Friends are Better than
Enemies
By Davis Bitton
When I served as a missionary
in France,
we called on "investigators" and taught them the
gospel. We also called on "friends." These were
people who expressed no desire to follow any lessons that
would teach them about Mormonism. Or in some cases they
had been through those lessons but for one reason or another
did not wish to be baptized.
What these friends had in common
was a positive attitude towards the missionaries and the
Church. Often they expressed their admiration. When public
meetings were held, they usually attended and even brought
friends of their own.
In rare cases, as I later discovered,
one of these people would join the Church — including one
dear man who took seven years to make the decision and then
became a giant of a leader. But we didn’t count on that
and were glad to have such people who we could count on
to support us psychologically (and sometimes nutritionally)
and even to speak in our defense.
From its beginning in 1830,
as we all know, the restored Church of Jesus Christ has had enemies and persecutors. But we have also had
friends.
Minor Deming, Hancock County sheriff, was a friend of the Mormons. Even though threatened
by the same mobsters who had assassinated Joseph and Hyrum
Smith, Deming did his best to serve fairly and bring the
guilty to justice. His story has been partially brought
to light in Carthage Conspiracy by Dallin H. Oaks and
Marvin S. Hill.
One friend during the Nauvoo
experience was Squire Daniel H. Wells. He learned to appreciate
the Mormons and helped them. Eventually he joined the Church.
In fact, he crossed the plains and later became a counselor
to President Brigham Young. But even if he had not joined,
for whatever reason, he was of great worth as a friend.
When the Saints were forced
to leave Nauvoo, a pathetic situation was created. Suffering
from cold and exposure and malnutrition, several thousand
refugees slowly made their way westward.
While Mormon-haters laughed
and slapped each other on the back, other Americans were
appalled and wished to relieve the suffering. They may not
have agreed with Mormon theology, if they understood it
at all, but they acknowledged that the refugees were fellow
human beings. Some of these well-wishers were relatives
and friends of the Saints.
Friends in Need
Charles Dana, William Appleby,
Ezra Taft Benson, Erastus Snow, and others traveled through
the cities of the East, soliciting funds, collecting clothing,
calling upon prominent people who were willing to speak
out on behalf of the Mormons. Acceptance of the Mormon religion
was not the question, of course. Were these destitute refugees
vermin who should be stamped out and banished from the face
of the earth? Or were they fellow human beings, sincere,
capable of doing good, worthy of assistance?
On March 27, 1848, William
Appleby wrote that he and his colleagues had collected more
than fifteen hundred dollars (which in today’s dollar value
would be the equivalent of ten or perhaps twenty times that
amount). "May the Lord reward all those who have administered
to our wants in any way," wrote Appleby, "and
praise be rendered to him for what we have received towards
alleviating and relieving the wants of his suffering and
afflicted people."
How appreciative we were to
have friends.
Returning a Favor
One of these friends was Thomas
L. Kane. Touched by the plight of the suffering Saints,
Kane extended himself in the fund-raising effort. Using
his connections, he was able to muster support in Philadelphia
but also in Washington, D.C., New York City, and other places. Kane had been
nursed back to health by the Saints encamped along the Missouri River. He never forgot it.
Not only during the trying
months of the exodus but throughout the rest of his life
Thomas L. Kane was a reliable friend of the Latter-day Saints,
doing everything in his power to help them. His courageous
journey to Salt
Lake City when the Utah War was in progress and threatening
to become a bloodbath is well known. He played a key role
in brokering the settlement that allowed the troops to come
into the Valley but not to establish themselves close to
the city.
"Our friend who came here
in the dead of winter, having left his wife sick nigh unto
death," said Brigham Young two years later, "is
one of those who will yet have a celestial crown; he is
on the road to it."
Having studied the life of
George Q. Cannon, I can report that Thomas L. Kane was indeed
a "sentinel in the East," someone who could be
counted upon to exert himself whenever necessary on behalf
of the Saints. Over and over again, Kane met with Cannon,
advising him and then doing what he could by writing letters
or calling upon government officials.
Just Magistrates
We are accustomed to portraying
the appointed territorial officials in Utah as carpetbaggers of low caliber and little sense of fairness,
a reputation richly deserved by some but not by all. At
least in 1860 Brigham Young had some kind words for some
of the appointees:
