I love to hear the teachings of the servants of God, especially those
whom God has appointed to preside over his people in all the world. I
love also to contribute my testimony, or to speak to the Saints by way
of encouragement, illustration, and instruction. For twenty-eight
years past, it has been the feeling of my heart that if there was
anything on the earth that I could do to advance the work of the Lord
in the last days, I wished to do it; and if I have let anything slip
that I ought to have done, it has been for want of understanding and a
proper knowledge of the circumstances at the time. I entertain the
same sentiments and determination today upon this subject that I have
entertained for twenty-eight years past.
I am gratified and rejoice exceedingly in beholding the faces of my
brethren and sisters in this valley. From the manner which the people
here have received the President and his escort, it is plain they are
wide awake. A band of music met us on the mountain side, and they
played with a free goodwill. The drummer seemed as though he was
determined to beat the head of his drum in; and when the brethren
undertook to sing in the meetinghouse at Wellsville, it seemed as
though their united voices would tear the house to pieces, so loud
were their rejoicings. The spirit in them inspired them to do as they
did.
We do not realize to the full ex tent what we are doing. We are
actually settling a portion of the earth that has been considered
uninhabitable. We are reclaiming it from a desert, and building upon
it a foundation for an immense State; and that State is composed of a
united people, who are almost universally of harmonious sentiments.
The foundation of this settlement of the "Mormon" people in the
mountains really attracted the notice of the Federal Government. We
had been mobbed and persecuted and driven from place to place, from
city to city. On that kind of treatment we have flourished; our
numbers have increased, although many of our brethren have laid their
bones in the grave prematurely, and many of our wives and children
have perished through persecution; yet from their ashes have seemed to
spring thousands.
When we fled into the wilderness, our enemies said, "Now, let the
Mormons alone; they will encounter so many difficulties and so many
natural objections to their growth, they must come to naught; they
will quarrel with each other, and they will soon break up, and we
shall have no more trouble with them."
When James K. Polk, President of the United States, was told that the
"Mormons" had occupied the Great Basin, and were making settlements on
the borders of the Great Salt Lake, "Why," said he, "that is the key
of the continent." When the wisdom of the venerable Senator, the late Sec retary Cass, was brought into requisition on the subject,
"What shall we do with the Mormons?" said he. "Send a small army
among
them, under the command of an intelligent officer; send good-looking,
companionable, sociable officers, and a few strong-minded women; yes,
send men who are calculated to win away their females, and thus
civilize them, by introducing among them habits of modern Christian
civilization; and in a short time you will reduce them to the
necessity of being satisfied with one wife." Colonel Steptoe was sent
here to fulfil that mission with the gentlemanly officers and soldiers
who composed his command. The object of their errand, however, was not
accomplished.
In a short time afterwards they came to the conclusion that it was
necessary to take a step that should make an utter end of "Mormonism"
at once, by a decided and bold stroke of "our gallant little army."
The nation was proud of so grand an undertaking. The press lauded the
project, and the members of the Government were proud of the zeal in
which this enterprising war was undertaken. The delusion passed
current that the "Mormons" would now be broken up. Their first hope
was that famine would reduce us to destruction; but this had failed.
And while they were looking for tidings that in the hard winter of
1856 the "Mormons" had all perished of starvation, our Delegates
suddenly appeared at the Capitol, asking for admission into the Union
as a State. This astonished them.
Do they not remember that from the earliest period of our history, the
nation and the different States have recognized us as a separate
people? In 1834, Daniel Dunklin, Governor of Missouri, said in an
official document that the constitution and laws of the State of
Missouri made ample pro visions for the protection of the Mormons; but
the prejudices of the people of Missouri were so great against them,
that they could not be enforced, and consequently the Mormons could
not be reinstated in the possession of their lands and protected in
their rights.
If my friend, Attorney General Blair here, will allow me, I will quote
Blackstone, who says that "Allegiance is that ligament or thread which
ties or binds the subject to the sovereign, and for which the subject
is entitled to protection from the sovereign." Now, the very minute
that the sovereign, king, or government, republic, or whatever form of
government it may be, shall cease to extend protection to their
subjects, whether they be many or few they necessarily become
independent, and are compelled for self-preservation to protect
themselves and to look out for their own wants and provide for their
own necessities. That is the situation we were in in Missouri when
Governor Dunklin declared that the constitution and laws of Missouri
could not be enforced so as to protect this people. It was virtually
declaring us independent of that State, and acknowledging our right to
protect ourselves in that capacity. The truth of this position was
further illustrated by the imposition upon us of a treaty by
Major General Lucas in the fall of 1838, which treaty was approved by
Major General Clark, and subsequently by L. W. Boggs, Governor of the
State; and thus, contrary to our will, and at the point of thousands
of bayonets, were we compelled to be one of the high contracting
parties to a treaty—an exercise of power which belongs alone to
independent sovereignty.
From that day, and I do not know how long before, so far as allegiance
is concerned, we were cast without the pale of the jurisdiction of
the Government in which we lived. It was not we that did this: it was
forced upon us. We were law-abiding citizens, and wanted the
protection of the laws, the constitution, and the Government of
Missouri: we wished to remain quietly in our homes, and have the
privilege of eating the bread of industry, and to rear our children in
virtue's ways. But no, "these institutions [constitution and laws] are
not for you Mormons."
We found the same doctrine held good in Illinois, and the same
principle has been carried out precisely by the action of the General
Government towards us.
I was told at Washington that if we were not Mormons, we should be
hailed with generosity and friendship; and the prestige of having
subdued this country and brought it into use would have placed us
foremost in the rank of Territories. But we were "Mormons." These are
the sentiments, the spirit, and the feeling all over the country and
with the Government.
We look at this matter as it is. The General Government is not going
to donate land to us, while they were ready to give the settlers in
Oregon six hundred and forty acres of land each, half as much for
their wives, and a quarter as much for each one of their children.
Oregon is located on the seaboard, possessing the advantage of large
navigable rivers. It has a flourishing commerce growing up, providing
the people with exchanges at comparatively little cost.
Utah is in the heart of the desert. It requires persons of the most
undaunted courage and energy to possess it at all. Then, why not give
them chance to occupy the land? Why not encourage the settlers of
Utah, to reward them for their energy and toil in reclaiming a desert,
by giving them six hundred and forty acres of land apiece? Because
"they are damned Mormons!" That is the reason they do not give them an
acre.
What do we find in the administration of Mr. Buchanan? The very first
step he took was to gather the flower of the American army—the finest
and best appointed army that ever the United States fitted out. This
was the declaration of the members of the Cabinet and the press
throughout the whole country. The army under Washington that captured
Lord Cornwallis hardly amounted to twelve thousand men; the army that
was sent to Utah and actually marched for this Territory numbered over
thirteen thousand soldiers; but altogether, with the attaches they
employed, it amounted to upwards of seventeen thousand men. Even this
vast army was not allowed to pass through the inhabited parts of the
Territory until the High Commissioners sent by the President of the
United States, exercising, though disclaiming the authority of the
treaty-making power, negotiated for their passage into the
settlements. Many attempts were made to violate this compact, and in
many instances they did so to a limited extent, but they found dangers
beset them. An old Frenchman said they would damn the "Mormons" when
they would get up, and when they would go to bed, when they would
drink, smoke, and gamble, and they would say, "Why not go to work and
destroy them?" Then they would reason, "We are here right in the midst
of the Mormons: there are only a few thousands of us; and if we
commence the play, we shall all go under: then the people will come
from the States and kill all the Mormons; but what good would that do
us if we were all dead?" God fought our battles.
To conclude the argument that we are an independent people,
acknowledged by the United States, and that our Territory was no
longer tenable to their armies, but must be evacuated, orders were
given by the Presi dent to destroy everything that could be of
use to us here. "Burst your cannon, blow up your magazines, and waste
everything you cannot carry away and that would be of any use whatever
to the Mormon people; for in vacating a Territory we cannot conquer.
We must let nothing go into the hands of our enemies that will in any
way benefit them." The destruction of property in this way is an
evidence of hostilities. This is the practice of nations that are at
war with each other, to destroy what they cannot carry away.
We have had to protect ourselves and sustain the expense of Indian
wars, make our own laws, regulate ourselves in our own way, and no
nation, kindred, tongue, or people has the right to say, Why do you
so? This right so far has been conceded; the army has been withdrawn
from our country, and they have gone away, in a manner acknowledging
their defeat. To be sure, many of the officers went away saying, "We
will come by-and-by and wipe you out." But as God would have it, they
are employed in paying such compliments to each other as they had
designed to inflict upon us.
I have friends in what is now termed the Northern and Southern
Confederacies, for now the Federal Union is one of the things that has
ceased to be. Such a thing as the Government of the United States as
organized by our fathers has ceased to exist. The North claims to be
it; but the United States as a Government, as a nation, as organized
by our fathers, is among the things that were. Fragments of it, in the
shape of separate governments or combinations, may be able to inflict
national chastisement upon each other, or make war with foreign
nations; but it is only as a fraction, and not as a whole. The State
of Kentucky declares that neither the North nor South shall march
armies into their Territory. You find in the history of the wars of
Europe that an armed neutrality is not an uncommon thing. Kentucky is
observing the same. She is a powerful State; she may be drawn into the
great vortex of war; she may take sides with the North or with the
South, or most likely be divided on both sides; but she is no more in
connection with the General Government, as it is called, than with
Tennessee or Virginia.
Turmoil and mob power rule. They are destroying each other,
demolishing public improvements: printing presses have been destroyed
in Missouri and most other States. Blackstone says that a press that
publishes falsehood and licentiousness is a nuisance, and that all
corporations should have power to abate it. We abated the Expositor in
Nauvoo according to law on this ground. Both the North and the South
have been doing the same thing: hundreds of papers have been
suppressed. Gov. Ford said it was right to abate the Expositor, but it
would have been better by mob than by municipal authority; and now mob
law rules the whole country and destroys printing presses without let
or hindrance.
We will now speak of our mountain home. The Lord has smiled upon these
valleys. Colonel Fremont was in the Bear River Valley in August, 1843,
when the mercury stood at 29 degrees, showing conclusively that grain
could not be ripened here. People in the States would pick up that
report and say, "Everything will freeze to death there." A few years
passed away, and you find eight or nine hundred families of Saints in
Cache Valley, and they can raise the finest wheat, flax, and wool. I
saw yesterday as fine a specimen of tobacco as can be raised in
Virginia. Every nation feels it is their best policy and their
duty to adopt such a system of political economy as will provide for
their own wants, and protect themselves against the exactions of other
nations.
We need not expect to get cotton from the Southern States, for they
are fighting with the North, and have not time to raise it and
communication is cut off by a blockade. We need not expect to get
tobacco from the South, for the negroes are at work digging
entrenchments and raising corn for the Southern army.
We have got to provide for ourselves as a great family and as a
nation. All enlightened nations have endeavored to get control of a
northern and southern climate. The God of heaven, in his abundant
mercy, has given us the control, in these elevated valleys, of a
northern and southern climate.
There are a great many persons among us that use tobacco, and there
are some reasons why they use it. For instance, our young men see a
Gentile with a stove pipe hat on, a pair of big whiskers, and a cigar
in his mouth. Oh, it looks so pretty, think our young men; and if they
cannot get a cigar, they must have a pipe. Many of our boys see an old
man that has been educated among the Gentiles, and has contracted,
unfortunately, a habit of chewing tobacco. While walking along, he
spits upon the snow; it colors the virgin snow as though a calf had
been there. The boy looks at it, and says he, "That looks nice;" so he
gets his tobacco, and spits on the snow also. "There," says he, "that
looks as though a man had been along here." This habit has become
stubborn with many people. You may be astonished when I tell you that
it takes about sixty thousand dollars in cash out of our Territory
every year for the article of tobacco. Within the last ten years we
have paid in the neighborhood of six hundred thousand dollars for
this one article.
It is entirely against our interest to pay out this yearly sum for an
article we can raise in our own country, and a violation of the true
principles of political economy. I will appeal to our individual
pockets. I will say I have got to pay for me and my boys for
twenty-five pounds of tobacco in a year. Suppose a taxgatherer comes,
and my tax is twenty-five dollars, I say I have not a red cent, and I
cannot pay it. It cannot be had; I cannot raise it; but twenty-five
dollars in tobacco must be raised: there are no two ways about that.
Now, as a State, in this item of political economy, let us raise and
manufacture our own tobacco, and learn to think and believe that
tobacco of our own raising is just as good and a little better than
that brought from abroad.
We sent brethren to the South to raise cotton in 1857. Something like
thirty-three of them went, and the next year many more went, so that
in 1858, the vote of Washington County amounted to one hundred voters.
Many of them were Southern men, who had been gathered from Texas,
Alabama, Mississippi, and other parts of the Southern States. They
were accustomed to raising cotton. The President advised them to go
there and supply the Territory with cotton. It had the appearance of a
barren country generally. The mountains were barren and bleak in their
appearance; red sandstone, and black volcanic rock, and a variety of
grey-colored clay prevailing, altogether giving it a kind of somber,
deadly appearance. The brethren went to raising cotton in small
patches as they could find the land, and every year they cultivated it
they found the cotton to improve in quality. They raised better
cotton last year than the year before, and so they have continued
until it has become a certainty that cotton can be raised there.
I have seen men load up their cotton and start this way to trade it
off. Say they, "I want to get a few bushels of wheat, and pay in
cotton." The answer has been, "I can do nothing with your cotton; but
if it was spun, I would buy it." So the cotton raiser has considered
it of little use to raise cotton, and went to raising wheat. They did
not know what to do with their cotton when it was raised. You may go
to those same persons that would not buy from the cotton raiser, and
their women say—"Husband I have got to have some cotton batting from
the store, to make some quilts of. Now, husband, you need not try to
dodge; the batten has got to come." It costs fifty cents a pound, and
one-third of it is paper when you get it. Sister, why did you not buy
that brother's cotton the other day: you would have got two dollars
for your wheat you sell at the store for one? "Oh, his cotton was
grown at home, and that bought in the stores is made into nice sheets,
all ready for spreading in the quilt." You can take a pair of hand
cards and prepare our homemade cotton for the quilt with but a
little trouble, and you would have the clean cotton instead of
one-third brown paper. For your bushel of wheat, after hauling it to
the store, you get a pound and a half of cotton; whereas, if you sell
your wheat to the home producer for cotton, you have laid at your door
four pounds of cotton for a bushel of wheat.
To buy the foreign cotton in this manner, and discourage home
production, is very far from good political economy. Quite an amount
of raw cotton is wanted in this Territory for filling quilts and other
purposes by every family. The wool answers a good purpose, but it is
not plentiful enough; and even if it were, there are many kinds of
quilts and comforters for which cotton is far preferable. Did we only
encourage this home production of cotton to this limited extent, it
would save thousands of dollars of money that is now thrown needlessly
into the pockets of merchants to supply this article from abroad. Let
us stop this suicidal practice of sending away our money. It would be
better to braid our bed covering from oat straw, until we can supply
our wants from the elements and soil of our own mountain valleys.
In 1857, the brethren had began to raise flax. I speak particularly of
Provo. In 1858, the army came, and there was a chance for a man to make
a few dollars by licking the dust of their feet and bowing down to
them; so the flax was left to rot. I can find perhaps a hundred places
now in the city of Provo where flax is suffered to go again into the
ground, while the owners considered they ought to go and do something
for the Gentiles to get money to buy clothes.
Some man says, "I worked up some flax, and it was worthless—it was
rotten." It is known in all flax countries that if you get flax too
much rotted by laying it up a year or two, it will recover its
strength. In Pennsylvania, which is a good flax raising country, some
farmers will have five or six years' flax laid up, and each year they
select out of it that which makes the best thread. When you find your
flax a little too rotten, you are at once discouraged, and straightway
make up your minds to go and work for the Gentiles to get some of
their rotten rags.
A great many "Mormons," when they become wealthy, want to go back to
show their former comrades and friends what an amount of
property they have got. But with all this bombast and vain show, we
do not really possess anything. A man says, "I came into Cache Valley
two years ago, I got forty of acres land, and I have raised a good
deal of wheat by very hard labor, and that wheat is mine." You
ploughed the ground and watered it; but who made the seed grow that
you threw into the ground? The Lord. Then it is his: he let you have a
little of it, to see what you would do with it. Have you a right to
abuse the Lord's means which he permits you to use? No. But, as a
member in the kingdom of God in the last days, you have a right to use
it for the advancement of that kingdom, and the triumph of
righteousness, and for doing good in every possible way.
I have heard men say that they have a right to do wrong. In one sense,
a man has such a right; and, in another sense, he has no such right.
We possess, in reality, very little; and that little the Lord has
given us, and that is the power of choice. We may choose to do good,
and, if we do good, we get the reward of good; we may also choose to
do evil and reap the penalty. A man may knock another down because he
has a right to, and have to pay a fine of fifty dollars because he is
obliged to. I deny that a man has a right to make thieves of his
children and prostitute his family. If he does this, the Lord is
justified in cursing him, and he will be obliged to endure it. This
power of choice goes a great way. A young man says, I have a notion to
go on the road and work for the Gentiles, carry the mail, or anything
else. All right. But your friend suggests that it would be better for
you to make a farm, build you a house, raise some flax, etc. "But I
have a right to work for the Gentiles, if I choose, and I am going to."
You go and build them up with your labor. This young man comes home
after a while, he sports a cigar in his mouth among his comrades, he
has made thirty dollars per month, he has a few dollars in money in
his pocket; it has seemed to come easy, and his soul is contaminated
with wickedness. In a little while his money is gone, and he has
nothing. Then he must go again among the Gentiles and make a raise. I
hope the "Mormon" girls know how to measure such fellows. A sensible
girl would much rather marry a young man, dressed in homespun, who
will stay at home and mind his business, and never suffer a cigar to
come near his mouth, but seek with all his might in every respect to
be a good, faithful Latter-day Saint.
Speaking of cigar smoking makes me think of an anecdote of a sick man
and his doctor. The doctor asked him how many cigars he smoked in a
day; the answer was, Six. That is too much; you must quit smoking. You
will allow me to smoke a little. Yes, you may smoke two a day to begin
with, and finally quit altogether. The next day the doctor called to
see his patient, and found him smoking a cigar two feet long. What are
you doing, inquired the doctor? Just doing as you told me; I went down
to the cigar maker and got two made two feet long, and they answer
first rate.
When a man begins to adopt Gentile habits, a cigar two feet long is
only a patching to the extravagance he will become addicted to.
I see in this valley large fields fenced out. In some places, there
have been four or five acres ploughed; in some, ten acres: pass on a
little further, and there are a few acres more. How is this, brother
Maughan? Men enclose more than they can cultivate, water, and improve,
and a very large portion must necessarily be vacant, for it
was difficult to get water on it. Many acres of grain perish, and the
grasshoppers devoured much that remained from the drought. I advise
you, brethren, to stop this scattering method of cultivation, and
gather your farms together, and make fields well fenced, plough, and
put in your grain well, and give it a sufficient amount of water, and
you will have three times as much wheat as you got in the start of
your settlements in this valley.
President Young is acknowledged by us all the master builder in Zion
or, if you please, the master workman. If the master workman walks in
among the timber laid out here for your big Tabernacle as the grand
architect, planning and assorting the different sticks of timber for
certain places and purposes, he does not expect to meet with
opposition from the material out of which he designs to make a temple
of worship. He comes to a stick of timber, and says, I will make a
post of this; and the stick rises up in the dignity of its strength
and will not be made a post, but will be a sleeper, and so on with all
the timbers of the building: they are not subject to the will of the
master builder. Will not this comparison represent a large portion of
this people? The master builder points to the South and says, Go and
raise cotton; but many reply, It is no cotton country; it is the most
wretched, barren, Godforsaken country in the world. This is not
submitting to the will of the master builder.
This puts me in mind of Jefferson Thompson, now a Brigadier-General in
the secession army in Missouri. After he had been in this country, his
comrades got around and inquired, Well, Mr. Thompson, how do you like
that country? Any good land there? He replied, It is the most
Godforsaken country in all creation. How did you find the Mormons
living there? How do they live? Why, they raise plenty of wheat, and
the best wheat I ever saw in my life. Can they raise anything else?
Yes. The finest potatoes (I never saw finer), and every kind of
garden stuff, and very good corn. Any fruit? They are beginning to
raise some fine peaches and other kinds of fruits. But you said it was
the most desolate, barren, Godforsaken country in creation: how is
it, then, that they can raise such good stuff? Well I cannot account
for it in any way, only it is a damned Mormon miracle!
That is the correct idea: the Lord is doing it. I have learned that in
the county of Harrison, Western Virginia, they have not raised ten
bushels of apples, peaches, plums, or a pint of strawberries in the
whole country, although I dare say there are a thousand orchards in
it, and their crops have failed; their glory has departed. The Lord
blesses the land in proportion as they are willing to do good. Last year,
the word of the Lord came to this people, Send down two hundred teams
and bring home the Saints. The teams were sent down. Some said we
could not do without them at home; if so many teams went, we could not
raise crops sufficient. But there has not been such a crop in all the
Territory as was raised this year. The very sending of the teams
seemed to be the assurance of the bountiful blessings of God on our
crops. As the President remarked this forenoon, we say all we have is
upon the altar: but let it begin to burn, and they begin straightway
to pull it off. We are all united in our faith; but when the word
comes, Brother, you have a good farm here; but the interests of Zion
seem to require you should go to Santa Clara to raise cotton. But,
says he, it is no cotton country, and he is awfully discouraged. What
does it matter in what part of the building the master builder
places us? Every person is placed in a position he is the best
qualified to fill, and which he will enhance the most the interests of
the kingdom of God.
As the President and his company were going down south, a brother
wanted us to go and breakfast with him: he said he could not do very
well by us, for he was sent on a mission, and he was not as rich as
some of the people. When we went to breakfast, it was not ready. An
apology was made that the women had to milk twenty cows: he had ten
more on the Plains running with their calves, and he had not time to
get them up. He said he wanted to accompany the President, but he had
only two animals up; but he had two span of mules on the Plains that
he thought would keep up with the President. I have had a hard time of
it this season, and had but little time. I had to do all my farming
with three-year-olds and four-year-olds. I sent four yoke of cattle
to the States this season; yet I have thirty acres of wheat—the best
wheat you ever saw. What a poor man! But he was on a mission, and the
idea of being on a mission made him think he was poor.
If a man feels rich, and has not a dime in his pocket, if he is
righteous, he is rich indeed; but if he has a penurious disposition
and is miserly, though his hands are full of riches, he does not turn
it to a good account, and in a little while he is like the child that
takes an apple in each hand, but undertakes to hold another; he is apt
to drop the two to secure the third.
When you raise flax, hemp, wheat, cattle, wool, etc., let everything
be placed in the best position to increase the creature comforts of
life. Seek the means to manufacture the textile productions into
clothing, etc., that nothing may be lost or wasted, and thus learn to
do without those things that have to come from abroad. Let us make our
own crockery. Let us be willing to drink out of a brown mug or go
without. We want to see every man and woman ready to do that which is
for the general welfare more than for the individual interest.
We boast about being one, pray about it, and rejoice about it every
minute; but let the Lord's servants try to dictate us how to manage
our property in the best possible manner for the general good and the
accelerated growth of the wealth and influence of this great people,
we declare by our works they shall not touch a dollar. Zion is going
to be a great empire, and seeing God has trusted us as stewards of the
property we hold, we must use it to build up his kingdom and cause.
And when the authorities advise us to put that property into a mill or
carding machine, into this or that, for the welfare of Israel, do it
cheerfully with a good heart and ready hand, and not with fear and
whining.
I pray the Lord continually to inspire President Young with wisdom and
knowledge, and judgment above all men upon earth, to dictate the
affairs of Zion in a manner that shall be the most approved by his
heavenly Master. I really do want to see a feeling of contentment
manifested by the brethren who are sent into Washington County to
raise cotton there, and make the mission honorable, and gain for
themselves credit and the blessings of God and his servants. If a man
is instructed to raise flax, and introduce machinery to manufacture
it, I like to see him do it cheerfully. In all our works and labor,
our first great interest should be the building up of the kingdom of
God, and be so gritty that we will actually go without buying a paste board bonnet or a pair of paper shoes, when we can have
something we can produce ourselves that will answer the purpose. All
these articles are produced by labor and ingenuity. Let the knowledge
of these arts be communicated from one to another, and be the property
of the whole to benefit the whole. There is a man in Pinto, Washington
County, that makes cheese so skillfully that he never has any trouble
with it in summer; he only has to turn it once in a while. Well,
brother, how do you make that cheese? "That is a secret."
Now, brethren, if you know anything that is for the welfare of Israel,
instruct others. If a sister knows how to get her up a tablecloth,
let her show it to her sister, and let the knowledge pass round. If
she understands the process of spinning cotton and flax, communicate
that knowledge to others. Let us learn wisdom from our leaders.
The power of the Almighty has been manifested in gathering this people
out of the midst of many nations. A greater miracle never existed. It
has been done by his wise counsel and fatherly care, and a nation has
been established without the shedding of blood. Zion has been
travailing and has brought forth. I have traveled this season to
preach to the Saints twenty-five hundred miles and stopped with the
Saints every night. I have preached to hundreds of congregations,
large and small, in houses and out-of-doors.
May the blessing of Israel's God attend you and your crops, and herds
and flocks; and everything that pertains to you, may it be blessed
continually. Amen.
- George A. Smith