All free white male residents of the state over the age of twenty-one were allowed a vote at the first election, and all between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except those exempt by the laws of the United States and of the state of Deseret, were to be armed, equipped, and trained as a state militia, embodied a few weeks later in the Nauvoo legion, which was now reorganized and divided into two cohorts, each cohort containing four regiments, each regiment two battalions, and each battalion five companies, Daniel H. Wells being major-general, and Jedediah M. Grant and Horace S. Eldredge brigadier-generals. On the 12th of March a general election was held at the bowery in Salt Lake city, this being the first occasion on which the saints had met for such a purpose. For the successful ticket six hundred and twenty-four votes were polled, Brigham Young being chosen governor, Willard Richards secretary, Horace S. Eldredge marshal, Daniel H. Wells attorney-general, Albert Carrington assessor and collector, Newell K. Whitney treasurer, and Joseph L. Heywood supervisor of roads. As no session of the assembly had yet been held, the judiciary was also elected by the people, Heber C. Kimball being chosen chief justice, and John Taylor and Newell K. Whitney associate judges. The general assembly was first convened on the 2d of July, and on the 3d, Willard Snow, being appointed speaker of the house of representatives, administered the oath of affirmation to the executive officials. Thus did the brethren establish in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, the state of Deseret. It was certainly a novel and somewhat bold experiment on the part of the saints, mustering then little more than one-sixth of the number required for admission as a state, thus to constitute themselves a sovereign and independent people, with a vast extent of territory, and calmly await the action of congress in the matter. It will be remembered that they themselves had lent their aid, in howsoever slight degree, in wresting a portion of this territory from Mexico, and they did not claim more than they believed they could in time subdue and occupy. Already they felt assured that proselytes would gather by myriads under the banner of the prophet. Nor was their assurance unfounded: for not less than fifteen thousand arrived in the valley before the close of 1852, and were content to remain there, believing that they had found better prospects than were to be had even in the gold fields of California, which lay but a few weeks' journey beyond. The Mormons did not, however, hope to remain an independent republic, nor did they probably wish to do so. Well they knew that the tide of westward-bound emigration, soon to be increased by the establishing of a stage line and possibly by the building of a railroad, which, as we shall see later, was already projected, would sorely disturb the peace of their mountain home unless their claims were recognized by the United States. On the 30th of April a memorial had already been signed by more than two thousand persons, asking for a "territorial government of the most liberal construction authorized by our excellent federal Constitution, with the least possible delay." On the 5th of July Almon W. Babbitt was elected delegate to congress in a joint session of the senate and representatives, and on the 6th a memorial was adopted by the representatives, in which the senate concurred three days later, asking for admission as a state. The latter memorial is a somewhat remarkable document, and serves to show the slight esteem in which the Mormons held the legislature of the United States, and the unbounded confidence which they placed in themselves. Congress is reminded that it has failed to provide a civil government for any portion of the territory ceded by the republic of Mexico; that the revolver and bowie-knife have so far been the law of the land; and that since the gold discovery many thousands have emigrated to California, all well supplied with the implements and munitions of war. Fears are expressed that, through the failure to provide civil jurisdiction, political aspirants may subject the government to great loss of blood and treasure in extending its authority over this portion of the national domain. The memorial declares that, for their own security, and for the preservation of the rights of the United States, the people of the state of Deseret have organized a provisional government, under which the civil policy of the nation is duly maintained; also that there is now a sufficient number of individuals to support a state government, and that they have erected at their own expense a hall of legislature which will bear compar ison with those in older states. "Your memorialists therefore ask your honorable body to favorably consider their interests; and if consistent with the constitution and usages of the federal government, that the constitution accompanying this memorial be ratified, and that the state of Deseret be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with other states, or to such other form of civil government as your wisdom and magnanimity may award to the people of Deseret; and upon the adoption of any form of government here, that these delegates be received, and their interests properly represented in the congress of the United States." The remarks made in this memorial on the danger of failing to provide a civil government at a time when California was occupied by thousands of armed and resolute men, seem the more pertinent when it is remembered that between 1846 and 1849 occurred the great struggle in congress on the question of slavery or no slavery in the ceded territory. When congress adjourned on the 4th of March, 1849, all that had been done toward establishing some form of government for the immense domain acquired by the treaty with Mexico was to extend over it the revenue of the laws and to make San Francisco a port of entry. Thus "Upper California," as the entire region was still termed, had at this time the same political status as was held by Alaska between 1867 and 1884, at which latter date the national legislature placed that territory within the pale of the law. It is worthy of note also that in September, 1849, the people of California, incensed by the dilatory action of congress, followed the example of the Mormons by framing a constitution of their own. On his arrival in Washington Babbitt met with a somewhat cool reception. That the Mormons, not deigning to pass through the years of their political minority, should now ask admission as a state, and meanwhile constitute themselves a free and independent community, an imperium in imperio, issuing full-fledged, as did Minerva from the cranium of Jove, into the society of republics, was a proceeding that of course failed to meet with the approval of congress. The memorial, accompanied by the constitution of the state of Deseret, was presented to the senate on the 27th of December, 1849, by Stephen A. Douglas, who moved that it be VOL. XXII.-No. 5.-26 referred to the committee on territories, and about one month later it was so referred. On the 28th of January, 1850, it was ordered by the house of representatives that a memorial presented by the delegate, praying to be admitted to a seat in that body, be referred to the committee on elections. The committee unanimously recommended the adoption of the resolution: "That it is inexpedient to admit Almon W. Babbitt, Esq., to a seat in this body, as a delegate to the alleged state of Deseret." In a committee of the whole the report of the committee on elections was read, and among the reasons given against the admission of Babbitt the following is most cogent: "The memorialist comes as the representative of a state; but of a state not in the Union, and therefore not entitled to a representation here; the admission of Mr. Babbitt would be a quasi recognition of the legal existence of the state of Deseret; and no act should be done by this house which, even by implication, may give force and vitality to a political organization extra-constitutional and independent of the laws of the United States." After considerable debate the report was adopted by a vote of one hundred and eight to seventy-seven, and the state of Deseret thus failed to receive recognition from Congress. Some action must be taken in the matter, however, for while yet the struggle on slavery was at its fiercest, the inhabitants of the territory ceded by Mexico had formed themselves into two separate states, each with its own constitution, the people of California having declared against slavery, and the people of Deseret having taken the reins into their own hands. Finally, on the 7th of September, 1850, on which day the celebrated compromise measures became law and were supposed to have settled forever the slavery question, a bill passed the senate for the admission of California as a state, without slavery, while the self-constituted state of Deseret, shorn somewhat of its proportions, was reduced to the condition of New Mexico, under the name of the Territory of Utah. Hubert 14 Bancroft RISE OF A GREAT MASONIC LIBRARY "O for a Booke and a shadie nooke, Eyther in-a-doore or out, With the greene leaves whisp'ring overhede, Where I may Reade all at my ease, Both of the Newe and Olde, For a jollie goode Booke, whereon to looke, Is better to me than Golde." -Old English Song. It is safe to presume that even among book lovers there are not many who would fully indorse the sentiment of the above quotation if applied to books of so distinctive a character as those of a masonic library. There is no science, art, or order, nevertheless, without its own especial devotees, and the glowing lines from the old song do in reality but feebly express the fond regard for "masonry and its kindred sciences" of those to whom the country is chiefly indebted for this truly unique institution—the only one of its kind in either the old world or the new. It is a singular fact that this library is little known outside the immediate membership of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, whose property it is, and it has never received that recognition from scholars, either within or without the general ranks of masonry, to which as a treasure-house of rarest historic information it would seem justly entitled. This may in a measure be owing to its being an institution of comparatively recent growth, during one period of which it was retarded by the distracting influences of a disastrous civil war, although probably more largely due to the fact that from the first moment of organization the Grand Lodge was composed of "men of affairs," business men, professional men, statesmen, and others, whose hands and brains had been so occupied with the double task of building up their own fortunes, while shaping the destinies of the young state with which these fortunes were identified, that matters pertaining especially to the lodge were largely left to the management of their Grand Secretary. Mr. T. S. Parvin has served the lodge in this capacity, with the exception of one brief period of twelve months, during the entire forty-five years of its existence. With this officer a high order of scholarly tastes and devotion to masonic interests were alike inborn and inseparable. His associate members appreciated these qualities; thus |