They save all their crops, and have numerous cattle and droves of
horses, undoubtedly to feed and sustain a Mormon army on any future
invasion. Let us now examine further into this cunning and long-sighted
policy, and we shall admire the great genius that presides over it. We
are not one of those, so common in these days, who have adopted the _nil
admirari_ for their motto. Genius, well or ill guided, is still genius;
and if we load with shame the former life of Smith and his present
abominable religious impositions, still we are bound to do justice to
that conquering spirit which can form such vast ideas, and work such a
multitude to his will.
The population of Texas does not amount to seventy thousand souls, among
whom there are twenty-five different forms of religion. Two-thirds of
the inhabitants are scoundrels, who have there sought a refuge against
the offended laws of their country. They are not only a curse and a
check to civilization, but they reflect dishonour upon the remaining
third portion of the Texans, who have come from distant climes for the
honest purposes of trade and agriculture. This mongrel and mixed
congregation of beings, though firmly united in one point (war with
Mexico, and that in the expectation of a rich plunder), are continually
at variance on other points.
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