Morning Star

MISCELLANY.

THE MORMONS.

[Correspondence of the Boston Recorder.]

"City of Nauvoo," ILL. April 6, 1841.

My Dear Sir,—I have this day attended services of so novel a character, and connected with so remarkable species of modern fanaticism, that I am inclined to give your readers and my friends through the columns of the Recorder some account of the extraordinary scene. The occasion was the laying the corner stones—for it was not deemed sufficient to lay one ceremoniously—of the Mormon 'Temple to be erected on this beautiful spot.

Let me say a word about the spot. It is a high bluff on the Mississippi, about 60 miles above Quincy, and more than two hundred above St. Louis. There is a lower plateau or table land, perhaps a half a mile wide, level, cleared, and dotted here and there with log cabins, and a few frame buildings. The bluff rises less abruptly than many of the western bluffs, to the height of 60 or 80 feet, affording a fine view of the lower towns as well as of the river, and the opposite shore of Iowa, with the village of Montrose in that Territory. Directly upon the edge of the bluff, is the foundation of the Temple, from which may be seen in every direction among the trees the new or half finished log cabins of the Mormon settlers, who are crowding into this, their new "land of promise," in great numbers.

It is eleven years this day, since the first band of these deluded people was organized in the State of New York. It consisted of six, all of whom dispersed, as preachers of the new doctrine. An establishment was soon formed at Kirtland, Ohio, and I believe at one or two other places; but their principle rallying point was at Far West, "in Missouri, their favorite "land of promise," from which they were driven a year or two since, for reasons which I find it extremely difficult to ascertain. Undoubtedly they were bad neighbors, but whether as the Missourians allege, they attempted to carry out their true principles, that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, and that he has given it to "His saints" for their discretionary possession and use, is not quite clear to my mind. Cases of dishonesty there undoubtedly were, and the presence of a large and increasing body of men, fully possessed with a spirit of the wildest fanaticism, and joined from time to time by vile and reckless adventurers, perhaps outlaws, was naturally fitted to awaken the jealousy of those among whom they came, & whom they did not hesitate to speak of as the Lord's enemies, and to treat in the most overbearing and irritating manner. Probably there was wrong on both sides. Be this as it may, they were driven out, with some loss of life, and an expense to the state of Missouri of $150,000. They soon after purchased the little town of Commerce, situated on the table land I mentioned above, and are now concentrating themselves at this point and the tract adjacent, where they have a city laid off and organized, which they call Nauvoo. It having been "revealed" to Joe Smith, the established head of this strange farce, that a 'Temple must be built in this place, and the dimensions, architecture, arrangement, and devotions having all been prescribed, with no less minuteness than were those of the ancient Jewish sanctuary, this day was appointed, and all the "faithful" within convenient distance, commenced to appear, for the ceremony of laying the corner stones. Accordingly there was a great rush of men, women and children, from all directions yesterday; and as I entered this city of logs last evening, intending to spend the day here, unless a boat should come to bear me on my journey, it seemed for a time doubtful whether I should better myself for a lodging than to share one of the numerous tents erected among the trees, by families who choose to bring their own beds as well as provisions along with them.

However, I found hospitable if not splendid entertainment in a Scotch family, where I passed the night in an apartment with a larger and less carefully assorted number of lodgers than would be thought either comfortable, or decorous in New England, but which necessity has sanctioned here as being both the one and the other. It was a great pleasure to me to find Scotch piety as well as Scotch kindness. The "big ha' Bible" brought from Scotland, and the reverent blessing asked, and family prayers offered by the good blind man, who seemed to be the priest at the domestic altar, all told that they had brought their religion with them, from the home of their childhood to the home of their adoption. The humble evangelical tone of the good man's devotions, too, though a glimpse might be had occasionally from the wild, fantastical notions he had imbibed, showed that those notions were only an unfortunate excrescence engrafted upon his piety, leaving it, as well as the main elements of his faith, untouched. Such, I believe, is true of thousands of professors of religion from all the evangelical denominations who have been led away by worse men, and with more cunning than themselves.

On going this morning to the edge of the bluff, I found crowds of people already assembled around the foundations of the Temple. They are well laid, and of large dimensions, about 120 feet by 80. Below, on the declivity, were the camps, wagons and horses of the numerous pilgrims who had spent the night among the trees, while the plain below presented the spectacle of six hundred and fifty armed men, artillery, cavalry and infantry, with one company of slingers, and near as many thousands of men, women and children, looking on. After some show of reviewing, the presentation of a banner by some ladies, &c, the whole Nauvoo Legion" advanced up the hill accompanied by an immense procession. They were commanded by the Quarter Master General of Illinois, who in the new capacity of a Mormon convert, doubtless considers it his highest military distinction to head this motley band even under the direction and authority of such a man as Smith. The latter presented the appearance of a prophet militant, being dressed in elegant military costume, riding a fine horse, and surrounded by quite a respectable staff, besides a lifeguard of twelve men, mounted, dressed in white, and armed with rifles, pistols and knives—a necessary retinue for a prophet who is an outlaw, having been demanded by the governor of Missouri, as a criminal, a demand which his guard have promised with an oath to resist, even unto blood.

I obtained a position just outside of the line of sentries established around the consecrated enclosure, from which I could see and hear all that passed—and a most imposing scene, it was, though with a touch of the ludicrous. Here on a lone bluff in the wild west, were fifteen military companies, under an ecclesiastical organization, with an assembly of spectators variously estimated at from 5000 to 8000; and in the centre, surrounded by bayonets, was an ill-made, ill-bred man, decked in military garb—an indicted criminal under the laws of Missouri, honored and guarded, and swelling with ill-concealed pride as the inspired organ of the divine commands, and the grand centre of all this strange pageant!—alas, for poor human nature. I have never before so well conceived the possibility of the Mohammedan, Swedenborgian, or any other prophetic delusion. Certainly, no false prophet or dreamer ever had shallower pretences to go upon, or a smaller capital in the trade of delusion, than this man; and yet he boasts of a train of dupes, amounting to between fifty and a hundred thousand. Probably even the smaller number is much above the truth; but it is undeniable that some in Europe as well as great numbers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and even New England, have been led captives in this triumph of stupid imposture. I say stupid, for so far as the ostensible leader is concerned, this epithet is not rendered inappropriate by whatever of low cunning he possesses. I am inclined to the opinion that Rigdon, who delivered the address on the occasion, is now in reality the master spirit of the humbug, and that he, rather than Smith, is the inspirer of the oracle which, for "purposes of state" the latter promulgates as the breathing of his own afflatus.

He is a man of much address and some talent. Having been a preacher among several sects, he now stands forth as the high Priest of this, under its great Prophet. He has a good person, and much self-possession; and stood up in a windy day in feeble health, before an immense assembly, with as much advantage of voice, action and ready utterance, as one in a hundred of our distinguished public men. There was of course, some rant and more sophistry in what he said, together with plenty of assertion without evidence. But the whole was skilfully managed. And when he enlarged upon the greatness of their God and the glory of their Christ, and then adroitly conveyed the impression that it was for this belief they had suffered the loss of all things, and even left the mangled bodies of their wives and children on the plains of Missouri, many substantial Yankee emigrants around me were beguiled, and testified by their visible emotion, and suppressed words, that he had found and touched the right chord in their hearts. All that is really peculiar and offensive in their belief, he contrived to introduce without show of argument, in the wake of the common doctrines of Christianity which he had with some eloquence presented as peculiar to their creed. On the whole, though the address probably made no converts, it doubtless confirmed the faith of those who were already duped, and certainly afforded one hearer an hour's amusement at its ingenuity, not unmingled with indignation at the hoary deceiver, and pity for the thousands who lent their credulous ears and their gaping attention.

What wonder, in view of such abuses of the right of "private interpretation" as this and its numerous kindred heresies present, that some should be found even in Protestant America to sympathize with the new spirit of old popery in England?

And yet what has the insane Swedenborg or the lying Smith, invented or promulgated more extravagant or unscriptural than the infallible Mother church has sanctioned, and enforced by the sword and the stake?

"To the law and to the testimony"—is our only—thank God it is a sufficient and sure appeal.

Truly yours,

J. W. C.