No. 147.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Lowell.
Department
of State,
Washington, October 20,
1884.
No. 1006.]
Sir: I inclose herewith for your information, a
copy of a dispatch to this Department from Mr. J. A. Leonard, the American
consul-general at Calcutta, reporting the arrival at three Mormon
emissaries.
[Page 224]
Inasmuch as the Mormons, exercising polygamy, constantly increase in numbers
by reason of accessions from abroad recruited by emissaries from Utah
operating beyond the reach of the laws of this country, this Government is
obliged to avail itself of the good offices of the authorities of foreign
countries to oppose and suppress, so far as practicable, the missions of the
Mormons.
I will therefore thank you to bring the matter to the attention of Her
Britannic Majesty’s Government, with the request that appropriate
instructions may be issued to the proper authorities, with a view to
checking the proposed shipment of Mormon recruits to this country from
India.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure in No. 1006.]
Mr. Leonard to Mr.
Davis.
Consulate-General United States,
Calcutta, August 30, 1884.
(Received October 6.)
No. 18.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that three
Mormon missionaries, Messrs. Willis, McCann, and Pratt, have recently
arrived and are now in Calcutta.
Their object is to make converts, and it is to be expected that they will
take them to Utah.
It is likely to be several weeks, and may be months, before these
missionaries will have enough converts to make a shipment from this
port. I expect to keep advised as to their movements, but from the
length of time necessarily required to communicate between this country
and England, it is very doubtful whether a report sent from here to the
minister at London, after the facts shall have been ascertained,
pursuant to section 381 of the Consular Regulations, would reach there
and could be acted upon before the missionaries and their converts will
have left for the United States.
I would respectfully ask whether any means of prevention exist or whether
any action on my part to prevent the sailing of such converts is called
for.
I am, &c.,
