SUPPLEMENT TO BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
On the 26th of October, 1872, my brother Lorenzo left home on a tour to Palestine. A short time previous to this, President Brigham Young suggested to his first counselor, President G. A. Smith, to select a company for that purpose, and to go to Jerusalem; the object of which the following epistle briefly explains:
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory,
15th October, 1872.
President George A. Smith:
Dear Sir.—As you are about to start on an extensive tour through Europe and Asia Minor, where you will doubtless be brought in contact with men of position and influence in society, we desire that you observe closely what openings now exist, or where they may be effected, for the introduction of the Gospel into the various countries you shall visit.
When you get to the land of Palestine, we wish you to dedicate and consecrate that land to the Lord, that it may be blessed with fruitfulness, preparatory to the return of the Jews, in fulfilment of prophecy and the accomplishment of the purposes of our heavenly Father.
We pray that you may be preserved to travel in peace and safety, that you may be abundantly blessed with words of wisdom and free utterance in all your conversations pertaining to the holy Gospel, dispelling prejudice and sowing seeds of righteousness among the people.
(Signed) Brigham Young,
Daniel H. Wells.
When on this interesting tour Lorenzo wrote a series of descriptive letters which were forwarded from time to time and published in the Deseret News, in Salt Lake City. After our return, we compiled his letters, with those of other members of the party, and had them published in a neat volume of nearly four hundred pages, entitled "Correspondence Of Palestine Tourists."
We think his biography and autobiography would be incomplete were this mission of my brother entirely ignored; but to avoid breaking the thread of our preceding narrative by inserting this correspondence in chronological order, we have decided on the alternative of a supplement; and, having already enlarged this volume beyond our original design, we shall omit a portion of his communications.
When on our return from Palestine we reached Vienna in time to witness the grand opening of the "world's fair" of 1873. Before leaving that city, my brother was informed, through the press, of his appointment at the general conference as one of seven counselors to President Brigham Young, which position he held until the death of the President.