load of fire wood from the mountains. Cutting down the timber which fringes these mountains tends to dry up the springs, by exposing the soil; and this materially lessens the creeks and diminishes the supply of water, while the increasing population demands a greater abundance. But this is not all. "The summers are a continued drought, but the winters bring deep snow and frightful storms. The trees, before they were so much cut down, used to retain much of this snow on the hills, which melting gradually in the spring produced full creeks. It is now blown in clouds into the valleys, burrying up feed and killing off stock frightfully. In 1854-5 the snow was from four to six feet deep. It was followed by very little water in the streams in the spring, because the snow had been deposited in the valleys instead of on the mountains, and last winter (1856-7) the snow was still deeper, and this spring there is still less water in the creeks. Add to this the crops for the last three seasons have been eaten up by grass-hoppers and blue worms or filled with smut. The harvests have been light, and many starving persons were compelled to subsist on wild roots through the winter. The future promises nothing better, but with the continued influx of population they must either constantly find new valleys to settle or starvation and removal will be inevitable."-[p. 45.]

Brigham Young was born in Vermont, June 1, 1801. He was brought up a farmer. He is illiterate, but shrewd, far-seeing and eminently practical. His energy and strong will bend the people into implicit obedience. He is far superior to what Smith was in every thing that constitutes a leader. Smith had only tact and used circumstances. Young has genius and controls them as witness how he removed successfully, without strife, without discord, almost without a murmur, through a desert unknown and dangerous, for 1030 miles, that heterogeneous mass of people, poor, unprovided, shaking with ague, pale with suffering, and hollow and gaunt with hunger! "But to carry on Mormonism demands increasing talent and skill. Its positions and progress is constantly beset with fresh and greater difficulties. The next President must be as superior to Young as he is to Smith, or Mormonism will retrograde. But such an one does not live in the Mormon Church."

"In person Brigham Young is rather large and portly, and has a handsome face, an imposing carriage and a very impressive manner. He is much more an observer than a reader, and thoroughly knows men, a point in which Smith was very weak. Men not books; deeds not words; houses not theories; the Earth and not Heaven; now and not hereafter, is Brigham's view of matters.

"The magnetism that attracts and infatuates, that makes men feel its weight and yet love its presence abounds in him. Even his enemies have

to acknowledge a great charm in the influence he throws around them. The clerks in his office and his very wives feel the same veneration for the prophet as the most respectful new-comer."

Thus far of Young's physical and intellectual qualities. As to his moral character Mr. Hyde necessarily paints him in very dark colors. He is not only very licentious, but intemperate and grossly profane. And yet he is no hypocrite. He is a man in positive earnest. "The whole secret of his influence, (says our author), lies in his real sincerity."-[p. 170.]

Two alternatives seem now to present themselves to the Mormons. One is war with the U. S.; the other their removal to some island or conntry outside our territory. These two were the only alternatives from the beginning. The Mormons never could have been admitted as a State of this Confederacy. This is a Christian Country. Polygamy is an anti-christian institution. It must not be set down as a mere domestic institution like slavery which every State must regulate for itself. We resent every such comparison as insulting to us of the South. Nor can it be said that Polygamy is a religious question with which Congress has nothing to do. The Mormons have no more right to make this a religious question beyond enquiry by Congress than the Chinese would have to bring their Infanticide to our Pacific coast, and setting up a Chinese State there, demand admission into this Union. We repeat this is a Christian country. The Constitution of the United States never intended to deny such a character to this Confederacy. It looked only to preventing any established sect to the detriment of all other sects of christian believers. The framers of that instrument never expected any such interpretation to be put upon their language as would compel this youthful country to receive into its bosom, without the possibility of a single objection, all the abominable practices and immoral institutions of Mohammedan or Pagan nations.

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SPECIAL ADDRESS

TO THE PATRONS OF THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW.

THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW was commenced in July, 1847, with many misgivings. These arose in part, from the habit existing among our people, of seeking their literature elsewhere than at home, in part from the fewness of practised writers in a country where oral teachings chiefly prevail, and from the want of union in action among the Southern Churches, which are, without any geographical centre, or any other tendency to look to one point more than another, as a fountain of knowledge. These things-the last of which may be a good rather than an evil-with the full occupation of the editors in other employments, and the scanty pecuniary support the Review has received, are among the evils against which this enterprise has struggled throughout. At the close of the ninth volume, new difficulties arose, the most of which, through the Divine goodness, have passed away. The sickness of one of the editors, the contemplated removal of another to a distant city, which has since taken place, and the literary engagements of another, prevented the regular issue of the Review, and indeed occasioned its temporary suspension. The place of Dr. Palmer has now been supplied by Dr. Adger, Dr. Thornwell's valuable labors are to be enjoyed as before. The editorial corps is again entire, and we have secured, and are still securing promises of efficient aid from those able contributors whose writings have been most valued by a discriminating public, and from others who, we believe, will minister to the instruction and enjoyment of our readers. We trust that we shall in no respect fail of the encouragement and support necessary to that higher measure of success to which we aspire. If a Southern Presbyterian Review were widely patronized by the Southern Presbyterian Church, if an encouraging number of promptly paying subscribers could be secured, and if the able men whose talents this church unquestionably embraces, would adorn its pages with the fruits of their studies, the good it would accomplish would not be bounded by any narrow limits. Instead of barely meeting the expense of paper and printing, the subscription would be sufficient to remunerate those who should contribute to its pages; the means

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would be placed in the hands of its conductors, of making it more useful and attractive, and its arrival would always be hailed with gladness.

We regret to say, that for the three last years the money received from subscribers has not met the bare cost of printing. We have paid out $1200 more than we have received. This has not arisen from any large diminution in the number of our readers, but from the want of promptness in payment. Those funds which should have been placed at our disposal, and are really ours, remain in the custody of our subscribers. Meanwhile, the workmen who perform the manual labour of the office must be paid. Printer's materials can be obtained only for cash, and we have punctually advanced whatever has been necessary to bring forward the work. Justice to ourselves requires immediate payment from all who are in arrears, and it is in the faith that this will be the event that we have resolved to resume the publication of the Review. Should we be disappointed in this, our undertaking must come to a close. But we hope those indebted will make no delay, now that they are fully informed of the pressure upon us.

Among the minor things which have arisen in conducting the publication, is the question whether the articles appearing in our pages should be accompanied with the names of the authors or not. In our first volumes the various papers were printed anonymously. The reasons in favour of this practice are, that all the articles being read through in ignorance of their exact author, will be read with impartiality and valued at what they are really worth. The author as yet unknown to fame will be as candidly perused as the one who has won for himself a position of influence. Genius, which is often characterised by excessive modesty, will be drawn forth and cultivated. Opportunity will be afforded, in articles of criticism, or in matters on which opinion is divided, of speaking freely and justly without the appearance of personality, and without making enemies of brethren. The familiarity of the same names will be avoided, and the stimulus of awakened curosity may possibly sometimes lend interest to the page while it is under perusal.

The advantages of the other method briefly are, that the name of each author being given, he is directly responsible for the views he expresses, and the editors are not bound to endorse in every particular what is uttered in their pages. This is a matter of convenience where there are minor differences between editors themselves, or between them and their brethren. Free discussion, too, is important to the interests of truth, if kept within just limits. These limits must be strictly observed. Editors would be worthy of censuse should they allow opinions to be expressed, subversive of any doctrine of