Page:History of Utah.djvu/203



SPECIMENS OP LITERATURE. 151

There is another individual of similar name, and yet more similar character, James Arlington Ben-

filled with indignation, and my blood boils within me, when I contemplate the vast injustice and cruelty which Missouri has meted out to the great philautliropist and devout Cliristian, General Joseph Smith, and his honest and faithful adherents. ' When, however, he affects patriotism and lofty devo- tion to the welfare of his fellow-men, pretending,' to have joined the society in order to frustrate 'a daring and colossal scheme of rebellion and usurpa- tion throughout the north-western states,. . .a despotic military and religious empire, the head of which, as emperor and pope, was to be Joseph Smith,' we know that the writer is well aware that it is all nonsense. Nor do we be- lieve that he was induced to print his book ' by a desire to expose the enor- mous iniquities which have been perpetrated by one of the grossest and most infamous impostors that ever appeai'ed upon the face of the earth.' Wc have heard and are still hearing so much of that kind of talk from some of the worst men in the community that it is becoming somewhat stale, and if the general really does not know better than this why he wrote his book, perhaps he will excuse mo for telling him that it was, first, for notoriety; sec- ond, for money; and third, in order to make people think him a better and greater man than he is. When a man's ambition is pitched so low, it is a pity that he should not have the gratification of success. Bravely, then, the general proceeded to offer himself on the altar of his country, 'to overthrow the impostor and expose his iniquity ' by ' professing himself a convert to his doctrines;' for 'the fruition of his hopeful project would, of course, have been preceded by plunder, devastation, and bloodshed, and by all the count- less horrors which invariably accompany civil war.' We are still more im- pressed when we read: 'Iw'as quite aware of the danger I ran' — that of being kicked out of some back door — 'but none of these things deterred me.' Without wasting more time and space upon the man, we are well enough pre- pared to place a proper estimate upon his statements, particularly when we take into account that, in May of tlie very year in which his book was pub- lished, he went before Alderman Wells and made affidavit that Joseph Smith was an honest, virtuous, sincere, high-minded, and patriotic man. He says himself that he solemnly swore to be true to the Mormons and not reveal their secrets, and now in breaking that oath he has the audacitj' to ask us to regard him as an honest and truthful man! In some measure, at least, the statements of such men as this, taken i^p by the press and people, and reiter- ated throughout the land, have given the latter-day saints a worse name than they deserve. Some of his charges are too coarse and filthy for repe- tition. I will cite a few specimens, however, to show how far mendacity is sometimes carried in this direction.

Joseph Smith is a 'monster who is using the power he possesses to gratify a brutal lust;' 'a Giovanni of some dozens of mistresses;' 'must be branded as a consummate knave;' one 'of the most heaven-daring liars the world ever saw;' 'notoriously profane;' 'gets most gloriously drunk,' etc. In the most vulgar and licentious language, he goes on to describe what he calls the 'Mor- mon seraglio,' 'the female inquisition,' 'Joe's cloistered, chambered, and cy- priau maids.' He revels in all the wickedness of this kind during past ages which he can make up, rolling it as a sweet morsel under his tongue, finally- affirming that ' the holy Joe outdoes them all !' He says that any woman be- longing to the society who lapses from virtue is condemned to a life of se- ci-et pi-ostitution, the most trustworthy members of the church having knowl- edge of it; another clas:j indulge in illicit intercourse by special permission of the prophet; another class are the spiritual wives. All this is said, be it re- membered, M'ithin two or three monlhs of the time he made oath that Smith was one of the best and purest of men. Next comes an exposii of several se- cret societies, the Danites, Destroying Angel, etc., and finally a list of mur- ders and robberies perpetrated ia that section during a certain time,, all of