| OCR Text |
Show PROSPECTIVE STATE OF DESERET. 189 man can well doubt, who has witnessed the indomitable energy, the unity and concentration of action, together with the enthusiastic spirit of proselytism which seems to possess the entire Mormon community. Their zeal for increasing their sect has already filled the world with their missionaries; and has, within the space of four years, and in defiance of obstacles that would have appalled most ordinary adventurers, collected a population of some twenty thousand souls, all breathing the same spirit, animated by the same hope, bound by the same views, and unitedly engaged, heart and hand, in providing means by which converts to the faith may be transported from all parts of the world to this great head- quarters of the church, " the fountain where truth flows from the lips of the prophet of God, and where true liberty can only be enjoyed by the saints." A large and constantly increasing fund has been created among them, called " The Perpetual Emigration Fund," which is devoted exclusively to this object, and receives liberal contributions from the " saints," both in this country and in Europe; it being the authorized teaching, all over the world, that it is as much a duty binding on every " saint" " to build up the valleys of the mountains," by assisting forward those brethren who are too poor to provide an outfit for themselves, as it is to be baptized for the remission of sins. The effects of this widely diffused spirit of propagandised are already seen in the number of converts that have been made in most of the countries of Europe, as well as in the Sandwich Islands, and even here in our own country, with all of whom it is made a cardinal point to " gather to the mountains." Measures are being taken to open a southern route, by which the converts coming from abroad may cross the Isthmus of Panama, and, landing at San Diego, may thence reach the land of promise by a comparatively short and easy transit, without being subjected to the hazard of a sickly voyage up the Mississippi, or to the tedious and expensive journey across the plains. In the mean while, preparations are industriously making in the valley for the reception and immediate accommodation of the coming tide, by the building of houses, sowing large quantities of grain, the erection of mills, the establishment of manufactures, the importation of labour- saving machinery, and the establishment upon a solid basis of the means of education. The manifest object of these harmoniously concerted movements is to concentrate, as speedily as practicable, in " the valley of the mountains," a number sufficiently |
