than half a dozen negroes; and climate, which, disdaining man's interference, draws with unerring hand the true and only com- ▾ promise line between white and black labor, has irrevocably decided that the African in these latitudes is valueless as a chattel,

are tempted to exchange them for trade, which they usually do if they have an opportunity; and

"Whereas one family frequently steals the children and women of another family, and such robberies and murders are continually committed, in times of their greatest peace and amity, thus dragging free Indian women and children into Mexican servitude and slavery, or death, to the almost entire extirpation of the whole Indian race; and

"Whereas these inhuman practices are being daily enacted before our eyes in the midst of the white settlements, and within the organized counties of the Territory; and when the inhabitants do not purchase or trade for those so offered for sale, they are generally doomed to the most miserable existence, suffering the tortures of every species of cruelty, until death kindly relieves them and closes the revolting scenery: "Wherefore, when all these facts are taken into consideration, it becomes the duty of all humane and Christian people to extend unto this degraded and downtrodden race such relief as can be awarded to them, according to their situation and circumstances; it therefore becomes necessary to consider,

"First, the circumstances of our location among these savage tribes under the authority of Congress, while yet the Indian title to the soil is left unextinguished; not even a treaty having been held, by which a partition of territory or country has been made, thereby bringing them into our door-yards, our houses, and in contact with our every avocation.

"Second, their situation, and our duty toward them, upon the common principles of humanity.

"Third, the remedy, or what will be the most conducive to ameliorate their condition, preserve their lives and their liberties, and redeem them from a worse than African bondage; it suggests itself to your committee that to memorialize Congress to provide by some act of national legislation for the new and unparalleled situation of the inhabitants of this Territory, in relation to their intercourse with these Indians, would be one resource, prolific in its results for our mutual benefit; and, farther, that we ask their concurrence in the following enactment, passed by the Legislature of the Territory of Utah, January 31, A.D. 1852, entitled,

"An Act for the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners.

"Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, That whenever any white person within any organized county of this Territory shall have any Indian prisoner, child, or woman, in his possession, whether by purchase or otherwise, such person shall immediately go, together with such Indian prisoner, child, or woman, before the selectmen or probate judge of the county. If, in the opinion of the selectmen or probate judge, the person having such Indian prisoner, child, or woman, is a suitable person, and properly qualified to raise or retain and educate said Indian prisoner, child, or woman, it shall be his or their duty to bind out the same, by indenture, for the term of not exceeding twenty years, at the discretion of the judge or selectmen.

"Sec. 2. The probate judge or selectmen shall cause to be written in the indenture the name and age, place where born, name of parents if known, tribe to which said Indian person belonged, name of the person having him in possession, name of Indian from whom said person was obtained, date of the indenture-a copy of which shall be filed in the probate clerk's office.

"Sec. 3. The selectmen in their respective counties are hereby authorized to obtain such Indian prisoners, children, or women, and bind them to some useful avocation.

"Sec. 4. The master to whom the indenture is made is hereby required to send said apprentice to school, if there be a school in the district or vicinity, for the term of three months in each year, at a time when said Indian child shall be between the ages of seven years and sixteen. The master shall clothe his apprentice in a comfortable and becoming manner, according to his said master's condition in life. 666 Approved March 7, 1852.'"

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because his keep costs more than his work returns. The negro, however, is not admitted to the communion of Saints rather a hard case for the Hamite, if it be true that salvation is nowhere to be found beyond the pale of the Mormon Church—and there are severe penalties for mixing the blood of Shem aad Japhet with the accursed race of Cain and Canaan. The humanity of the Prophet's followers to the Lamanite has been distorted by Gentiles into a deep and dangerous project for "training the Indians" to assassinate individual enemies, and, if necessary, to act as guerrillas against the Eastern invaders. That the Yutas--they divide the white world into two great classes, Mormon and Shwop, or American generally-would, in case of war, "stand by" their patrons, I do not doubt; but this would only be the effect of kindness, which it is unfair to attribute to no worthier cause.

The conversation, which lasted about an hour, ended by the Prophet asking me the line of my last African exploration, and whether it was the same country traversed by Dr. Livingstone. I replied that it was about ten degrees north of the Zambezi. Mr. A. Carrington rose to point out the place upon a map which hung against the wall, and placed his finger too near the equator, when Mr. Brigham Young said, "A little lower down." There are many educated men in England who could not have corrected the mistake as well: witness the "London Review," in which the gentleman who "does the geography"-not having the fear of a certain society in Whitehall Place before his eyes-confounds, in all the pomp of criticism upon the said exploration, lakes which are not less than 200 miles apart.

When conversation began to flag, we rose up, shook hands, as is the custom here, all round, and took leave. The first impression left upon my mind by this short séance, and it was subsequently confirmed, was, that the Prophet is no common man, and that he has none of the weakness and vanity which characterize the common uncommon man. A desultory conversation can not be expected to draw out a master spirit, but a truly distinguished character exercises most often an instinctive-some would call it a mesmeric-effect upon those who come in contact with it; and as we hate or despise at first sight, and love or like at first sight, so Nature teaches us at first sight what to respect. It is observable that, although every Gentile writer has represented Mr. Joseph Smith as a heartless impostor, few have ventured to apply the term to Mr. Brigham Young. I also remarked an instance of the veneration shown by his followers, whose affection for him is equaled only by the confidence with which they intrust to him their dearest interests in this world and in the next. After my visit many congratulated me, as would the followers of the Tien Wong, or heavenly King, upon having at last seen what they consider "a per se" the most remarkable man in the world.

Before leaving the Prophet's Block I will describe the rest of

the building. The grounds are surrounded by a high wall of large pebble-like stones and mortar-the lime now used is very bad-and strengthened with semicircular buttresses. The main entrance faces south, with posts and chains before it for tethering horses. The "Lion House," occupied by Mrs. Young and her family, is in the eastern part of the square: it is so called from a stone lion placed over the large pillared portico, the work of a Mr. William Ward, who also cut the block of white limestone, with "Deserét" beneath a bee-hive, and other symbols, forwarded for the Washington Monument in 1853. It is lamentable to state that the sculptor is now an apostate. The house resembles a two-storied East Indian tenement, with balcony and balustrade, here called an observatory, and is remarkable by its chunamed coat; it cost $65,000-being the best in the city, and was finished in one year. Before building it the Prophet lived in the White House, a humbler bungalow farther to the east; he has now given it up to his son, Joseph A. Young.

On the west of the Lion House lies the private office in which we were received, and farther westward, but adjoining and connected by a passage, is the public office, where the Church and other business is transacted. This room, which is larger than the former, has three desks on each side, the left on entering being those of the public, and the right those of the private clerks. The chief accountant is Mr. Daniel O'Calder, a Scotchman, whose sagacity in business makes him an alter ego of the President. the end opposite the door there is a larger pupitre railed off, and a gallery runs round the upper wall. The bookcases are of the yellow box-elder wood, which takes a fine polish; and all is neat, clean, and business-like.

Westward of the public office is the Bee House, so named from the sculptured bee-hive in front of it. The Hymenopter is the Mormon symbol of industry; moreover, Deserét (pronounced Deserétt) is, in "reformed Egyptian," the honey-bee; the term is applied with a certain violence to Utah, where, as yet, that industrious insect is an utter stranger.* The Bee House is a large building, with the long walls facing east and west. It is double storied, with the lower windows, which are barred, oblong: the upper, ten in number, are narrow, and shaded by a small acute ogive or gable over each. The color of the building is a yellowish-white, which contrasts well with the green blinds, and the roof, which is acute, is tiled with shingles. It was finished in 1845, and is tenanted by the "plurality wives" and their families, who each have a bedroom, sitting-room, and closet simply and similarly furnished. There is a Moslem air of retirement about the Bee

*"And they (scil. Jared and his brother) did also carry with them Deserét, which by interpretation is a honey-bee; and they did carry with them swarms of bees, and all manner of that which was upon the face of the land, seeds of every kind."-Book of Ether, chap. i., par. 3.