“The Smiths are not without talent; Joe, the chief, is a noble-looking fellow, a Mahomet every inch of him; the postmaster, Sidney Rigdon, is a lawyer, a philosopher, and a saint.  The other generals are also men of talent, and some of them men of learning.  I have no doubt they are all brave, as they are most unquestionably ambitious, and the tendency of their religious creed is to annihilate all other sects.  We may, therefore, see the time when this gathering host of religious fanatics will make this country shake to its centre.  A western empire is certain.  Ecclesiastical history presents no parallel to this people, inasmuch as they are establishing their religion on a learned basis.  In their college, they teach all the sciences, with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, and Spanish; the mathematical department is under an extremely able professor, of the name of Pratt; and a professor of Trinity College, Dublin, is president of their university.

“I arrived there, incog., on the 1st inst., and, from the great preparations for the military parade, was induced to stay to see the turn-out, which, I confess, has astonished and filled me with fears for the future consequences.  The Mormons, it is true, are now peaceable, but the lion is asleep.  Take care, and don’t rouse him.

“The city of Nauvoo contains about fifteen thousand souls, and is rapidly increasing.  It is well laid out, and the municipal affairs appear to be well conducted.  The adjoining country is a beautiful prairie.  Who will say that the Mormon prophet is not among the great spirits of the age?

“The Mormons number, in Europe and America, about one hundred and fifty thousand, and are constantly pouring into Nauvoo and the neighbouring country.  There are probably in and about this city, at a short distance from the river, not far from thirty thousand of these warlike fanatics, and it is but a year since they have settled in the Illinois.”

CHAPTER XL.

While I was at Mr. Courtenay’s plantation I had a panther adventure, a circumstance which, in itself, would be scarcely worth mentioning, were it not that this fierce animal was thought to have entirely left the country for more than twenty years.  For several days there had been a rapid diminution among the turkeys, lambs, and young pigs in the neighbourhood, and we had unsuccessfully beaten the briars and cane-brakes, expecting at every moment to fall in with some large tiger-cat, which had strayed from the southern brakes.  After much fruitless labour, Mr. Courtenay came to the conclusion that a gang of negro marroons were hanging about, and he ordered that a watch should for the future be kept every night.