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Show INTRODUCTION. 6 rights, by the spiritual leaders. Nothing can be further from the real state of the case. The tie that binds a Mormon to his second, third, or fourth wife, is just as strong, sacred, and indissoluble, as that which unites him to his first. Although this assumption of new marriage bonds be called " Sealing? it is contracted, not secretly, but under the solemn sanctions of a religious ceremony, in the presence, and with the approbation and consent of relatives and friends. Whatever may be thought of the morality of this practice, none can fail to perceive that it exhibits a state of things entirely different from the gross licentiousness which is generally thought to prevail in this community, and which, were it the case, would justly commend itself to the unmingled abhorrence of the whole civilized world. The recent acquittal of a Mormon Elder for shooting the seducer of one of his wives, on the ground that the act was one of justifiable homicide, fully corroborates the truth of this remark, and shows in how strong a light the sacredness and exclusive character of such relations are viewed by the Mormons themselves. The route pursued by the expedition on its return, through a pass in the mountains hitherto unknown, will, perhaps, lead to further investigation of that remarkable depression lying between the Park Mountains and the South Pass. That a feasible route may be traced through this depression has been satisfactorily demonstrated; and the saving in distance cannot but prove an object of importance, either in the establishment of a post route, or in the construction of a railway communication across the continent. The development of the inexhaustible mineral resources of the coal basin of the Green River valley, may be found, and at no very distant period, to go far toward lessening the obstacles which at present exist in the settlement of a country so destitute of other fuel. It is to be hoped that the government will not discontinue the further examination of these most interesting regions. From the heads of the Arkansas to the northern boundary |