THE MORMONS AND THE SILVER MINES. BY JAMES BONWICK, F. R. G. S., AUTHOR OF THE LAST OF THE TASMANIANS," ETC., ETC. PREFACE. ΑΝ N apology may seem to be required for writing upon so hackneyed a subject as "The Mormons." But, as in this moving age even that conservative people have varied in opinion, a record of such change and of its cause was at least desirable. While the writer saw, in his brief visit to Salt Lake, no reason to think that the religious system of Mormonism was losing its power, he could not fail to observe the inherent weakness, and tendency to destruction, of the practice of Polygamy. In this day of religious inquiry, when the foundations of creeds are being so severely tested, a brief sketch of Mormon belief, from an authorized text-book, may not be unwelcome to some. It is becoming to give a hearing to those who, while so far differing |