History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

SPECIMENS OF LITERATURE. 151
There is another individual of similar name, and
yet more similar character, James Arlington Ben-
filled with indignation, and my blood boils within me, when I contemplate
the vast injustice and cruelty which Missouri has meted out to the great
philanthropist and devout Christian, General Joseph Smith, and his honest
and faithful adherents. ' When, however, he affects patriotism and lofty devotion
to the welfare of his fellow-men, pretending to have joined the society
in order to frustrate ' a daring and colossal scheme of rebellion and usurpation
throughout the north-western states, . . .a despotic military and religious
empire, the head of which, as emperor and pope, was to be Joseph Smith,'
we know that the writer is well aware that it is all nonsense. Nor do we believe
that he was induced to print his book ' by a desire to expose the enormous
iniquities which have been perpetrated by one of the grossest and
most infamous impostors that ever appeared upon the face of the earth.'
We have heard and are still hearing so much of that kind of talk from some
of the worst men in the community that it is becoming somewhat stale, and
if the general really does not know better than this why he wrote his book,
perhaps he will excuse me for telling him that it was, first, for notoriety; second,
for money; and third, in order to make people think him a better and
greater man than he is. When a man's ambition is pitched so low, it is
a pity that he should not have the gratification of success. Bravely, then, the
general proceeded to offer himself on the altar of his country, 'to overthrow
the impostor and expose his iniquity ' by ' professing himself a convert to his
doctrines;' for 'the fruition of his hopeful project would, of course, have
been preceded by plunder, devastation, and bloodshed, and by all the countless
horrors which invariably accompany civil war.' We are still more impressed
when we read: 'I was quite aware of the danger I ran'—that of
being kicked out of some back door— 'but none of these things deterred me.'
Without wasting more time and space upon the man, we are well enough prepared
to place a proper estimate upon his statements, particularly when we
take into account that, in May of the very year in which his book was published,
he went before Alderman Wells and made affidavit that Joseph Smith
was an honest, virtuous, sincere, high-minded, and patriotic man. He says
himself that he solemnly swore to be true to the Mormons and not reveal
their secrets, and now in breaking that oath he has the audacity to ask us to
regard him as an honest and truthful man! In some measure, at least, the
statements of such men as this, taken up by the press and people, and reiterated
throughout the land, have given the latter-day saints a worse name
than they deserve. Some of his charges are too coarse and filthy for repetition.
I will cite a few specimens, however, to show how far mendacity is
sometimes carried in this direction.
Joseph Smith is a 'monster who is using the power he possesses to gratify
a brutal lust;' 'a Giovanni of some dozens of mistresses;' 'must be branded
as a consummate knave;' one 'of the mast heaven-daring liars the world ever
saw;' 'notoriously profane;' 'gets most gloriously drunk,' etc. In the most
vulgar and licentious language, he goes on to describe what he calls the ' Mormon
seraglio,' 'the female inquisition,' 'Joe's cloistered, chambered, and cyprian
maids.' He revels in all the wickedness of this kind during past ages
which he can make up, rolling it as a sweet morsel under his tongue, finally
affirming that ' the holy Joe outdoes them all !' He says that any woman belonging
to the society who lapses from virtue is condemned to a life of secret
prostitution, the most trustworthy members of the church having knowledge
of it; another class indulge in illicit intercourse by special permission of
the prophet; another class are the spiritual wives. All this is said, be it remembered,
within two or three months of the time he made oath that Smith
was one of the best and purest of men. Next comes an expose" of several secret
societies, the Danites, Destroying Angel, etc., and finally a list of murders
and robberies perpetrated in that section during a certain time, all of