A MORMON MISSIONARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 529, 28 November 1857, Page 6

A MORMON MISSIONARY.

/At-a quarterly conference of Mormons, held at Edinburgh, a speech of a very illustrative character was delivered by an American " Missionary." We find it thus reported in a Scotch journal:—

"' Brother Jacob Gibson, President of the -Glasgow Conference,' spoke next. He was a thin, lean American, with the peculiar Yankee .physiognomy, and ' talked ' with characteristic :emphasis and deliberation. After expressing rhis acquiescence in the remarks of the preceding speaker, and his pleasure at meeting so many =of the saints in conference,' he continued :;— "' Something has been said about testimony in -favour of those men who are now leading the church, and when that, string-is .touched in the great grand fiddle, it affects a chord in my heart. I have been personally acquainted with these men—l may say familiarly acquainted with them for seventeen years, the first six or seven not so familiar as the last—and I am prepared to sustain their character at the point of the bayonet, or in any other way you may meirt'oi, whether it be before King or Queen, great or small, blade or-white. My testimony is that they are men of strong integrity and eterit; and if men eac merit salvation by good works, theyc-ertaiidy -merit a right high celestial seat in the kingdom of God. I say, if. j there is a man saved by merit, Brigham Young is the man- entit4ed to that. Can I point to one unrighteous act in his administration during all the time 1 have known him ? INo; with all the shrewdness;l may have as a Yankee, I cannot point to one syllable or one word. I have watched him closely, and I watohed Joseph closely—not to spy out iniquity —(I don't want to be caught on" that railroad, and I don't run my locomotive on that'ere line; if I did, there might have been break-downs and • bustins of the biler') but I have watched their administration closely, and the "upshot of It all is the glory of God and the good of his people. (Hear, hear.) Do I feel that I am raising my voice in opposition to priests, and editors, and people of all sorts? I do. I calculate on that ; that is my, business an this country, to testify that Brigham Young, as I am one of his boys—one of his little boys—(A voice : No, no,)— Well, I say that. Perhaps it wouldn't be so ■ well-: for any other to say it to him. Well, what would Ibe willing to do'for him?— Black his boots? Ay, would I. (Cheers,) I have said in a congregation of 500 ready t<> eat me up, that I was ready tc Bhed the last drop of my blood for him. !Now, that is considerable tair talking 5 it requires some resolution that. The first drop is easily Bpilt, but the last drop is rayther hard to draw; but that's my feeling 5 that's my testimony. * *•* The papers are howling; .. the world 13 up in arms; the devil has inspired all his subjects to war against the church. Why are they warring against us ? because we don't belong to the world. If we belonged to the world, it-would be ' Hail fellow-well met; come, let's have something to drink ;' but we

don't belong to them. If they are of God we are of the devil; there can be no doubt about that. Is there any one here who doubts which side he belongs -to ? I know some in Glasgow who are quaking a little. Therj are so many stories in the papers that they are not sure but Brigham Young has cut stick. I tell them,' Well, perhaps he has ; he ma.y have gone to California;' and then, after quizzing a little, 1 say, 'No, he has not cut stick, and never will, unless the Lord directs him; if so, I have no objection.' And if Brigham Young shall choose to select

sonu of the faithful, and go to Mexico, or California, or the North Pole, I have no objection, only I would like to be there. But he will do whatever is for the good of the church —I am satisfied that he is just like Joseph, and I saw him when he might have left the ship, but did not; he braved death for the good of his flock ; and Brigham is of the same stock—of the same royal and priestly line. .* *■ ■ * I have dealt in dollars and cents with these men, —you can tell a man pretty tolerably well by these things—l have watched them close in their transactions, and I have found the principle on which they acted was the* principle of justice. * * * Brigham Young is a perfect gentleman, every way you turn him, over and above his religious, political, and scientific position. It is said, with regard to his family, that he drives with a loose rein, but it is not. so. He likes to see all content and happy, and to give every man a chance. If a man comes and tells him he is going to Sandhill, to the gold-fields, he only says, ' Well, I give you my prayers.' Every one may think of his prayers what they choose. The man goes away, and he may say, ' Oh, it's all right, I have his prayers ;' but some little things by-and-bye overtake him, ;which shows him he is on the wrong railroad. Here is the cause of the present trouble with the United States; sent iui'^uitious persons, they who were full of adultery and evil practices, to Utah, and, because they could not carry on those evil practices they tried to raise an insurrection. Then the Drummond stories were drummed all over the country; and Uncle Sam js going to send troops to chase the saints from their habitations. Well, success to both parties, say I-—that is, for the saints to triumph,l and their enemies to go to hell. (Amen!) Will they go there ? Yes, certain. But perhaps when they go down below, and Uncle Sam sends out two or three thousand more to follow them, he may change his opinion. I like a row naturally; I have smelt some little gunpowder in my time. I hear there is going to be a breakfast spell out there some fine morning; and if I could I would not be here for twenty-four hours. If they are going to set-to with some thousands of them, I hope nothing will be done till the elders are called in. Uncle Sam need not send his couple of thousand Yankees to Utah. Why, there are as many midwives there as would put them to flight. What are two thousand soldiers ? The saints can turn out sixty thousand able-bodied men, who will fight till there is not one drop of blood in their veins ere they would give in; and I just know that sixteen times that many couli not stand before them. It is pretty large talk; but I say Uncle Sam has not got the materials on hand at present; that's the fact. But there may be a smart brush for all that. It was said by Joseph that we would have to contend with the United States, and, finally, with the whole world. Therefore, if there are any faint-hearted ones, it is just as good a time now as any other to back out for those who can't stand fire, with muskets and bayonets, pistols, and locofoco matches. * * * We have felt the steel and musket-balls already, and I know no better doctors to administer the drug than those who have felt its effects in their own bodies. When I was young in this work, I did not like to see or hear of bloodshed —I was a little too much the quaker—but passing through the siege of Nauvoo, and the murder of Joseph, and the flight from Missouri Plains, has made me that I could look upon the extipation of the wicked to the tenth generation without the trembling of a muscle. (Sensation.) * * * One of the papers says, that some of the saints in Utah have been made to swear vengeance against the United States by the authorities of the church. That is exactly a teetotal lie. It is all my eye and Betty Martin. (A laugh.) Well,what do they swear? lam not a-going to tell you; that is to be found out by going there and' seeing. It belongs to freemasonry, may be. But this I may say, what is required is implicit obedience to the constituted authorities; just as in baptism every one is required to be subject to the priesthood. Some wanted to add the words 'in righteousness;' ' I will be subject to the priesthood in righteousness.' There is no unrighteousness in the priesthood. I have watched them, and there is none in them. If those words were put in there would be an end of discipline, and the priesthood would go to pot. : There- is, therefore, no use in a reservation of j that or any other kind; there would be cavilling about nothing, or o_f little things of. xw1 importance, but leading,to;condemnation. r • Be subject to the priesthood,' that is my creed. If any one comes to me and says, * I will be subject in righteousness,' I just say, • Very good, call another time; when Brigham Young came to ma and said, in baptism,■• Be subject to the priathood, I^swallowed the whole hog, tail and all. In the time of prosperity you may flwiggle* if you like ; but now you have got to fight—show your pluck. Death, hell, and the ; devil are against you. Be on the watch. When alii* peace you' may nap it; but now, my friends, sleep as I do, with one eye open, and one leg out of .bed. No nonsense, bnt stand right up; and then when this fuss, this war is over, you may lie down, if you like, and take a snooze. (Conclusion as before, —' Amen.' ")

The House of Lords, sitting as a Committee of Privileges,' have entered upon the investigation of the claims to the Shrewsbury peerage. There was a large attendance of Peers, lay and legal; Lord Redesdale occcupied the chair. 12 lawyers are .retained, by the different parties interested. The claimant of the title and estates that go with it is the Henry John Chetwynd, Earl Talbot, who claims as the next heir-male of the late earl. The other persons interested are Lord Edward Howard, devisee of the Shrewsbury estates under the will of the late earl; Major Talbot, of county Wexford, who simply petitions against the title being given to the claimant; and the Princess DoriaPamphilli, who claims certain rights under the will of her father, the 16th earl. Earl Talbot claims as the descendant of Sir John Alibrighton, a son of the second brother of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Sir Frederick Thesiger, on his behalf, showed that the first two branches were extinct, but that'the third branch had been continued by William, successively Bishop of Oxford, Salisbury, and Durham, and Father of Charles Talbot, Lord Chancellor of England in 1773, whose son, created Earl Talbot of Ingestre, was the grandfather of the present claimant. Several witnesses had been examined in support, of- the claim of Earl Talbot. Mrs. Hibbert, the mother of the late E;irl of Shrewsbury, said that she always understood that the rightful heir,to the title and estates was the Earl Talbot; but the Rev. Dr. Winter, a Roman Catholiu clergyman, said that he frequently heard the late earl say that the Talbots had no more claim to the title or estates of the earldom of Shrewsbury "than the pen in his hand." The subject is still before the House of Lords.

Contrary to expectation, Spollen, who was charged with the murder of Mr. Little, which event is known as the " Broadstone tragedy;" has been acquitted. Thus will end in all probability, every trace of crime the blackest and most atrocious which even the annals of crime in Ireland record. A strong moral conviction remains that the prisoner was connected with the deed; and the Scotch verdict " Not Proven " would have been much more in accordance with the evidence, had it been lpgal to have given such a verdict in Ireland. The authorities are blamed for their hasty apprehension of Spollen after the statement of his wife. It is said, and justly, that he ought to have been placed under surveillance, so as to have verified his wife's assertion of his connection with the crime, b}' his occasional withdrawal of some of thf bloody booty from its place of concealment.