History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE SAINTS MUST GATHER TO ZION. 431
British nationality, and 35 per cent Swedish, Norwegian,
and Danish. 67
In the church records, the
total emigration from foreign countries, between 1840
and 1883, is stated at 78,219 souls, or an average
of nearly 2,000 a year, the proselytes taking passage
in companies of from 12 to 800 in 243 different ves-
sels, all of which reached their destination in safety. 63
Probably the main cause of the decrease in emigration
during later j^ears was the advance in the rate of fare,
which in 1878 was fixed at £14-14, a sum for which
passage could be secured to almost any portion of the
world.
Between 1850 and 1856 the movement appears to
have reached its culmination, proselytes being gathered
by the thousand to the promised land, and thousands
more preparing to follow. The elders were exhorted
to "thunder the word of the almighty to the saints
to arise and come to Zion." 69 The brethren were
commanded to shake from their feet the dust of Babylon
and hasten to the holy city. " Every saint who
does not come home," says the sixth general epistle of
the twelve, 70 "will be afflicted by the devil." "Every
particle of our means that we use in Babylon," remarks
Elder Erastus Snow, 71 "is a loss to ourselves;
and it is so much means expended upon Babylon that
shall perish." "O ye poor and oppressed saints!"
writes Elder Samuel Richards, "and ye rich ones too,
in these lands, do not your bosoms burn with the good
spirit of God, which fills his saints always with a desire
to congregate together, and become a holy and
67 Millennial Star, xli. 680; Deseret Neves, Nov. 19, 1879. There were also
90 Swiss, 34 Germans, and 8 of other nationalities.
68 Though some were driven back to port, and one was dismasted on the
voyage to New Orleans. Richards' Emigr. to Utah, MS., 1.
69 Millennial Star, xiv. 201.
"Published July 15, 1852, in Id., xiv. 20.
71 At a special council, held at 23 Ratcliffe Terrace, Islington, London, on
the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of April. An account of the proceedings will be
found in Id., xiv. 209-12, 225-8, 243-7. At the close of the conferences a
memorial was presented to Franklin D. Richards, who was then about to return
to Salt Lake City.