THE ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN VAN VLIET IN SALT LAKE—ELDER TAYLOR ON THE APPROACHING ARMY—HOW IT WOULD BE MET—VAN VLIET'S SURPRISE AND PERPLEXITY—HIS REPORT TO SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR—CAPTAIN MARCY'S LETTER—ELDER TAYLOR'S REPLY.
The advanced companies of the "Army of Utah," having reached Ham's Fork, a tributary of Green River, late in the autumn of 1857, Captain Van Vliet was sent to Salt Lake to purchase forage and lumber and assure the people of Utah that the troops would not harm or molest them. The captain arrived on the 8th of September and was cordially received by the leading Elders of the Church, among others by Elder Taylor.
His mission as to forage and lumber was unsuccessful, neither did he make the people believe the statement that the troops would not harm them. The very natural question was, Why are they coming to Utah, then? An army naturally suggests the idea of war, and war means violence.
The captain's visit, however, was not in vain. He learned that the Mormons had much to justify them in the stand they had taken, and, moreover, that they were very determined in it. He attended service the Sabbath after his arrival, and that day Elder Taylor addressed the assembly. In the course of his remarks he asked the people:
"What would be your feelings if the United States wanted to have the honor of driving us from our homes, and bringing us subject to their depraved standard of moral and religious truth? Would you, if necessary, brethren, put the torch to your buildings and lay them in ashes and wander houseless into these mountains? I know what you would say and what you would do."
President Brigham Young.—"Try the vote."
Elder Taylor.—"All you that are willing to set fire to your property and lay it in ashes rather than submit to their military rule and oppression, manifest it by raising your hands."
The congregation, numbering more than four thousand, unanimously raised their hands.
Elder Taylor.—"I know what your feelings are. We have been persecuted and robbed long enough; and in the name of Israel's God, we will be free!"
Congregation responded "Amen!"
President Young.—"I say amen all the time to that."
Elder Taylor.—"I feel to thank God that I am associated with such men, with such people, where honesty and truth dwell in the heart—where men have a religion that they are not afraid to live by, and that they are not afraid to die by; and I would not give a straw for anything short of that."
Captain Van Vliet's surprise was little short of astonishment. He was not prepared to expect such unanimity of sentiment nor such determination of purpose. He admired their courage, but trembled for their safety in a conflict with the government. He pointed out the fact that if they successfully resisted the army then on their borders, the next year would see an overwhelming force sent to suppress and punish them. His remonstrance was answered:
"We know that will be the case; but when these troops arrive they will find Utah a desert; every house will be burned to the ground; every tree cut down and every field laid waste. We have three years' provisions on hand, which we will cache, and then take to the mountains and bid defiance to all the powers of the government."
The captain returned to the army on Ham's Fork deeply impressed with the seriousness and perhaps with the absurdity of the government's movement against Utah. Moreover he had become the friend of the Mormon people, and his report to the Secretary of War, made at Washington the November following, did much, doubtless, in paving the way for an amicable adjustment of the Utah difficulties.
Shortly after the departure of the captain, Elder Taylor received a letter from Captain Marcy, of the 5th Infantry, camped with the army on Ham's Fork; and as Elder Taylor's reply to that letter is a thoughtful exposition of the causes which led up to the Utah expedition, and a scathing rebuke to the administration that inaugurated it, as well as a fair sample of Elder Taylor's literary style and gentlemanly sensibility, I give the correspondencein extenso:
Captain MARCY'S LETTER.
"CAMP OF THE 5TH INFANTRY ON HAM'S FORK,
"October 13th, 1857.
"Herewith I take the liberty of sending you a letter of introduction from our mutual friend, W. J. A. Fuller, of New York City. I also beg leave to trouble you with the accompanying note of introduction to Governor Young from Mr. W. I. Appleby, which I will thank you to read to the governor at your convenience.
"When I left the states I expected to have the honor of delivering these letters in person, but as our movements are so slow, I have thought it better to transmit them by the bearer, hoping that the opportunity may be afforded me of paying my personal respects at some future time.
"In the meantime, suffer me to assure you that within the circle of my observation among the officers of this army, there has not been the slightest disposition to meddle with or in any way interfere with the religious or social customs of your people; on the contrary, there has, from the commencement of our march, been an almost universal manifestation of a desire for a kind and friendly intercourse: and I most sincerely hope that this desirable result may be brought about.
"I verily believe that all the officers entertain the same feelings towards the Mormons as Captain Van Vliet, and I entertain no doubt that an acquaintance with them would satisfy you that such is the fact.
"I am very respectfully and truly yours,
"R. B. MARCY.
"Rev. John Taylor,
"Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory."
ELDER TAYLOR'S REPLY.
"GREAT SALT LAKE CITY,
"October 21, 1857.
"Captain Marcy.
"MY DEAR SIR: I embrace this the earliest opportunity of answering your communication to me, embracing a letter from Mr. Fuller, New York, to you, an introductory letter to me, and also one from W. I. Appleby to Governor Young; the latter immediately on its receipt I forwarded to His Excellency. And here let me state, sir, that I sincerely regret that circumstances now existing have hitherto prevented a personal interview.
"I can readily believe your statement that it is very far from your feelings and most of the command that are with you to interfere with our social habits or religious views. One must naturally suppose that among gentlemen educated for the army alone, who have been occupied by the study of the art of war, whose pulses have throbbed with pleasure at the contemplation of the deeds of our venerated fathers, whose minds have been elated by the recital of the heroic deeds of other nations, and who have listened almost exclusively to the declamations of patriots and heroes, that there is not much time and less inclination to listen to the low party bickerings of political demagogues, the interested twaddle of sectional declaimers, or the throes and contortions of contracted religious bigots. You are supposed to stand on elevated ground, representing the power and securing the interests of the whole of a great and mighty nation. That many of you are thus honorable, I am proud as an American citizen to acknowledge, but you must excuse me, my dear sir, if I cannot concede with you that all your officials are so high-toned, disinterested, humane and gentlemanly, as a knowledge of some of their antecedents would expressly demonstrate. However, it is not with the personal character, the amiable qualities, high-toned feelings, or gentlemanly deportment of the officers in your expedition that we at present have to do. The question that concerns us is one that is independent of your personal, generous, friendly and humane feeling, or any individual predilection of yours; it is one that involves the dearest rights of American citizens, strikes at the root of our social and political existence, if it does not threaten our entire annihilation from the earth. Excuse me, sir, when I say that you are merely the servants of a lamentably corrupt administration, that your primary law is obedience to orders, and that you come here with armed foreigners, with cannons, rifles, bayonets and broadswords, expressly and for the openly avowed purpose of 'cutting out the loathsome ulcer from the body politic.'
"I am aware what our friend Fuller says in relation to this matter, and I entertain no doubt of his generous and humane feelings, nor do I of yours, sir, but I do know that he is mistaken in relation to the rabid tone and false, furious attacks of a venal and corrupt press. I do know that they are merely the mouthpiece, the tools, the barking dogs of a corrupt administration. I do know that Mr. Buchanan was well apprised of the nature of the testimony adduced against us by ex-Judge Drummond and others, for he was informed of it to my knowledge by a member of his own cabinet. And I further know from personal intercourse with members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, that there have been various plans concocted at headquarters for some time past for the overthrow of this people. Captain, Mr. Fuller informs me that you are a politician. If so, you must know that in the last presidential campaign that the Republican party had opposition to slavery and polygamy as two of the principal planks in their platform. You may know, sir, that Utah was picked out, and the only Territory excluded from a participation in pre-emption rights to land. You may also be aware that bills were introduced into Congress for the prosecution of the Mormons, but other business was too pressing at that time for them to receive attention. You may be aware that measures were also set on foot and bills prepared to divide up Utah among the Territories of Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and New Mexico, (giving a slice to California) for the purpose of bringing us into collision with the people of those Territories.
"I might enumerate injuries by the score—not to say anything about thousands of our letters detained at the post office at Independence—and if these things are not so, why is it that Utah is soknotty a question?If people were no more ready to interfere with us and our institutions than we are with them and theirs, these difficulties would vanish into thin air. Why, again I ask, could Drummond and a host of other mean scribblers, palm off their bare-faced lies with such impunity and have their infamous slanders swallowed with such gusto? Was it not that the administration and their satellites having planned our destruction, were eager to catch at anything to render specious their contemplated acts of blood? Or, in plain terms, the Democrats advocated strongly popular sovereignty. The Republicans tell them that if they join in maintaining inviolate the domestic institutions of the south, they must also swallow polygamy. The Democrats thought this would not do, as it would interfere with the religious scruples of many of their supporters, and they looked about for some means to dispose of the knotty question. Buchanan, with Douglas, Cass, Thompson and others of his advisers, after failing to devise legal means, hit upon the expedient of an armed force against Utah, and thus thought by the sacrifice of the Mormons to untie the knotty question; do a thousand times worse than the Republicans ever meant,—fairly out-Herod Herod, and by religiously expatriating, destroying or killing a hundred thousand innocent American citizens satisfy the pious, humane, patriotic feeling of their constituents, take the wind out of the sails of the Republicans, and gain to themselves immortal laurels. Captain, I have heard of a pious Presbyterian doctrine that would inculcate thankfulness to the all-wise Creator for the privilege of being damned. Now, as we are not Presbyterians nor believers in this kind of self-abnegation, you will, I am sure, excuse us for finding fault at being thus summarily dealt with, no matter how agreeable the excision or expatriation might be to our political, patriotic, or very pious friends. We have lived long enough in the world to know that we are a portion of the body politic, that we have some rights as well as other people, and that if others do not respect us, we at least have manhood enough to respect ourselves.
"Permit me here to refer to a remark made by our friend, Mr. Fuller, to you viz., 'that he had rendered me certain services in the city of New York, and that he had no doubt that when you had seen and known us as he had, that you would report as favorably as he had unflinchingly done.' Now those favors, to which Mr. Fuller refers, were simply telling a few plain matters of fact, that had come under his own observation during a short sojourn at Salt Lake. This, of course, I could duly appreciate, for I always admire a man who dare tell the truth. But, Captain, does it not strike you as humiliating to manhood and to the pride of all honorable American citizens, when among the thousands that have passed through and sojourned among us, and know as well as Mr. Fuller did, our true social and moral position, that perhaps only one in ten thousand dare state his honest convictions? and further, that Mr. Fuller with his knowledge of human nature, should look upon you as arare avis, possessing the moral courage and integrity to declare the truth in opposition to the floods of falsehood that have deluged our nation? Surely we have fallen on unlucky times when honesty is avowed to be at so great a premium!
"In regard to our religion, it is perhaps unnecessary to say much, yet whatever others' feelings may be about it, with us it is honestly a matter of conscience. This is a right guaranteed unto us by the Constitution of our country, yet it is on this ground, and this alone, that we have suffered a continued series of persecutions, and that this present crusade is set on foot against us. In regard to this people, I have traveled extensively in the United States, and through Europe, yet have never found so moral, chaste and virtuous a people, nor do I expect to find them. And if let alone, they are the most patriotic and appreciate more fully the blessing of religious, civil, and political freedom than any other portion of the United States. They have, however, discovered the difference between a blind submission to the caprices of political demagogues, and obedience to the Constitution, laws, and institutions of the United States; nor can they in the present instance be hood-winked by the cry of 'treason.' If it be treason to stand up for our Constitutional rights: if it be treason to resist the unconstitutional acts of a vitiated and corrupt administration, who by a mercenary armed force would seek to rob us of the rights of franchise, cut our throats to subserve their own party, and seek to force upon us their corrupt tools, and violently invade the rights of American citizens; if it be treason to maintain inviolate our homes, our firesides, our wives, and our honor, from the corrupting, and withering blight of a debauched soldiery; if it be treason to maintain inviolate the Constitution and institutions of the United States, when nearly all the states are seeking to trample them under their feet—then indeed are we guilty of treason. We have carefully considered all these matters, and are prepared to meet the 'terrible vengeance' we have been very politely informed will be the result of our acts. It is in vain to hide it from you that the people have suffered so much from every kind of official that they will endure it no longer. It is not with them an idle phantom, but a stern reality. It is not as some suppose the 'voice of Brigham' only, but the universal, deep settled feeling of the whole community. Their cry is 'Give us our Constitutional rights; give us liberty or death.' A strange cry, indeed, in our boasted model republic, but a truth deeply and indelibly graven on the hearts of 100,000 American citizens by a series of twenty-seven years unmitigated, and unprovoked, yet unrequited wrongs. Having told you of this, you will not be surprised, that when fifty have been called to assist in repelling our aggressors, hundreds have volunteered; and when a hundred have been called, the number has been more than doubled; the only feeling is, 'don't let us be overlooked or forgotten.' And here let me inform you that I have seen thousands of hands raised simultaneously voting to burn our property rather than let it fall into the hands of our enemies. Our people have been so frequently robbed and despoiled without redress, that they have solemnly decreed that if they cannot enjoy their own property nobody else shall. You will see by this that it would be literally madness for your small force to attempt to come into the settlements. It would only be courting destruction. But say you: have you counted the cost? have you considered the wealth and power of the United States and the fearful odds against you? Yes, and here let me inform you that if necessitated we would as soon meet 100,000 as 1,000, and if driven to the necessity, will burn every house, tree, shrub, rail, every patch of grass, and stack of straw and hay, and flee to the mountains. You will then obtain a barren, desolate wilderness, but will not have conquered the people, and the same principle in regard to other property will be carried out. If this people have to burn their property to save it from the hands of legalized mobs, they will see to it that their enemies shall be without fuel; they will haunt them by day and by night. Such is in part our plan. The 300,000 dollars worth of our property destroyed already in Green River County is only a faint sample of what will be done throughout the Territory. We have been thrice driven by tamely submitting to the authority of corrupt officials, and left our houses and homes for others to inhabit; but are now determined that if we are again robbed of our possessions, our enemies shall also feel how pleasant it is to be houseless at least for once, and be permitted as they have sought to do to us,—
"'To dig their own dark graves,Creep into them and die.'
"'To dig their own dark graves,Creep into them and die.'
"You see we are not backward in showing our hands. Is it not strange to what lengths the human family may be goaded by a continued series of oppression? The administration may yet find leisure to pause over the consequences of their acts, and it may yet become a question for them to solve whether they have blood and treasure enough to crush out the sacred principles of liberty from the bosoms of one hundred thousand freemen, and make them bow in craven servility to the mendacious acts of a perjured, degraded tyrant.
"You may have learned already that it is anything but pleasant for even a small army to contend with the chilling blasts of this inhospitable climate. How a large army would fare without resources you can picture to yourself. We have weighed those matters; it is for the administration to post their own accounts. It may not be amiss, however, here to state that if they continue to prosecute this inhuman fratricidal war, and our Nero would light the fires, and, sitting complacently in his chair of state, laugh at burning Rome, there is a day of reckoning even for Neroes. There are generally two sides to a question. As I before said we wish for peace, but that we are determined on having if we have to fight for it. We will not have officers forced upon us who are so degraded as to submit to be sustained by the bayonet's point. We cannot be dragooned into servile obedience to any man.
"These things settled, Captain, and all the little preliminaries of etiquette are easily arranged; and permit me here to state that no man would be more courteous and civil than Governor Young, and neither could you find in your capacity of an officer of the United States a more generous and hearty welcome than at the hands of His Excellency. But when, instead of battling with the enemies of our country, you come (though probably reluctantly) to make war upon my family and friends, our civilities are naturally cooled and we instinctively grasp the sword. Minie rifles, Colt's revolvers, sabres and cannon may display very good workmanship and great artistic skill, but we very much object to having their temper and capabilities tried upon us. We may admire the capabilities, gentlemanly deportment, heroism and patriotism of United States officers; but in an official capacity as enemies, we would rather see their backs than their faces. The guillotine may be a very pretty instrument and show great artistic skill, but I don't like to try my neck in it.
"Now, Captain, notwithstanding all this, I shall be very happy to see you if circumstances should so transpire as to make it convenient for you to come, and to extend to you the courtesies of our city, for I am sure you are not our personal enemy. I shall be happy to render you any information in my power in regard to your contemplated explorations.
"I am heartily sorry that things are so unpleasant at the present time, and I cannot but realize the awkwardness of your position and that of your compatriots; and let me here say that anything that lies in my power compatible with the conduct of a gentleman, you can command.
"If you have leisure I should be most happy to hear from you. You will, I am sure, excuse me, if I disclaim the prefix of Rev. to my name. Address: John Taylor, Great Salt Lake City.
"I need not here assure you that personally there can be no feelings of enmity between us and your officers. We regard you as the agents of the administration only, in the discharge of a probably unpleasant duty, and very likely ignorant of the ultimate designs of the administration. As I left the east this summer you will excuse me when I say I am probably better posted in some of these matters than you are, having been one of a delegation from the citizens of this Territory to apply for admission into the Union. I can only regret that it is not our real enemies that are here instead of you. We do not wish to harm you nor any of the command to which you belong, and I can assure you that in any other capacity than the one you now occupy, you would be received as civilly and treated as courteously as in any other portion of our Union.
"On my departure from the states the fluctuating tide of popular opinion against us seemed to be on the wane. By this time there may be quite a reaction in the public mind. If so it may probably affect materially the position of the administration, and tend to more constitutional, pacific and humane measures. In such an event our relative positions would be materially changed, and instead of meeting as enemies we could meet as all Americans should, friends to each other, and united against our legitimate enemies only. Such an issue is devoutly to be desired, and I can assure you that no one could more appreciate so happy a result to our present awkward and unpleasant position than
"Yours Truly,
"John Taylor."
MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN UTAH—THE LEGISLATURE TO CONGRESS—"WE SHALL NOT ABANDON OUR RELIGION"—GIVE US OUR RIGHTS AND WE ARE AT HOME—ARRIVAL OF COL. KANE—COMPROMISES—ENTRANCE OF GOVERNOR CUMMING INTO SALT LAKE—REMAINING DIFFICULTIES—PREPARATIONS FOR AN EXODUS—THE PEACE COMMISSION—DIFFICULTIES ADJUSTED—ELDER TAYLOR'S PART.
It was but a few days after the departure of Captain Van Vliet on his return to the army, that Governor Young issued his proclamation forbidding all armed forces from entering the Territory. He called on the territorial militia to enforce the proclamation, and declared martial law to exist throughout Utah. This action was followed by sending a portion of the militia to watch the movements of the army, and prevent its marching into the Territory.
These military movements were under the immediate supervision of Lieutenant-General Daniel H. Wells; but when he went to the front he was accompanied by Elders Taylor and Geo. A. Smith. Elder Taylor remained with the militia at the front until about the middle of December, when he returned to Salt Lake City, as the legislature, to which he had been elected a member from Salt Lake County, convened in the latter part of that month. He was unanimously chosen Speaker of the House.
The most important action of this legislature was the passage of a memorial to the President and Congress of the United States. It called attention to the fact that a previous legislature had memorialized Congress in respect to the situation in Utah, had set forth the grievances of the people and made known their wishes in regard to the appointment of the U. S. officials for the Territory. They had asked that the said officials be selected from the citizens of Utah, whose interests would be identical with those of the people among whom they administered the law.
The present memorialists reminded the President and Congress that no action had been taken, no answer made to this former memorial, "unless," said they, "it is to be understood that the appointment of a full set of officers for this Territory, backed by an army to enforce them upon us * * is to be deemed an answer." And then, notwithstanding an army was encamped on their borders, with the prospect of being re-enforced and marched into Salt Lake Valley in the spring, the legislature had the spirit to talk to Congress in the following strain:
"We appeal to you as American citizens who have been wronged, insulted, abused and persecuted; driven before our relentless foes from city to city—from state to state—until we were finally expelled from the confines of civilization to seek a shelter in a barren, inhospitable clime, amid the wild, savage tribes of the desert plains. We claim to be a portion of the people, and as such have rights that must be respected, and which we have a right to demand. We claim that in a republican form of government, such as our fathers established, and such as ours still professes to be, the officers are and should be the servants of the people—not their masters, dictators or tyrants.
"To the numerous charges of our enemies we plead not guilty, and challenge the world before any just tribunal to the proof. * * Try on the plaster of friendly intercourse and honorable dealing instead of foul aggression and war. Treat us as friends—as citizens entitled to and possessing equal rights with our fellows—and not as alien enemies, lest you make us such. * * All we want is the truth and fair play. The administration have been imposed upon by false, designing men; their acts have been precipitate and hasty, perhaps through lack of due consideration. Please to let us know what you want of us before you prepare your halters to hang, or 'apply the knife to cut out the loathsome, disgusting ulcer.' Do you wish us to deny our God and renounce our religion? That we shall not do. * * Withdraw your troops, give us our Constitutional rights and we are at home."
This document was signed by Elder Taylor, Speaker of the House; and Heber C. Kimball, President of the council.
During the winter of 1857-8 the "army for Utah" was kept encamped on or near Ham's Fork, and about Fort Bridger, unable to move into Salt Lake Valley, as large numbers of its stock had been run off; and a forced march into the Valley was impracticable as the mountain passes were well fortified and guarded by the Utah militia, determined to resist such a movement. Meantime the favorable report given of the Mormons by Captain Van Vliet at Washington, had produced a change in public sentiment; and President Buchanan found himself with his Utah expedition on his hands without being able to assign any reasonable cause for having inaugurated it.
It was at this juncture that Colonel Thomas L. Kane, of Pennsylvania, offered his services to the perplexed President. Colonel Kane had been a witness of the cruel expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois, and had become their firm and fast friend. It was, therefore, as much the object of the Colonel to render further service to a people to whom he had become attached, as it was to prevent the administration at Washington from making a further blunder, that induced him to offer his services as mediator between the President and the people of Utah.
The Colonel arrived in Salt Lake City in February, 1858, and was heartily welcomed by the Church leaders and the Saints. The result of his mediation was that the people received and acknowledged the President's appointee for Governor of the Territory, Alfred Cumming, of Georgia, provided he would agree to come to Salt Lake City without the army—conditions which Governor Cumming readily accepted.
He was escorted to Salt Lake City by Colonel Kane and several companies of the Utah militia; and everywhere was met with a hearty welcome and acknowledged Governor of Utah. He notified General Albert Sidney Johnston—who had succeeded Harney in the command of the Utah expedition—to this effect; and informed him that the presence of the army was not necessary to maintain his authority.
In his report to the Secretary of State, Governor Cumming denied the charges made against the Mormon people—charges which had been pointed to as justifying the President in sending the army—so that there was left not even the shadow of a justification for this inconsiderate, hostile demonstration. But even before Governor Cumming's report reached Washington, President Buchanan had become so heartily sick of his blunder that he issued a proclamation[1]pardoning the people for their alleged rebellion and treason.
Governor Cumming had entered the Territory, his authority had been acknowledged, he was in the full discharge of his official duties and congratulated himself that all the Utah difficulties were approaching a happy termination. His rejoicing was premature. The difficulties were not ended. The army was within a few days' march of the capital and other thickly settled portions of the Territory, and might rush in at any time to be quartered in Salt Lake City or encamped in close proximity to other settlements to insult, abuse and oppress the people. Furthermore, with the army and its camp followers once settled in or near Salt Lake City, with judges deeply prejudiced against them, and with an idea that they were judges with a mission, it was more than possible, it was quite probable, that juries composed of teamsters and camp followers would be packed to set in judgment on the old settlers of Utah in respect to events which had occurred during the unsettled state of affairs of the past two years. To these things the leaders of the people had determined not to submit; and rather than brook such treatment, an exodus from the Territory was determined upon.
Early spring saw the people in the northern settlements movingen massefor the south, leaving only enough men in the deserted settlements to fire them and lay waste the country. Alfred Cumming might be Governor of the Territory, but the people leaving would make his sceptre a barren one. The army might march into the Territory with all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war, but the country would be a blackened waste—not much glory to be reaped on such a field for the army of the great Republic!
By June, Salt Lake City and all the settlements north of Lehi were deserted, save by those left to destroy them. Such was the state of things in Utah when President Buchanan's Peace Commissioners—L. W. Powell, Senator-elect from Kentucky, and ex-Governor of that state, and Major-General Ben McCullough—arrived. A conference between them and the leaders of the Church, in which Elder Taylor took part, resulted in an adjustment of the Utah difficulties. The past was to be buried. In the language of Commissioner Powell, "Bygones are to be bygones;" and while the army was to be permitted to enter the Territory it was not to be encamped nearer than forty miles of Salt Lake City, and not adjacent to densely settled districts.
The location decided upon for its encampment was in Cedar Valley, south-west of Salt Lake City. The troops marched through the deserted cityen routefor this point, but made no stay in it. Their permanent encampment in Ceder Valley was made at Fairfield, and named Camp Floyd, in honor of the then Secretary of War.
These stipulations carried out on the part of the Governor, the Commission and the army, and assurances given that they should be faithfully observed, the people returned to their deserted homes in time to reap the volunteer harvest with which their fields were spread; and affairs in troubled Utah began to settle to normal conditions.
In all these stirring events Elder Taylor took a prominent part. Having implicit faith in God his glorious hopes for the future, lined the dark and threatening clouds with brightest silver. Confident, as he ever was, that God held the destiny of His people and that of their enemies in His own hands, he was ready for peace or war; or for the abandonment and destruction of his home, if such were the will of God. This spirit of trust and confidence in the Lord he not only possessed himself, but had also the faculty of imbuing others with it. He encouraged the disheartened, cheered the sorrowful, strengthened the weak, reproved the fearful, convinced the unbelieving, counseled even the wise; and throughout those dark and turbulent times, bore himself with dignity, courage and true manliness which intensified the love of the Saints for him, and called forth the admiration of his brethren.
1. Governor Cumming's report to Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, bears the date of May 2, 1858: The President issued his proclamation, on the sixth of April, of the same year.
LABORS AFTER THE UTAH WAR—A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE—SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE—PROBATE JUDGE—GREAT DISCUSSION WITH VICE-PRESIDENT SCHUYLER COLFAX.
After the close of the "Mormon War," Elder Taylor's public labors were mostly confined to Utah. For a number of years he traveled extensively through all the settlements of the Saints, preaching the gospel, usually accompanying President Brigham Young in his annual preaching tours. He also attended all conferences and councils, and assisted in a general way all public enterprises.
He was a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature from 1857 to 1876; and was elected speaker of the House for five successive sessions, beginning in 1857. As the Speaker of the House he won the esteem of the members by his uniform courtesy and fairness. As a member he sought to promote the interests of his constituents and at the same time to legislate for the welfare of the entire Territory.
In 1868 he was elected Probate Judge of Utah County, and continued in office until the December term of that court in 1870. As the laws of Utah then provided that the probate courts should "have power to exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, and as well in chancery as in common law," the position was one of considerable importance. Especially in those days when the perverseness of Federal judges led them frequently to close the district courts indefinitely, because, forsooth, the grand juries insisted on indicting men only when the facts before them warranted such action, and petit juries insisted on the right to judge the guilt or innocence of men accused of crime according to the facts proven in open court, instead of finding them guilty or innocent according as the wishes or prejudices of the judge would have them condemned or liberated.
During these years, too, he continued to stand up in defense of the rights and liberties of the Saints, missing no opportunity to speak out in his bold, manly style against those who would wrong them.
In October, 1869, Utah for the second time was visited by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, then vice-President of the United States. On the 5th of the month he delivered a speech from the portico of the Townsend House, now the Continental Hotel. In that speech, which was extensively published in the east, the vice-president made an attack on the Mormon religion, and justified Congress in the enactment of laws against the practice of plural marriage. To this speech Elder Taylor, then temporarily absent from the Territory, in Boston, replied through the columns of the New YorkTribune.
In his speech the vice-president took the position that the marriage institution of the Saints did not involve the question of religion; his exact words were: "I do not concede that the institution you have established here, and which is condemned by the law, is a question of religion;" and from that basis argued the question. His main point of argument I quote, observing only in passing that it has been the argument of tyrants and persecutors, acting under the cloak of law, ever since liberty had to struggle against oppression:
"I have no strictures to utter as to your creed on any really religious question. Our land is a land of civil and religious liberty, and the faith of every man is a matter between himself and God alone. You have as much right to worship the Creator through a President and twelve apostles of your church organization, as I have through the ministers and elders and creed of mine. And this right I would defend for you with as much zeal as the right of every other denomination throughout the land.
"But our country is governed by law, and no assumed revelation justifies any one in trampling on the law. If it did, every wrong-doer would use that argument to protect himself in his disobedience to it."
Replying to this part of the Vice-President's argument, Elder Taylor commended the magnanimity and even-handed justice of the first paragraph saying that the sentiments did honor to the author of them and that they ought to be engraven on every American heart. To the second paragraph he replied:
"That our country is governed by law all admit; but when it is said that 'no assumed revelation justifies any one in trampling on the law,' I should respectfully ask, What! not if it interferes with my religious faith, which you state 'is a matter between God and myself alone?' Allow me, sir, here to state that the assumed revelation referred to is one of the most vital parts of our religious faith; it emanated from God and cannot be legislated away; it is part of the 'Everlasting Covenant' which God has given to man. Our marriages are solemnized by proper authority; a woman is sealed unto a man for time and for eternity, by the power of which Jesus speaks, which 'seals on earth and it is sealed in heaven.' With us it is 'Celestial Marriage;' take this from us and you rob us of our hopes and associations in the resurrection of the just. This not our religion? You do not see things as we do. * * * I make these remarks to show that it is considered, by us, a part of our religious faith, which I have no doubt, did you understand it as we do, you would defend, as you state, 'with as much zeal as the right of every other denomination throughout the land.' Permit me here to say, however, that it was the revelation (I will not say assumed) that Joseph and Mary had, which made them look upon Jesus as the Messiah; which made them flee from the wrath of Herod, who was seeking the young child's life. This they did in contravention of law which was his decree. Did they do wrong in protecting Jesus from the law? But Herod was a tyrant. That makes no difference; it was the law of the land, and I have yet to learn the difference between a tyrannical king and a tyrannical Congress. When we talk of executing law in either case, that means force,—force means an army, and an army means death. Now I am not sufficiently versed in metaphysics to discover the difference in its effects, between the asp of Cleopatra, the dagger of Brutus, the chalice of Lucretia Borgia, or the bullet or sabre of an American soldier.
"I have, sir, written the above in consequence of some remarks which follow:
"'I do not concede that the institution you have established here, and which is condemned by the law, is a question of religion.'
"Now, with all due deference, I do think that if Mr. Colfax had carefully examined our religious faith he would have arrived at other conclusions. In the absence of this I might ask, who constituted Mr. Colfax a judge of my religious faith? I think he has stated that 'The faith of every manis a matter between himself and God alone.'
"Mr. Colfax has a perfect right to state and feel that he does not believe in the revelation on which my religious faith is based, nor in my faith at all; but has he the right todictatemy religious faith? I think not; he does not consider it religion, but it is nevertheless mine.
"If a revelation from God is not a religion, what is?
"His not believing it from God makes no difference; I know it is. The Jews did not believe in Jesus but Mr. Colfax and I do; their unbelief does not alter the revelation."
Commenting more at length on the Vice-President's assumption that the marriage system of the Saints had nothing to do with religion, he said:
"Are we to understand that Mr. Colfax is created an umpire to decide upon what is religion and what is not, upon what is true religion and what is false? If so, by whom and what authority is he created judge? I am sure he has not reflected upon the bearing of this hypothesis, or he would not have made such an utterance.
"According to this theory no persons ever were persecuted for their religion, there never was such a thing known. Could anybody suppose that that erudite, venerable, and profoundly learned body of men,—the great Sanhedrim of the Jews; or that those holy men, the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, would persecute anybody for religion? Jesus was put to death,—not for His religion,—but because He was a blasphemer; because He had a devil and cast out devils through Beelzebub the prince of devils; because He, being a carpenter's son, and known among them as such, declared Himself the Son of God. So they said, and they were the then judges. Could anybody be more horrified than those Jews at such pretensions? His disciples were persecuted, proscribed and put to death, not for their religion, but because they 'were pestilent fellows and stirrers up of sedition,' and because they believed in an 'assumed revelation' concerning 'one Jesus, who was put to death, and who, they said, had risen again.' It was for false pretensions and a lack of religion that they were persecuted. Their religion was not like that of the Jews; ours, not like that of Mr. Colfax.
"Loyola did not invent and put into use the faggot, the flame, the sword, the thumbscrews, the rack and gibbet to persecute anybody, it was to purify the Church of heretics, as others would purify Utah. His zeal was for the Holy Mother Church. The Nonconformists of England and Holland, the Huguenots of France and the Scottish non-Covenanters were not persecuted or put to death for their religion; it was for being schismatics, turbulent and unbelievers. All of the above claimed that they were persecuted for their religion. All of the persecutors, as Mr. Colfax said about us, did 'not concede that the institution they had established which was condemned by the law, was religion;' or, in other terms, it was an imposture or false religion."
Referring to the injustice and oppression which had been perpetrated on humanity in the name of law, he wrote the following fine vein of sarcasm:
"When Jesus was plotted against by Herod and the infants were put of death, who could complain?It was law: we must submit tolaw. The Lord Jehovah, or Jesus, the Savior of the world, has no right to interfere withlaw. Jesus was crucifiedaccording to law. Who can complain? Daniel was thrown into a den of lions strictlyaccording to law. The king would have saved him, if he could; but he could not resist law. The massacre of St. Bartholomew was in accordance withlaw. The guillotine of Robespierre, of France, which cut heads off by the thousand, did it according tolaw. What right had the victims to complain? But these things were done in barbarous ages. Do not let us, then, who boast of our civilization, follow their example; let us be more just, more generous, more forbearing, more magnanimous. We are told that we are living in a more enlightened age. Our morals are more pure, (?) our ideas more refined and enlarged, our institutions more liberal. 'Ours,' says Mr. Colfax, 'is a land of civil and religious liberty, and the faith of every man is a matter between himself and God alone,' providing God don't shock our moral ideas by introducing something we don't believe in. If He does, let Him look out. We won't persecute, very far be that from us; but we will make our platforms, pass Congressional laws and make you submit to them. We may, it is true, have to send out an army, and shed the blood of many; but what of that? It is so much more pleasant to be proscribed and killed according to the laws of the Great Republic, in the 'asylum for the oppressed,' than to perish ignobly by the decrees of kings, through their miserable minions, in the barbaric ages."
The reply of Elder Taylor to the Vice-President's speech brought that gentleman out again in a long article on the Mormon question, published in the New YorkIndependent. In addition to repeating the main argument of his speech, Mr. Colfax, undertook to trace out the history of the Mormons and answer the arguments of Elder Taylor. To this second production Elder Taylor made an elaborate and masterly reply that was quite as extensively published in the east as was the Vice-President's article. He followed his opponent through all his meanderings in dealing with the Mormon question; he corrected his errors, reproved his blunders, answered his arguments, laughed at his folly; now belaboring him with the knotty cudgel of unanswerable argument, and now roasting him before the slow fire of his sarcasm; now honoring him for his zeal, which, however mistaken, had the smack of honesty about it; and now pitying him for being led astray on some historical fact.
In the opening of his article the Vice-President made a rather ungenerous effort to belittle the achievements of the Mormon people, in redeeming the desert valleys of Utah. "For this," said he, "they claim great credit: and I would not detract one iota from all they are legitimately entitled to. Itwasa desert when they first emigrated thither. They have made large portions of it fruitful and productive, and their chief city is beautiful in location and attractive in its gardens and shrubbery. But the solution of it all is in one word—water. What seemed to the eye a desert became fruitful when irrigated; and the mountains whose crests are clothed in perpetual snow, furnished, in the unfailing supplies of their ravines, the necessary fertilizer."
This afforded Elder Taylor a fine opportunity for one of those poetic flights so frequently to be met with both in his writings and sermons. "Water!" he exclaimed. "Mirabile dictu! Here I must help Mr. C. out."
"This wonderful little water nymph, after playing with the clouds on our mountain tops, frolicking with the snow and rain in our rugged gorges for generations, coquetting with the sun and dancing to the sheen of the moon, about the time the Mormons came here, took upon herself to perform a great miracle, and descending to the valley with a wave of her magic wand and the mysterious words, 'hiccory, diccory, dock,' cities and streets were laid out, crystal waters flowed in ten thousand rippling streams, fruit trees and shrubbery sprang up, gardens and orchards abounded, cottages and mansions were organized, fruits, flowers and grain in all their elysian glory appeared and the desert blossomed as the rose; and this little frolicking elf, so long confined to the mountains and water courses proved herself far more powerful than Cinderella or Aladdin. Oh! Jealousy, thou green-eyed monster! Can no station in life be protected from the shimmer of thy glamour? must our talented and honorable Vice-President be subjected to thy jaundiced touch? But to be serious, did water tunnel through our mountains, construct dams, canals and ditches, lay out our cities and towns, import and plant choice fruit-trees, shrubs and flowers, cultivate the land and cover it with the cattle on a thousand hills, erect churches, school-houses and factories, and transform a howling wilderness into a fruitful field and a garden? * * * * * * * Unfortunately for Mr. Colfax, it was Mormon polygamists who did it. * * * * * What if a stranger on gazing upon the statuary in Washington and our magnificent Capitol, and after rubbing his eyes were to exclaim, 'Eureka! it is only rock and mortar and wood!' This discoverer would announce that instead of the development of art, intelligence, industry and enterprise, its component parts were simply stone, mortar and wood. Mr. Colfax has discovered that our improvements are attributable to water!"
Replying to the Vice-President's arguments and illustrations that the United States was justified in suppressing what it considered to be immoral, notwithstanding the Mormons claimed it to be part of their religious faith—in the course of which Mr. Colfax referred to the now familiar conduct of the English government in suppressing the suttee in India—Elder Taylor said:
"To present Mr. Colfax's argument fairly, it stands thus: The burning of Hindoo widows was considered a religious rite by the Hindoos. The British were horrified at the practice, and suppressed it. The Mormons believe polygamy to be a religious rite. The American nation consider it a scandal, and that they ought to put it down. Without entering into all the details, I think the above a fair statement of the question. He says 'The claim that religious faith commanded it was powerless, and it went down, as a relic of barbarism.' He says: 'History tells us what a civilized nation, akin to ours, actually did, where they had the power.' I wish to treat this argument with candor: * * * * * *
"The British suppressed the suttee in India, and therefore we must be equally moral and suppress polygamy in the United States. Hold! not so fast; let us state facts as they are and remove the dust. The British suppressed the suttee, but tolerated eighty-three millions of polygamists in India. The suppression of the suttee and that of polygamy are two very different things. If the British are indeed to be our exemplars, Congress had better wait until polygamy is suppressed in India. But it is absurd to compare the suttee to polygamy; one is murder and the destruction of life, the other is national economy and the increase and perpetuation of life.Sutteeranks truly withinfanticide, both of which are destructive of human life.Polygamyis salvation compared with either, and tends even more than monogamy to increase and perpetuate the human race."
Elder Taylor closed the discussion with a vivid expose of the loathsome immorality and crime that existed in the villages, towns and cities of the East; and called the attention of the Vice-President to the fact that there was work enough for himself, for Congress and also for the moralists and ministers in the United States nearer home, in suppressing the evils by which they were immediately surrounded, without plunging into the isolated valleys of Utah to legislate away the religion of the Mormons, under the specious plea of suppressing crime.
Taking it all in all, this is doubtless the most important discussion in the history of the Church. The great reputation of Mr. Colfax as a speaker and writer; the fact that he had for many years been a member of Congress and accustomed to debate, together with the high station he occupied at the time of the discussion, gave to it a national importance. It occurred, too, at a critical time in the history of the Church. The Republican party had pledged itself to the accomplishment of two objects: the suppression of slavery and polygamy. Slavery it had abolished; and it was now expected that polygamy would receive its attention.
There was also, just then, an effort being made by prominent and wealthy members of the Church, to destroy the influence of President Brigham Young, or, if that failed, to weaken it by dividing the Church into parties. Of this movement the Vice-President was aware, as was also the President and the members of his Cabinet; and lent their influence as far as they could, to this scheme of disintegration; hoping, by fostering it, to solve the Mormon problem. That it failed miserably is notorious; but these considerations make the discussion between Elder Taylor and the Vice-President all the more important.
The discussion also serves another purpose. It affords an opportunity of comparing Elder Taylor with a man of acknowledged ability, liberal education and wide experience. In that comparison Elder Taylor loses nothing. In fact he gains by it; for, maugre the experience and learning and position of his opponent, he surpassed him not only in the force of argument, but in literary style, in the elegance, ease and beauty of his diction; while for courtesy, fair dealing and frankness, he was not surpassed by the Vice-President, who was noted for possessing these admirable qualities.