Salt Lake City.
February 14. 1870.
Mr. Marcus Halling,
Post restante at Dinslaken
near Wessel, Prussia
Dear Bro:
I have just perused a letter written by you to your wife which she kindly placed at my disposal. & I am not a little surprised as well as grieved that you should write in such a strain.
I well remember the letter you sent me, to which you allude & the pleasure it afforded me to hear from you in the excellent spirit your letter manifested. I am confident I instructed my Clerk to write you in reply, giving him such leading items as occurred to me at the moment & expecting to add thereto afterwards, but he informed me to-day, very much to <my> regret, that your letter was inadvertently overlooked, from the press of business which crowded at the time. You will therefore understand that this oversight was no fault of mine, but of my clerk, & relieve your mind at once of any wrong impression this mistake may have created. Aside from this circumstance I know of nothing to serve as a reason why you should imagine yourself forgotten, or even slighted, on the contrary, you have always had our very best feelings -- the brethren have spoken of you in the highest terms & our faith and prayers have been constantly exercised in your behalf. We expected you home last season in accordance with a letter sent from this office to Prest. H.S. Eldredge under date of 17th Augt. 1870. a portion of which reads as follows: "We are desirous that you assist Elder Marcus Halling to return home from his mission in Holland. Please provide him with means to reach Liverpool & from there, forward him home." What steps Bro. Eldredge has taken in the premises we are not advised but will ascertain in our next. How you could suppose that we would charge the expenses of your Mission with a view to have you repay the same is more than I can imagine, can you point out any instance where this has been done? Of course it is neccessary that a correct account be kept of all Church funds, so that we may be able to give an account of our Stewardships, but this has nothing whatever to do with you or any other Missionary having to pay the expenses of any Mission, or any part thereof, if they are not able to sustain themselves.
I regret exceedingly that you manifest such feelings against the brethren generally, and, that you imagine there is any other place on earth, where you can better live your religion than that appointed you by the Priesthood. True, we all have our failings, and, bear in mind, you are no exception to this rule -- but let us rather assist each other, in well doing, & sustain each other, than find fault with & try to pull each other down.
We wish you to feel that your labors in Holland have been highly appreciated, & that you are honorably released, to return home to your family, and if, from any cause, Bro. Eldredge has not sent you the means to defray your expenses, we will do so, from this place.
We hope to meet you soon again, to share with us in our labors, here, which are incessantly devoted to the building up of the Kingdom of God & for which we seek the aid of all the faithful.
The work is vigorously onward notwithstanding the tremendous efforts of the wicked for its overthrow, probably, at no time in our history has there been greater efforts made against us as a people than at the present time, both from Apostates. and Gentiles, high & low, yet the good old ship sails along & the saints grow & increase in the love of the truth & the faith of the holy Gospel. This is truly cheering. & should cause us to renew our diligence in serving Him whose kind hand is all the time outstretched over His people, for we see that our labors are made to bud, blossom, and produce fruit under His divine providence & that our efforts are not mis-spent. Let us hope that we may remain stedfast in the good work so that we may reap the promised reward. & render ourselves worthy a seat in the Redeemer's Kingdom.
In conclusion, let me say,--Be of good cheer--Set your face Zionward--pray that your faith may continue to increase & may God bless & prosper you till we meet again with all the faithful.
Your Bro. in the Gospel
Brigham Young
P.S.-- Since writing the above, a letter has been read from Pres. H.S. Eldredge wherein he states that he sent you £7.0.0 to purchase some clothing with instructions to come to Liverpool, preparatory to returning home; & that you wrote in reply you were intending to visit some friends in Germany. He further states, that after he received my letter instructing him to send you home, he telegraphed & wrote to you but received no answer till late in the fall, which represented that you were supporting yourself & did not intend to go home until next spring.
As that season is rapidly approaching, you are no doubt by this time preparing to start, which we will be pleased to learn if you have opportunity to write on receipt of this.
B.Y.