The Memoirs of a “Mormon”

THE MEMOIRS OF A "MORMON/' BY A. A. RAMSEYER. While visiting the library of the Historian's office recently, my attention was drawn to a French book, bearing the above title.* This book was published in Paris, in 1861 . The author's full name is Louis Alphonse Bertrand, one of the first converts of President John Taylor. The book has 323 pages, the same size as the common edi- tion of the Book of Mormon (12 mo.) It is, no doubt, the first of its kind, not only in French, but in English, and preceded by some eight or ten years any similar biographical work published in Utah. Louis A. Bertrand was a native of Marseilles, France. After receiving a good education, his love for travels took him to every nook and corner of the Mediterranean sea; then he took up his abode in some of the Antilles, came to the United States, where he resided seven years, so that he learned to know and appreciate the principles of liberty and the political government of free America. In 1842, he returned to his native country, traveled in the Indian ocean as far as China, but in 1846 settled down in Paris,

• Memoires oVun Mormon, par L. A. Bertrand, Paris, E. Dentu (3 frs.

82 . IMPROVEMENT ERA. where be studied the political, social, and philosophical questions of his day. When the French revolution of 1848 broke out, he threw all his soul into the new movement, and was at the head of the political review of the Populaire, a Parisian newspaper, when the first "Mormon" missionaries, Klders John Taylor and Curtis E. Bolton, reached Paris. It was in the office of this jour- nal that the three men got acquainted. Bertrand's perfect knowl- edge of English gave him the opportunity of becoming familiar with the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints. The reading of Orson Pratt's Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon , thoroughly con- vinced him of the divinity of that work; after three months of in- vestigation he was ready for baptism, and on the first of Decem- ber, 1850, he was baptized by Apostle John Taylor, being, accord- ing to age, the second of five converts baptized at the same time. After helping to complete the French translation of the Book of Mormon, (published 1852), translating and publishing the Voice of Warning, (line voix divertissement) in the isle of Jersey, in 1853, and completing the translation of the Book of Doctrine and .Covenants,* Brother Bertrand left France, in 1855. "I shall never forget," he writes in his book, "the sweet emotions which I felt in beholding the immense carpet of green which stretched itself before my eyes, when we left Atchison, on the Missouri. For the first time I beheld the American prairies. Perfumes of incomparable sweetness are exhaling from this charm- ing desert garden. All this region appears as a living picture of Eden. It is especially in the spring that its aspect is fairy-like and almost divine, in the plains of Kansas and Nebraska, where the ex- uberant growth of forest grass adorns itself 'with innumerable flowers of all shapes and colors. Often this carpet of fragrant green extends as far as the eye can follow without betraying the least undulation. But sometimes, this majestic uniformity gives way to landscapes of infinite charm and variety. Suddenly the horizon rises and draws nearer; the ground, which so far had pre- sented an even and uniform picture, is now 'gracefully decorated by some clumps of trees, growing in picturesque groups; limpid

• What became of this translation of the Doctrine and Covenants, is not known. — A. A. R.

: THE MEMOIRS OF A "MORMON." 83 waters gather together in peaceful lakes, or spread apart in ca- pricious brooklets; while the eye rests here and there on hills, be- tween which cool and mysterious streams flow." Some seventy-two individuals from France, Jersey, and Guern- sey, Switzerland, and Italy, represented the Latin race in this company, which consisted of five hundred souls and forty-five wagons. On the 22nd of September, 1855, a band of some five or six hundred Sioux Indians blocked their way, demanding a toll of ten sacks of flour. "I haven't an ounce of flour to distribute among you," answered Charles Harper, our captain, "but we have plenty of cartridges. Do you wish some? You will be served." Joining the action to the word, Harper took his revolver, shouting, "To arms!" Instantly one hundred and fifty loaded rifles shone be- fore the astonished red skins, who immediately opened their ranks and let the company pursue its way in peace, according to a proph- ecy in tongues delivered by a sister at the beginning of the journey. Our author lived four years in Salt Lake City, from 1855 to 1859, raising vegetables and garden seeds, introducing the culture of some useful products of the soil, and getting a. number of prizes at the agricultural fair. Having resided seven years in the United States before, and with his training as French journalist, he was well qualified to take some notes of the stirring events which hap- pened fifty years ago, and his remarks are often caustic. He at- tended the meeting held Sunday, the 26th of April, 1858, when President Brigham Young presented Governor Cumming to the congregation "I very much desired to make the acquaintance of Colonel Kane. * * * Mr. Kane is a distinguished political writer, he saw his first diplomatic service in the American embas- sy of General Cass, at Paris. He is very familiar with the French language. After a quarter of an hour interview, we had become old acquaintances. He showed himself full of good-will toward the Saints in general. Between ourselves, he unbosomed himself beyond all expression. Being sent by President Buchanan, his mission in Utah, he formally told me, had only been official. The secret instructions, first given to the Federal troops, were really of an inexorable nature and without mercy. But the time has not come to say more on this subject.

84 . ' IMPROVEMENT ERA. "The next day, I had the honor of having breakfast with the Colonel and with Governor Camming." The change brought about among the Saints by the arrival of the adventurers Hocking in with the troops, is very vividly depicted in the Memoirs. Remember, the writer was a Frenchman, a Parisian journalist, well acquainted with "Babylon." After describing the "move" of the Saints to the south, the march of the army through the city, its camping outside the city, his visit to General Johns- ton, who received him most pleasantly, and exchanged with him some common-place expressions, he thus writes: "After the return of its inhabitants, (from their 'move' south- ward) Salt Lake City became the rendezvous of a crowd of greedy adventurers of high and low class who, believing the newspapers' reports that we were going to abandon the territory of Utah, were flocking from all the states of the Union, to enrich themselves with our spoils. Hundreds of teamsters, discharged from the army, helped to swell this turbulent mob of outsiders. Before the arrival of the army, the 'Mormons' were unquestionably the most peaceful, the most moral, and the purest of all peoples. We had then, in all our territory, no guillotine, no gallows, no prison, no stock exchange, no pawn shop, no barracks, no informers, no gens d'armes, no public women, no gambling houses, no saloon, no wine shop, no tavern, not even a a smoking room, billiard hall, or all these judicious institutions which more or less in all flourish civilized societies. In short, I must say to our shame, we were real savages. But when that mob of outsiders, following the United States troops, invaded our territory, things promptly took another appearance. We began to get civilized. Our trading streets, formerly so calm, presented every day the edifying specta- cle of dead-drunken men lying on the ground; others, armed with revolvers and brandishing their bowie-knives, were marching through the city yelling obscene songs. Saloons, wine shops, tav- erns, sprung up as by magic in certain streets; then billiard halls, and gambling houses displayed their showy signs. But I must tell all: our initiators to civilization could not stop half way; the establishing of houses of prostitution was attempted in an under- handed way." Near the fall of 1859, after having passed four years in Utah,

! THE MEMOIRS OF A "MORMON." 85 Elder Bertrand was called to fill a mission to France. A month before leaving, he went through the ceremony of the endowment. As Mr. Remy, a French traveler, who had spent one month in Salt Lake City, in his book, called this sacred ceremony free-masonry, Bertrand, in a few short words, thus dismisses this charge: "We will begin by declaring that there is not in Utah* the shadow of a Masonic lodge. As a member of the French and Scottish free masonry, our opinion is that that institution has served its time, and nobody thinks in Utah of establishing lodges of any rites. The 20th of August, 1859, I received my initiation to the sacred rites of the Church. No ordeal, physical or moral, was employed during that initiation, which lasted no less than four hours. As far as our memory serves us, the murder of Joseph Smith was in no wise mentioned therein, neither was the name of the govern- ment of the United States even mentioned. Exclusively religious, this initiation has not the least relation with the political affairs of America. True, it is secret, but as all Saints bear the priesthood, and as all are called, without distinction, to receive the endow- ments, it follows that it is withheld from those only who do not belong to our Church. We further affirm that there are no secret tribunals, no Hannibal's oaths against the United States, in the higher degrees of our priesthood. Without a doubt the murder of Smith and the immunity granted his murderers has been a great crime, a great fault, but we are leaving the chastisement entirely to God and to the events which he directs. Whatever may be our opinion upon the political and social future of the old as of the new world, we have the deepest horror of all violence; and of those who reject our faith, we ask nothing but peace and So much about the accusations of disloyalty . religious tolerance " In a special chapter, the author writes about patriarchal marriage, prefacing his remarks with the statement that, having passed four years among the Saints in the most complete celibacy, he is per- fectly disinterested upon the question. I shall not mention his views here, as they present nothing new to our readers. In December, 1859, Elder Bertrand reached France, and on

• Of course, this was true in 1859, and ia true today, as far as the Church ia concerned. — A. A. R.

86 IMPROVEMENT ERA. of thirteen the 10th he arrived in Paris, finding here a branch members, but a larger one in Havre, about fifteen French Saints having emigrated to Utah. He writes: "If I were asked, why 'Mormonism' has not conquered a the greater number of proselytes in France, I would answer that has been preached publicly but twice in gospel of the latter-days Paris, in 1851, in the faubourg Saint Antoine. Since my return to Paris, where I have constantly resided for eighteen months, I have repeatedly made application to the French authorities to obtain the authorization to publicly preach our doc- trine. I shall spare the reader the details of these attempts, fruit- less so far; these details, painful for me, would only weary him. I refrain from discussing the motives which have brought me some- times scornful refusals, sometimes a still more disdainful silence.

• • • As long as our President deems me fit for the arduous labors of the ministry, I shall not cease to multiply my efforts in order to manifest to my compatriots what I believe to be the truth, either by way of preaching, if this be finally allowed me, or by means of the press. Then I shall finish my days in our Zion,* offering prayers that the elders who shall succeed me may be more capable and more fortunate than I." I am told, on good authority, that Elder Bertrand presented a copy of the Book of Mormon to the emperor of France, Napoleon III. If the emperor had taken the trouble to read that book, as far as pages 84 and 85, the prophecy of Nephi, found on these two pages of the English edition, might have been a warning to him not to lend his support to Maximilian of Austria. As it hap- pened, the proud French monarch was obliged to heed the Monroe doctrine, foreshadowed in the sacred record, when President Lin- coln requested him to withdraw his troops from Mexico. A few more years, and Napoleon died an exile in England; his only son, too, is dead, and the ex-Empress Eugenie lives in utter obscurity in a foreign country. "For he that raiseth up a king against me (upon this land) shall perish." (II Nephi, 10: 14). It is not a misfortune altogether that Elder Bertrand was re- fused permission to preach the gospel, by word of mouth, to his
• He died March 21. 1875, in Salt Lake City, in his 67th year.- A. A. R.

THE MEMOIRS OF A "MORMON." 87 countrymen. This caused him to write an excellent treatise on the latter-day work of the Lord; not a theological treatise merely, but a practical book, in which the temporal as well as the spiritual side of "Mormonism" is presented in clear language and enter- taining style. This book can well be recommended to prospective missionaries to France, for it is written in classical French. Ber- trand had not only traveled, but had filled with honor a position on the staff of a Parisian journal; he had studied the burning social and political questions in France, in 1848; and a glance over the headings of some of the chapters of his book will demonstrate how deep and how philosophical his Memoirs are, inspired as they are by an ardent desire to make known to his beloved France the truth of the gospel. It is unnecessary to say that his work throughout breathes the spirit of one thoroughly converted to the work of the Lord. Chapter I deals with the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, his first visions; the Book of Mormon analyzed; America, a prob- lem that cannot be solved by contemporary science. Chapter II: Foundation of the Church, Kirtland, Nauvoo, murder of the Prophet, the ''Mormons" expelled from the United States, the "Mormon" Battalion, the Pioneers, Utah, Brigham Young as governor of Utah. Chapter III: A glimpse over Utah territory, its ["natural re- sources, Great Salt Lake City,- Salt Lake, the report of Judge Drummond, the Buchanan Expedition, Federal troops vanquished without bloodshed. Chapter IV: Secret mission of Col. Kane, sending of two federal commissioners, peace concluded, Governor Cumming, the troops leave Utah. Chapter V: "Mormon" theology, purification of the earth, three resurrections, the millennium, universal judgment and differ- ent degrees of glory, Priesthood, endowment house, refutation of some calumnies concerning the initiation. Chapter VI: Patriarchal marriage, true character 'of this in- stitution, formalities of this marriage, the revelation on celestial marriage translated. Chapter VII: Immigration, organization of companies of emi- grants, prairies, some details about Indians

ss IMPROVEMENT ERA. Chapter VIII: Socialistic Utopias, social notions of the "Mor- mons," the law of consecration, the law of tithing, civil and criminal laws, the moral power exercised by Brigham Young. Chapter IX: My sojourn in Salt Lake City, I am called to pre- side over the French mission, some incidents of travel, the condi- tion of the branches of the Church in France and Switzerland. Chapter X: Guesses of the chief French writers about the political future of the "Mormons," the war of the Rebellion, con- clusion. A bibliography, or list of the principal books and newspapers published by the Church up to November, 1861, probably the time of publication of these Memoirs, closes this book of 323 pages. One more word: speaking of the Book of Mormon, Elder Bertrand expresses this re- markable thought "Our con- : version, (to' Mormonism,') the fruit of a sincere and per- sistent conviction, declares better than all we could say, our opinion upon the authen- ticity, the social and religious importance, of the book. No other book, since the Koran, has given birth to a people. The Book of Mormon, in the LOUIS A. BERTRAND. midst of the blaze of the 19th century, has served as a foundation to a .new people in America. Who can explain this strange social phenomenon of a religious novel accomplishing such a wonder in presence of the unheard of progress of our age? Giving birth to a people is not such a common thing. From the time of Luther, the interpreters of the Bible, in both worlds, have been able to create sects only; and the philosophers, systems of philosophy; Joseph Smith is the only one who has laid the founda-

: , THE MEMOIRS OF A "MORMON." 89 tion of a new society. In the midst of the anarchy of opinions, sensible men of all parties must judge of a work only by its results." After finishing the reading of this interesting book, it cannot be'said, in truth, that France did not have as good an opportunity of getting acquainted with the gospel, restored in these last days, as any other nation. It is rather surprising that the talents em- ployed, and the energy put forth, accomplished practically noth- ing among that intelligent nation, so well acquainted with arts and science, while even the Polynesian savage, who has accepted the gospel light, is steadily progressing in the scale of intelligent be- ings, as Elder Bertrand clearly foresaw. Says he, speaking of rationalism "Human science cannot understand the things of God. Phil- osophy could only make books, pile systems upon systems, without being able to create a popular and common formula to define God. Hence its radical impotency. Without Christ, it is impossible to know God. The providential mission of philosophy is only a work of demolition; it can only destroy, without being able to found anything that can live." Salt Lake City, Utah.