Victor R. Claveau, MJ
Brigham Young (1801 – 1877)
Brigham Young is a man of medium height, compact frame, with a manner deliberate and impressive. There is less of ostentation, however, in his bearing toward strangers than might be expected in a religious pretender. His hair is sandy, and inclined to curl; features regular, and expressive of great determination.
In conversation he is pleasant and affable, but is restive under the slightest contradiction or opposition. Strangers are favorably impressed with the first visit to his office. They go to see and hear, and Brigham looks well and is a good talker. He has talent, and is not destitute of genius; when, therefore, he is master of the field, and has the choice of topics, he never fails to make himself interesting, if so disposed. Indeed, is it not in itself interesting to see and hear the Mohammed of America?
His early education was very limited, and his sermons are illiterate. But in that most important of all fields of education, a knowledge of mankind and of human nature, he is proficient. It is true, that even here he sometimes grossly errs in his estimate of men. This is because his experience is mostly confined to certain phases of human nature. In those phases he is an adept. Outside of them, he brings to bear a strong judgment, upon a limited range of facts, and if he misses the conclusion, he has the tact to retrieve his error as speedily as possible. He has no pride of consistency, which conflicts in the slightest degree with the accomplishment of his purposes. If necessary to attain his ends, he is one thing to-day, and another to-morrow, and all in the name of the Lord!
Much has been said as to his sincerity in his religious professions and belief. In his younger days he may have been sincere; doubtless was. The character of his religion, and the degree of his sincerity, at the present time, may be inferred from the following incident.
A physician at Salt Lake was urged by Brigham to join the church. He had lived in the city several years, and was doing a good business, and it was pressed upon him as a reciprocal duty. The Doctor, like too many of his profession, was tainted with infidelity. “I wouldn’t mind joining your church,” said he, “but I don’t believe in your religion. In fact,” he added, with emphasis, “I don’t believe in any religion.” “Oh,” replied Brigham, “that don’t make any difference. Come and be baptized, and it will all be right!”
The Doctor was baptized, and became a good enough Mormon. He received as his reward, from the hand of Brigham, a beautiful young lady as a “second wife.”
Young’s talent is all of a practical character,—his shrewdness is ever ready to extricate him from any difficulty or emergency. As a financial and political leader, he is far superior to Joseph Smith. As a religious leader, he is much his inferior. Smith was brave; Young is cowardly. Smith was enthusiastic and impetuous, while Young is cool and calculating.
Brigham is a good speaker. Oratory, however, he uses as a means to accomplish certain ends; and he seldom, even when most excited, says anything that has not its object. His manner in the pulpit is impressive and authoritative; and he sometimes rises to a high degree of eloquence. His illustrations are apt, his sentences frequently pungent and sarcastic.
He is lamentably deficient in moral sense. No falsehood staggers him; no blasphemy shocks him. Why, then, should he hesitate at the perpetration of any crime which will conduce to the accomplishment of his life-purpose. Even the traveler Burton, his admirer and panegyrist, thus frankly expresses his doubts as to this phase of his character: “I cannot pronounce about his scrupulousness; all the world over, the sincerest religious belief, and the practice of devotion, are sometimes compatible not only with the most disorderly life, but with the most terrible crimes; for mankind mostly believes that ‘Il est avec le ceil des accomodements‘ [It is with heaven accommodations]. He has been called hypocrite, swindler, forger, murderer. No one looks it less.” This is, perhaps, true; but therein lies his hypocrisy.…Everything must yield and become subservient to the purposes of his unholy ambition. Principles, conscience, the moral sense, Christianity, the divine brotherhood of man, human liberty and republican institutions, the sacred associations of the home-fireside and of the family altar, all the thrilling sentiment and ennobling effect of love, the purity and fidelity of the marriage relation, all the rights of property and life, all the relations of man to God, — yea, God himself, with all the machinery of Heaven and the spiritual world, including angels, spirits, and demons, — are brought under contribution to this one man, and made to revolve about him, — a confused constellation of chaotic elements from the mental and moral world. Neither social nor political restraint does he recognize. Setting himself above all law, human and divine, he becomes a law to himself and his deluded followers.
Death of Brigham Young
“On the 29th day of August, 1877, the telegraph brought the brief announcement of the death of Brigham Young.…This event was not entirely unexpected, as the infirmities of age and the effects of licentious living had been making serious inroads upon his vigorous constitution during the past few years.
“As there is nothing to admire in the character of this gross, selfish, lustful man, except his superior natural abilities and unyielding determination, it is difficult to collect sufficient
material for an extended biography, for he had no loving friends to gather up the little incidents of his life and place them on record for the use of future historians. He ruled his people as a tyrant, not as a friend, and the title of the ‘Old Boss’ by which he was familiarly known among the Mormons, indicates the estimation in which he was held by his own people.”[i]
When Joseph Smith was killed on June 27, 1844, “The twelve apostles were scattered far and wide, and Brigham Young was in Boston. Nauvoo was threatened by the Gentiles. Troops were in arms, and rumors of coming trouble flew thick and fast. Sidney Rigdon, who was the legal successor of Joseph Smith, assumed the mantle of the Prophet and began to peddle dispensations, confer endowments, and dictate in every way to the saints. It was the rule of a weak man, and was destined to be short lived. Suddenly Brigham Young appeared, and Rigdon’s power crumbled into dust. He denounced Rigdon as a fraud and a hypocrite; declared that his revelations were from the devil; and finally hurled upon him anathema after anathema. The result was an election that wiped out and made Brigham Young the Mormon ruler. Those who voted against him, the new Prophet cursed and cut off, and by a well devised system of rewards and punishments he soon inspired love in the hearts of his friends and adherents and fear in the hearts of his enemies.
“Brigham began his administration with a reign of terror. If any person, whether Saint or Gentile, became obnoxious to him, a word or a sign to the Danites or his secret police was sufficient to seal the fate of the unfortunate offender, who would either be waylaid and murdered or enticed to some lonely place and there executed. If the offending person happened to be so prominent that his death or disappearance would cause inquiry and investigation, he would receive warning from Brigham’s agent that it was no longer healthy for him to remain in that locality, and the warning was sure to be heeded and acted upon, for the power of the new Prophet was soon understood and dreaded by all.
“By this system of murdering and banishing his enemies Brigham soon had his authority firmly established, and his leading men were bound to him forever by the common fear of the penalties of the law if they should be detected or any of their number turned traitor. The Prophet felt so secure in their confidence that one day in counsel he openly dared them to betray him, plainly intimating that they were all in the same category and if he fell they must fall with him.”[ii]
In a letter written to the New York Tribune, previously noted, William Smith stated:
“I have good reason for believing that my brother Samuel H. Smith, died of poison at Nauvoo, administered by order of Brigham Young and Willard Richards, only a few weeks subsequent to the unlawful murder of my other brothers, Joseph and Hiram Smith, while incarcerated in Carthage jail. Several other persons who were presumed to stand between Brigham Young and the accomplishment of his ambitions and wicked designs mysteriously disappeared from Nauvoo about the same time, and have never since been heard from.
[i] Ibid., p. 397.
[ii] Ibid., pp. 404-405.