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The Federal Government
and the Mormons,
San
Francisco Evening Bulletin, October
27, 1857
We devote considerable space this evening to
the statements of persons who have recently crossed the Mormon territory,
going to prove the complicity of these people in the later butchery of
over one hundred immigrants, and their rebellion against the Government of
the United States. These statements are convincing. Through their savage
allies, the Mormons have slain in cold blood, and left unburied to rot,
men and women peaceably pursuing their pathway across the territory of the
United States. They have enrolled themselves in companies and taken up
arms against the Government. They have audaciously declared their
intention of cutting off all connection with the Government, and threaten
the extermination of Federal troops sent out by the President to maintain
and enforce the laws.
What effect this news will have at Washington, it is hard to foresee. But
we much mistake the character of President Buchanan and his Cabinet, if it
does not lead speedily to such action as will cause that arch traitor,
Brigham Young, to repent his temerity. The blood of American citizens
cries for vengeance from the barren sands of the Great Basin. The insulted
dignity of the nation demands retribution from their infamous murderers.
The insulted dignity, virtue, Christianity and decency require that the
vile brood of incestuous miscreants who have perpetuated this atrocity
shall be broken up and dispersed. And the tide of popular opinion, now
rolling up from every end of the land, calls loudly upon the Government to
let no longer delay ensue before commencing the good work.
And even should the news of the Mormon massacre upon the plains not
suffice to incite to full activity the entire power of the Federal
Officers, the position now taken by
Brigham Young must do so. He has not
waited to be attacked, but has commenced offensive warfare. The
independence of
Utah Territory has been declared, and the determination
announced of adhering to no laws except such as the Mormons make
themselves. This must bring them in speedy conflict with the United States
-- and this insures their final extermination. For once the general
detestation and hatred, pervading the whole country against the Mormons is
given legal countenance and direction, a crusade will start against
Utah which
will crush out this beastly heresy forever.
From this State [California]
alone thousands of volunteers could be drawn, who would ask no better
employment than the extermination of the Mormons at the call of the
government. A war against this people will not be like a common war, in
which the people feel no particular individual enmity against their foes;
the degrading doctrines of the Latter-Day Saints have arrayed against them
the hatred of decent people throughout the world. The press has denounced
and the pulpit has hurled its anathemas at them, until Christendom is
stirred up against Brigham and his Apostles, and an opportunity is only
wanting for this feeling to break out. Then will be seen the folly of
those who prophecy that the Mormons will be able to hold out against the
forces that will be brought against them for any length of time. If they
were sustained by the moral sentiment of the people of the United States,
they might do much. But with this sentiment bearing them down, they
scarcely can survive the first shock.
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The Mormon Murderers,
San Francisco Evening Bulletin,
October 28, 1857
The details of the news which
we published yesterday, received by the Senator from
Los Angeles, are of a
character which cannot fail to convince all who have read them, that the
recent massacre of one hundred and eighteen emigrants at the Mountain
Meadows was directly instigated, if not actually conducted by Mormons. Travelers coming through Salt Lake state that there such outrages were
prophesied. On the road, the Mormon guides and interpreters exhibited the
most perfect control over the
Indians, and at
San
Bernardino, within the
borders of our own State, the murder of over one hundred of our brethren
is exulted over by the traitorous wretches who have control of matters
there, one of whom has been for several years a member of our State
Legislature, and who, it is said, has sent to Governor Johnson for arms
and ammunition, to suppress disturbances among the
Indians. If the
Governor complies with the request of this hoary-headed apologist for
wholesale murder, he will be aiding, without doubt, in the consummation of
other massacres, such as that of the Mountain Meadows.
The terrible events which have come recently crowding upon us so rapidly,
are heart-rending enough to stir up the feelings of any community not
entirely dead and lost to all sense of common humanity, and sympathy with
the hundreds of slaughtered Americans, whose bones are whitening in the
caves of ocean, or bleaching upon the hot sands of the desert. And when we
have every reason to believe that the latter lie there, because a horde of
traitorous wretches have sworn vengeance upon all our countrymen who cross
their path -- we may well become excited, and we do not doubt that, in the
language of our
Los Angeles correspondent, "were a call made by the
government, half our population would respond." We believe, throughout the
length and breadth of
California, the same feeling exists, and that when
the tocsin is sounded, thousands of men from the extreme north to the
southern border, will be ready to rush to the defense of their countrymen,
and to inflict terrible vengeance upon their murderers.
After all the experiences which have been related, after all the
publications of the threats made by the Mormon leaders at Salt Lake, after
the facts have come to light which have, in relation to massacres by the
Indians, no sane man can longer doubt that the Mormon hierarchy has
determined upon a life-time warfare upon the citizens and government of
the United States. They are leagued with the hostile Indian tribes, and
with whom their elders, and preachers, and presidents, have instilled a
bitter hatred to all Americans who are not Mormons. They are preparing to
resist the U. S. forces upon their entrance into
Utah -- and here is the
wonderful fact existing before us, that we have in the very heart of our
own territory, a body of men, organized under a government of their own,
openly hostile to ours, threatening us with vengeance and death, and
carrying their threats into execution, whenever opportunity offers.
What shall the government do? Continue to pursue the temporizing policy
which has permitted the growth of this at first insignificant and
diminutive community into a powerful legion of armed men, daily growing
stronger and better prepared to resist us? -- or shall not a determined
effort be made to root out this social cancer? The several
hundred men, now on their way to
Utah, will, we firmly believe, be not
only resisted, but successfully resisted, and we shall expect to hear,
simultaneously, of their arrival and their defeat or flight. There are ten
thousand fighting men at Salt Lake, well provided with arms and
ammunition, and inspired by that spirit of religious fanaticism which, in
all ages, has made men ready to fight with a desperate determination, such
as we can be aroused to by no other feeling -- not even love of country.
The route, between Salt Lake and the borders of
California, must be
protected by a large body of troops, who must not be permitted to remain
stationed merely at certain points, but who should act as a patrol,
constantly on the move. This must be done, or overland emigrants to
California will be murdered and robbed continually.
The evidence of emigrants, which we gave in yesterday's issue, has been
sent to Washington. The government will, we suppose, of course investigate
the whole matter, and we hope, upon being satisfied of the facts,
immediate and determined action will be taken. We are satisfied that the
Mormon traitors must be rooted out of our territory, fully and finally --
that this must be the policy of our government, sooner or later, and that
the sooner the war is commenced the better. Still, the government would
not be authorized in acting, until they have received the most indubitable
proofs of the treacherous, murderous conduct of the Mormons.
We doubt not that, in
California, from five to ten regiments, of a
thousand men each, could be recruited, in a very short space of time, and
of men generally accustomed to hardships such as would have to be endured
in such a campaign as they would be required to enter upon. If the
government decides to take determined action in this matter,
California
will be found ready to aid her, with the best energies and best heart's
blood, if need be, of thousands of her citizens.
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