MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗
- Author: FREDERICK MARRYAT
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Amount Of Their Subscriptions In town Lots, At Five Or Six Times Their
Real Value; Others Paid In personal Property At A High Valuation; And
Some Paid The Cash. When The Notes Were First Issued, They Were Current
In The Vicinity, And Smith Took Advantage Of Their Credit To Pay Off
With Them The Debts He And The Brethren Had Contracted in the
Neighbourhood For Land And Other Purchases. The Eastern Creditors,
However, Refused to Take Their Notes. This Led to The Expedient Of
Exchanging Them For The Notes Of Other Banks.
Accordingly, The Elders Were Sent Off The Country To Barter Kirkland
Money, Which They Did With Great Zeal, And Continued the Operation Until
The Notes Were Not Worth Sixpence To The Dollar. As Might Have Been
Expected, This Institution Exploded after A Few Months, Involving Smith
And His Brethren In inextricable Difficulties. The Consequence Was That
He And Most Of The Members Of The Church Set Off. In the Spring Of 1838,
For Missouri, Pursued by Their Creditors, But To No Effect.
We Must Now Go Back For A Short Period To State Another Circumstance. In
1836 An Endowment Meeting, Or Solemn Assembly, Was Called, To Be Held In
The Temple At Kirkland. It Was Given Out That Those Who Were In
Attendance At The Meeting Should Receive An Endowment Or Blessing
Similar To That Experienced by The Disciples Of Christ On The Day Of
Pentecost. When The Day Arrived, Great Numbers Convened from The
Different Churches In the Country. They Spent The Day In fasting and
Prayer, And In washing and Perfuming Their Bodies; They Also Washed
Their Feet And Anointed their Heads With What They Called holy Oil, And
Pronounced blessings.
In The Evening They Met For The Endowment; The Fast Was Then Broken, By
Eating Light Wheat Bread, And Drinking as Much Wine As They Thought
Proper. Smith Knew Well How To Infuse The Spirit Which They Expected to
Receive; So He Encouraged the Brethren To Drink Freely, Telling Them
That The Wine Was Consecrated, And Would Not Make Them Drank. As May Be
Supposed, They Drank To Some Purpose; After This, They Began To
Prophesy, Pronouncing Blessings Upon Their Friends And Curses Upon Their
Enemies; After Which The Meeting adjourned.
We Now Return To Missouri. The Mormons Who Had Settled in and About
Independence, In the Year 1831, Having Become Very Arrogant, Claiming
The Land As Their Own, Saying, The Lord Had Given It To Them, And Making
The Most Haughty Assumptions, So Exasperated the Old Citizens, That A
Mob Was Raised in 1833, And Expelled the Whole Mormon Body From The
County. They Fled to Clay County, Where The Citizens Permitted them To
Live In quiet Till 1836, When A Mob Spirit Began To Manifest Itself, And
The Mormons Retired to A Very Thinly Settled district Of The Country,
Where They Began To Make Improvements.
This District Was At The Session Of 1836-7 Of The Missouri Legislature,
Erected into A County By The Name Of Caldwell, With Far-West For Its
Capital. Here The Mormons Remained in quiet Until After The Bank
Explosion In kirkland, In 1838, When Smith, Rigdon, And Others Of The
Heads Of The Sect Arrived. Shortly After This, The Danite Society Was
Organised, The Object Of Which, At First, Was To Drive The Dissenters
Out Of The County. The Members Of This Society Were Bound By An Oath And
Covenant, With The Penalty Of Death Attached to A Breach Of It, To
Defend The Presidency, And Each Other, Unto Death, Right Or Wrong. They
Had Their Secret Signs, By Which They Knew Each Other, Either By Day Or
Night; And Were Divided into Bands Of Tens And Fifties, With A Captain
Over Each Band, And A General Over The Whole. After This Body Was
Formed, Notice Was Given To Several Of The Dissenters To Leave The
County, And They Were Threatened severely In case Of Disobedience. The
Effect Of This Was That Many Of The Dissenters Left. Among These Were
David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Hiram Page, And Oliver Cowdery, All
Witnesses To The Book Of Mormon; Also Lyman Johnson, One Of The
Twelve Apostles.
The Day After John Whitmer Left His House In far-West, It Was Taken
Possession Of By Sidney Rigdon. About This Time Rigdon Preached his
Famous "Salt Sermon." The Text Was--"Ye Are The Salt Of The Earth, But
If The Salt Has Lost Its Savour, Wherewith Shall It Be Salted? It Is
Thenceforth Good For Nothing, But To Be Cast Out, And To Be Trodden
Under Foot Of Men." He Informed the Mormons That The Church Was The
Salt; That Dissenters Were The Salt That Had Lost Its Savour; And That
They Were Literally To Be Trodden Under The Foot Of The Church, Until
Their Bowels Should Gush Out.
In One Of The Meetings Of The Danite Band, One Of The Leaders Informed
Them That The Time Was Not Far Distant When The Elders Of The Church
Should Go Forth To The World With Swords At Their Sides, And That They
Would Soon Have To Go Through The State Of Missouri, And Slay Every Man,
Woman, And Child! They Had It In contemplation At One Time To Prophesy A
Dreadful Pestilence In missouri, And Then To Poison The Waters Of The
State, To Bring It About, And Thus To Destroy The Inhabitants.
In The Early Part Of The Fall Of The Year 1838, The Last Disturbance
Between The Mormons And The Missourians Commenced. It Had Its Origin At
An Election In davies County, Some Of The Mormons Had Located. A Citizen
Of Davies, In a Conversation With A Mormon, Remarked that The Mormons
All Voted one Way. This Was Denied with Warmth; A Violent Contest
Ensued, When, At Last, The Mormon Called the Missourian A Liar. They
Came To Blows, And The Quarrel Was Followed by A Row Between The Mormons
And The Missourians.
A Day Or Two After This, Smith, With A Company Of Men From Far-West,
Went Into Davies County, For The Purpose, As They Said, Of Quelling The
Mob; But When They Arrived, The Mob Had Dispersed. The Citizens Of
Davies Gathered in their Turn; However, The Mormons Soon Collected a
Force To The Amount Of Five Hundred men, And Compelled the Citizens To
Retire; They Fled, Leaving The Country Deserted for Many Miles Around.
At This Time, The Mormons Killed between Two And Three Hundred hogs, And
A Number Of Cattle; Took At Least Forty Or Fifty Stands Of Honey, And At
The Same Time Destroyed several Fields Of Corn. The Word Was Given Out
That The Lord Had Consecrated, Through The Church, The Spoils Unto
His Host.
All This Was Done When They Had Plenty Of Their Own, And Previous To The
Citizens In that Section Of The Country Taking anything From Them. They
Continued these Depredations For Near A Week, When The Clay County
Militia Was Ordered out. The Contest Was A Bloody One: Suffice It To Say
That, Finally, Smith, Rigdon, And Many Others Were Taken, And, At A
Court Of Inquiry, Were Remanded over For Trial. Rigdon Was Afterwards
Discharged on _Habeas Corpus_, And Smith And His Comrades, After Being
In Prison Several Months, Escaped from Their Guards, And Reached quincy,
Illinois. The Mormons Had Been Before Ordered to Leave The State, By
Direction Of The Governor, And Many Had Retired to Illinois Previous To
Smith'S Arrival.
The Mormons, As A Body, Arrived in illinois In the Early Part Of The
Year 1839, In a State Of Great Destitution And Wretchedness. Their
Condition, With Their Tales Of Persecutions And Privations, Wrought
Powerfully Upon The Sympathies Of The Citizens, And Caused them To Be
Received with The Greatest Hospitality And Kindness. After The Arrival
Of Smith, The Greater Part Of Them Settled at Commerce, Situated upon
The Mississippi River, At The Lower Rapids, Just Opposite The Entrance
Of The River Des Monies, A Site Equal In beauty To Any On The River.
Here They Began To Build, And In the Short Time Of Four Years They Have
Raised a City. At First, As Was Before Said, On Account Of Their Former
Sufferings, And Also From The Great Political Power Which They
Possessed, From Their Unity, They Were Treated by The Citizens Of
Illinois With Great Respect; But Subsequent Events Have Turned the Tide
Of Feeling against Them.
In The Winter Of 1840, They Applied to The Legislature Of The State For
Several Charters; One For The City Of Nauvoo, The Name Smith Had Given
To The Town Of Commerce; One For The Nauvoo Legion, A Military Body; One
For Manufacturing Purposes, And One For The Nauvoo University. The
Privileges Which They Asked for Were Very Extensive, And Such Was The
Desire To Secure Their Political Support, That All Were Granted for The
Mere Asking; Indeed, The Leaders Of The American Legislature Seemed to
Vie With Each Other In sycophancy Towards This Body Of Fanatical
Strangers, So Anxious Was Each Party To Do Them Some Favour That Would
Secure Their Gratitude. This Tended to Produce Jealousy In the Minds Of
The Neighbouring Citizens, And Fears Were Expressed lest A Body So
United, Religiously And Politically, Might Become Dangerous To Liberal
Institutions.
The Mormons Had At Every Election Voted in a Body With Their Leaders;
This Alone Made Them Formidable. The Legion Of Mormons Had Been Amply
Supplied with Arms By The State, And The Whole Body Was Under The
Strictest Military Discipline. These Facts, Together With Complaints
Similar To Those Which Were Made In missouri, Tended to Arouse A Strong
Feeling against Them, And At Last, In the Early Part Of The Summer Of
1841, The Citizens Of Illinois Organized a Strong Force In opposition;
The Mormons Were Beaten In the Contest. The Disposition Now Manifested
By The Citizens Appears To Be To Act Upon The Defensive, But At All
Hazards To Maintain Their Rights.
As Regards The Pecuniary Transactions Of The Mormons Since They Have
Been In illinois, Smith Still Uses His Power For His Own Benefit. His
Present Arrangements Are To Purchase Land At A Low Rate, Lay It Off Into
Town Lots, Which He Sells To His Followers At A High Price; Thus Lots
That Scarcely Cost Him A Dollar, Are Frequently Sold For A Thousand. He
Has Raised several Towns In this Manner, Both In illinois And In iowa.
During The Last Year, He Has Made Two Proclamations To His Followers
Abroad, To Come And Settle In the County Of Hancock. These Proclamations
Have Been Obeyed to A Great Extent, And, Strange To Say, Hundreds Have
Been Flocking In from The Great Manufacturing Cities Of England. What
Is To Be The Result Of All This, It Is Impossible To Tell; But One Thing
Is Certain, That, In a Political Point Of View, The Mormons Are Already
Powerful, And That The Object Of Smith Is Evidently To Collect All His
Followers Into One Focus, And Thus Concentrate All His Power And Wealth.
The Designs Of Smith And His Coadjutors, At The Time Of The First
Publication Of The Book Of Mormon, Was, Doubtlessly, Nothing More Than
Pecuniary Aggrandizement. We Do Not Believe They Expected at That Time
That So Many Could Ever Be Duped to Be Converted; When, However, The
Delusion Began To Spread, The Publishers Saw The Door Opened not Only
For Wealth, But Also For Extensive Power, And Their History Throughout
Shows That They Have Not Been Remiss In their Efforts To Acquire Both.
The Extent Of Their Desires Is Now By No Means Limited, For Their
Writings And Actions Show A Design To Pursue The Same Path, And Attain
The Same End By The Same Means, As Did Mahomet. The Idea Of A Second
Mahomet Arising In the Nineteenth Century May Excite A Smile, But When
We Consider The Steps Now Taken By The Mormons To Concentrate Their
Numbers, And Their Ultimate Design To Unite Themselves With The Indians,
It Will Not Be At All Surprising, If Scenes Unheard Of Since The Days Of
Feudalism Should Soon Be Re-Enacted.
I Will Here Submit To My Readers A Letter Directed to Mr. Courtenay In
1842, By A Superior Officer Of The United states Artillery.
"Yesterday (July The 10Th) Was A Great Day Among The Mormons; Their
Legion, To The Number Of Three Thousand Men, Was Reviewed by Generals
Smith, Bennet, And Others, And Certainly Made A Very Noble And Imposing
Appearance; The Evolutions Of The Troops Commanded by Joe Would Do
Honour To Any Body Of Regular Soldiers In england. France, Or Prussia.
What Does This Mean? Why This Exact Discipline Of The Mormon Corps? Do
They Intend To Conquer Missouri, Illinois, Mexico? It Is True They Are
Part Of The Militia Of The State Of Illinois, By The Charter Of Their
Legion, But Then There Are No Troops In the States Like Them In point Of
Discipline And Enthusiasm; And Led on By Ambitious And Talented
Officers, What May Not Be Effected by Them? Perhaps The Subversion Of
The Constitution Of The United
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