For a time the plea was put forth by their persecutors that plurality of wives was the only cause of the enmity against the Latter-day Saints. Now that plea is being withdrawn, and it is shamelessly declared that nothing short of the destruction of the church and the abandonment of their religion by the persecuted, will satisfy the ungodly and tyrannical demands of their oppressors.
It is shocking to have such a tale to tell in this everywhere and all the time boasted land of liberty, in this last quarter and almost last decade of the nineteenth century. But the worst thing is yet to be said, and that is, that the tale is true, every word of it. It is a sad, a discouraging commentary on the much be-lauded civilization of this latest age, which has been the hope, but which promises to be the disappointment, of all the ages. When justice fails, and fails so grievously, the heavens mourn. For all this has not been happening in Dahomey, or Timbuctoo, or Persia, or Turkey, or Russia, or in any country in the old and effete eastern hemisphere, but, let it be reiterated, in these United States of America, in this new and progressive world, in this free and happy land, at this late date in the world's history. Sackcloth and ashes ought to be in brisk demand, for a long time to come, in this highly favored nation. That is the fitting garb, and should be the only wear, in memory of strangled Liberty.
During the last twenty-eight years, about four thousand missionaries, and previously, since the organization of the church, probably about one thousand five hundred more, have been sent to the various nations to preach the Gospel, besides hundreds of native Elders, traveling and preaching more locally in the several missions thus established. Missionary Elders went to Canada as early as 1833; England in 1837; Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man, Ireland, Australia and East Indies in 1840; Palestine in 184l, Elder Orson Hyde passing through the Netherlands, Bavaria, Austria, Turkey and Egypt, on his way; Society Islands in 1844; the Channel Islands and France in 1849; Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and the Sandwich Islands in 1850; Norway, Iceland, Germany and Chili in 1851; Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, Burmah and the Crimea in 1852; Gibraltar, Prussia, China, Ceylon and the West Indies in 1853; Siam and Turkey in 1854; Brazil in 1855; the Netherlands in 1861; Austria in 1864; Mexico in 1877; the Samoan Islands in 1888.
Previous to the settling of the Church in Salt Lake Valley, about five thousand Latter-day Saints had emigrated from Europe to America, mostly to Nauvoo. Since that time the emigration of Latter-day Saints from Europe has amounted to nearly eighty thousand souls, making an average of nearly two thousand annually, most of them coming to Utah.
The Book of Mormon was published in England in 1841; in Danish in 1851; in Welsh, French, German and Italian in 1852; in Hawaiian in 1855; in Swedish in 1878. Several years ago it was translated into Hindostanee and into Dutch. In 1875 portions of it were published in Spanish, and the whole of it in 1886. Last year it was published in the Maori language.
The Book of Doctrine and Covenants of the Church, in addition to numerous editions in English, in America and England, was published in Welsh in 1851, Danish in 1852, German in 1876 and Swedish in 1888. Many regular periodicals, advocating the doctrines of the Church, have been published in America, England, Wales, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and India. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of other books and tracts have been published by the Elders in various languages in the different quarters of the globe.
The following temples to the Lord have been built by the Latter-day Saints:
Kirtland, Ohio, 80 by 60 feet; corner stones laid July 23, 1833; dedicated March 27, 1836.
Nauvoo, Illinois, 128 by 88 feet; corner stones laid April 6, 1841; dedicated October 5 and November 30, 1845, and February 8 and April 30 and May 1, 1846; burned by an incendiary November 19, 1848.
St. George, Washington County, Utah, 142 by 96 feet; corner stones laid March 10, 1873; dedicated January 1, 1877.