PROSPECTIVE STATE OF DESERET. 139 



man can well doubt, who has witnessed the indomitable energy, the 

 unity and concentration of action, together with the enthusiastic 

 spirit of proselytism which seems to possess the entire Mormon com- 

 munity. Their zeal for increasing their sect has already filled the 

 world with their missionaries ; and has, within the space of four 

 years, and in defiance of obstacles that would have appalled most 

 ordinary adventurers, collected a population of some twenty thou- 

 sand souls, all breathing the same spirit, animated by the same 

 hope, bound by the same views, and unitedly engaged, heart and 

 hand, in providing means by which converts to the faith may be 

 transported from all parts of the world to this great head-quarters 

 of the church, "the fountain where truth flows from the lips of the 

 prophet of God, and where true liberty can only be enjoyed by the 

 saints." 



A large and constantly increasing fund has been created 

 among them, called "The Perpetual Emigration Fund," which is 

 devoted exclusively to this object, and receives liberal contributions 

 from the "saints," both in this country and in Europe; it being the 

 authorized teaching, all over the world, that it is as much a duty 

 binding on every "saint" "to build up the valleys of the moun- 

 tains," by assisting forward those brethren who are too poor to 

 provide an outfit for themselves, as it is to be baptized for the re- 

 mission of sins. The efi'ects of this widely difiused spirit of propa- 

 gandism are already seen in the number of converts that have 

 been made in most of the countries of Europe, as well as in the 

 Sandwich Islands, and even here in our own country, with all of 

 whom it is made a cardinal point to "gather to the mountains." 



Measures are being taken to open a southern route, by which the 

 converts coming from abroad may cross the Isthmus of Panama, 

 and, landing at San Diego, may thence reach the land of promise 

 by a comparatively short and easy transit, without being subjected 

 to the hazard of a sickly voyage up the Mississippi, or to the 

 tedious and expensive journey across the plains. In the mean while, 

 preparations are industriously making in the valley for the recep- 

 tion and immediate accommodation of the coming tide, by the 

 building of houses, sowing large quantities of grain, the erection 

 of mills, the establishment of manufactures, the importation of 

 labour-saving machinery, and the establishment upon a solid basis 

 of the means of education. The manifest object of these harmo- 

 niously concerted movements is to concentrate, as speedily as 

 practicable, in " the valley of the mountains," a number sufficiently 



