The treaty which closed the war with Mexico had resulted in the United States obtaining an immense area of country, out of which new states and territories would be carved; and of course there was in prospect a terrible struggle between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties, the former seeking to establish slavery in, and the latter to exclude it from the states and territories to be made out of this new accession of country. It was thought by the administration, that if a large state extending from the Pacific ocean eastward to Salt Lake, with slavery prohibited by its constitution, was admitted into the Union, it would offset the then late accession of Texas, and calm the rising storm over that question.
General Wilson stated, that so eager was the President of the United States in regard to the subject, that if he [Wilson] found any difficulty in the way, his instructions were to appeal to the patriotism of the Mormon people.
Elder Taylor, Charles C. Rich and Daniel Spencer were appointed to confer with General Wilson upon the subject of his mission. The result of those deliberations was a proposal by the people of Salt Lake Valley, California agreeing therewith, to form a state unitedly, and continue in that condition two years; after which the eastern part of the state was to be formed into a state by itself.
With this as a basic proposition, General Wilson started for California, to confer with another gentleman who had been sent out on a like mission to that place; but he encountered very severe weather in the mountains, by which he was delayed. After many severe hardships he reached the coast, only to find that his coadjutor had become tired of waiting and had sailed for the East, so that they did not meet to confer upon the matter proposed to the Saints.
Senator Truman Smith, of Connecticut, in a speech he delivered in the United States Senate, July 8th, 1850, after having read some statements furnished him by Dr. John M. Bernhisel, thus alludes to the presence of General Wilson in Salt Lake Valley:
"The statement of Dr. Bernhisel touching the wonderful progress made by the people of Deseret within a space of time incredibly brief, is abundantly confirmed by a letter which I received from General John Wilson, dated at Salt Lake City, September 6th, 1849, from which I submit the following extract:
"A more orderly, earnest, industrious and civil people, I have never been among than these, and it is incredible how much they have done here in the wilderness in so short a time. In this city which contains about from four to five thousand inhabitants, I have not met in a citizen a single idler, or any person who looks like a loafer. Their prospects for crops are fair, and there is a spirit and energy in all that you see that cannot be equaled in any city of any size that I have ever been in, and I will add, not even in old Connecticut."
Elder Taylor having labored for two years in laying the foundation of a future great commonwealth, was then called upon to leave that kind of labor and introduce the gospel into France.
What a change is here! from the desert wilds of the Rocky Mountains, in the interior of America, to France—to proud, beautiful France, first in all that pertains to modern civilization! From a city of adobe huts, log cabins and board shanties, to the glittering splendors and sumptuous palaces of splendid Paris! From the saw-pit to the pulpit, and lecture-platform—such is the life of an apostle!
