PREFACE.
Notwithstanding the frequency with which the American press has kept the name of the Mormons before the public, few persons have any definite idea of what Mormonism claims to be, and what it actually is.
Occupying, as the Saints do, the centre of the great highway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and demanding admission into the Union as a sovereign State, Congress cannot long refuse attention to their claim. The question, therefore, of engrafting upon the Republic a Theocracy which practices polygamy, teaches the barbarous doctrine of human sacrifice, and is in its sentiments inimical to the constitution of the nation, demands the careful consideration of all who are interested in the honour and good name of the United States.
In the pages of this work, the politician, the preacher, the littérateur, and the thoughtful reader, will find abundant matter for studious reflection.
It requires no prophetic inspiration to predicate that, in spite of all the crudity and ridiculous assumption of Mormonism, the highest wisdom of the national Government may yet be required to avert scenes of conflict which would be universally deplored.
Memorials demanding the admission of Utah into the Union, under the title of "The State of Deseret," have for twenty-three years engaged the attention of Congress. Last
