words of one of them) enforce upon the people "the importance of being governed by the Priesthood in all things.” —(XIV. 294.)

But whatever may be the merits of such an organization, its continued success must depend in great measure on the character of its Head. The Jesuits would never have reconquered Europe for the Pope, had not the first three or four generals of the Order been men of eminent ability. Mormonism would probably have perished after the death of Smith, had the Apostles shown less sagacity in their selection of their present chief. Brigham Young was the son of a farmer in the Eastern States (XV. 642), and was brought up to the trade of a carpenter. He joined the sect early, and rose to eminence by his serviceable obedience. He is a man of action, not of speculation; distinguished for coarse strength and toughness, physical and moral; and these qualities have been needed for the rough work he has had to do. His first important charge was the mission to England in 1837, when he founded the British Churches. Shortly before that epoch, he was solemnly set apart "to go forth from land to land, and from sea to sea." And we read that "the blessing of Brigham Young was that he should be strong in body, that he might go forth and gather the elect." (Smith's Autob. XV. 206.) We have related how, after the death of Smith, he supplanted Rigdon, and rose from the chairmanship of the Apostles to the Presidency, and how wisely he led his followers through the wilderness, and planted them in the land of promise. By his appointment as Governor of the territory of Utah,

his character received the stamp of public approbation from the supreme Government of the United States; whence he reaped also the solid advantage of a salary of 2500 dollars. Besides this official income, he has the uncontrolled management of the ecclesiastical revenues, including the tithing of his subjects, foreign and domestic. We learn, therefore, without surprise, that he has acquired considerable property, and that he is able not only to maintain a suitable establishment and "princely carriages" (G. 63), but also to support a family of forty wives and about a hundred children. His prosperity has excited some jealousy among his people; and we find him, in a recent speech, remonstrating with those who "complain of me living upon tithing."-(XV. 161.) But hitherto he has succeeded in suppressing such murmurs by his frank and popular bearing, and by the proofs he has given of indefatigable zeal for the public interest. The official documents which he publishes from time to time, and especially his Messages to the local Legislature, show the illiterate sagacity of the Rusticus abnormis sapiens, and exhibit a curious mixture of business-like statement with Yankee bombast. As a specimen of the latter, we may take the following description of the Abolitionist party, from a recent message:-"The fanatical bigot, with the spirit of northern supremacy, seeks to enwrap in sacrilegious flame the altar of his country's liberties, offering an unholy sacrifice which, arising in encircling wreaths of dark and turbid columns, emitting in fitful glare the burning lava, betokens ercwhile her consummation."-(XV. 422.)

When opposed, the President is apt to become overbearing and scurrilous. Thus, in his controversy with Judge Brocchus, he tells his correspondent that he is "either profoundly ignorant or wilfully wicked-one of the two." "You manifest a choice," he adds, "to leave an incensed public in incense [sic] still." And farther:-"When the spirit of persecution manifests itself in the flippancy of rhetoric for female insult and desecration, it is time that I forbear to hold my peace, lest the thundering anathemas of nations born and unborn, should rest upon my head, when the marrow of my bones shall be illy [sic] prepared to sustain the threatened blow.”—(XIV. 402.) Yet the President can write better than this, when he restricts himself to less ambitious prose. His correspondence with Dr. Adams, for example (Ibid. 213), is a model of shrewd sense, not unmixed with a touch of humour, and shows that he is well able to detect an impostor. This, indeed, is not surprising, on the principle of that ancient rule which prescribes the agents most serviceable in thiefcatching.

Next to the President in importance, though not in official rank, stands the Apostle Orson Pratt. As Young in action, so Pratt in speculation, is the leader of the sect. Like so many intelligent and half-educated men, he has greedily received the teaching of the modern Pantheistic philosophy from its popular interpreters, American and English. From such sources he has compounded that strange jumble of incongruous dogmas which we have before attempted to describe. Thus he

H

probably hopes to enlist some recruits from the party of "Young America," who may be induced to swallow the absurdities of Mormonism in a non-natural sense, washed down with a lubricating dose of mysticism. He has himself substantial reasons for his allegiance to the cause. He holds the pleasantest appointment which his Church can bestow upon an intelligent man-being its resident agent at Washington. His official duty (according to the tenor of his diploma) is "to write and publish periodicals and books illustrative of the principles and doctrines of the Church;" and it is his prerogative" to receive and collect tithing of the saints throughout all his field of labour.”—(XV. 42.)

His elder brother, Parley Pratt, though individually less prominent than Orson, represents an element of Mormonism far more essential to its success. He may

be considered as chief of the Mormon missionaries. The zeal and activity of these emissaries, though it has been much exaggerated, is still remarkable. The Governors of the sect are good judges of character; and it is their plan to select the restless and enterprising spirits, who, perhaps, may threaten disturbance at home, and to utilize their fanaticism, while they flatter their vanity, by sending them as representatives of the Church to distant fields of labour. Their method of establishing a mission in a foreign country is as follows. Amongst their converts, taken at random from the mixed population of the Union, there are natives to be found of every nation in Europe. They select a native of the country which they wish to attack, and join him

as interpreter to the other emissaries whom they are about to despatch to the land of his birth. On arriving at their destination, the missionaries are supported by the funds of the Church, till they can maintain themselves out of the offerings of their proselytes. Meanwhile, they employ themselves in learning the language, and circulating tracts in defence of their creed; and then sit down to the weary task of translating the "Book of Mormon."

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By this process, they have formed churches in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Malta, Gibraltar, Hindostan, Australia, and the Sandwich Islands; and besides these, they have recently sent missionaries to Siam, Ceylon, China, the West Indies, Guiana, and Chili. "Book of Mormon" has been published in French, German, Italian, Danish, Polynesian, and Welsh. Besides various tracts which are circulated by these missionaries, they have established regular periodicals in French, Welsh, and Danish.* We should observe, however, that of the missions above enumerated, the first and last (those to Denmark and the Sandwich Islands) have alone been really successful. In Denmark, at the beginning of 1853, they possessed 1400 baptized converts, and had also despatched 297 more to Utah. In the Sandwich Islands they had baptized 589, before their mission had been established twelve months.

* Namely, "Le Reflecteur," published monthly, at Lausanne; the "Udgorn Seion," weekly, at Merthyr; and the "Skandinaviens Sterne," twice a month, at Copenhagen.