Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk or milky way.
--_Pope_.

When Mormonism was no longer compelled to maintain the defensive it
quickly assumed the offensive. This was apparently deemed necessary
for the existence of the system. Two kinds of preaching were indulged
in by the elders on their missions, home and foreign. At home they
declared the beauty of the Smithian gospel, including the doctrine of
polygamy, a sweet morsel for the blood-thirsty Utes. They were trying
by every means, Machiavellian or otherwise, to gain the Lamanites, as
Indians were called by the Mormons, at least to an extent which would
allow them to remain undisturbed throughout the territory of Utah. Old
Kanosh and other leaders were immersed for the remission of their
sins, but they were permitted to multiply unto themselves as many
squaws as they cared for. It would take water stronger than the common
alkaline pools contained to reach the morals of a heathen Ute.

Very many of the Indians thus were made Mormons and white men were
appointed as their bishops. Brigham Young used to make visits to them
to try to instruct them in various things. For a considerable period
he was the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory. He was
such official at the time of the lamentable Mountain Meadow Massacre,
in 1857, and for which crime Bishop John D. Lee suffered death.

Possibly it was the influence of Mr. Young that kept the most of the
red men from the warpath and thus saved the scattered settlers in the
earlier days when there were so few to guard the isolated homes in the
far-away nooks and canyons of the mountains.

The other sort of preaching in which the elders indulged was that of
an absolute and unqualified denial of polygamy in Utah. Such was the
plan of the elders who went to Europe. The public denial of John
Taylor, later president of the church, is abundant evidence. When they
deny polygamy now they have the consistency of definition to back
them; to their manner of explaining, polygamy is the act of taking new
wives; to the non-Mormon, polygamy is the possessing of more than one
wife. For this reason we are very bold in saying that polygamy is
publicly practiced in Utah--witness Joseph F. Smith as chief example.

Although we