ay to assemble themselves
together there, and occupy the land which was once held by the members
of the true church.

The states of Missouri and Illinois, and the territory of Iowa, are the
regions to which the prophet has hitherto chiefly directed his schemes
of aggrandizement, and which are to form the nucleus of the Mormon
empire. The remaining states are to be _licked up_ like salt, and fall
before the sweeping falchion of glorious prophetic dominion, like the
defenceless lamb before the mighty king of the forest.

I have given the results of my notes taken relative to the Mormons, not,
perhaps, in very chronological order, but as I gathered them from time
to time. The reader will agree with me, that the subject is well worth
attention. Absurd and ridiculous as the creed may be, no creed ever, in
so short a period, obtained so many or such devoted proselytes. From
information I have since received, they may now amount to three hundred
thousand; and they have wealth, energy, and unity--they have
everything--in their favour; and the federal government has been so
long passive, that I doubt if it has the power to disperse them. Indeed,
to obtain their political support, they have received so many
advantages, and, I may say, such assistance, that they are now so
strong, that any attempt to wrest from them the privileges which have
been conceded would be the signal for a general rising.

They have fortified Nauvoo; they can turn out a disciplined force as
large as the States are likely to oppose to them, and, if successful,
can always expect the co-operation of seventy thousand Indians, or, if
defeated, a retreat among them, which will enable them to coalesce for a
more fortunate opportunity of action. Neither do I imagine that the loss
of their leader, Joe Smith, would now much affect their strength; there
are plenty to replace him, equally capable, not perhaps to have formed
the confederacy, religious and political, which he has done, but to
uphold it, now that it is so strong. The United States appear to me to
be just now in a most peculiar state of progression, and very soon the
eyes of the whole world will be directed towards them and the result of
their institutions. A change is about to take place; what that change
will be, it is difficult to say; but a few years will decide
the question.

CHAPTER XLIV.

Having now related the principal events which I witnessed, or in which I
was an actor, both in Ca