AN ORATION DELIVERED BY HON. GEORGE A. SMITH, IN THE TABERNACLE,GREAT SALT LAKE VALLEY, JULY 24, 1852.
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My Friends-It is with a heart lifted up in gratitude to Him who reignsabove, for the privilege of rising before you to express my feelings, andof beholding so many persons happily situated in the enjoyment of civiland religious liberty, that I have the privilege this day, in the companyof the thousands that surround me, of rejoicing in the celebration of the24th of July, it being the first day for seventeen years since the organizationof the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that they could liedown to rest in perfect peace-without being disturbed by the cruel handof persecution. Yes, my friends, after seventeen years of cruel, bloodypersecution, inflicted in the most ruthless and savage manner upon the peopleof the Church of Latter-day Saints, they-a few pioneers, 143 in number,had at last the privilege, on the 24th of July, 1847, of lying down in thissecluded valley, in this desolate and mountain country; of establishinginstitutions that insure freedom to all, liberty to every person-the libertyof conscience, as well as every privilege which can be desired by any citizensof this earth.
As I walk with the procession from the habitation of the President tothis place, with heart and eyes filled with weeping, I saw the beauty andglory of the liberty and the happiness that surrounded us: my mind was caughtback in an instant to the days of bloody persecution. Joseph was not there;Hiram was not there; David (Patten) was not there in the procession. Whereare they? Sleeping in the silent tomb. They were murdered, cruelly murdered,in violation of all law, and every principle of justice; cruelly murderedfor their religion, and we survive their ashes that are mingling with thedust, after being sacrificed; after, as martyrs, sealing their testimony,we are even permitted to live, and enjoy five years of our lives where noman has power to murder, or to rob, or to burn our houses, or destroy ourproperty, or ravish our women, or kill our children; no man has the powerto do it without justice overtaking him.
The history of our persecutions is unparalleled in the history of pastages. To be sure, persecutions have existed in countries where religionwas established by law, and where any other religion than the one established,was decreed by law to be heretical, and its votaries doomed to persecutionand the flames. But in the countries where we suffered our persecution,there is a good government; there are good institutions that are calculatedto protect every person in the enjoyment of every right that is dear toman.
The persecutions we have suffered were in violation of every good institution,of every wholesome law, of every institution and constitution which existin the countries where they have been inflicted. And what is more singular,out of the hundreds of murders which have been committed upon men, women,and children, in the most barbarous, ruthless, and reckless manner-not onemurderer has ever been brought to justice; not a single man who has shedthe blood of a Latter-day Saint has ever been punished or brought to justice;but they are permitted to run at large, in the face and eyes of every officerof government, who are directly concerned to preserve the laws, and seethem faithfully executed. The history of no country on the earth affordsa parallel to this; it cannot be found; that is, such a wholesale murder,robbery, house-burning, butchering of men, women, and children, and, finally,the wholesale banishment of tens of thousands of souls from their homesand country; this has actually been effected in violation of the laws andregulations of the country where it occured, and not one person has everbeen punished for these crimes. I challenge the world to produce the recordupon the face of the earth, that shows, in all these murders, cold-bloodedbutcheries, house-burnings, and wholesale robberies, that a single personhas suffered the just penalty of the law; that a solitary criminal was punished;that any of the unprincipled savages who were guilty of these high-handeddepredations, were ever brought to justice. Ought we not, then, to rejoice,that there is a spot upon the footstool of God, where law is respected;where the Constitution for which our fathers bled is revered; where thepeople who dwell here can enjoy liberty, and worship God in three or intwenty different ways, and no man be permitted to plague his head aboutit? I rejoice that this is the case; and when I reflect upon the sceneswe have passed through, and realize our present prosperity, my heart isfilled with joy.
I have looked upon scenes that are calculated to stir up the stoutestheart, without shedding a tear; but I cannot look upon the procession ofthis day, and consider the blessings that now surround this people, withoutshedding tears of gratitude, that God has so kindly delivered us out ofall our distresses, and given to us our liberty. To be sure, after workingour way into these valleys, making the roads through mountains, seekingout the route, and coming here, our persecutions did not cease; our enemieswere like the good old quaker when he turned the dog out of doors: saidhe, "I won't kill thee, thou hast got out of my reach; I cannot killthee, but I will give thee a bad name;" and he hallooed out "baddog," and somebody, supposing the dog to be mad, shot him. So withus; after robbing us of millions of property, and driving us cruelly fromthe land of our birth; after violating every solitary law of the government,in which many of the officer were partakers; expelling us into the wilderness,where they thought we would actually perish, (and there is not to be foundin the history of the world, a parallel case of suffering that this peopleendured;) while in midst of this, the cry of mad dog was raised, to finish,as they thought, the work of destruction and murder. Without a guide; withouta knowledge of the country, without reading even the notes of any travellerupon this earth, or seeing the face of a being who ever set foot upon thisland, we were led by the hand of God, through His servant Brigham, threadingthe difficult passes of these mountains, until we set our foot upon thisplace, which was, at that time, a desert, containing nothing but a few bunchesof dead grass, and crickets enough to fence the land. We were more thanone thousand miles from where provisions could be obtained, and found notgame enough to support an Indian population. We set down here, and we calledupon God to bless our undertakings. We formed a government here; and a governmenthas been in existence in this Territory of Utah for five years.
I now want to ask a few grave questions upon this subject. It is customaryfor the General Government to extend a fostering hand and parental careto all new territories. When we first settled here, this was Mexican territory;but it was soon after acquired by treaty, and became U.S. territory. Fouryears and a half, a government has been supported here, governmental lawsand regulations have been kept up.
I inquire, has the Government of the U.S. ever expended one dollar tosupport that government? No! with the exception of the U.S. officers inthe Territory a little over one year 20,000 dols. for the erection of publicbuildings; and 5,000 dols. for a library.
Has the Legislative Department ever received one dollar? No! And why?Because they are "Mormons;" and fugitive officers could run hometo see their mammy, and cry out "Bad dog, bad dog," "Theyare Mormons, they are Mormons."
What is the reason that a citizen of this Territory cannot get a footof land to call his own? for there is in reality no such thing. Why hasnot the Indian title been extinguished; and the people here been permittedto hold titles to land? Let the people answer.
Why is it that the inhabitants of this Territory have never had one dimeexpended to defray the expenses of their Legislature? Four or five wintersthey have held their session, and not one solitary dime has been expendedby the General Government, as has been done in all other Territories. Whatis the reason?
What is the reason that the Oregon land law was not extended over Utah,which gives to the citizens who broke up the new ground, a home free, forthemselves, as was the case in other Territories? Why are these hard-workingpioneers, who dug down the mountains, not permitted a title to their homes?
Let me ask again. The people here have sustained three Indian wars attheir own expense. Who pays for the Indian wars of Oregon? the Indian warsin California? or in New Mexico? for the difficulties in Minnesota? andother sundry wars and difficulties that have occurred or may occur in theTerritories? Whose duty I ask, is it to pay for them? It is the duty ofthe Government of the United States.
Why has not Utah the same privilege, the same treatment? Why is it thatthese three wars have to be totally and entirely sustained by those citizens,without a dollar of aid from the parental Government?
I need not follow up this train of reflection, but I will add one questionmore. Why was it that the judges and the secretary returned home last yearwithout performing one particle of their duty? You can read it in theirown report; say they, "When we got there, we found that the peoplewere all Mormons;" as if we were horses, or elephants, or Cyclops,whose business it was to get up into these mountains and forge thunderbolts."Oh! we will run home again, because when we got there, we found thepeople all Mormons."
I will say, with all reverence to the constituted authority that existsin the General Government, that I do believe that the same spirit of tradition,and the same spirit of persecution, that have ever followed the people ofGod, have more or less influence with them; and that if we would actuallygo to work, and alter our name, we might possibly be treated as other men.Be this as it may, I feel, while I stand upon the face of the earth, determinedto defend my right, and the rights of my friends and brethren. I know thatthere is no "Mormonism" known in the constitution of the U.S.,but all men are there considered equal, and free to worship God accordingto the dictates of their own consciences, and enjoy equal rights and privileges.
There is one item of history which I have observed among this people.The very men who were the murderers of our fathers, and our brothers, theburners of our houses, have come here among this people since that time,where they have received protection; they have been fed when they were hungry.The very man who burned the house of Elder Moses Clawson, at Lima, cameto him and said, "Mr. Clawson, I want to get some provisions from you."Now, these very persecutors knew that our religion was true, and that wewere men of sterling integrity, or else they never would have thrown themselvesin our way, and called upon us for aid afterwards; and I am proud to say,that kind aid and assistance on their journey to the gold mines, have beenextended to hundreds of these robbers, and thus coals of fire have beenheaped upon their heads; but their skulls were so thick, it never burnedmany of them a bit.
I have but a few more remarks to make, which will be directed to thetwenty-four young men, and the braves and warriors of these mountains. Youngmen, braves and warriors, who sit before me this day, let me admonish you,never to let the hand of tyranny or oppression rise in these mountains,but stand unflinchingly true by the constitution of the United States, whichour fathers sealed with their blood; never suffer its provisions to be infringedupon; and if any man, or set of men form themselves into a mob in thesemountains, to violate that sacred document, by taking away the civil orreligious rights of any man, if he should be one of the most inferior beingsthat exist upon the face of the earth, be sure you crush it, or spend thelast drop of blood in your veins with the words of-Truth and Liberty, Libertyand Truth, for ever!