der is not a virtue." Does he mean that the Bible makes it so? If he does, there is not such a statement from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelations. On the contrary, it says, "And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death."-Lev. 24: 17; and in chapter 35 of Numbers occur no less than three times, these words: "The murderer shall surely be put to death."

3. Slavery. As regards this subject, neither Mr. Ingersoll, I, nor any other man can say whether it is right, wrong, or immaterial, but I will agree with him that that form of it carried on before the war was not right. However, this proves nothing. No one, by reading the Bible can in any manner believe that the Jewish people practiced it as practiced in our

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day, nor that it had similar effects on both the master and the servant. The angels in heaven are subject to the gods above them, and the Apostle Paul tells us that the saints shall judge the angels there.

4. Polygamy. This was commanded, blessed and approved in ancient days: the New Testament upholds it, and no people will ever reach the highest point in God's Celestial Kingdom, where they will be as Gods with all power and dominion, except they embrace this principle on earth. The highest forms of love are begotten in it, its children are ahead of the world in morality, in healthfulness, in intellect; and the mortality among them is less. Mr. Ingersoll calls it "an infamous crime." I call it the perfection of virtue. Let God be the judge between us.

Fera. L. Young.

of four young men, were descending one of the cañons of the Rocky Mountains, where we had been spending a short time for health and pleasure. The ominous clouds, gathering thick and fast over our heads, gave warning that we must, ere long, select a camping place for the night. The part of the cañon in which we were, gave little encouragement to us in this respect, for to the north the mountains rose abruptly to a height of several hundred feet, with rugged sides, and here and there a clump of bushes; while on the south, to our left as we traveled down the cañon, was the perpendicular bank of the river, which hurried along its rocky bed a hundred feet below.

Already, as we hurried on, the lightning gleamed, and we heard the roar of distant thunder, when we came upon a large ravine, down which it was practicable to descend to the bank of the river, where, to our satisfaction, we discovered a few trees whose branches were interwoven with willows so as to form a rude

storm. It was the work of but a few moments to arrange the camp and secure the animals, and all hands were soon busily engaged at supper around a cheerful camp fire.

Scarce was the evening's repast ended when the rain began to fall quite heavily, and all around was clothed in intense darkness, lit up occasionally by flashes of vivid lightning, which, with the gurgling of the stream flowing near us, the moaning and whistling of the wind through the trees, and the rattling of the thunder, caused a feeling of awe within us, and our conversation was carried on in subdued, though cheerful tones. As the night sped on, the storm increased in its fury, and by the time we retired (not to sleep, for that was out of the question), a perfect tempest was raging:

"The lightnings flash from pole to pole, Near and more near the thunders roll," Until it seemed as though the sky was one continuous glare, and the crashing of the thunder was terrific. The wind, from a gentle breeze, had become a

fierce gale, and the rain poured down in torrents.

For a considerable time the storm continued without abating in its fury. The river had become a rushing flood, while a rivulet which but a few hours since rippled down the ravine, gayly leaping from rock to rock, had increased to a roaring mountain torrent. Suddenly

above us we heard a heavy crashing, and a deep rumbling, thundering sound, which drew nearer and nearer, increasing in volume and intensity, smothering the sound of the raging storm, and then growing less distinct, as though moving away far down the gorge, until all went on as before. At last the storm gradually subsided; the clouds began to disperse, and the moon occasionally shone through, revealing dimly to our sight, strewn thickly around us, rocks, and gravel, and brush; while just below was a seething, boiling, foaming mass of rushing water, the roar of which was almost deafening.

With thankful hearts we welcomed the dawning of another day-bright and beautiful, as though the storm of the preceding night was a something past and forgotten. But about us, on either side, logs, uprooted trees, stones and rubbish, gullies torn through the roadway above us, and the tumultuous cataract below, were evidences of the fearful destruction which had taken place. Fortunate, indeed, were we; for, when the cloud had burst above, sweeping almost everything before it, the hill under which we were had proven a shelter, but for which we had been launched into eternity.

After partaking of a hasty meal, we started on what was now an arduous, wearisome journey; the road was badly washed out or strewn with debris, making our progress extremely difficult. We

made our way down the narrow part of the cañon for a few miles, to the mouth, where we beheld a scene far from being delightful or encouraging. What the evening before had been a small village was now a desolate, dreary waste. Not a building of any kind was left standing, except one large frame house and its belongings, a little to the north of the mouth of the cañon, where were gathered the few inhabitants of the village, who had happily been warned in time to escape with their lives; but all their property, except perhaps a score of horses and cattle, which were on the bench above, with the fruits of their industry, were carried away or covered in sand and dirt. From the men we learned that at about midnight the people were thrown into consternation by being informed by one of their number that the river was rapidly rising, and they were in great danger; the last family had but just reached a place of safety, when the torrent reached the mouth of the cañon, and the whole village was swept away or buried.

After sympathizing with them in their loss and imparting what we could spare from our small store, and making room for an aged man to ride to the neighboring town, we left these people, who, in the midst of their calamity, were hopeful and cheerful, to retrieve in time their fallen fortunes, and continued on our journey, rejoicing that we were permitted to return in safety to our homes, after an experience of a thunderstorm in the mountains, that will not readily be effaced from our memories. Roy Kenneth.

There is no death! The stars go down,
To rise upon some fairer shore;
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown
They shine forevermore.-Bulwer Lytten.

I.

IT was said by an eminent friend of our people that, "The history of the Latterday Saints will never be written."

He was acquainted with their career. He knew that to write their history would be to eclipse the writings of Moses, in describing the doctrines and

journeyings of ancient Israel. And it becomes patent to any one who undertakes to chronicle the events of even an epoch of our history, that there is an under-current of heroism, faith, devotion, governing and directing the energies of our people, which requires the subtle power of inspiration to appreciate and the gifted pen of one, who sees with "the eye of faith" to depict. To be such a one would gratify the ambition and pride of the writer; but he sees so much yet to attain, ere reaching that honored distinction, that he fain would content himself with an humbler lot, and therefore purposes in the present paper to merely touch upon certain interesting incidents, relating to that martial period of our people's history, when the army of the United States came up against us in 1857, and our men were enlisted in "the army of defence" to take part in what we called, "The Echo Cañon War."

Of the causes that led to the conflict of that period it will not be necessary to go into detail for the purposes of this sketch. They may be traced even to the antagonism of Right and Wrong; to the eternal conflict between the powers of Light and Darkness. The attempt to overthrow the Latter-day Saints by an armed force in 1857, was, unquestionably, but an expression of the same spirit that drove them from Missouri to Illinois; that filled the breasts of the howling mob around the walls of Carthage jail on the 27th of June, 1844, and that caused the expulsion of our people from the confines of civilization. The same vile influence to-day inflates the breasts of those, whose corrupt lives make them its willing subjects, and clamors for inimical legislation and corrupt and tyrannical rulers, sustained by the force of bayonets, in the wicked efforts to deprive us of our liberties, and to bring us under the yoke of sectarian bigotry and venom, which knows no tolerance, and is therefore pre-eminently the qualified instrument to do the Adversary's bidding. In regard to the present hostile threatenings of our enemies, it appears to us that they would

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do well to examine the history of previous onslaughts, and contemplate wisely the ignominy and shame that have borne down to the unlamented grave of obscurity, those who yielded their manhood to do the Devil's work, and fought against Zion. The past teaches, and happy would it be for them if they would learn, that there is no glory, no reward for such. No better example of this truth could be found than in the life of Judge W. W. Drummond, whose lying tongue and false and wicked pen were perhaps immediately responsible for the gravest blunder ever committed by an American administration: The Buchanan campaign against the Mormons.

There were other influences brought to bear upon the cabinet of President Buchanan at this time. The question of southern disaffection might be avoided, if the indignation of the people could be wrought up and directed away from Washington. There being no foreign foe to answer for this purpose, the nearest thing to it was made to appear by clothing "the phantom of the mountains" in the garb of an adversary, -at whatever economy of truth-and directing the gaze of the nation there. An adroit method, surely, for Treason to escape the searching eye of Patriotism, while concocting her plans to disrupt the Union and bathe the fairest land of earth in the blood of a million of her sons. The Utah war has been pronounced by statesmen-a ruse-to shield traitors in their incipient treason, and to blind the nation, while they stabbed her in the back.

Whatever the policy may have been, the means of diverting the attention of the nation, from the real danger, which then threatened and afterwards nearly destroyed it, were forthcoming in endless ways; chiefly, through the reports of the Federal officers of Utah, whose lives were generally so shameful that they were in constant danger of prosecution in their own courts; and who were so notoriously incompetent and corrupt that not to recognize their indiscretions was to admit a lack of ordinary common sense. Men who prostituted their talents

and dragged the ermine of their offices in the filth of lasciviousness, avarice and kindred corruption, were choice exponents of that pious sentiment, under the guise of offended virtue, which breathed aloud the awful abominations of the Great Basin and demanded the substitution of such morality as theirs, for that which the people of the Great Basin practiced, in the name of God and Religion, as the highest expression of virtue, the perfect law of regeneration and social enfranchisement.

The howl of these self-righteous, abused and unappreciated lepers was taken up by bigoted priests, lying editors and political traitors, and was sounded and resounded, from the east to the west, from the north to the south and back again. The nation was wrought up; the pent up indignation of the millions who inhabit it was let loose, and a perfect flood of invective and denunciation swept the Continent from shore to shore. Amid this universal tumult, the Administration with the possible knowledge of some Congressmen, quietly resolved on war against the "Mormons." There was no apparent thought of investigation. there was no cool reflection, they both came after-but the popular feeling was aroused, and the moment had come to strike the blow that should sacrifice a people at the altar of Popular Prejudice, and reward the bloodthirsty devotees with enduring fame. Poor, blind, ambitious bigots; they forgot that Popular Prejudice was the most fickle deity, and that her decrees were as uncertain as the variable wind. The President and cabinet resolved on the punishment of the "Mormons," believing that the feeling of the people would sustain them, even in going to war. And they were right, for the time being. No movement was ever more popular. It was loudly proclaimed that the Commander-in-chief could rely on a million volunteers, if he required them, to accomplish the overthrow of the "Mormons." The tocsin of war was sounded and reverberated from state to state, but failed to reach the peaceful vales of the mountains. The mails for Utah had been refused the

contractors at the Missouri River stations, and not until the army had actually been enlisted and directed by the administration to take up the march to Utah, did word reach our people of the hostile intention of the Government, and then it came by rumor, not by any official communication.

Of the direct charges made against the Latter-day Saints, upon which so loud a public clamor was raised, and the administration blindly acted, those by Associate Justice Drummond, may be taken as a sample. They were included in his letter of resignation of that office—an office he shamefully abused-directed to Hon. J. S. Black, Attorney General, bearing date of March 30, 1857. They are as follows:

"In the first place, Brigham Young, the Governor of Utah Territory, is the acknowledged head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called 'Mormons; and, as such head, the Mormons' look to him, and to him alone, for the law by which they are to be governed; therefore no law of Congress is by them considered binding in any manner."

"Secondly. I know that there is a secret oath-bound organization among all the male members of the Church to resist the laws of the Country, and to acknowledge no law save the law of the "Holy Priesthood," which comes to the people through Brigham Young, direct from God; he, Young, being the vicegerent of God, and Prophet, viz: successor of Joseph Smith, who was the founder of this blind and treasonable organization.'

"Thirdly. I am fully aware that there is a set of men, set apart by special order of the Church, to take both the lives and property of persons who may question the authority of the Church; the names of whom I will promptly make known at a future time.

"Fourthly. That the records, papers, etc., of the Supreme Court have been destroyed by order of the Church, with the direct knowledge and approbation of Governor Young and the Federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to raise a