CHAPTER XXI.

THE MORMONS: THEIR ORIGIN AND PROGRESS-THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW-INVASION OF CUBATERRITORY BOUGHT OF THE INDIANS-ENLARGEMENT OF THE CAPITOL-KOSSUTH AND HIS CAUSE DISPUTES ABOUT FISHERIES-RELATIONS WITH JAPAN-TRIPARTITE TREATY—THE OSTEND CONFERENCE — PRESIDENT PIERCE AND HIS CABINET-EXPLORING EXPEDITIONSUNION PACIFIC RAILROAD-THE SANDWICH ISLANDS-OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS-KANSAS AND NEBRASKA TERRITORIES-CONTROVERSY ABOUT SLAVERY-DIFFICULTIES WITH SPAIN-RAIDS IN CENTRAL AMERICA-WAR WITH INDIANS-VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY LAWS-CONFLICT BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY-POLITICAL STRUGGLES IN KANSAS-A STATE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED-VIOLENCE IN KANSAS-POLITICAL PARTIES.

A

LLUSION has been made to the Mormons in Utah. Their history is a most remarkable one. About fifty years ago, a young man named Joseph Smith, a native of Vermont, pretended to have revelations from heaven. In one of these he was directed to go to a hill near Palmyra, New York, where he would find a record of the ancient inhabitants of America and a new gospel for mankind, written centuries before on plates of gold, in unknown characters and languages. From these plates (it was alleged) Smith, sitting behind a blanket to prevent their being seen by profane eyes, read the inscriptions, which were written down by a scribe who was not permitted to see the "leaves of gold." This copy was published under the name of "The Book of Mormon." The true story, as ascertained by investigation, appears to be, that the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, many years before, wrote a work of fiction, founded upon the theory that our continent was peopled by the "lost tribes of Israel;" that the manuscript came, by accident, into the hands of Smith, and that he read to his scribe from the manuscript, and not from any plates containing mysterious characters.

Smith found dupes and followers, and in 1830 he established a "church" with thirty members. He was assisted in his work by Sidney Rigdon, who, it was said, had become possessed of Spaulding's manuscript, and placed it in the hands of Smith. The latter pretended to be governed by continual revelations from heaven; and in accordance with one of them, he led his deluded followers to Kirtland, Ohio, where they built a temple and remained several years, until the conduct of the leaders became so obnoxious that

they were compelled to leave. They established themselves in Hancock county, Illinois, where they founded the city of Nauvoo, and built a temple. Meanwhile they had attempted to plant themselves in Missouri, but they were expelled by the exasperated people, who were assisted by the civil and military powers. At Kirtland, they were joined by a shrewd young man named Brigham Young, a native of Vermont, who has now been president of the Mormon church more than thirty years. It was at Nauvoo that the

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

system of polygamy was first practised among them, and Young has ever been foremost among its defenders. That system was established in consequence of the jealousy of Smith's wife because of his intimacies with other women. In justification of his immoral conduct, Smith had a special revelation from heaven, authorizing polygamy, and declaring that the greater number of wives a man possessed, the greater would be his future rewards; also that the women who consented to share the honors of wifehood with others, would thereby be assured of eternal happiness.

This "revelation" led to events which resulted in the imprisonment of Smith and some of his most intimate associates. The "prophet" and his brother were shot dead by a mob at the prison; and their followers, in 1845, prepared for an exodus, led by Brigham Young, who had succeeded to the presidency of the Mormon church, on the death of Smith. They finally crossed the Mississippi and penetrated to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, where, in 1848, they seated themselves in a most picturesque region, founded a city, and built a temple. Their numbers have long entitled their domain (which was organized into a Territory with the name of Utah) to admission into the Union as a State. In 1849, President Fillmore appointed Young governor of that Territory; but because of the practice of polygamy by the Mormons, that Territory has never been permitted to enter the Union as a

CHAP. XXI.

THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW.

1383

State. The Mormons now number, in our own and other countries, probably, more than two hundred thousand souls. They have, from time to time, given our government considerable trouble, by their defiance of its laws. The speedy extinguishment of their system is probable.

It was believed by superficial thinkers and observers that the Compromise Act of 1850 had quieted, forever, all controversy on the subject of slavery; and during his entire administration, President Fillmore gave his support to all the measures em

braced in that act. When his administration closed in the spring of 1853, there seemed to be very little uneasiness in the public mind on the subject of slavery. But it was only the ominous calm that precedes the bursting of a tempest. The moral sense of the people in the freelabor States (and of thousands in the slave-labor States) had been shocked by the passage of the Fugitive-Slave Law, which compelled every person to become a slavecatcher, under certain circumstances, willing or not willing. That law was so much at variance with Christian ethics and the civilization of the age, that a multitude of persons in all parts of the Union yearned to see it wiped from our national statute-books

as an ugly blot; and, pondering upon it, many persons who had been indifferent, felt a desire to have a check put upon the further expansion of the system of slavery in our republic. This feeling, and the avowed intention. of the supporters of that system to make it a national and not a mere sectional institution, produced violent collisions in speech, and, finally, a most sanguinary civil war. The Fugitive-Slave Law, framed by James M. Mason of Virginia, had much to do with bringing on that terrible crisis in our history.

In 1851, General Lopez renewed his attempt to cause an insurrectionary movement in Cuba, by landing a strong military force, organized in this

country, upon its shores. Our government watched these movements and the violation of neutrality laws with great vigilance, detaining vessels and dispersing illegal associations; but in August, Lopez managed to sail from New York, with almost five hundred followers, whom he landed on the northern coast of Cuba. There he left Colonel W. L. Crittenden (son of the Attorney-General of the United States) in command of one hundred soldiers, and with the remainder he pushed into the interior. At that time forty thousand Spanish troops were concentrated in Cuba. Crittenden and his party were soon captured and shot. Again Lopez found the Cubans un willing to revolt. He became a fugitive, and at near the close of August, he and six of his followers were arrested, taken to Havana, and executed.

At the same time our government was making peaceful acquisitions of territory in the northwest by the purchase from the Sioux Indians of millions of acres of fertile lands beyond the Mississippi, in the newly organized Territory of Minnesota. This had become a necessity, for a stream of population was pouring into that Territory and threatening to overflow the Indian reservation there. At the same time emigration from Europe was flowing in an immense tide over portions of our domain. Territories and States were increasing in number, and swelling the volume of representatives in the national legislature. To accommodate these, the halls of legislation had to be enlarged, and in the summer of 1851, the corner-stone of the extension of the Capitol was laid by President Fillmore, with appropriate Masonic ceremonies. On that occasion Daniel Webster delivered an oration in the presence of a vast multitude of people.

Toward the close of the same year, our government reaffirmed its policy of non-interference with the domestic affairs of European nations, under peculiar circumstances. In December, Louis Kossuth, the exiled governor of Hungary, arrived in the United States to plead the cause of his countrymen, who were struggling for their independence of the rule of Austria, and to ask for material aid from our government. The touching story of his career had preceded and had created here almost universal sympathy for him and his cause. He was received with great enthusiasm, and his mission was the theme of many debates on the floors of Congress. On his arrival at New York he became the guest of the city, and was welcomed by cheers from an immense multitude of citizens, who fringed the streets through which he passed in procession. At Washington he was welcomed by the President, the heads of departments, and the National Congress. The latter gave him a banquet, at which the Acting Vice-President presided. So demonstrative was the welcome, that the Austrian minister formally protested against it, and because his protest was unheeded, he left his post.

CHAP. XXI.

OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS.

1385

The President, however, at his first interview with Kossuth, told him frankly that our policy of non-interference would not allow our government to give him any material aid. This was afforded, to a considerable extent, by private subscriptions.

There was a little ruffling of the good feeling between the governments of the United States and Great Britain, in 1852, in consequence of the alleged violation by American fishers off the coast of British America, of treaty stipulations, which provided that they should not cast their nets nearer such coast than three miles. A new interpretation of that agreement had recently been made by the British government, which claimed that the American fishers had no rights in bays within a line drawn from headland to headland; and that government sent a naval force to support these pretensions. The President sent a naval force to protect our fishermen, and a spark of war seemed inevitable, when the dispute was amicably settled by mutual concessions.

Owing to our increasing intercourse with Asia across the Pacific Ocean, friendly relations with the Japanese was desirable. To establish such amity, our government sent a squadron of seven vessels, commanded by Commodore M. C. Perry, in the summer of 1853, to convey a letter from the President of the United States to the Emperor of Japan, asking him to consent to the negotiation of a treaty of friendship and commerce between the two governments. The mission was successful, and friendly relations were then established between the two countries which have continually increased in strength and importance. In 1860, a large and imposing embassy from the Empire of Japan, visited the United States, and were welcomed by President Buchanan at a personal interview in the reception-room of the executive mansion. Intercourse between the two nations is now free and cordial.

The sympathy manifested by a large portion of the people of the United States in the efforts of Lopez in Cuba, gave rise to suspicions in Europe that it was the policy of our government to ultimately possess that island and assume control over the Gulf of Mexico (the open door to California) and the West India Islands, which were owned chiefly by France and England. To prevent such a result, the governments of these two countries asked that of the United States to enter into a treaty with them, which should secure Cuba to Spain, by agreeing to disclaim "now and forever hereafter, all intention to obtain possession of the Island of Cuba," and "to discountenance all such attempts, to that effect, on the part of any individual or power whatever." To this invitation our Secretary of State (Edward Everett) replied, in the spirit of the "Monroe Doctrine," that the