of the Saints–as Governor of California and Oregon." This is a quotation from the written language of one of the apostles, and bears the stamp of the genuine sentiments of the Mormon leaders at the time. The allusion to ex-Governor Boggs is thoroughly characteristic.
Some months after the Battalion was in the service of the country, another apostle[1] addressed the following language to the British Saints:
"Although we have been inhumanly and barbarously dealt with by the surrounding country where we dwelt, yet the President of the United States is favourably disposed to us. He has sent out orders to have five hundred of our brethren employed in an expedition that was fitting out against California, with orders for them to be employed for one year, and then to be discharged in California, and to have their arms and implements of war given to them at the expiration of the term; and as there is no prospect of any opposition, it amounts to the same as paying them for going to the place where they were destined to go without. They also had the privilege of choosing their own leaders."
Another apostle, very recently, haranguing the people in the Tabernacle upon the persecutions of the Saints, is reported in the Chicago Tribune to have uttered the following:
"The Government sent an agent who demanded five hundred volunteers for the Mexican war, which was two hundred times the proportion raised by the country. This was done that our teams, and our women, and our children, might be left defenceless in the Indian country, and so be killed or perish. They said that if we would furnish them the men, we might go on in peace; if not, they would cut us off on our journey."
This fruitful subject–"the Government persecution"–has done incalculable mischief to the Saints. It has robbed them of the natural loyalty of good citizens, and led them to curse the Government which protects them, and to pray for the overthrow and destruction of the nation.
- ↑ John Taylor, Millennial Star, November 15, 1846.
