Personal Appearance and Character of Brigham Young.—His Aims and Purposes.—Solution of the Mormon Question.—New Complications.—Military Reviews of Mormons.—Governor Durkee.—Counteracting Influences.—The Mines and Miners.—Rev. Norman McLeod.—The "Salt Lake Vedette."—Administration of General Connor.—Murder of Brassfield.—Order of Young for the Expulsion of the Gentiles.—Order for the Murder of Eighty Men.—Difficulties concerning the Public Lands.—Murder of Dr. Robinson.—The Gentiles flee in Terror.—The Government fails to protect its Officers and Citizens.—The Hero of Three Wars of the Republic hunted through the Territory.—Rev. Mr. McLeod warned not to return to Utah.—The Reign of Terror commenced.—The Gentiles call for Help.

Brigham Young is a man of medium height, compact frame, with a manner deliberate and impressive. There is less of ostentation, however, in his bearing toward strangers than might be expected in a religious pretender. His hair is sandy, and inclined to curl; features regular, and expressive of great determination.

In conversation he is pleasant and affable, but is restive under the slightest contradiction or opposition. Strangers are favorably impressed with the first visit to his office. They go to see and hear, and Brigham looks well and is a good talker. He has talent, and is not destitute of genius; when, therefore, he is master of the field, and has the choice of topics, he never fails to make himself interesting, if so disposed. Indeed, is it not in itself interesting to see and hear the Mohammed of America?

His early education was very limited, and his sermons are illiterate. But in that most important of all fields of education, a knowledge of mankind and of human nature, he is proficient. It is true, that even here he sometimes grossly errs in his estimate of men. This is because his experience is mostly confined to certain phases of human nature. In those phases he is an adept. Outside of them, he brings to bear a strong judgment, upon a limited range of facts, and if he misses the conclusion, he has the tact to retrieve his error as speedily as possible. He has no pride of consistency, which conflicts in the slightest degree with the accomplishment of his purposes. If necessary to attain his ends, he is one thing to-day, and another to-morrow, and all in the name of the Lord!

Much has been said as to his sincerity in his religious professions and belief. In his younger days he may have been sincere; doubtless was. The character of his religion, and the degree of his sincerity, at the present time, may be inferred from the following incident.

A physician at Salt Lake was urged by Brigham to join the church. He had lived in the city several years, and was doing a good business, and it was pressed upon him as a reciprocal duty. The Doctor, like too many of his profession, was tainted with infidelity. "I wouldn't mind joining your church," said he, "but I don't believe in your religion. In fact," he added, with emphasis, "I don't believe in any religion." "Oh," replied Brigham, "that don't make any difference. Come and be baptized, and it will all be right!"

The Doctor was baptized, and became a good enough Mormon. He received as his reward, from the hand of Brigham, a beautiful young lady as a "second wife."

Young's talent is all of a practical character,—his shrewdness is ever ready to extricate him from any difficulty or emergency. As a financial and political leader, he is far superior to Joseph Smith. As a religious leader, he is much his inferior. Smith was brave; Young is cowardly. Smith was enthusiastic and impetuous, while Young is cool and calculating.

Brigham is a good speaker. Oratory, however, he uses as a means to accomplish certain ends; and he seldom, even when most excited, says anything that has not its object. His manner in the pulpit is impressive and authoritative; and he sometimes rises to a high degree of eloquence. His illustrations are apt, his sentences frequently pungent and sarcastic.

He is lamentably deficient in moral sense. No falsehood staggers him, no blasphemy shocks him. Why, then, should he hesitate at the perpetration of any crime which will conduce to the accomplishment of his life-purpose. Even the traveller Burton, his admirer and panegyrist, thus frankly expresses his doubts as to this phase of his character: "I cannot pronounce about his scrupulousness; all the world over, the sincerest religious belief, and the practice of devotion, are sometimes compatible not only with the most disorderly life, but with the most terrible crimes; for mankind mostly believes that 'Il est avec le ceil des accomodements.' He has been called hypocrite, swindler, forger, murderer. No one looks it less." This is, perhaps, true; but therein lies his hypocrisy.

We have already shown that polygamy originated in the passions and lusts of himself and followers, and was afterward reduced to a system and promulgated as part of the Mormon religion. So with other phases of the system. The Celestial Kingdom, the Grand Archee, the Prophet, the Seer, the Revelator,—all tend to self and self-aggrandizement. Everything must yield and become subservient to the purposes of his unholy ambition. Principles, conscience, the moral sense, Christianity, the divine brotherhood of man, human liberty and republican institutions, the sacred associations of the home-fireside and of the family altar, all the thrilling sentiment and ennobling effect of love, the purity and fidelity of the marriage relation, all the rights of property and life, all the relations of man to God,—yea, God himself, with all the machinery of Heaven and the spiritual world, including angels, spirits, and demons,—are brought under contribution to this one man, and made to revolve about him,—a confused constellation of chaotic elements from the mental, and moral world. Neither social nor political restraint does he recognize. Setting himself above all law, human and divine, he becomes a law to himself and his deluded followers.

How long this state of things is to last, how big this God-defying creature is yet to swell ere he is checked in his tyrannical and blasphemous career, how long this theocratic monarchy is to stand in the centre of the Republic, remains to be seen.

But the question will be asked, "Is there any remedy other than by the strong hand? And would not that increase rather than diminish the number of his followers?" Whether there can be any peaceful solution of the question is doubtful. Inflamed by power, blinded by ambition, he will not tamely submit to the laws and the constituted authorities, so long as he has thousands of obedient followers around him, ready to move as a single man at his word of command.

The only hope of a peaceful result lies in the gradual assimilation of the "gentile" with the Mormon element. A wonderful change is already in progress in this respect, caused by the presence of United States volunteers, the influx of miners, and the preaching of true religion. This is seen by Young, who already trembles, as he turns his thoughts into the future.

Fearful that the migration of miners into the Territory would tend to lessen his power, and desirous of removing the government troops from Camp Douglas, he spent several months in the spring of 1864, in inducing the farmers to unite in raising the price of their produce, and enlisting the people generally in favor of a combination against the gentiles. To the same end he has been laboring for years.

On Monday, the 8th of August, 1864, a Convention of Delegates from the several Wards in the Territory assembled, in accordance with this scheme and by direction of the "President," at the Tabernacle, in Great Salt Lake City, to adopt measures for the establishment of the prices of produce upon a gold basis.

The scheme signally failed. Temporarily, supplies for the troops were brought across the Plains, and were purchased as they could be had. But General Connor more than hinted that if this plan should be persisted in, what supplies he could not purchase at a fair price with the currency of the country, he would take. This had the desired effect, and after some further spasmodic efforts, this attempt to lay an embargo upon the traffic of the people with the Government, was abandoned.

This meeting, like every other in Utah, merely gave expression to the preconceived views and preconcerted measures of the leaders. No steps were taken to raise the wages of the mechanic or laborer. Brigham denounced the mechanics bitterly, because they were opposed to raising the price of produce, calling them a parcel of thieves and rascals. He indulged in a tirade of abuse and vulgar language, unfit for publication.

This may be cited as one of the instances in which he misjudged human nature. By espousing the interests of one class against those of the other, instead of attempting to reconcile them, he introduced a new element of discord into his already inharmonious kingdom. Two of the delegates at the meeting had sufficient manly dignity and moral courage to plead the cause of the mechanic and laborer; also of the poorer class generally; showing the amount of misery and suffering that would be entailed upon them by the adoption of the proposed measures. To which Young replied, in a tone of sarcasm and contempt, that even if he were to build houses for the poor, and provide them with all the necessaries and comforts of life, they would not be satisfied unless they had free admission to his house and the privilege of listening to his daughters playing on the piano.

The fact that leading Mormons were found to vindicate the people, notwithstanding the degraded condition which such language implies, and openly to oppose Young's measures in a public meeting, is a hopeful one, and of deep significance.

In pursuance of the same policy of segregation of the faithful, and preparatory to the accomplishment of his ambitious schemes, Young has established a system of militia training and reviews, confined exclusively to Mormons. This system he sedulously fosters and maintains, commanding the Mormon militia as Governor of the State of Deseret.

On the 2d of November, 1865, such a review was held on the plains of Salt Lake Valley, near the Jordan River. On that occasion Governor Durkee, who had lately arrived in the Territory as the successor of the lamented Doty, visited the Mormon troops and marched in a procession headed by Brigham Young. The Organic Act of Utah makes the Governor the Commander-in-Chief of the Militia, and it would seem to have been more consonant with the spirit of that provision, and more conservative of the dignity of his position, to have headed the procession, or if not permitted to do so, to have dispersed it as an illegal assemblage.

General Connor, who has lately returned to Salt Lake from a brilliant Indian campaign, is the military commander of the Department of Utah. He does not look with favor upon the marshalling of military forces composed exclusively of Mormons, and considers such gatherings but little better than displays of rebels in arms. The progress of events will soon determine whether the military organization of the Mormon militia is conducive to loyalty and good order, or to anarchy and rebellion.

Notwithstanding these attempts to organize and nationalize his followers, there are, within the dominions of Brigham Young, and among the masses of his adherents, various conflicting elements, furnishing hopeful indications to the statesman and the lover of his country. It may reasonably be expected that Young will soon appear to the deluded people in his true character; not as a branch of the Divinity, but as a selfish, corrupt, ambitious, and very dangerous man.

To this end, every attempt to enlighten and disabuse them, should be encouraged, and such changes in the Organic Act should be made as may be necessary to protect the rights of gentiles resident in the Territory. The extraordinary jurisdiction now exercised by the Probate Courts should be taken away and limited to the District Courts. The Governor should not only be authorized, but required to take the leadership and control of the militia of the Territory. The laws of Congress against polygamy should be rigidly enforced. Mormon postmasters and other Mormon federal officers should be removed. These and kindred measures should be adopted and enforced, until the authority of the Federal Government shall be fully vindicated and acknowledged.

Among the agencies already at work to accomplish this desirable end, and to redeem Utah from her enthralment, may be mentioned the discovery of mines of precious metals, and the large influx of miners,—the preaching not only of a purer Mormon faith, under the auspices of Joseph Smith Jr., but the promulgation of the Gospel itself, and of the principles of Christianity in their purity, by Rev. Norman McLeod, a Congregational minister of great boldness and talent, who is now firmly established in the Territory,—the extended and controlling influence of the "Union Vedette," a daily and weekly paper published at Salt Lake City, and edited with an ability which is but a synonym for immense moral, intellectual, and political power,—and above all, the military administration of General Connor, who, by the discreet but firm hand with which he has held a check upon the movements of unprincipled church leaders, by the establishment and support of the journal just mentioned, and by the encouragement given to gentiles and disaffected Mormons, has done more to undermine and overthrow the whole system of Mormonism than all other influences combined!

Much is to be expected from the discovery of valuable mines of gold, silver, and copper, in various localities in Utah. Already mining camps have been established, mining companies formed, and villages and settlements of miners are springing up in different directions. In Rush Valley, west of the Oquirrh, or West Mountain, about forty miles southwest from Salt Lake City, is a flourishing mining town called Stockton, which has been built entirely since the winter of 1863-4. The mines in this valley are good, and are attracting much attention abroad. Over fifty ledges have been discovered, which prospect well in gold and silver. In Cottonwood Canyon copper mines have been discovered yielding 75 per cent. of pure ore. Extensive arrangements have been made for bringing on machinery, building mills, &c.

It has steadily been the policy of Brigham to discourage prospecting, and to prevent, if possible, the opening of these mines to the gentile public. It has long been known that such mines existed, not only from the whisperings and traditions of dissatisfied saints, but by the boastings of Young himself, whose vanity would not permit him to be entirely silent upon a subject so well calculated to magnify his own importance. On one occasion he said to Bishop Simpson, "I can stand in my door and see plenty of gold and silver."

These hidden riches, thank God, have been brought to light. Miners are flocking in by thousands, and their rights will be protected, if necessary, by the strong arm of a strong government.

Mormonism must soon give way before the advancing tide of American civilization.

Brigham Young, with his band of desperadoes, may not much longer despise and trample upon our laws, and outrage the rights of our people. If he is to be permitted to continue his system of heathen polygamy, he will be obliged to leave the Republic he has discarded and would have overthrown, and fleeing from the scenes of his impieties and his crimes, set up his kingdom in some new refuge,—perchance in the Sandwich Islands, which have long been one of the stakes of Zion.

The events of the last two years have not been of a character to inspire confidence either in Young and his associates, or in the policy, or rather want of policy, of the government, in connection with the affairs of that Territory. The same spirit of lawlessness and violence which has marked the entire history of the Territory still prevails. Partially repressed for a few years, and kept in check by the determination and known bravery of General Connor and his officers, it has now, since their retirement from the service and the withdrawal of nearly all the military stationed at Camp Douglas, broken out more fiercely than ever.

The disbanding of the volunteers was immediately followed by denunciations of the gentiles, and threats and warnings of every description. A letter containing the representation of a bloody hand was sent to the "Vedette" office.

Anonymous communications were frequently received by leading gentile citizens. Fiery and vehement declamation was indulged in from the rostrum; and the prophecy was frequently made that in a few months not a gentile would be left in the Territory. Yet that class of proscribed citizens kept on in the even tenor of their way; the "Vedette" appeared as usual, always bold and determined in its opposition to the wrong and injustice prevailing around it. There was danger that the prophets would be brought into disrepute and contempt.

At this juncture, it having been determined "in council" that a blow should be struck, the community was startled by the announcement of one of the most atrocious murders recorded in history.

On the evening of the second of April, 1865, Squire Newton Brassfield, a resident of Austin, Nevada, temporarily residing in Salt Lake, was shot down in the streets while in the company of the United States Marshal, and under his protection. The particulars, as well as the pretext for this bloody murder, are fully given in the following editorials taken from the "Salt Lake Vedette," of April 4th, 1865:—

"We are called upon this morning to chronicle one of the most cold-blooded and inhuman murders that has ever fallen under our notice—unparalleled even in the bloody record of Utah's foulest crimes. The victim of this last exhibition of the hellish doctrine of 'blood atonement,' promulgated by these fiends of hell from the rostrum of their Tabernacle, is Squire Newton Brassfield, late a resident of Austin, Nevada, by business a freighter, and aged about thirty years. The circumstances which led to his murder are briefly as follows:—

"On the evening of the 27th ult. Mr. Brassfield was married by Judge McCurdy, of the Supreme Court, to Mary, second wife of A. N. Hill, a Mormon missionary now in Europe. A short time after the marriage, Brassfield went with his wife to her late residence to get her clothes and household goods which had been packed up ready for removal. While there he was arrested by the city police, charged with resisting an officer, and lodged all night in the county jail. The next morning he was taken before the Probate Court to answer the charge, and bound over in the sum of five hundred dollars to await the action of the Grand Jury. The next day two indictments were brought against him, one on the charge above named, and the other for larceny,—for being present and assisting in taking away his wife's goods and clothing. He gave bail in the sum of one thousand dollars. On Monday last his counsel, Major C. H. Hempstead, quashed the indictment for resisting an officer, and proceeded to trial on the charge of larceny. The trial was not concluded when the court adjourned on Monday, and was to have been continued on the following day.

"The wife had two children, one nine and the other five years of age. About these children a contest was evident—Mrs. Brassfield claiming them, and the friends of Hill being determined to keep them from her. The mother obtained a writ of habeas corpus from Judge McCurdy, and the Hill party from the Probate Court, each claiming the right to the custody of the children. The writ of Judge McCurdy was first executed, and a hearing held by him last Saturday night. Major Hempstead argued the case for the petitioner, and claimed that as Hill had a wife living at the time of his alleged marriage with Mrs. Brassfield, it was illegal and void, and that, as there was no legal father, the mother was entitled to the custody of the minor children. Thus the legality of polygamous marriages was made a direct issue in the case. Judge Snow appeared against the petitioner and in the capacity of Deputy Attorney-General of the Territory, and desired further time to prepare the case of the defendant, and the hearing was continued until Monday evening at seven o'clock.

"At that hour the house was crowded, the friends of both parties being present in large numbers. After a few preliminary remarks and the filing of some papers by Judge Snow, the hearing was again adjourned until Wednesday morning at ten o'clock. The children in the mean time had been committed to the custody of the United States Marshal, Hosmer, until further orders of the court, and on Monday the writ from the Probate Court was served on him, when he appeared before Judge Smith and stated that he held the children by order of Judge McCurdy, and declined to produce them in that court, when he was threatened with an attachment for contempt, and warned that unless he produced the children he would be imprisoned in the county jail! The Probate Court of Salt Lake, imprisoning a United States Marshal, for obeying an order of the Supreme Court! Our readers can make their own comments.

"Thus stood the several phases of the case at the adjournment of Judge McCurdy's court on Monday evening. The court adjourned at about half-past eight o'clock, and on his way home, and while in company with the United States Marshal, Hosmer, Mr. Brassfield was shot and killed; adding another to the long list of victims of Mormon 'law' and Mormon 'justice.'"

"STATEMENT OF MARSHAL HOSMER.

"About half-past eight o'clock on Monday evening, the second instant, I was accompanying Mr. Brassfield home to the National Hotel from Independence Hall. As we turned the corner by the small building west of the hotel, a man who stood between the bay-window and door of that building advanced one step from the corner and fired at Mr. Brassfield, the shot taking effect in his arm and side; four buck-shot entered the arm, one striking the elbow joint and breaking the arm. The fifth shot, which was much larger than the others, entered his right side. When the gun was fired Mr. Brassfield fell, and said, 'O my God! I am shot!' He was carried into the International Hotel, where he lingered in agony about forty-five minutes and then expired. The assassin, after firing, ran across the street, and turning the corner by the theatre, continued in a northerly direction. As he passed the St. Charles Restaurant, he was fired at twice by a policeman. I lost sight of him as he turned the corner of the theatre."

"THE FEELING AMONG THE PEOPLE.

"It would be useless to deny the fact that in the opinion of the gentile community of this city, the killing of Mr. Brassfield was a deliberately planned scheme, concocted and advised by men high in authority in the Mormon Church. It is a reminder of the days that were, and a foretaste of what will be again 'when the troops are removed.' The community is struck dumb at the appalling audacity of the affair. Men say but little, but the lowering brows and compressed lips everywhere visible, bespeak a rising storm, which, when it bursts, will be very hard to control."

"THE SPIRIT OF ASSASSINATION.

"From time to time during the past nineteen years, the people have been almost palsied with the announcement of dark and fearful crimes committed within the limits of this Territory—crimes of the greatest magnitude and of the blackest character have been perpetrated, and in no known instance have the guilty parties been brought to the tribunal of justice.

"The Mountain Meadow massacre, the Parish, Potter, and Forbes murders, the assassination of Sergeant Pike on the main street of Salt Lake City, in broad daylight, were all committed with an impunity and immunity from punishment having no parallel elsewhere in the country.

"Last Monday evening the community was astounded with the intelligence of another foul assassination committed on Theatre Street, only a few steps east of Main Street.

"The man who was assassinated was known throughout Nevada, and more particularly at Austin and Reese River, as one of the best and most reliable citizens of that State, and was engaged in the freighting business between this place and Reese River. His conduct, while here, was that of a good, quiet, peaceable citizen, violating no law of the land, interfering in no way with the legitimate business of any person, and honored and respected by all who knew him."