By Hubert Howe Bancroft NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES; five volumes. HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA; three volumes. HISTORY OF MEXICO; six volumes. HISTORY OF TEXAS AND THE NORTH MEXICAN STATES; two volumes. HISTORY OF ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO; one volume. HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA; seven volumes. HISTORY OF NEVADA, COLORADO AND WYOMING; one volume. HISTORY OF UTAH; one volume. HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST COAST; two volumes. HISTORY OF OREGON; two volumes. HISTORY OF WASHINGTON, IDAHO AND MONTANA; one volume. HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA; one volume. HISTORY OF ALASKA; one volume. CALIFORNIA PASTORAL; one volume. CALIFORNIA INTER-POCULA; one volume. POPULAR TRIBUNALS; two volumes. ESSAYS AND MISCELLANY; one volume. CHRONICLES OF THE KINGS; several volumes. HISTORY OF UTAH BY HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT 1540-1887 A. O. U. W. LIBRARY. MAR 30 1895 Portland, Oregon. SAN FRANCISCO THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1890 346 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1889, by HUBERT H. BANCROFT, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All Rights Reserved. PREFACE. In the history of Utah we come upon a new series of social phenomena, whose multiformity and unconventionality awaken the liveliest interest. We find ourselves at once outside the beaten track of conquest for gold and glory; of wholesale robberies and human slaughters for the love of Christ; of encomiendas, repartimientos, serfdoms, or other species of civilized imposition; of missionary invasion resulting in certain death to the aborigines, but in broad acres and well filled storehouses for the men of practical piety; of emigration for rich and cheap lands, or for colonization and empire alone; nor have we here a hurried scramble for wealth, or a corporation for the management of a game preserve. There is the charm of novelty about the present subject, if no other; for in our analyses of human progress we never tire of watching the behavior of various elements under various conditions. There is only one example in the annals of America of the organization of a commonwealth upon principles of pure theocracy. There is here one example only where the founding of a state grew out of the founding of a new religion. Other instances there have been of the occupation of wild tracts on this continent by people flying before persecution, or desirous of greater religious liberty; there were the quakers, the huguenots, and the pilgrim fathers, though their spiritual interests were so soon subordinated to political necessities; religion has often played a conspicuous part in the settlement of the New World, and there has at times been present in some degree the theocratic, if not indeed the hierarchal, idea; but it has been long since the world, the old continent or the new, has witnessed anything like a new religion successfully established and set in prosperous running order upon the fullest and combined principles of theocracy, hierarchy, and patriarchy. With this new series of phenomena, a new series of difficulties arises in attempting their elucidation: not alone the perplexities always attending unexplored fields, but formidable embarrassments which render the task at once delicate and dangerous. If the writer is fortunate enough to escape the many pitfalls of fallacy and illusion which beset his way; if he is wise and successful enough to find and follow the exact line of equity which should be drawn between the hotly contending factions; in a word, if he is honest and capable, and speaks honestly and openly in the treatment of such a subject, he is pretty sure to offend, and bring upon himself condemnation from all parties. But where there are palpable faults on both sides of a case, the judge who unites equity with due discrimination may be sure he is not in the main far from right if he succeeds in offending both sides. Therefore, amidst the multiformity of conflicting ideas and evidence, having abandoned all hope of satisfying others, I fall back upon the next most reasonable proposition left that of satisfying myself. |