such an undertaking.
While in France Elder Taylor became somewhat acquainted with the process of manufacturing sugar from the sugar-beet, and being convinced that both climate and soil in Utah were favorable to the production of the beets, he organized a company to found that industry in the distant vales of Deseret. The company was to be known as the "Deseret Manufacturing Company," and while its purposes were not confined to the establishment of one industry alone, sugar was to be its first venture.
The company was composed of four partners with equal shares, of which Elder Taylor was one. The capital stock was put at fifty thousand pounds sterling, equal to a quarter of a million dollars.
Elder Taylor had the machinery for the intended sugar works made in Liverpool by Faucett, Preston & Co., at a cost of twelve thousand five hundred dollars. It was first class machinery, the very best that could be obtained, and such was its weight that it would require fifty-two teams to carry it from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake. It was an immense undertaking.
Having fulfilled his mission and accomplished in addition these miscellaneous but important labors, Elder Taylor set sail from England on the 6th of March, 1852, on board the steam-shipNiagara. There were about twenty emigrating Saints who accompanied him.
The first Sunday out the passengers, composed principally of the English aristocracy, were anxious to have Elder Taylor preach to them in the cabin; but the law,aliasthe captain, a narrow-minded, bigoted man refused to accede to their request.
TheNiagarareached Boston harbor on the eighteenth of the same month, and Elder Taylor proceeded to Philadelphia, where he visited Colonel Thomas L. Kane, then confined to his bed by sickness. After preaching to the Saints in that city, he proceeded to Washington, where he met his old friend, Dr. John M. Bernhisel, Utah's delegate to Congress. He also met with Senator Stephen A. Douglas and a number of other senators and members of the lower house.
From Washington he went to St. Louis and there remained a week or more, awaiting the arrival of the shipRockaway, at New Orleans, having on board a company of emigrating Saints, and his sugar manufacturing plant. While waiting the arrival of this vessel he was actively engaged in preaching the gospel. TheRockawayarrived in port in the latter part of April; and having made arrangements for the shipment of his machinery, Elder Taylor again turned his face homeward.
After a tedious journey across the plains, he arrived in Salt Lake City on the 20th of August, where he was welcomed by his family, and by his brethren of the priesthood, who heartily approved of all his labors, blessed him for his faithfulness, his untiring zeal and the energy he had manifested.
How sweet to the ear! how joyous to the soul! how gratifying to the heart is that grandest of all salutations—"Well done thou good and faithful servant!" and when spoken by those holding the holy priesthood, backed by the warm grasp of the hand, and confirmed by the countenance lit up with unfeigned brotherly love, it certainly is a fore-taste of the joy that shall fill the hearts of the faithful who hear the same salutation from the Master, who will add: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"
1. Of this work the historian, Hurbert H. Bancroft says: "As a dissertation on a general and abstract subject it probably has not its equal in point of ability within the range of Mormon literature. The style is lofty and clear, and every page betokens the great learning of the author. As a student of ancient and modern history, theologian, and moral philosopher, President Taylor is justly entitled to the front rank."—History of Utah, 433—note.
LABORS AT HOME—CALLED TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN THE SETTLEMENTS OF THE SAINTS—A MISSION TO NEW YORK—MORMONISM TO REPRESENT ITSELF—"I CAN CALL SPIRITS FROM THE VASTY DEEP"—WILL THEY COME?—PUBLISHING A PAPER WITHOUT PURSE OR SCRIP.
It may well be imagined that after an absence of three years, Elder Taylor found plenty of employment in looking after his own affairs for a season, and putting in motion enterprises that would have for their object the accumulation of wealth. But Elder Taylor's affections were not given to the wealth of this world that perishes with the using. Other things than those that please the children of this world had taken hold of him; and hence it happened that although the state of his finances on his return from this protracted mission to Europe, would have induced most men to devote themselves exclusively to the betterment of their personal affairs, Elder Taylor was to be found taking part in the councils of the Church, and devoting a considerable amount of time to preaching the gospel.
The machinery for the manufacturing of sugar arrived in due time and was put in operation; but owing to a lack of skilled workmen to take charge of the various branches of the business, the production of sugar was unsatisfactory, and at the instance of President Young the enterprise was abandoned.
He took part in the ceremonies connected with laying the corner stones of the Salt Lake Temple, on the 6th of April, 1853; and during that conference, with several other members of his quorum and the First Seven Presidents of Seventies, was called and sustained as a missionary "to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the valleys of the mountains." In fulfilling that mission he visited nearly all the settlements of Utah, and everywhere was made welcome by the people, who knew so well his manner of life, his untiring zeal and devotion to the great cause he had espoused.
The Saints, no less than sinners, have a habit of assessing the value of pulpit precepts by the test of personal example; and one of the things which made Elder Taylor a welcome visitor of missionary among them was the fact that in this matter of personal example he did not break down. On the contrary, his daily life reflected the precepts he taught in the pulpit and in private; and hence the people believed in him and respected his counsels.
The year following he was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature; but before the Legislature assembled he was again called upon a mission. This time he was called to preside over the churches in the eastern states, supervise the emigration and publish a paper in the interest of the Church. He promptly resigned his position as a member elect of the Legislature, and in the fall of 1854 started for New York, accompanied by Elder Jeter Clinton, Nathaniel H. Felt, Alexander Robbins, Angus M. Cannon, and his son, George J. Taylor. His being called to publish a paper in New York was but part of a general movement by which Mormonism and the Saints were to be represented by their own accredited agents. Orson Pratt was in Washington publishing theSeer; Erastus Snow and Orson Spencer were to publish a paper in St. Louis; and George Q. Cannon one in San Francisco.
The object in starting these publications was to disabuse the public mind, then fast being prejudiced against the Church by the tongue of slander. When the Saints disappeared in the great western wilderness of America there were a variety of opinions as to what would be their fate. Few, however, thought they would survive the terrible ordeal through which they passed in their expulsion from the United States and the subsequent perils and hardships of the great desert. But when the miracle of their preservation was forced upon their attention, and not only their preservation, but the fact, also, that they were more numerous and in possession of more power than when driven from Nauvoo—when it was known that they had laid the foundation of a commonwealth which was soon to be knocking at the gate of the capital for admission into the Union as a sovereign state—when all this was known, their enemies, who flattered themselves that they had seen the last of the hated Mormons, suddenly aroused themselves for a renewal of the suspended conflict.
Meantime the Church had publicly announced as a principle of its faith the doctrine of celestial marriage, including as it does, a plurality of wives.
No sooner was the announcement made than misrepresentation distorted this doctrine into everything that was vile and impure. The old stories of licentious practices among the Saints in Nauvoo, fulminated by John C. Bennett and other apostates—but which had no existence except as these same apostates and a few other corrupt men practiced them, and for which they were expelled from the Church—were revived and believed with avidity by a credulous public, until Utah was looked upon as a hot-bed of impurity, and the Mormon religion as a veil under which was hidden all the ungodliness of man's baser and degrading passions.
It was to stem the constantly increasing tide of prejudice, set in motion by this flood of falsehood, that the movement by the Church to establish publications in the cities I have named, was made.
It was a difficult task that had been assigned Elder Taylor. Both the pulpit and the press were against him; and there could be no question as to what course political parties would take respecting the question. What the populace condemned, they would condemn. Besides, he found himself cramped financially for such an enterprise. The Church in Utah was unable to furnish the necessary means. The people there were having a severe struggle for existence with the unpropitious elements of the wilderness, and money there was none, or, at least, very little.
It is true there were many members of the Church in the eastern states at the time, but they were unorganized, and indifferent to the progress or defense of the work of God. Elder Taylor called upon the Saints to come to his assistance in publishing a paper, but it reminded him of a man, he humorously said, in describing the result to President Young, who said, "I can call spirits from the vasty deep;" "So can I," shouted another, "but they won't come." Still there were a few who responded, and with what they furnished and the money obtained for the teams and wagons he had brought with him from Utah, and a few hundred dollars which he and those with him could borrow, a paper was started, the first number bearing the date of the 17th of February, 1855.
"We commenced our publication," writes Elder Taylor to President Young, "not because we had means to do it, but because we were determined to fulfill our mission, and either make a spoon or spoil a horn. * * * How long we shall be able to continue, I don't know. We are doing as well as we can, and shall continue to do so; but I find it one thing to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, and another thing to publish a paper on the same terms."
"THE MORMON"—THE FIRST ISSUE—IN THE FRONT OF THE BATTLE—BOLDNESS OF DEFENSE—CHALLENGES ACCEPTED—THE ACTS OF COWARDS—"THE MORMONS DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY, NOR CANKERED GOLD"—A TERTULLIAN.
"The Mormon" was the title which Elder Taylor gave his paper. It was a handsome, well printed, twenty-eight columned weekly. It had a very striking and significant heading, filling up at least one fourth of the first page. It represented an immense American eagle with out-stretched wings poised defiant above a bee-hive, and two American flags. Above the eagle was an all-seeing eye surrounded by a blaze of glory, and the words: "Let there be light; and there was light." On the stripes of the flag on the left was written: "Truth, Intelligence, Virtue and Faith;" signed, "John Taylor;" upon those on the right; "Truth will prevail;" signed, "H. C. Kimball;" while in the blue fields of one of the flags, the star of Utah shone resplendently. Two scrolls on either side of the eagle bore the following inscriptions: "Mormon creed—mind your own business," Brigham Young; and "Constitution of the United States, given by inspiration of God," Joseph Smith.
Heading of "The Mormon"
HEADING OF "THE MORMON"
HEADING OF "THE MORMON"
HEADING OF "THE MORMON"
On the inside, at the head of the editorial column was the American eagle standing on a bee-hive with an American flag on either side. Upon the bee-hive, on one side, leaned the Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Mormon and Bible; on the other a tablet on which was written: "Peace and good will to man." The eagle held in its break a scroll on which was written: "Holiness to the Lord."
The Mormon office was situated on the corner of Nassau and Ann streets, with the offices of the New YorkHeraldon one side, and those of theTribuneon the other. Elder Taylor was thus in the very heart of Gotham's newspaper world. Selecting such a stand is evidence enough that he did not intend to hide his light under a bushel. On the contrary he had taken a prominent position with a determination to keep it. He stationed himself in the front rank, unfurled his colors and we shall see that with the bold, dashing courage of a Henry of Navarre, how well he held his place.
It was the custom at the time to distribute the first issue of newspapers free to the news boys, and let them sell them for what they pleased. Accordingly on the first day of its publication hundreds of news boys filled the lower offices and thronged the stairway leading to the upper rooms, clamoring forThe Mormon. As they were promptly supplied, the paper with its conspicuous heading was waved in the face of the public and all through the principal thoroughfares the cry of "Mormon," "Mormon"—"Here's yerMormon," was heard ringing and echoing on every side.
To say that this first springing of the batteries created a sensation but feebly expresses the effect produced.
The prospectus ofThe Mormonannounced that it would be devoted to the cause and interests of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; "and will be the advocate of its claims, social, moral, political and religious; and will also treat upon all subjects which the editor may deem instructive or edifying to his readers, among which will be science, literature and the general news of the day. Further than this he has no pretensions, nor does he propose to be bound to any particular party or interest."
Subsequently, though in an early number ofThe Mormon, Elder Taylor made a further announcement of his principles, and what he meant to sustain, as follows:
"We believe in good, sound, healthy morals, in matter of fact philosophy, in politics uncorrupted, and that secure the greatest good to all. We believe in the God of heaven and certainly in religion. We believe in a religion that will make a man go down to the grave with a clear conscience, and an unfaltering step, to meet his God as a Father and a Friend without fear."
During the two years and a half that he continued to editThe Mormon, he kept free from all entangling alliances in party politics, but criticised all parties and measures with a fearlessness and intelligence that is truly refreshing at a time when party prejudice or venality controlled the utterances of the press.
But it is as a defender of the faith and character of the Saints that Elder Taylor inThe Mormonis most conspicuous. He leaped into the public arena, threw down his gage of battle and dared the traducers of the Saints of God to take it up. The very name Mormon—which they had derided and made the synonym for all that was absurd in religion, impure in social life, or disloyal to government, he took up and made the title of his paper—wrote it in bold letters and surrounded it with the symbols of liberty, intelligence and truth, and defied its slanderers to pluck from it the emblems in which he enshrined it.
"We are Mormon," he writes in the first number, "inside and outside; at home or abroad, in public and private—everywhere. We are so, however, from principle. We are such, not because we believe it to be the most popular, lucrative, or honorable (as the world has it); but because we believe it to be true, and more reasonable and scriptural, moral and philosophic; because we conscientiously believe it is more calculated to promote the happiness and well-being of humanity, in time and throughout all eternity, than any other system which we have met with."
A short time afterward we have him saying: "We have said before and say now, that we defy all the editors and writers in the United States to prove that Mormonism is less moral, scriptural, philosophical; or that there is less patriotism in Utah than in any other part of the United States. We call for proof; bring on your reasons, gentlemen, if you have any; we shrink not from the investigation, and dare you to the encounter. If you don't do it, and you publish any more of your stuff, we shall brand you as poor, mean, cowardly liars; as men publishing falsehoods knowing them to be so, and shrinking from the light of truth and investigation."
TheNew York Mirror, in calling attention to his presence in the city and the spread of Mormonism, said: "While our public moralists and reformers are making war upon the hotels and taverns and private property of our citizens, a hideous system—an immoral excrescence—is allowed to spring up and overtop the Constitution itself. Why are there no public meetings convened in the tabernacle to denounce Mormonism? The evil has become a notorious fact—its existence cannot be any longer ignored—and it is not therefore prudent that the eyes of the public should be closed to its effects."
To this Elder Taylor replied: "We are ready to meet Mr. Fuller in the tabernacle on this question at any time. We court investigation and have nothing to hide." Mr. Fuller did not accept the challenge; and when, some time afterwards, he repeated his abuse, Elder Taylor taunted him with cowardice and charged him with being guilty of willful falsehood; but the editor of theMirrorshrank from the investigation in the tabernacle which he had proposed. His act was truly that of a blustering coward who had raised the cane over the head of his enemy, but was afraid to strike the blow.[1]
The New YorkHeraldwas as bitter and unfair in its attacks upon the Saints and Mormonism as theMirror; and Elder Taylor was as incisive and fearless in his rejoinders to the former as to the latter. TheHeraldproposed that a meeting be called in Tammany Hall and that the ministers of the several churches should make an expose of the absurdities and wickedness of Mormonism. Elder Taylor promptly announced his willingness to meet those ministers in such a gathering and defend the character and doctrine of the Saints. The meeting was not called. The ministers of the several churches were not fighting Mormonism that way. Slander, vituperation, denunciation, falsehood uttered at times and places where no answer could be made, not discussion open and manly has ever been the methods of Christian ministers against Mormonism.
The New YorkSunwas also in the field against Mormonism, and was behind none of its contemporaries in the bitterness of its attacks. So bitter, indeed, was the press generally, that theWoman's Advocate, touched with pity for a people so universally denounced, deplored the lack of charity manifested in the discussion of the Utah question; and when the famine of 1855 threatened the destruction of the Saints in Utah, and the press of the east but ill concealed its rejoicing at the prospect of the solution of the Mormon problem by such a calamity, the same journal lamented the lack of sympathy manifested toward the Mormon people in their trying circumstances, In reply theSunsaid:
"As to the alleged want of sympathy, it is enough to say that there has yet been no appeal for help from Utah. If an appeal were made in the name of humanity, the degrading and disgusting doctrines of Brigham Young, and others of the priesthood, promulgated as articles of faith, would not hinder the American people from responding to it."
To which Elder Taylor with some warmth answered:
"TheSunsays there has been no appeal from Utah for help. An appeal for help indeed! They have called for their own, but their rights have been continually withheld, though your statesmen owned their cause was just. And shall they now ask charity of those that robbed and despoiled them of their goods and murdered their best men? We have been robbed of millions and driven from our own firesides into the cold, wintry blasts of the desert, to starve by your charitable institutions, and shall we now crave your paltry sixpences? Talk to us with your hypocritical cant about charity! Pshaw! it's nauseating to everyone not eaten up with your corrupt humbuggery and pharisaical egotism. You forgot you were talking to Americans, born upon the soil of freedom, suckled in liberty, who have inhaled it from their fathers' lips—their ears yet tingling with the tales of a nation's birth—sons of fathers who fought for rights which you, in your bigotry and self-conceit, would fain wrench from them. Intolerance has thrice driven them from their homes, but the wild burst of liberty of '76, now reverberates through the mountain passes of Utah, bidding defiance to mobocracy and its leaders; and hurling mock charity and pretended patriotism back to the fount of corruption from which it issues. The Mormons neither need your sympathy nor your cankered gold. Your malicious slanders only excite contempt for those base enough to utter them. Your contemptible falsehoods fail to ruffle a feather in our caps. * * * The God of Jacob in whom the Mormons trust—He who brought up Israel out of Egypt—He it is who sustained the Mormons in their tedious journeyings over the barren deserts and wild mountain passes of this continent. In the dark hour of trial, amid all their distresses, without friends or home—God upheld and sustained them; He sustains them still, and will cause them to shine forth with the bright radiance of eternal truth over the wide world, long after their malicious slanderers shall have sunk to oblivion in the filth of their own corruptions."
This boldness in rejoinder to all opponents reminds one of the tone of Tertullian's defense of the early Christians. Of him it is said: "His was not the tone of a supplicant pleading for toleration. He demanded justice." So with Elder Taylor.
1. There were two men named Fuller connected with the Mirror while Elder Taylor was publishing The Mormon. The first was a very courteous gentleman. He had visited Utah and spoke very highly in the Mirror of her people. But shortly after the advent of the Mormon, there arose a controversy about the ownership of the Mirror, and it fell into the hands of the second Mr. Fuller, who was as bitter in his feelings against the Saints as his methods of opposing them were cowardly.