President's Office
Great Salt Lake City March 3, 1866
Hon Wm H. Hooper M. C.
House of Representatives
Washington City, D. C.
Dear Brother:
My last to you was dated Feby 21st, which I hope you will receive. Lest you should fail to receive the Original, I had a duplicate sent.
Everything has moved along, since my last, in the usual manner. The weather is much milder, and what little of the snow is left, is passing away under the influence of the warm sun. We still have frosty nights; but there is a prospect at present of an early spring. Considerable work is being done, but the roads are not settled yet, and there is but little hauling done from distant settlements.
A Mass Meeting was held on Saturday for the purpose of organizing a Flour and Produce Company here, with a President and five Directors. The object of the company is to effect a concentration of action on the part of sellers of flour and produce in the Northern Territories. Unwise and unnecessary competition on the part of many of our folks in selling has given speculators great advantages without being of any benefit to the consumer. The design is to have an agency in the North for the sale of flour etc, and to have such a supply on hand and at such rates that no person will have the least inducement to import there from any other quarter. Bishop Hunter is elected President and A. O. Smoot, H. S. Eldredge, H. W. Lawrence, W. S. Godbe and Wm Jennings are elected directors.
Connor has started East, loaded down, we presume, with slanders and falsehoods. There are a few questions which some cute member might ask him. Any committee can be satisfied, if they will permit reliable evidence to satisfy them, that his and the clique's, to which he is attached, statements are false. Does he not dictate the Vedette? and has he not constantly published statements and charges which, at the time, he knew were lies, and as far removed from truth as darkness is from light? Has he not done all this, doing everything in his power to blast our reputation and excite indignation against us, to bring about our destruction, and used public funds to carry out his schemes?
Have not he and his clique been in the habit of meeting in the cellar of Gilbert's Store and drinking and guzzling liquor and giving vent to the vilest expressions and threats against us. At this establishment <does not> this clique concoct their plots; <& are> they are <not> bound together,-- the proprietors of this establishment and this cabal-- by a community of interests, and play into one another's hands? The firm in question have no regard for the Union. You doubtless recollect the difficulty the Police had in keeping the Gilberts from hoisting the rebel flag here in this city <and that too in the presence of Gen. Connor here.> In their feelings they were then rank secessionists, and they are so to-day, and they can sing rebel songs, and rejoice over the disasters of the North, and Connor can drink with them, and not care so long as he can use them for his purposes and get funds into his hands, and share in the profits of contracts. One of the sons was heard to say a few days ago, that he did not care a d--n what the Government did with Polygamy, if he could only get the contracts. This is the secret of a great many of their moves. There is a class of men here and elsewhere, who would not scruple for a moment to offer us up, and to bring about the entire extermination of the people of this Territory-- men, women and children if they could only accomplish their schemes to make money in the operation. Such characters may sail along for awhile without having much trouble, apparently, to contend with, and their schemes may progress swimmingly in their own estimation; but time will prove what they are, and that before long, as it has proved their predecessors. The fate of those, who urged on what is called the Utah war, under President Buchanan's administration, will be their fate-- they will be execrated by the nation which they have deceived and sink into utter contempt. Cannot the Government see the schemes of these wretches in seeking to stir up difficulty between it and us? Or do men in high places wilfully ignore and shut their eyes to self-evident facts, and blindly run into difficulty? We protested with all the ability that we could against the statements and misrepresentations, which were made about us previous to the sending out of an army by President Buchanan, and the conclusions which the Government came to in consequence of them; but our protestations then passed for naught, and we were not heeded. Time however has proved the truth of our testimony, and the utter falsity of the statements made against us.
We now protest again, with all the energy in our power, against the conclusions which are being forced upon the Government at the present time respecting us. If the Government will lend itself to the schemes of the base characters, who are endeavoring to excite its ire against us, it is easy to see what the result will be. It will be involved in difficulty, and such a course cannot fail to bring discredit upon the administration at home and abroad. The experience of the past should be a sufficient warning to prevent the Government from rashly undertaking a crusade against us, without first carefully examining the charges upon which action might be based. The freedom which our enemies have had here to publish and lecture ought to be a convincing proof to every thinking man, that their statements --which they are constantly circulating -- respecting us, are utterly false. Were we so reckless and law-defying as they assert, how long could such nuisances as the Vedette and Norman McLeod be suffered to exist? The very fact that they can vomit forth their filthy stream of slanders and vituperation without meeting with the least interruption, gives the lie direct to all their statements respecting the oppression and violence, which are practiced here.
Nothing could be easier than for us to stop the utterances of both, were we so disposed, as both have outraged, in the most flagrant manner all the decencies of life. If ever a people or community could be justified for resorting to lynch-law, it would be in abating such nuisances. We doubtless could do so legally; but the editors of the paper do every thing anonymously and play the gopher, and if we were to notice McLeod, it would give him an importance, which we do not wish to bestow upon him. Nobody can gain any satis
We really entertain no other feeling towards them, than one of unmitigated contempt. We will not suffer ourselves to be even provoked by them, though their course is a gross abuse of the rights and priviledges of free expression of opinion. But when we see the Government attaching credence and importance to what they say, and acting towards us in a manner to strengthen their hands and to encourage them in continuing their attacks upon the community, defaming the characters of the most worthy and respected citizens of the Territory, we cannot but feel deeply and keenly on the subject. In my previous letters I have alluded to the patience with which the people of this City have endured the taunts and continued insults of these rascals. Such a spectacle of forbearance on the part of those who hold the power -- as we who are assailed do in this country -- is not to be witnessed in any other part of the world. It is unexampled. Were it not for the restraining influence of the leading men of the
community, the rage and indignation of the people against their insulters and traducers would be so uncontrollable that it would break beyond all bounds, and visit speedy vengeance upon their heads. The knowledge that we are governed by higher principles and motives, than they themselves respect, emboldens them in their machinations and to pursue their nefarious course without fear of violent interruption from us. When the circumstances under which those who are engaged in maligning us are here, are understood, that we have made this country habitable for them, that the wheat and other grains and fruits that are here, and which they eat, we have produced, the houses they inhabit, we have built, and all the advantages which the country possesses, and which they are now reaping, we, under the blessings of God, have created, the lenity and forbearance, which we have exhibited towards them, should strike all thinking men with surprise.
Members of Congress and others, if they will reflect, can imagine how they would feel were they in our position.
There is a great hubbub raised about our marriage institution, and it is made the staple of all the charges, which are made against us. Because of this we are to be deprived of every right and priviledge of citizenship. It is not argued that we may not keep as many mistresses as we choose, and have as many children by them to be branded as bastards, as may suit us; but it is urged as criminal in us to dignify them by the honorable name of wife, and to accept their issue as legitimate. Now, there is no room in my mind to doubt, that they who make the greatest outcry about us and our plural marriages have intercourse with more women, than the men in this Territory who have the most wives. If they would make it penal to use more than one woman, and it would be the law enforced upon every person, we would feel much more inclined to respect them and submit to their requirements than we do at present.
They would, at least, possess the merit of consistency, and they would extort our admiration for that, if no more.
The difference between our opponents and ourselves is: that we will not lend them our wives, and have no disposition to borrow theirs, while the opposite of this would please them. If our wives, sisters and daughters were accessible, and virtue and a chaste and holy regard for the marriage tie existed only in name, then there would be no difficulty between them and us; for we would agree with their idea of the way society ought to be regulated.
There are rumors about some very mean, objectionable men being selected to assess and collect for the Government here-- men whom we would not have about us in any position, as every respectable rightminded person would consider them totally unfit. Should they be appointed, they will be likely to be very scarce, for the people will feel outraged by having them come upon their premises. Should such characters be appointed, the Government should no longer call itself republican; for the people's wish would be totally disregarded in such appointments.
When convenient we would like <you> to ascertain from the War Department, if Government will sell the Parrott Guns there are here; they will never want to use them against us, and it will never pay to take them away.
Judging by reports, Stealing has been carried on extensively of late at the Camp. It is said that it is not confined to soldiers, but that the Officers share in the profits. If reports be true, the men in camp <when destitute of wood> do not hesitate to burn good government wagons, neckyokes, double trees. Their conduct is very ridiculous; but it is nothing to us.
With love to you, in which Prests Kimball and Wells and bro. Geo Q. join, and praying the Lord to give you health, and to bless you with every qualification which you need to fill your position,
I remain your Brother,
Brigham Young