In regard to the quality of evidence I here encounter, I will say that never before has it been my lot to meet with such a mass of mendacity. The attempts of almost all who have written upon the subject seem to have been to make out a case rather than to state the facts. Of course, by any religious sect dealing largely in the supernatural, fancying itself under the direct guidance of God, its daily doings a standing miracle, commingling in all the ordinary affairs of life prophecies, special interpositions, and revelations with agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, we must expect to find much written which none but that sect can accept as true.
And in relation to opposing evidence, almost every book that has been put forth respecting the people of Utah by one not a Mormon is full of calumny, each author apparently endeavoring to surpass his predecessor in the libertinism of abuse. Most of these are written in a sensational style, and for the purpose of deriving profit by pandering to a vitiated public taste, and are wholly unreliable as to facts. Some few, more especially among those first appearing, whose data were gathered by men upon the spot, and for the purpose of destroying what they regarded as a sacrilegious and pernicious fanaticism, though as vehement in their opposition as any, make some pretensions to honesty and sincerity, and are more worthy of credit. There is much in government reports, and in the writings of the later residents in Utah, dictated by honest patriotism, and to which the historian should give careful attention. In using my authorities, I distinguish between these classes, as it is not profitable either to pass by anything illustrating principles or affecting progress, or
