great multitude of strangers, and by their settling down in the country and mixing with the Mormons, it was presumed that the question of polygamy would be quietly disposed of by the force of Christian example and the election ballot box. Since the opening of the railroad there has been a large influx of visitors to the city; but we have not heard of a single Gentile family that has come to reside among us, and, from the general current of information that reaches us, we think the opposite is the disposition. Some who have resided here have left the Territory, and more are preparing to leave as early as they can dispose of their business and property.' The writer of the foregoing lines is quite correct in saying that there is no probability of Gentiles occupying the Mormon Territory to the exclusion of the Saints. The arrangements for rendering this impossible are too complete to be upset by the railway or any similar agency. That a sudden change will follow the decease of Brigham Young is doubtful. When Cromwell died, the immediate dissolution of the Commonwealth which had been expected as a thing of course was delayed for some months. The chances are in favour of the place of President Young being occupied by a successor quite as skilful, unscrupulous, and powerful as himself. He is the leading spirit of to-day, but his

counsellors are men not inferior to him in boldness and executive ability. More than one of them could at any moment step forward and fill the post he might vacate. The hold which these men have over their followers is the true source of their supremacy. The ignorance of these followers cannot be paralleled save in the cases of the French peasantry. Their fanaticism is proportioned to their ignorance. To wait till they are neither ignorant nor fanatic is as foolish as was the conduct of the Roman rustic who waited for the stream to exhaust itself by running.

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XI.

BICKERINGS AMONG THE SAINTS.

DURING my visit to Salt Lake City the Saints were thrown into consternation by the announcement in the Tabernacle that some of the most notable among their number had been suspended from the enjoyment of Church privileges. This is the preliminary to excommunication. One of these erring brethren was Mr. Stenhouse, the editor of the Salt Lake Daily Telegraph. Born at Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, and a convert from Presbyterianism to Mormonism, he had given strong proofs of his devotion to the religion propounded by Joseph Smith. He was one of the enthusiasts who, on foot, had made the terrible journey across the plains from the Missouri to Salt Lake, drawing a handcart containing all his worldly possessions. He had gone as a missionary to Switzerland and to England, and gained many proselytes. As the husband of three wives, he had committed himself to the version of Mormonism promulgated and upheld by Brigham Young. He is supposed to have offended

by not being as ardent a supporter of the President's temporal power as of his spiritual pretensions. Another of the suspended brethren was Mr. Godbe, a Londoner by birth, the proprietor of a large store' in Salt Lake City, and a man of re puted wealth. He had devoted a considerable portion of his substance to founding the Utah Magazine. In this publication the infallibility of the President has more than once been disputed by implication, and its conductors have even had the temerity to call in question the wisdom of his policy. Mr. Harrison, one of the editors of the magazine, was included among the number of the censured. Mr. Stenhouse submitted to the rebuke, and has made his peace with the Church. This can be done by making an unqualified admission of error, recanting the condemned doctrines, and preferring a humble request for pardon. The Mormons have borrowed some formulas from a Church more ancient than their own, and, like it, advancing claims to collective infallibility. Mr. Godbe and Mr. Harrison, remaining stubborn, have been formally excommunicated. As the Bull of Excommunication is not a lengthy document, and as it is certainly a curious one, I shall quote it entire :

:

To whom it may concern.- This certifies that William S. Godbe, E. L. T. Harrison, and Eli B.

Kelsey were cut off from the Church of Latter Day Saints on Monday, the 25th day of October, 1869, for harbouring and spreading the spirit of apostacy.-William Dunford, Clerk of Council.'

The following official explanation and warning was issued contemporaneously with the decree of excommunication:-To the Latter Day Saints : Our attention has been called of late to several articles which have appeared in the Utah Magazine, a weekly periodical published in this city. An examination of them has convinced us that they are erroneous, opposed to the spirit of the Gospel, and calculated to do injury. According to the practice in the Church, teachers were sent to labour with the editor and publisher, to point out to them the evil results that would follow a persistence in the course they were pursuing. This did not have the desired effect, and they have since been tried before the High Council, and after a thorough and patient investigation of the case, it was found that they had imbibed the spirit of apostacy to that degree that they could not any longer be fellowshipped, and they were cut off from the Church.

The Utah Magazine is a periodical that, in its spirit and teachings, is directly opposed to the Work of God. Instead of building up Zion and