f creation;
and it is well-known that to making converts of this class, have their
energies been more especially devoted.

It was this species of proselytising--alas! too often successful--that
more than aught else had roused the indignation of the backwoodsmen of
Missouri and Illinois, and caused the expulsion of the Saints from their
grand temple-city of Nauvoo. In the ranks of their assailants were many
outraged men--fathers who looked for a lost child--angry brothers,
seeking revenge for a sister lured from her home--lovers, who lamented a
sweetheart beguiled by that fatal faith--and no doubt the blood of the
pseudo-Saint's, there and then shed, was balm to many a chafed and
sorrowing spirit.

In the category of this uxorious infamy, no name was more distinguished
than that of him, on whose shoulders the mantle of the _prophet_ had
descended--the chief who now held ascendancy among these self-styled
saints; and who, with an iron hand, controlled the destinies of their
church. A man cunning and unscrupulous; a thorough plebeian in thought,
but possessed of a certain portentous polish, well suited to deceive the
stupid herd that follows him, and sufficient for the character he is
called upon to play; a debauchee boldly declared, and scarcely caring
for the hypocrisy of concealment; above all, an irresponsible despot,
whose will is law to all around him; and, when needing enforcement, can
at any hour pretend to the sanction of authority from heaven: such is
the head of the Mormon Church! With both the temporal and spiritual
power in his hands; legislative, executive, and judicial united--the
fiscal too, for the prophet is sole treasurer of the _tenths_--this
monster of imposition wields a power equalled only by the barbaric
chiefs of Africa, or the rajahs of Ind. It might truly be said, that
both the souls and bodies of his subjects are his, and not their own.
The former he can control, and shape to his designs at will. As for the
latter, though he may not take life openly, it is well-known that his
sacred edict issued to the "destroying angels," is equally efficacious
to kill. Woe betide the Latter-day Saint, who dares to dream of dissent
or apostasy! Woe to him who expresses disaffection, or even discontent!
Too surely may he dread a mysterious punishment--too certainly expect
the midnight visitation of the _Danites_!

Exercising such influence over Mormon men, it is almost superfluous to
add, that his cont