Dear President Richards:
After a very boisterous and stormy passage over the Channel, with its usual unpleasant accompaniments, I am quietly and agreeably cloistered with Elder Bolton, together with a number of interesting and intelligent Saints, and begin to think that my homeward journey of some twenty-five or thirty thousand miles is now commenced.
Before leaving London, I had completed the translation of the Book of Mormon, and got the printing forward to the last hundred pages. Elder Joseph Richards, whom I appointed to a mission to Calcutta, to assist Elder Willis, left London a few days before my departure. I repose much confidence in this brother, as one who will magnify his calling and do much towards establishing the Gospel in that country.
I find it much more pleasant now coming to Paris than formerly. When passing through a year and a half since, here were no Saints to bid me welcome; on arriving the other day, I found many, a circumstance you can well imagine causing no small degree of rejoicing. I found Brother Bolton quite an invalid; he is now much better. When the interests of his mission will admit of a short absence, I dare say that a visit to the cheerful, warm-hearted Saints of Old England would replenish his spirits, and not be in any way a disadvantage. The Church here does not boast of a multitude of subjects, but it may truthfully be said to embrace the good, the virtuous and intelligent.
Elder Taylor may comfort his heart with the assurance of having laid a lasting foundation for the spread of the Gospel in the French dominions, though no sea room is left at present; in fact, I know of no place the Gospel has been carried, where the difficulties are more perplexing and discouraging. However, the time will come when the Gospel will take permanent effect in France.
I am much pleased with the acquaintance I have formed with the Saints here; I feel that they will accomplish great good. I think Elder Bolton intends making another application to the Government for the privilege of preaching the Gospel with equal liberty with other denominations—a course which I much approve.
I need not speak of the political condition of the country, it is well known to all who read the English papers. In passing over the country, and searching the mind of the Spirit in reference to its inhabitants, my heart is pained in contemplating the dark, dreary and bloody fate and scourge that await this nation. The life's blood of many people is scarcely wiped from the streets, the groans of the dying hardly ceased, the flowing tears of the widow and orphans are still seen. As you look around and view the troubled mien—the dark and stormy brows of thousands—behold the significant signs, notice the low whispering and stealthy conversations, and hear of the sudden and mysterious changes that are constantly taking place through the various channels of political power, you are forced to feel that again must be renewed scenes of alarm, of sorrow, of grief and of blood! Would "the powers that be" but permit the message of life to go forth freely among the inhabitants, there would be hope that the cup of bitterness might, for a season, be turned away.
I now have my passport "vise," and have just secured my place in the diligence for Switzerland. Good bye; you shall hear from me again as I get a little further advanced in the path of my orbit. May the Lord bless you with all that is good to fill your heart with rejoicing, and may the same blessing descend upon all the faithful Saints.
Geneva, February 7. Bidding adieu to the brethren in Paris, on the morning of the 27th of January, I stepped into a diligence, and was soon on my way to Switzerland. The country over which I passed the first two hundred miles seemed, though in the midst of winter, to wear the appearance of an American spring. France is un beau pays; one could scarcely wish to live in a more delightful climate, or a more beautiful and charming country. Everywhere people were seen in pasture and ploughed fields, meadows and vineyards, busily occupied preparing for approaching spring. What appeared a dark spot in this otherwise beautiful scenery, was the number of poor women slavishly engaged in manual labor, and exposed to all the hardships of out-door occupations.
Small towns and villages dotted the face of the country, the foundations of which appeared in almost every instance to be that of some religious Catholic edifice. It would seem that in building these towns the churches were first erected, then private dwellings piled around, one after another, as the inhabitants arrived. As we approached Switzerland, the country was more and more broken, till we began to wind up and descend down the rugged, snow-covered steeps of the Jura.