Again very interesting points.
I think though the important thing to remember is the distrust Moromonism was held by the Brits (the whole multiple wives things really freaked us out!). Unless the USA remains por-salvery then the UK will back the USA. My personal view is if the USA stays pro-slave then the empire would be neutral between the two.
The best hope for Morom survival is not British intervention (or Spanish or whoever) but the USA not expanding to the West. NOw THERE is a challenge!
I think though the important thing to remember is the distrust Moromonism was held by the Brits (the whole multiple wives things really freaked us out!). Unless the USA remains por-salvery then the UK will back the USA. My personal view is if the USA stays pro-slave then the empire would be neutral between the two.
The best hope for Morom survival is not British intervention (or Spanish or whoever) but the USA not expanding to the West. NOw THERE is a challenge!
Alratan said:If the US is significantly less powerful (as required for this scenario anyway), then US-British relations could be far worse, as keeping the US down requires long term intervention. If the US were to remain strongly pro-slavery, say, if it was lacking New England and the north east states inland from there, then the jugement might be made closer.
The enemy in question could also be the Spanish/Mexicans. If the British take and hold New Orleans they will be contending with them over Florida and the Texas borders, and if they hold the West coast down to the 42nd (as is likely if they have New Orleans), then they will be needing forces in that theatre, which is a long way from Britain before the canal.
The third option is, as I mention above, a weaker US and a weak Mexico, in which case the Mormons may be able to sit in a Deserat equivilent in northern California between a Kingdom of Columbia stretching down to the 42nd parallel along the Rockies and a Mexican southern California, being a rather distasteful backwater that no-one with the ability to do so cares to spend the money to expunge.
They would need a following wind in any case, and would probably need to do a lot of unpleasant things (exterminating the men of the local natives and forcibly incorporating their women, and the like), but given their birth rate, if they could hold on in relative obscurity for 30 or 40 years, and then discover the gold when they had the population to exploit it, they might be able to do OK.