On the 8th of the following November, Elder Woodruff gave in his journal some statements from President Young relative to the order of the Church and family government. "If Brothers Kimball and Wells wish to be united with me, they should go with me and follow me. It is not my place to follow them. So with the Twelve, they must follow the Presidency. The seventies and high priests must follow the Twelve and so on throughout the Church. If this is not done, there will be separation and confusion. The same principle should be observed by a man whose duty it is to stand at the head of his family. If the wife and children do not follow the husband and father, there will be an eternal separation. If the man follows his wife or children instead of leading them himself, there will be confusion and the family life will be destroyed. Men should not interfere with and undertake to direct their file leaders. I never found a word of fault with Joseph in my life."
Under date of December 3rd Elder Woodruff recorded the arrival of Governor Dawson, who succeeded Covernor Cumming in office. On the 8th of the month he made note of an accident which befell his son, David Patten Woodruff, who was kicked in the head by a mule, and carried into the house apparently dead. The child, however, was restored in a marvelous manner through the blessings of the Lord.
When the end of that year approached, Elder Woodruff made the following review: "It is past. It has borne to heaven a report of the deeds of all men. This year has brought to pass the fulfillment of many prophecies uttered in olden and in modern times. On January 1st of this year I declared, as a prophetic historian, that this would be the most distressing year the government had ever seen since it became an independent nation. Time has verified the statement. Eleven of the states have seceded. This has brought a terrible war upon the country, bringing as it does upon the battle field more than a million of men and a debt of five hundred million of dollars, and this is only the beginning of the trouble. The state of Missouri, from which the Saints were driven, and where the blood of many was shed, is now the great battle field of the West. In it there is pitted man against man, neighbor against neighbor. Those who brought trouble upon the Saints are themselves in distress. Jackson County is nearly destroyed. The President and Senate are sending rulers to Utah as governors and judges. Many of them are so corrupt that they are a hiss and a byword to all who know them."
John W. Dawson arrived early in December and delivered his message to the Legislature. He began a course of shameful debauchery. He insulted women until the widow of Thomas Williams drove him from her house with a fire shovel because of his vulgar abuse of her. On the last day of the year he left in the stage coach for the East, a known libertine and debauchee. "This is the kind of rulers the nation sent to rule the Latter-day Saints. The Lord has declared that the measure this nation metes out to others shall be measured unto it."
It was a year of deep anxiety, and the Saints felt the spirit of oppression which their political rulers manifested. Elder Woodruff exclaimed in a prayerful appeal: "Take away the sceptre, rule, and government from the wicked and give it into the hands of just and upright men, that they may rule in righteousness before Thee. Give Thy oppressed people, O Lord, the privilege of appointing their own governors, judges, and rulers, that the poor and oppressed may rejoice in the Holy One of Israel!" That prayer told the story of an oppression under which the Saints suffered.
CHAPTER 39.
THE YEARS 1862-63.
Killing of Thieves.—John Baptiste, the Grave Digger.—Value of a Daily Journal.—Erection of the Salt Lake Theatre.—State of Deseret.—Foundation Stones of Temple Raised.—Indian Troubles on Bear River.—Visit of the Moquitches to Salt Lake City.—Their Customs.—Attempt To Arrest President Young.—Settlement of Bear Lake Valley.—Mining.