On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    but the vicious organisation of her empire that sapped its basis , and led to its prostration . Arbitrary force , monopoly , and bigotry , were the principles of Portuguese rule : and as long as the world was satisfied with bigotry , monopoly , and arbitrary force , less than forty thousand soldiers of Portugal held in subjection the whole coast of the ocean from China to Morocco , and extorted tribute from a hundred and fifty sovereign princes . Now , the Azores and Madeira , Angola and Mozambique , an Indian and a Chinese factory , and a few slave-depots in Africa , are the relies o that corrupt dominion . Spain , at first more politic , but as absolute , as avaricious , and as d the of h forces b

    fanatical , was not enfeebleby expansion er , or y * he possession of the South American , territories , but by the decay of her political faculties , which struck a lethargy into the limbs of the Empire . The French and the Dutch have both lost their principal colonies ; but they never adopted a policy like that which is now the recognised basis of the British Colonial system . They treated their Colonists as subjects , without the claims of citizenship , and the Colonists , amid the collisions of the maritime powers , did not adhere to the parent State with that tenacity with which almost every British dependency , during the last general war , adhered in content and tranquillity to the British Empire .

    Thirty-eight Colonial Governments are subordinated to the Colonial Office , three in Europe , three in Asia , eighteen in Africa , seventeen in America , six in Australia , in addition to others peculiarly constituted . They are distributed into dependencies possessing representative institutions under grants or Charters , as Jamaica , and all the older West Indian Colonies , the North American Colonies , excepting Canada and Newfoundland , the Cape o Good Hope , and Malta , dependencies obtained by conquest , known as Crown Colonies and governed by the Crown , as Gibraltar , Heligoland , Labuan , Ceylon , Maffitius , Natal , Kaffraria , Trinidad , St . Lucia , and dependencies provided by Act

    of Parliament with separate constitutions , as Canada , Newfoundland , the Australian colonies , New Zealand , the Western African Settlements , St . Helena , the Falkland Isles , Hong Kong , and the territories of the East India Company . Mr . Mills devotes to each of these Constitutions a separate ' chapter or explanatory section , enabling the student of colonial politics to understand , at a glance , the results of all the legislation that has taken place , for the establishment of local assemblies and executives , either grafted upon the privileges conferred by ancient Charters , or conceded to young communities , animated by a popular spirit , conscious of their importance and disdainful of arbitrary control .

    Untitled Article

    view . There was the wide , glittering lake , with a mountain in if , centre—there was the low-bosomed valley , beyond and around the fra me of mils * ¦ " ¦ We had not travelled far from the mouth of the canon , before Captain Phe ! n « pomted to the right , and cned out , « There is the city !» What a singular Zfl tacle ! We beheld what seemed a thickly , settled neighbourhood , SpparXlv about a mile distant from us , composed of low , lead-coloured dwellings withI single white buddmg occupying a prominent position—no steeples , minarets or cupolas ! Could that really be the Mormon capital ? Was that to constitute onl home for the next six months ? Our party were in high spirits ; and the verv animals seemed animated with a premonition of approaching rest . Imagining herself in te a prison-house of mountains , " seated on a loftv wilderness between the Atlantic and Pacific , Mrs . Ferris began to dread the coming winter ; but an open door , a blazing fire , a well-spread table a cheerful family , welcoming her husband and herself , made some difference in the prospect . Still , she had misgivings . Polygamy was not to her as yet an undoubted reality , but a dread rumour . Therefore , when Judge Snow and Judge Shaver , Gentile residents of the valley , catne in , she listened attentively for hints of Mormon manners . They were , however , she complains , clothed in " non-comtnittalism /* and disclosed nothing .

    A month ' s residence brought some revelations . First , Mrs . Ferris discovered that , barbarous as the Mormons were , they had a well-selected public library . But she discovered , also , that polygamy did exist , and vague terrors of an abduction by Brigham Young seem to have been engendered in her fancy : — We are unquestionably La the midst of a society of fanatics , who are controlled by a gang of licentious villains , and , it-will require all our circumspection to get along smoothly . Moreover ,

    A LADY XMOtfG THE MORMON'S . IFhe Mormons at Home ; with some Incidents of Travel from Missouri to California , in 1852-53 . By Mrs . B . G . Ferris . Sampson Low , This is a genuine , graphic book , a real glimpse of Mormon life and manners . Mrs . Ferris is a lady with strong , monogamie principles , who abhors the many-wived citizens of Utah , and litters her abhorrence , at times , in an amusing , and not in an impressive fashion ; she is unable to judge the Mormon community from any but this single point of view ; she loathes polygamy as she would loathe cannibalism , and her unvarying top ic is the depravity of that institution . She is certainly right . Polygamy , wherever practised , defiles society , and degrades women ; but Mrs . Ferris cannot understand , even though she describes , other aspects of Mormonism which from

    redeem it , the charge of being no more than an organisation of sensuality . It is aniorbid social development representing some of the dissatisf action , the unrest , the mental perturbation of the age . But Mrs . Ferris "sees in Utah only the Alsatia of prohibited passions , and it is not a little curious that her observations , narrowed by her incessant contemplation of one obnoxious habit , should be on general topics candid and agreeable . But she is , in many senses , a clear sighted traveller , and her narrative , intrinsically attractive from its close view of Mormon civilisation , owes much of its interest to her lively style , and her fresh and pleasant sketches by the way . Her husband was appointed , in 1852 , to be the United States Secretary at Utah , and she , being unwilling to trust him alone in that city of ambiguous fame , undertook a journey to the Great Salt Lake , wintered among the Mormons , and in the spring of 1853 returned , by way of California , to Missouri . So h « re is an authentic description of the Salt Lake society , written by the

    wife of an American official , who professes to have penetrated into more harem , secrets than she chooses to disclose . A prejudiced woman she is , assuredly , and strong in pious implacability ; but we have had so many forged stories of residences in Utah , that an authentic history of the city and the people , the plain , the Lake , the houses , streets , tents , tabernacles , and festive saloons , is welcome indeed . Mrs . Ferris started from St . Louis , on the Missouri river , and , at Independenc e , struck off by land , westward , for her journey across " the Plains . " At first the route lay over flowery undulations , diversified by open woods and a f ew settlers' plantations , and ever and anon enlivened by troops o mounted Indians , or camps of the Shawnees , the men with the traditional scalp-tufts and scjwlet blankets , the women with red leggings , embroidered mocassins , and beaded girdles . Round their evening fires , flickering in the dark , they looked like the shadows of "Wish-ton-Wish ; indeed , rumours floated on the Plains that the Shawnees

    were not too degenerate to come " with uncouth gallop through the night " upon unprotected travellers . Mrs . Ferris says that the mules were prodigiously frightened when an alarm arose , and thronged to the bell-pony for protection . " You must know / ' she adds , ' * that mules look upon horses as superior beings , and will follow them with humble submission . " Across the Big "Vermilion , across the Big Blue , with flocks of nntelopcs coursing over the plain , to Fort Kearney , where Mrs . Ferris—imaginative lady !— -expected to se , e a maaaivo front of granite walls , a moated fortress , bastioncd and parapetted , and where she found ft two-storeyed house , a low range of barracks * k ma 8 ^ > » nd . a gentlemanly officer arrayed in civilian modesty . Up the valley of the Plattc , among the villages of the Cheyennes , over a country variegatedI by bright red rocks , by cedars and firs , by white and coloured alkaline efflorescences , to the Sweet Water , to the Wind-Riv&r Mountainsgigantic and piled with snow—across the Kooky Range to tbo Pacific Springs , still westward over a masse of streams , to the Uig Mountain , am id a wilderness or crags , clmams , and defiloa—the travellers pushed on ; and at length , gaining a high point in the descending pass , the Mormon territory came in

    The very day after we arrived , while wholly absorbed in reading the news from home , I was suddenly startled by a pair of eyes glaring in at the west window , "belonging to a malignant looking man who -was engaged , in training some vines on that side of the house . Of course he desisted when he found himself observed ; but I detected him , afterwards , repeating the same thing in a very fur-tive manner If this ^ man has not committed murder , it has been for want of opportunity . I have since learned that he lives but a short distance froni us , upon the same lot , in a long , low , underground loghut , covered with thatch and earth . The " Gentiles" are the residents who are not Saints—the Saints being

    the Elect , rebels against the nxonogamic law . No sooner did Mrs . Ferris see one of these than she longed to know the number of his wives ; no sooner did she see a wife than she asked timorously , "An only wife ? " It may be conceived , then , how much she has to say of eight-wived men , of a man who had married a whole family of daughters , of families in which one mother was quelling a revolt among her children , while her colleague was quelling a revolt among hers , and of Brothers who flogged their fair consorts into polygamic docility . But she must sketch the Mormons ' town : —

    The mass of the dwellings are small , low , and hut-like , and generally a little back from , the street . Some of them literally swarmed with , women and children ; and had an . aspect of extreme want of neatness . The streets and sidewalks are very broad . One thing is peculiar ; at nearly every street-crossing is a little stream of water , pebbly , clear , and sparkling , with usually a plank ior the foot-passenger . These little streams have been conducted from a mountain creek of some size , for the purpose of watering the city . There are two classes of wives , the Sealed and the Spiritual , but Mrs . Ferris was unable to comprehend the distinction . She was principally concerned in reckoning the wives of her Mormon acquaintance , among others , a man " by the name of Clawson , " who took as his supplemental bride " a girl by the name of Judd : " —

    Punishment will no doubt come in due season ; but justice , in this instance , seems amazingly slow . I woul < l have it swift and . terrible . The little confidences poured into Mrs . Ferris ' s ears by the Mormon lailics revealed to her the existence of a system of discipline as well as a system of pleasantry , in the harems , which she refrains from describing . But her illustrations are suggestive . Elder Snow , calling , talked with her . lie seemed a polished , liberal man , too refined and too moral to be a polygumist . But Mrs . Ferris was too easily deceived . This wretch had two houses , sixwives , and twelve children : — In the principal hut , tho real wifo sits at the head of the table , and pours out tea and coffee for tho rest of tho bovy . Next came a climax . She saw a man returning from a religious service in tho Tabernacle , with his four wives , " all lovingly locking arms . " " The male animal , " she says , " was in the centre , and the two that were scaled lately were nearest his person , the other two were outsiders . " Another Saint was followed by his " three Spirituals , " in Indian file . Within the Tabernacle itself she heard Mormon discourses . When she cross-examined the Saints , they argued for polygamy ; when she touched the spirituals , they blushed . In tlic Social Hall she saw a Mormon festivity : —

    Wo wont Buffioiontly Into not to bo among tho first arrivals , and woro iialiorecl into an ante-room , to be divested of cloaks and shawls . From thin , u Blunt Uight of utops brought us into o , long saloon , where six cotillions Avero in nutivo motion . Another short flight landed us on a raised platform , which overlooked tho danoing party , and hero a band of music was in the full tide of poHoimanoo , The dais was well noeomniodated with eoatw , including two or throo hoI ' uh , on which wore elders and upoHtlea roolining , with a fow of their ooncubinon . Hrigham waa thoro , tvnd had Mb hat on , according to his uhuiU hubib . Tho most shocking " feature " was tho impudence of Mr . Parley Pratt : — Parley Pratt marahod up with four wivos , iiud introduced thorn oucoortHivoly iw Mrs . Pratts . Besides , . she snys , each man danced with two women nt a time . One Mormon , known lo Mra . Ferris , ottered to sell one of his wives to ft " Indian chief for ten horaes . On such points , however , shu is evidently credulous ; but her narrative is variously entertaining , and will undoubtedly lind many English renders .

    Untitled Article

    354 TB 8 LEADER . [ No . 316 , Saturday

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 354, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/18/