In this article, while he dwells at some length on the sufferings of the Saints from the fury of the pitiless storm—the drifting snow, the pelting hail and the icy chills of storm and tempest, Elder Taylor does not forget to vindicate God whose part it was to stand very near to His people in such trying times. In continuing his remarks on the exposure of the Saints to cold and storm he says:
"We sustained no injury therefrom; our health and our lives were preserved—we outlived the trying scene—we felt contented and happy—the songs of Zion resounded from wagon to wagon—from tent to tent; the sound reverberated through the woods, and its echo was returned from the distant hills; peace, harmony, and contentment reigned in the habitations of the Saints."
So, too, in speaking of the privations of camp life: "It is true that in our sojourning we do not possess all the luxuries and delicacies of old established countries and cities, but we have an abundance of the staple commodities, such as flour, meal, beef, mutton, pork, milk, butter and in some instances cheese, sugar, coffee, tea, etc., etc. We feel contented and happy in the wilderness. The God of Israel is with us—union and peace prevail; and as we journey, as did Abraham of old, with our flocks and herds to a distant land, we feel that like him, we are doing the will of our Heavenly Father and relying upon His word and promises; and having His blessing, we feel that we are children of the same promise and hope, and that the great Jehovah is our God."
Such remarks as these lighten the rather sombre picture that is usually drawn by writers who relate the story of the evacuation of Nauvoo and the subsequent journey in the wilderness; and who in their anxiety to give a vivid picture of the sufferings of the Saints, forget to vindicate the goodness of God who was with His people in those trying times, and who, by opening the way before them to obtain food and lands to dwell upon, and giving them strength as their day, made their afflictions light as air. These things, Elder Taylor in his sketches does not fail to recognize.
At the time of Elder Taylor's visit, great distress existed among the laboring classes in England, and as the Saints were chiefly of that class, they suffered with the rest. The trouble arose very largely from over-population. This being the case, the queen was memorialized by the Saints to adopt a system of emigration to Oregon, a general name given to an immense but indefinite tract of country in the western part of the British possessions, Vancouver's Island forming part of it. To return the means that government was asked to expend in emigrating the people, it was proposed that in a tract of country divided into sections of six hundred and forty acres, and numbered, that each emigrant be entitled to settle on the sections bearing even numbers, and that government retain the odd sections. The presence of the settlers and their improvements on the even sections would give a value to the odd sections and bring them into market, and through the sale of these lands government would soon be repaid the sum expended for emigration.
In the interest of this scheme, Elder Taylor called upon, and obtained an interview with the Earl of Dartmouth, but the government refused to engage in the business.
Having accomplished the object of his mission to England, Elder Taylor's heart turned to his family in the wilderness. He left the port of Liverpool in the ship America, in company with Elder Pratt, and a few Saints—fourteen in all. No ship ever left that port with brighter prospects, but no sooner were they fairly out into the Irish Sea, than they met a heavy gale and for nine days were tempest-tossed and utterly unable to reach the broad Atlantic. At last they were compelled to return to Liver pool.
"I had strange presentiments," says Elder Taylor, "before we went on board, of danger or ship-wreck—the spirit did not manifest which; and I was glad when we safely returned to Liverpool."
A second start was made on the seventh of February, and after a pleasant voyage of thirty-six days, the vessel made the port of New Orleans. Here Elder Taylor wrote to the editor of the Star, his farewell address to the Saints, which virtually is a review of his brief mission among them. Following are extracts from it:
"As I had no time before I left England, I now wish to say a few words to the Saints. When I was there, in consequence of having so many places to visit, and to travel so extensively, my stay was necessarily short at the various branches; and it made it impossible for me to visit so many places, to form so extensive an acquaintance with the Saints as I should gladly have done had time permitted. If my stay had been longer, I should gladly have spent two, three, or six months more, in order to have visited all the branches and seen the Saints at their homes, for I love the people of God, and delight in the habitations of the righteous. There peace reigns—there reigns the spirit of God—and there is my home. And here I wish to say, that although very much pressed and hurried, I have seldom enjoyed myself better than I did on my late visit to the British churches. I saw an honesty and simplicity which I admired. The Saints seemed to vie with each other in many little acts of kindness and charity which were duly appreciated by me, and which I have taken pleasure in acknowledging. They were esteemed not so much on account of their intrinsic value as for the feelings of those who administered them.