286 RUSSIAN AMERICA SOLD TO THE UNITED STATES. RUSSIAN AMERICA SOLD TO THE UNITED STATES. (From the Illustrated London News, April 20th, 1867. The treaty or bargain for the sale of the Russian territories in America to the United States is received with cool approval, but not with much exultation, by the New York public writers. It is quite untrue that the British Minister at Washington has expressed any displeasure about it. The foolish and ignorant remark transmitted by the New York reporters through the Atlantic telegraph, that this cession of the Russian dominion would enable the United States to exclude British Columbia from the Pacific Ocean, is refuted by one glance at the map; British Columbia having, in fact, a seaboard of its own, extending six degrees of latitude from north to south, with ample accommodation of inlets, sounds, harbours, and navigable rivers, and with two large islands, Vancouver and Queen Charlotte's Island, the former already containing a city and commercial port, besides a whole archipelago of lesser isles which will be useful to the fisheries and trade of the province. The only parts of the British territory which lie to the back of the Russian settlements on the American coast are New Cornwallis and New Norfolk-regions utterly desolate, and parhaps uninhabitable, extending far north towards the Arctic Circle, and known to none but the hunters and trappers of the furry tribes of animals which range that sterile plain. This territory is separated from the Russian part by a range of mountains running southward from Mount St. Elias parallel with the shore. The Russian territory, henceforth a territory of the great American Federal Republic, contains 480,000 square miles, north of the parallel of 54 deg. 40 min. of north latitude, and west of Its The the 141st degree of longitude. southern part, from Mount St. Elias to Prince of Wales's Island, is a narrow strip along the Pacific; its northern part is a vast peninsula, bounded by the Arctic Ocean, Behring's Strait, the Sea of Kamtschatka, and the Pacific Ocean, except the side which adjoins the north-west frontier of British America. Its extreme promontory approaches within fifty miles of the nearest point of Asia, belonging also to the Russian empire. southern and western parts of Russian America are mountainous, with a series of lofty volcanic peaks, the highest of which, Mount St. Elias, has an altitude of nearly 17,000 ft. The north coast is low and flat; the interior is very little known. The climate is not nearly so cold as that of Greenland, the corresponding peninsula on the east side of the American continent, but it does not admit of agriculture. The Alieutian Islands, between America and Asia, may perhaps not be included in the cession, of which we are hitherto imperfectly informed; they are a valuable fishing station. The Kodiak group, comprising the port of St Paul, and the Kurile Islands, are also of some importance to the trade and navigation of these seas. The principal island on the Pacific coast is Sitka, with its capital city, New Archangel, having a fort occupied by a few hundred soldiers, and a naval squadron of a dozen small vessels. Here live the GovernorGeneral, the Bishop, and the directors of the Russian-American Fur Company. The whole population of Rus-sian America is reckoned at 78-000, of whom not more than four or five thousand are of the Russian nation, the rest being Indians or Esquimaux. The latest innovation in the usage and custom of the Established Church of Scotland, is the celebration of marriage publicly in church before the congregation, instead of privately at the residences of the parties. This plan is stated to be in conformity with the Directory of Public Worship, and the ancient practice of the Presbyterian Church. SUMMARY OF NEWS. 287 SUMMARY OF NEWS. The whole number of shipwrecks reported, during the present year, up to April 22nd, amounts to 1034. According to an official report lately issued, the number of nobles in Austria at the end of last year was 241,410, of whom 4640 belong to the army, and 266 to the clergy. THE DIVORCE COURT.-In addition to the arrears mentioned, at the present Easter Term, there were 134 cases for hearing in the Divorce Court, and four standing over. THE CATTLE PLAGUE.-It is officially announced that during the week ending April 13th, no cases of rinderpest were reported from any part of Great Britain. Authoritative information has also been received by the Netherlands Consul-General in London, that throughout the province of Zealand, and that part of the province of North Holl lying north of the river, the plague has ceased. The total number of cattle reported to have been attacked in Great Britain since the commencement, is 253,897, and 52,703 apparently healthy animals have been slaughtered to prevent the spread of the disease. HYDROPHOBIA.-An aged German forest keeper, who is on the verge of death, has published a secret cure for hydrophobia, which he says he has used for fifty years, curing many men and animals from a horrible death. The wound must be bathed as soon as possible with warm vinegar and water, and when this has dried up, a few drops of muriatic acid poured upon the wound will destroy the poison of the saliva, and relieve the patient from danger. This cure appears in the Leipsic Journal. FRANCE.It is announced that the factory of Saint-Etienne has just delivered 60,000 needle-guns to the Minister of War. The establishment is said to be in a position to be able to claim the premium of 50,000f. offered by the Government for the completion of 100,000 rifles by the end of April.-Galignani.— Liverpool Daily Post, April 16, 1867. Referring to the unsettled condition of the Southern people, the Thomasville (Ga.) Enterprise expresses a belief that no less than one-half of the Southern white people have changed homes since the war, and about one-third of them have changed States. AN INSECT DESTROYER.-Much the largest number of fleas are brought into our family circles by pet dogs and cats, and the pigsty is generally filled with them at this season of the year, when numbers will hop on you when visiting it for the purpose of feeding or inspection. The oil of pennyroyal will drive these insects off; but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to throw your dogs and cats into a decoction of it once a week. Mow the herb, and scatter it in the beds of the pigs once a month. have seen this done for many years in succession. Where the herb cannot be got, the oil may be procured. In this case, saturate strings with it, and tie them round the necks of dogs and cats; pour a little on the backs and about the ears of hogs, which you can do while they are feeding, without touching them. By repeating these applications every twelve or fifteen days, the fleas will flee from your quadrupeds, to their relief and improvement, and to your relief and comfort in the house. Strings saturated with the oil of pennyroyal, and tied around the neck and tail of horses, will drive off lice; the strings should be saturated once a day. Mint, freely cut, and hung round a bedstead, or on the bed furniture, will prevent annoyance from bed insects.-Gardeners' Magazine. PRESERVATION OF LEATHER.-The following preparation, if applied occasionally to the upper leather of boots and shoes, will soften it, and prevent it from cracking:-Neat's-foot oil, one quart; bees-wax, cut small, one ounce; oil of tar, half a pound. After simmering the oil and wax a little in a pipkin, the oil of tar must be added; and after a gentle simmering again for a few minutes, stirring it the whole time with a stick, the mixture will be finished. 288 A. N. Hill, M. Ensign, E. A. Noble, POETRY, ETC. ADDRESSES. -3, St. Mary's Church Yard, Southampton. George Hunter, 2, Warneford Place, Leamington, Warwickshire. W. S. Grant, 61, Great Freeman Street, Nottingham. Isaac Alldredge, 26, Fence Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire. Richard Benson, 6, Upper Walker, Street, Preston. Henry Barlow, care of T. Davis, Stratton's Buildings, Speenhamland, Newbury, Berks. DIED: COLEMAN.-At Redburn, Hertfordshire, on the 4th March, 1867, Charles Coleman, of small pox, aged 29 years, brother Charles Coleman was a member of the Hemel Hempstead Branch, BedfordShire Conference, for 19 years, he has left a wife and four small children to mourn his loss.-Deseret NEWS, please copy. REES.-At Newport, Mon., on the 15th April, 1367, of inflammation of stomach and liver, Elizabeth Rees, aged 67 years.-DESERET NEWS, please copy. SMITH.-At Leeswood, near Mold, Flintshire, on the 14th March, 1867, Eliza wife of Thomas Smith, late of Hawarden Branch, Liverpool Conference, of consumption, aged 46 years, she has been a faithful member in the Church about 23 years. RADLEY.-At Bagillt, Flintshire, on the 9th April, Miraim Readley, daughter of Maria Williams, of consumption, aged 29 years. POETRY. - REFLECTIONS. On the death of Elder Thomas Simpson, and Sarah, his wife, under very trying circumstances. We weep! ah, death! you thin our ranks; The mother died--our tears scarce dried, Six little orphans mourn their loss; But Israel's God will clear the road, And gather them in one. Dry up your tears-the Gospel cheers; "Priesthood's restored," praise ye the Lord, Then Earth and Sea,--and all that be "Oh, grave! where is thy victory; JAMES THOMSON. EDITED, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY BRIGHAM YOUNG, JUN., 42, ISLINGTON. LONDON: FOR SALE AT THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' BOOK DEPOT, 30 FLORENCE STREET, ISLINGTON, AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR. "ARISE YE, AND LET US GO UP TO ZION, UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD."-Jeremiah. No. 19. Vel. XXIX. Saturday, May 11, 1867. Price One Penny THE WORLD-ITS VIRTUE AND CONSISTENCY. (From he Deseret News, March 20th, 1867.) full of light, life, and salvation for man. What a pious world this is! What a consistent world, too! Perfection, it appears, is so nearly reached, that These reflections have been induced it is almost hopeless to look for any by thinking over some highly flavored further improvement-just at present! articles on the "barbarism, abominaWe did think that there were a few tions, and woeful state of the 'Mormen on the earth at various times in mons ;"" and the excellence of the what are called "the days of barbar- people, institutions, and social and ism," who understood some principles moral condition of the rest of the which the world would be the better world. It is a little strange that after for knowing and living according to residing here so many years, we have now; but if we are to credit one-half not been able to see how much lower of that which is written in laudation this community is in the scale of social, of this age and the people who now moral, and intellectual excellence, live, we must have been sadly mis- than other communities. It is curious taken. We thought that such persons that we could not see the perfection as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the which is said to exist in so many other Prophets, and the Savior and his places of which we have considerable Apostles, were among the most truly knowledge. And stranger still, that enlightened of all those who ever the degradation, shame, prostitution, tabernacled on this earth; but it intemperance, and corruption existing seems we thought incorrectly! It was there, should not be what they seem, reserved for this age and generation but merely the outcroppings of a glori to alone enjoy the full blaze of light, ous system of perfection! How weakthe full glory of perfection!-except-minded the people here must be, when ing, of course, the "Mormons," who they cannot see that contention, deare sufficiently barbarian to entertain pravity, blasphemy, and their numerespect for those whose names we have rous kindred, are but the skin erupcited, and believe that the principles tions which mark the healthy state of which they taught, were and are the body social! How obtuse they 290 THE WORLD-ITS VIRTUE AND CONSISTENCY. must be to prefer peace, virtue, sobriety, and such like practices, taught by holy men in the "barbarous times" when Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and the Son of God himself trod the earth! We are accused of having a plurality of wives. We have, and we honor, love, and cherish them; but it is horrible in the eyes of this very pious(?) generation. They tell us it is adultery, a sin which, of course, they only know in name! We cannot see it so; do not know, in honorable plural marriage, where the adulteration commences; but this must be because we are slow of intellect. We are but simply honest, and mark our opinion of adultery by adjudging, with common voice, that the adulterer is worthy of death. But this the virtue(!) of the world shudders at. The shedding of blood is an awful thing, unless it should occur in a bar-room, or in a street brawl, or under the influence of liquid poison; then it is a "shooting scrape, or a stabbing scrape;" or unless it should occur on the battle field; and there it is glory,-the deed is sanctified by its magnitude! We are told that in advocating plural marriage, we defend the illicit communion of the sexes, "which every civilized nation repudiates and reprobates." Yes, they do repudiate and reprobate and practice it. This is where the beauty of consistency appears! This is where the world's sanctimoniousness shows its delicacy! With smooth phrase and honeyed tongue, it reproves the man who drags a daughter of Eve from virtue and innocence down to degradation, death, and destruction, but courts and pets him as the hero of a great and meritorious act, when the scoundrel should be whipped with scorpions to the hell to which he has won a title. "Every civilized nation" shakes its head with mournful motion at the increasing "social evil," laments the decadence of virtue, and cries out against the sin; while it sneaks into dens of infamy, and puts the light of heaven to blush with its abominable orgies and lascivious corruptions. Out upon the hypocritical cant that abuses Utah for her open, honorable advocacy and practice of a principle approved by Heaven, endorsed by the actions of the best men who ever lived on the earth, and commanded by Jehovah ; while those who employ such cant are spreading rottenness throughout the land, by daily and nightly polluting the fountains of life. They may reprobate prostitution and illicit intercourse, but while the warm breath of the words floats upon the air, the lips that uttered them are too often seeking the embraces of the wanton and unvirtuous. Gentlemen, who seem interested in the social affairs of Utah, we will make you an offer. Dry up the fountains of corruption at home; overcome the moral leprosy that clothes the face of the land in horrid ghastliness; stop unvirtuous conduct, and repudiate unvirtuous actions throughout your cities, towns, and villages, by precept and example; make adultery have an end, and adulterers cease their horrible crimes against God and nature; let every man keep to his own wife and to her alone, walking the earth a virtuous man, not a perjured wretch who before Heaven swore to keep himself for one, yet lives forsworn and ridicules the marriage vow. Do these, and we of Utah will own your greatness, your goodness, and your virtue,-your right to teach us and impose restrictions; and you will find an honest, truthful people here, who will keep their vows and will honor all that excel in virtue, goodness, and truth. But while you cry virtue, and practice corruption; while you preach peace, and permit contention and strife to enter even your sacred places, with the land full of hatred and fierce dissensions; while you proclaim that God lives, yet reject his interference, and will not recognise his right to rule; while your precepts point to heaven, and your practices to misery and death, we cannot own, we cannot see, your superior right to drag us again down to the social degradation from which we have escaped. Utah is unpopular; she is not fashionable; her people do not believe in theorizing on virtue and practicing vice. They seek to square their prac tice by their professions, and both by the revelations of Heaven. They do not believe in persecuting those who |