History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

PREFACE. vii
In regard to the quality of evidence I here encoun-
ter, I will say that never before has it been rny lot to
meet with such a mass of mendacity. The attempts
of almost all who have written upon the subject seem
to have been to make out a case rather than to state
the facts. Of course, by any religious sect dealing
largely in the supernatural, fancying itself under the
direct guidance of God, its daily doings a standing
miracle, commingling in all the ordinary affairs of life
prophecies, special interpositions, and revelations with
agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, we must ex-
pect to find much written which none but that sect
can accept as true.
And in relation to opposing evidence, almost every
book that has been put forth respecting the people
of Utah by one not a Mormon is full of calumny,
each author apparently endeavoring to surpass his
predecessor in the libertinism of abuse. Most of
these are written in a sensational style, and for the
purpose of deriving profit by pandering to a vitiated
public taste, and are wholly unreliable as to facts.
Some few, more especially among those first appear-
ing, whose data were gathered by men upon the
spot, and for the purpose of destroying what they
regarded as a sacrilegious and pernicious fanaticism,
though as vehement in their opposition as any, make
some pretensions to honesty and sincerity, and are
more worthy of credit. There is much in government
reports, and in the writings of the later resi-
dents in Utah, dictated by honest patriotism, and to
which the historian should give careful attention.
In using my authorities, I distinguish between these
classes, as it is not profitable either to pass by any-
thing illustrating principles or affecting progress, or