Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/630

 MORMONS

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MORMONS

In Oliio tho Mormons prosperetl, tliovigli even there they had their vicissitudes. At Kirtland a temple was built, and a more complete organization of the priesthood efTeeted. Mormonism's first foreign mission was ojieiied in the summer of 1S:J7, when Heber C. Kiniliall and Orson Hyde, two of the "twelve apostles of the Church", were sent with other elders to England for that purpose. While this work of iiroselytiziiig was in progress, disalTar in mind that the opposition to the Mormons in the localities where they settled is, from the contrailietory and divergent statements made by the Latter-Day Saints and the neighbours not of their belief, difficult of explanation. It is safe to assume that there was provocation on both sides. The main body of the Mormons, fol- lowing their leader to Missouri, settled in and around Far West, Caldwell County, which now became the chief gathering-place. The sect, had been organized by six men, and a year later it was said to number about two thousand souls. In Missouri it increased to twelve thousand. A brief season of peace was followed by a series of calamities, occasioned by religious and political differences. The trouble began in August, 1S3S, and during the strife considerable blood was shed and much property destroyed, the final act in the drama being the mid-winter expul- sion of the entire Mormon community from the state.

In lUinois, where they were kindly received, they built around the small village of Commerce, in Han- cock County, the city of Nauvoo, gathering in that vicinity to the number of twenty thousand. An- other temple was erected, several towns founded, and the surrounding country occupied. Up to this time there had been no Mormon recruiting from abroad, all the converts to the new sect coming from various states in the Union and from Canada. In 1S40-1 Brigham Young and other emissaries visited Great Britain, preaching in all the principal cities and towns. Here they baptized a number of people, published a new edition of the "Book of Mormon", founded a periodical called the "Millen- nial Star", and established a permanent emigration agency. The first Monnon emigrants from a foreign land — a small company of British converts — reached Nauvoo, by way of New York, in the summer of 1840. Subsequently the emigration came via New Orleans. The Legislature of Illinois granted a liberal charter to Nauvoo, and, as a protection against mob violence and further dri\-ings and spoliations, the Mormons were permitted to organize the "Nauvoo Legion", an all but independent military body, though iiart of the state militia, commanded by Joseph Smith as lieutenant-general. Moreover, a municipal court was instituted, having jurisdiction in civil cases, as a bar to legal proceedings of a persecuting or vexatious character. Similar causes to those which had re- sulted in the exodus of the Mormons from Missouri brought about their expulsion from Illinois, prior to which a tragic event robbed them of their prophet, Joseph Smith, and their patriarch, Hyrum Smith, who were killed by a mob in Carthage jail on 27 June, 1844. The immediate cause of the murder of the two brothers was the destruction of the press of the Nauvoo "Expositor", apaper established by seceders from Mormonism to give voice to the wide indigna- tion caused by the promulgation of Smith's revelation of 12 July, 1843, establishing polygamy, which had been practised ix-rsonally by the prophet for several years. Another avowefl purpose of this paper w;i.s to secure the rejjcal of the Nauvoo Charter, which the Mormons looked upon as the bulwark of their liber- ties. The "Expositor" issued but once, when it was condemned as a public nuisance by order of the city

council, its printing-office being destroyed and its editor, Foster, expelled. This summary act unified anli-MonnoM seiilinient, and, on Smith's preparing to resist by fori'e the warrant procured by Foster for his arrest, the militia were called out and armed mobs began to threaten Nauvoo. At Carthage was a large body of militia, mustered under Governor Thomas Ford to compel the surrender of Nauvoo. Smith submitted and repaired to Carthage, where he and his brother Hyrum, with others, were placed in jail. Fearful of a bloody collision, the governor disbanded most of his force, and with the remainder marched to Nauvoo, where the Mormons laid down their arms. During the governor's absence, a por- tion of the disbanded militia returned to Carthage and assaulted the jail in which the Mormon lead- ers were imprisoned, shooting Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and all but fatally wounding John Taylor; Willard Richards, their fellow-prisoner, escaped un- hurt.

In the exodus that ensued, Brigham Young led the people westward. Passing over the frozen Mississippi (February, 1846), the main body made their way across the prairies of Iowa, reaching the Missouri River about the middle of June. A MornHjn colony, sailing from New York, rounded Cape Horn, and landed at Yerba Buena (San Francisco) in July, 1846. Prior to that time only a few thousand Americans had settled on the Pacific Coast, mostly in Oregon, which was then claimed both by Great Britain and the LTnited States. So far as known, no American had then made a permanent home in what was called "The Great Basin". The desert region, now known as Salt Lake Valley, was then a part of the Mexican province of California, but was iminhabited save by Indians and a few wandering trappers and hunters. The Mormon pioneers, marching from the Missouri River in April, 1847, arrived in Salt Lake Valley on 24 July. This company, numliering 143 men, 3 women, and 2 children, was led by Brigham Young. Most of the exiles from Nauvoo remained in temporary shelters on the frontier, where they entered into winter quarters in what is now Nebraska. Well armed and disciplined, they accomplished the journey of over a thousand miles to Salt Lake Valley without one fatality. A few days after their arrival they laid out Salt Lake City. The people left upon the Missouri migrated in the autumn of 1848, and after them came yearly to the Rocky Mountains, generally in Church wagons sent to the frontier to meet them. Mormon emigrants from the states, from Europe, and from other lands to which missionaries continued to be sent. Most of the converts were drawn from the middle and working classes, but some professional peo- ple were among them.

While awaiting the time for the establishment of a civic government, the Mormons were under ecclesiasti- cal rule. Secular officers were appointed, however, to preserve the peace, administer justice, and carry on public improvements. These oflncers were often se- lected at church meetings, and civil and religious func- tions were frequently united in the same person. But this state of afTairs did not continue long. As soon as a civic government was organized, many of the forms of political procedure already in use in American common- wealths were introduced, and remained in force till statehood was secured for Utah. In March, 1849, thirteen months after the signing of the treaty by which Mexico ceded this region to the United States, the s<>ttlcrs in Salt Lake Valley founded the provi- sional (iovernment of the Stale of Deseret, pending action by the American Congress upon their petition for admission into the llnion. Deseret is a word taken from the "Book of Mormon", and signifies honey-bee. Brigham Young was elected governor, and a legislature, with a full set of exeeul ive ofl'icers, was also chosen. Congress denied the petition for