THE MORMONS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 570, 21 April 1858, Page 3

THE MORMONS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

(From the ' Times,' December 21.)

The simple explanation of the Mormon ques-. tn>n given by the President of the United States in his Message to Congress shows at once the po-ition of the Supreme Government, the resold: ion of the rebel community, and the proportions which the embarrassment is likely to uijuire. T!ie contest now pending is in many iv-pects a remarkable one. It represents an inv.uTeetKin. theoretically treasonable, of a sii^le city against the powerful union of v.liirii ir forms a part,-, it is based upon maxim*, however atrociously caricatured, of religious liberty, and it involves the fortunes, and perhaps the lives, of many of our own countrymen, who have been drawn from their homes into the <rreat deserts of Utah by this moust rous delusion. There can be no obscurity

about the question of right, nor, indeed, about that of might; but the unparalleled character of the Mormon settlement may still create difficulties of no common kind.

The " territory" of Utah is a very considerable one, greatly exceeding in dimensions Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky all taken together. la the ordinary course of things it would not have been colonised for some time to come, for the vast districts of Kansas, still unpopulated, lie between it and the nearest settled State. The Mormons, however, had objects of their own, and, instead of occupying the first vacant lands in. their westward route, like other settlers, they purposely removed themselves to the greatest possible distance from the frontier of civilisation. To this proceeding no objection was made, and they carried accordingly their rites and institutions beyond the chain of the Rocky Mountains to the banks of the Great Salt Lake. At this spot they built their city • and the whole territory, which is still, with little exception, in the posses-ion of rovin" Indians:, was placed under the superintendence of United States' officers, according to appointed forms. The Supreme Government deputed a territorial governor, a .secretary, three judges, a marshal, and a distrcit attorneygeneral, to represent its autlurlty; and unf'er this authority the Mormons, like all other colonists of the territory, were bound to live. The land was not theirs, it belonged to the Union; nor did their independence embrace more than their own domestic institutions. It happens that the governor appointed by the President is also the head of the Mormon theocracy. Brigharn Young unites in his own person the supremacy ascribed to him by his deluded followers and the authority'delegated by the Federal Government; but the latter commission, wh'.ch alone gives him any cognizable power, is revocable at any time. It was natural enough to invest with the authority de jicre in these parts the only person who could exercise it de facto ; but the arrangement was purely discretional, and any President of the United States could, with the consent of the Senate, send a new governor to rule over the territory of Utah.

These conditions of Government were not satisfactory to the Mormon chief; indeed, anything short of entire absolutism was inconsistent with his claims and position ms spiritual head of the community. A man pretending to govern not simply by Divine right, but by Divine inspiration, and asserting that his own edicts represented the immediate will of the Almighty, could not be submissive to Judges and Marshals, or bow to the decisions of a" secular court. It was clear, moreover, that if the exclusive claims of the Mormons in Utah were ever surrendered, and the territory peopled by inde pendent settlers, their advantages would Vanish at once, and tj^^jlom^^n^th^jyjjc^^y^tTon. Mormonism, in fact, was incompatible with the political subordination which the occupation of an American territory assumed, and when the obscurity contemplated by these tana-, -clear m their .retreatto_jthe Salt Lake became partially dispelled th'rougTF'Ehe-wuriaiid^ Jn i<Tva-_ tions to California the elements of conflict were soonapparent, The present result of the struggle may be gathered from Mr. Buchanan's remark, that " all the officers of the United States, judicial ;nl executive, with the single exception of two Indian agents, have found it necessary for their psrsoual safety to withdraw from the territory, aud there no longer remains any government in Utah but the despotism of .Brigham Young."

Nothing can be plainer than that the claim to independence on the part of the Mormon rulers is utterly without warrant,-and that the measures taken by the Supreme Government for the restoration of its authority are entirely in accordance with justice. Every square yard of the Utah territory, including the Salt Lake City itself, pertains, not to the Mormon congregations, but to the United States, and it is perfectlj' competent to theUnitedStat.es' Government to maintain its jurisdiction by officers of its own appointment, from time to time. JBrigham Young1, in the proclamation by which he opposes the expedition sent to Utah, bases his proce dings on his authority as Governor of the territory, but the order has gone out to supersede him, his successor is appointed, and in default of his commission from Washington he remains without any more political jurisdiction in the territory of Utah than is possessed by the poorest member of his congregation. The question, as Mr. Buchanan observes, is altogether independent of Mormon doctrines. The authority of the Supreme Government, as represented by its own officers, has been defied and subverted in its own territories, and must therefore be restored.

We have received from other sources information which enables us to depict the position of the expeditionary army which was despatched some months ;igo on its toilsome journey. The difficulties of the route itself have been succ«>stully surmounted, and a division of the force, im:hiding the oth Hegimeut of Infantry, eight companies of the 10th, and two batteries of Artillerv, had arrived within about 150 miles of the Mormon city. At this point, however, the oiKi:er in command was served with a notice from Brigham Young forbidding him <o advance? and directing him to retire. By way of giving force to tbe.se injunctions the Mormons fu t.eivepted a train coining up with supplies, •ii!i! destroyed the convoy, but beyond this hostilities had not proceeded. It was the intention of the United States' commander to pierce, if p.-ssible, to tl.e valley of the t^ar I'f'ver—a si ream frllin"1 into the great Salt lake a d rhere establish himself in the villages 'till ; e return of spring opened a short and easy roswi

irito the city. If his force proved 'insufficient or this operation, he contemplated retiring1 in. a north-ea-ifc direction to the v:ill«ys of the Wine" Kiver Mountains—a portion of the Great Eock\ 'Ohain—where' he could maintain himself in security and plenty until circumstances enabled iiiin to renew his advance. ' Except that it is'impossible, as events elsewhere have taught us, to calculate on the impulses of .fanatical passion, we should not be •disposed to expect much bloodshed from Uiis extraordinary war. The charge of rebellion will-not probably be push eel home against the Mormons, nor do the Mormons at present evince much inclination for a life or death batde. "Mr. Buchanan, it will be seen, adopts a tone of compassion rather' than indignation, and speaks of the Mormons as friends instead of enemies. .Brigham Young in his notice freely offers to supply the invading troops with necessaries, providing they 'limit their movements according to his injunctions-; and he eannot be ignorant, "notwithstanding his presumption, that his^ ultimate -success against the Govern meut~of the Union is an utter impossibility. .The danger consists in the chances of sanguinary collision between the forces now confronting each other in the territory. We have seen it estimated or conjectured that Brigham' Young could bring into the field 20,000 desperate combatants ; but, although the proportion of fighting men in a community like this would be.unusnally groat, we believe this computation is excessive. At a census in 1853 the entire population of the territory was but 18,206, and ifls liardly probable that it can have been so rapidly increased during the interval as to turn out in 1857 more than that number of adult males. The Indians, however, of the territory amount to some 12,000, and it is anticipated that_ Brigham Young will harp these auxiliaries at his disposal. The numbers of the United States' force actually on the spot at the latest advices would probably fajl short of 2,000, hut these are well armed, organized, and disciplined, whereas it is hardly it© be expeeted that the Jforraons can display much beyond individual resolution. Still, the Supreme Government is now at its weakest, and, if the expedition advances, Brigham Young may possibly, find himself the stronger for the -time. \We should incline, however, to the supposition that he will vm»!& ±o necessity, and conduct his congregation, as lie easily can, one more flight. It'has been thought that the Mormons niiirht move" into the Russian

territory, and -settle themselves atthe-very exvrremitv'of the continent, on the brink of those

-mysterious/straits which divide America from Asia, or that they might-find in the northern :4*r«vinces of Mexicn a field for colonization under a Government xinlikely to interfere with them.

A migration is, upon the whole, the most provable termination of the conflict, and we can

-only-hope that it may be decided upon before the palpable,c >Limit;e.s of war. ~ a