they must; and it became the all-absorbing question with the presidency of the Church, whether to oppose the popular fury, temporize until it should abate, or yield to circumstances and quit the state. Young had sagacity enough to see that the constitution of the Church over which he presided was such that it could never peaceably sustain itself in the States, and that it would be in vain to indulge the Mohammedan dream of conquest which once floated through the brain of the prophet Joseph. He accordingly made diligent efforts to prepare the minds of the Saints for removal beyond the bounds and out of the jurisdiction of the United States.

This was no difficult task. The Mormons had become in some degree a nomadic race; they had broken the ties of kindred and home to gather around their fancied Zion; many of them had left one part of Missouri for another, and then had removed to Nauvoo; some had wandered from beyond the broad Atlantic, and could not, within a few years, form very strong local attachments. Superadded to all this was an intense hatred to the United States, some of whose citizens had inflicted upon them the sufferings, losses, and persecutions of which they complained, and whose government had failed to afford them redress. So intense was this feeling, that they looked exultingly forward to the fulfillment of prophecy, which remorselessly consigned the country to one vast and common ruin, under the visitations of earthquakes, fires, famine, pestilence, and civil wars, from the offended majesty of heaven. There was only one tie difficult to be severed-the Temple. It was a proud monument of architectural

grandeur and beauty, reared, beautified, and finally completed by the toil and contributions of all the Saints, in which all had a property-in which all were to pay their devotions, baptize for their dead, and perform the secret ceremonies by which they are initiated into the different degrees and orders of their faith. But the mass were, notwithstanding, ready to go, at the advice or dictation of their rulers. A conference was held in the Temple on the 6th of October, at which the matter was debated and resolved upon, and an epistle was put forth by Brigham Young to the Saints throughout the United States, announcing the determination to remove as early as the next spring; and they were urged to come forward and finish the Temple, and receive their endowments, before bidding a farewell to their beloved city. The place of destination at first contemplated was Vancouver's Island, near the mouth of the Columbia.

Among the curious things to be noted at this period was the excommunication from the Church of William Smith, the sole surviving brother of the prophet. This man, it seems, was ambitious of the succession, and, in the bitterness of his disappointment, had let out some unwholesome secrets in regard to the conduct of the twelve apostles, for which they consigned him over to the "buffetings of Satan ;" and the language of the prophet Joseph, while pronouncing a blessing upon his brother, contrasts strangely enough with the denunciations subsequently showered upon the same subject. He became, in Mormon phraseology, an apostate, and spoke in utter condemnation of the designs of the leaders, representing "that it is their design to set up

an independent government somewhere in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, or near California; that the plan has been maturing for a long time; and that, in fact, with hate in their hearts, skillfully kept up by the Mormon leaders, whose pockets are to be enriched by their toil, the mass of the Mormons will be alike purged of American feelings, and shut out by a barrier of mountains and Church restrictions from any other than Mormon freedom."

In January, 1846, the plan for removal became more fully developed, as appears by a circular of the High Council of the 20th of that month, in which they say:

66 We, the members of the High Council of the Church, by the voice of all her authorities, have unitedly and unanimously agreed, and embrace this opportunity to inform you that we intend to send out into the Western country from this place, some time in the early part of the month of March, a company of pioneers, consisting mostly of young, hardy men, with some families. These are destined to be furnished with an ample outfit, taking with them a printing-press, farming utensils of all kinds, with mill-irons and bolting-cloths, seeds of all kinds, grain, &c.

"The object of this early move is to put in a spring crop, to build houses, and to prepare for the reception of families, who will start so soon as grass shall be sufficiently grown to sustain teams and stock. Our pioneers are instructed to proceed west until they find a good place to make a crop, in some good valley in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, where they will infringe upon no one, and be not likely to be infringed upon. Here we will make a resting-place

until we can determine a place for a permanent location. In the event of the President's recommendation to build block-houses and stockade forts on the route to Oregon becoming a law, we have encouragements of having that work to do; and, under our peculiar circumstances, we can do it with less expense to the government than any other people."

In the same paper they make strong professions of loyalty to the government, notwithstanding the various injuries they had sustained, and deny that they have been guilty of the crimes laid to their charge. In reference to their property to be left behind, they say, "Much of our property will be left in the hands of competent agents for sale at a low rate, for teams, for goods, and for cash. The funds arising from the sale of property will be applied to the removal of families from time to time, as fast as consistent; and it now remains to be proven whether those of our families and friends who are necessarily left behind for a season, to obtain an outfit through the sale of property, shall be mobbed, burned, and driven away by force."

In reference to the conditions upon which they agreed to leave, they say, "We agreed to leave the county for the sake of peace, upon the condition that no more vexatious prosecutions be instituted against us. In good faith we have labored to fulfill this engagement. Governor Ford has also done his duty to further our wishes in this respect. But there are some who are unwilling that we should have any existence any where."

Brigham Young manifested much ability and forecast in the arrangements to remove a population of

some 15,000 souls to a new home beyond the Rocky Mountains. The Saints were divided into different companies, which were to emigrate at different times, so as not to be in each other's way. Places were selected in the Indian country, among the Omahas and Potawatomies, where different sections could make temporary settlements, as resting and recruiting points, until their final removal could be practicable. Especial pains were taken to conciliate the Indians on the entire route; and so perfect were the arrangements in