Chapter VI
MEMORIAL OF CITY COUNCIL TO CONGRESS ANENT MISSOURI AFFAIRS--ROCKWELL'S RETURN TO NAUVOO--RECITAL OF HIS ADVENTURES--AVERY'S ACQUITTAL BY MISSOURI'S COURTS--NAUVOO'S POLICE FORCE INCREASED--PUBLICATIONS ON MORMONISM, PRO ET CON--1843.
_Thursday, December 21, 1843.--_About one o'clock in the morning I was alarmed by the firing of a gun, got up, and went down to the river bank to see the guard, and inquire the cause of it. To my surprise, they had not heard it, although I felt sure it was fired in Montrose. The morning proved it to be correct, some rowdies in Montrose had been firing in the night.
At noon met with the City Council which voted that Councilor Orson Pratt present the Memorial and Ordinance to Congress.
Passed "An ordinance to prevent unlawful search or seizure of person or property by foreign [i.e. outside] process in the city of Nauvoo."
Heber C. Kimball resigned his office as city auctioneer and Charles Warner was re-elected.
John P. Greene was duly elected city marshal, in the room of Henry G. Sherwood, who expects to leave soon.
[Sidenote: The Prophet for a Clean, Orderly City.]
I gave instructions to the marshal and policemen to see that all carrion is removed out of the city, and all houses kept in order,--to stop the boys when fighting in the streets, and prevent children from floating off on the ice, and correct anything out of order, like fathers; and I offered to build the city jail, if it was left to my dictation, which the Council authorized me to do.
{125} I insert the Memorial from the City Council to the Congress of the United States for redress of grievances and protection from further persecution, which was signed by them:--
MEMORIAL OF THE CITY COUNCIL TO CONGRESS.
"To the Honorable Senators and Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
We, the undersigned members of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, citizens of Hancock County, Illinois, and exiles from the State of Missouri, being in council assembled, unanimously and respectfully, for ourselves, and in behalf of many thousands of other exiles, memorialize the honorable Senators and Representatives of our nation upon the subject of the unparalleled persecutions and cruelties inflicted upon us and upon our constituents by the constituted authorities of the State of Missouri, and likewise upon the subject of the present unfortunate circumstances in which we are placed in the land of our exile. As a history of the Missouri outrages has been extensively published, both in this country and in Europe, it is deemed unnecessary to particularize all of the wrongs and grievances inflicted upon us in this memorial. As there is an abundance of well-attested documents to which your honorable body can at any time refer, hence we only embody the following important items for your consideration.
First:--Your memorialists, as freeborn citizens of this great republic, relying with the utmost confidence upon the sacred "articles of the Constitution," by which the several States are bound together, and considering ourselves entitled to all the privileges and immunities of free citizens in what State soever we desired to locate ourselves, commenced a settlement in the county of Jackson, on the western frontiers of the State of Missouri, in the summer of 1831.
There we purchased lands from the Government, erected several hundred houses, made extensive improvements, and shortly the wild and lonely prairies and stately forests were converted into well cultivated and fruitful fields. There we expected to spend our days in the enjoyment of all the rights and liberties bequeathed to us by the sufferings and blood of our noble ancestors. But alas! our expectations were vain.
Two years had scarcely elapsed before we were unlawfully and unconstitutionally assaulted by an organized mob, consisting of the highest officers in the county, both civil and military, who openly and boldly avowed their determination in a written circular to drive us from said county.
As a specimen of their treasonable and cruel designs, your honorable {126} body are referred to said circular, of which the following is but a short extract,--namely: "We the undersigned citizens of Jackson county, believing that an important crisis is at hand, as regards our civil society, in consequence of a pretended religious sect of people that have settled and are still settling in our county, styling themselves Mormons, and intending as we do to rid our society, 'peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must;' and believing as we do that the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guarantee, or at least a sufficient one, against the evils which are now inflicted upon us, and seem to be increasing by the said religious sect, deem it expedient and of the highest importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our purpose."
This document was closed in the following words--"We therefore agree that, after timely warning, and receiving an adequate compensation for what little property they cannot take with them, they refuse to leave us in peace, as they found us, we agree to use such means as may be sufficient to remove them; and to that end we each pledge to each other our bodily powers, our lives, fortunes, and sacred honors."
To this unconstitutional document were attached the names of nearly every officer in the county, together with the names of hundreds of others.
It was by this band of murderers that your memorialists, in the year 1833, were plundered of their property and robbed of their peaceable homes. It was by them that their fields were laid waste, their houses burned, and their men, women, and children, to the number of about twelve hundred persons, banished as exiles from the county, while others were cruelly murdered by their hands.
Second: After our expulsion from Jackson county, we settled in Clay county, on the opposite side of the Missouri river, where we purchased lands both from the old settlers and from the [U. S.] Land Office: but soon we were again violently threatened by mobs, and obliged to leave our homes, and seek out a new location.
Third: Our next settlement was in Caldwell county, where we purchased the most of the land in said county, beside a part of the lands in Daviess and Carroll counties. These counties were almost entirely in a wild and uncultivated state; but, by the persevering industry of our citizens, large and extensive farms were opened in every direction, well stocked with numerous flocks and herds. We also commenced settlements in several other counties of the state, and once more confidently hoped to enjoy the hard-earned fruits of our labor unmolested.
But our hopes were soon blasted. The cruel and murderous spirit which first began to manifest itself in the constituted authorities and inhabitants of Jackson county, and afterwards in Clay and the surrounding {127} counties, receiving no check either from the civil or military power of the state, had in the meantime taken courage, and boldly and fearlessly spread its contaminating and treasonable influence into every department of the government of said state. Lieutenant-Governor Boggs, a resident of Jackson county, who acted a conspicuous part in our expulsion from said county, instead of being tried for treason and rebellion against the Constitution, and suffering the just penalty of his crimes, was actually elected governor; and placed in the executive chair.
Thus the inhabitants of the State were greatly encouraged to renew with redoubled fury, their unlawful attacks upon our defenseless settlements. Men, women, and children were driven away in every direction before their merciless persecutors, robbed of their possessions, their property, their provisions, and their all, cast forth upon the bleak, snowy prairies, houseless and unprotected. Many sank down and expired under their accumulated sufferings, while others, after enduring hunger and the severities of the season, suffering all but death, arrived in Caldwell county, to which place they were driven from all the surrounding counties, only to witness a still more heart-rending scene.
In vain had we appealed to the constituted authorities of Missouri for protection and redress of our former grievances. In vain we now stretched out our hands and appealed as the citizens of this great republic to the sympathies, to the justice, and magnanimity of those in power. In vain we implored again and again at the feet of Governor Boggs, our former persecutor, for aid and protection against the ravages and murders now inflicted upon our defenseless and unoffending citizens. The cry of American citizens, already twice driven and deprived of liberty, could not penetrate their adamantine hearts.
The Governor, instead of sending us aid, issued a proclamation for our extermination and banishment, ordered out the forces of the State, placed them under the command of General Clark, who, to execute these exterminating orders, marched several thousand troops into our settlements in Caldwell county, where, unrestrained by fear of law or justice, and urged on by the highest authority of the state, they laid waste our fields of corn, shot down our cattle and hogs for sport, burned our dwellings, inhumanly butchered some eighteen or twenty defenseless citizens, dragged from their hiding-places little children, and placing the muzzles of their guns to their heads, shot them [such acts being accompanied] with the most horrid oaths and imprecations.
An aged hero and patriot of the Revolution, who served under General Washington, while in the act of pleading for quarter, was cruelly murdered and hewed in pieces with an old corn cutter; and in addition to all these savage acts of barbarity, they forcibly dragged virtuous and {128} inoffensive females from their dwellings, bound them upon benches used for public worship, where they in great numbers ravished them in the most brutal manner.
Some fifty or sixty of the citizens were thrust into prisons and dungeons, where, bound in chains, they were fed on human flesh, while their families and some fifteen thousand others were at the point of the bayonet, forcibly expelled from the State.
In the meantime, to pay the expenses of these horrid outrages, they confiscated our property, and robbed us of all our possessions.
Before our final expulsion, with a faint and lingering hope we petitioned the State legislature then in session, unwilling to believe that the virtue and patriotism of the venerable fathers of the Revolution had fled from the bosoms of their illustrious descendants--unwilling to believe that American citizens could appeal in vain for a restoration of liberty cruelly wrested from them by cruel tyrants. But in the language of our noble ancestors, "our repeated petitions were only answered by repeated injuries."
The legislature, instead of hearing the cries of 15,000 suffering, bleeding, unoffending citizens, sanctioned and sealed the unconstitutional acts of the governor and his troops, by appropriating 200,000 dollars to defray the expenses of exterminating us from the State. No friendly arm was stretched out to protect us. The last ray of hope for redress in that State was now entirely extinguished. We saw no other alternative but to bow down our necks and wear the cruel yoke of oppression, and quietly and submissively suffer ourselves to be banished as exiles from our possessions, our property, and our sacred homes, or otherwise see our wives and children coldly butchered and murdered by tyrants in power.
Fourth. Our next permanent settlement was in the land of our exile, the State of Illinois, in the spring of 1839; but even here we are not secure from our relentless persecutor, the State of Missouri. Not satisfied in having drenched her soil in the blood of innocence, and expelling us from her borders, she pursues her unfortunate victims into banishment, seizing upon and kidnapping them in their defenseless moments, dragging them across the Mississippi river, upon their inhospitable shores, there they are tortured, whipped, immured in dungeons, and finally hung [as a means of torture, but not unto death] by the neck without any legal process what ever.
We have memorialized the former Executive of this State, Governor Carlin, upon these lawless outrages committed upon our citizens; but he rendered us no protection. Missouri, receiving no check in her murderous career, continues her depredations, again and again kidnapping {129} our citizens and robbing us of our property; while others, who fortunately survived the execution of her bloody edicts, are again and again demanded by the Executive of that State, on pretense of some crime said to have been committed by them during the exterminating expedition against our people.
As an instance, General Joseph Smith, one of your memorialists, has been three times demanded, tried, and acquitted by the courts of this State, upon investigation under writs of habeas corpus, once by the United States Court for the District of Illinois, again by the Circuit Court of the State of Illinois, and lastly by the Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo, when at the same time a nolle prosequi had been entered by the courts of Missouri upon all the cases of that State against Joseph Smith and others.
Thus the said Joseph Smith has been several times tried for the same alleged offense, put in jeopardy of life and limb, contrary to the fifth article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States; and thus we have been continually harassed and robbed of our money to defray the expenses of these vexatious prosecutions. And what at the present time seems to be still more alarming, is the hostility manifested by some of the authorities and citizens of this State [Illinois.] Conventions have been called, inflammatory speeches made, and many unlawful and unconstitutional resolutions adopted to deprive us of our rights, our liberties, and the peaceable enjoyment of our possessions.
From the present hostile aspect, and from bitter experience in the State of Missouri, it is greatly feared lest the barbarous scenes acted in that State will be re-acted in this. If Missouri goes unpunished, others will be greatly encouraged to follow her murderous examples.
The afflictions of your memorialists have already been overwhelming--too much for humanity, too much for American citizens to endure without complaint. We have groaned under the iron hand of tyranny and oppression these many years. We have been robbed of our property to the amount of two millions of dollars. We have been hunted as wild beasts of the forest. We have seen our aged fathers who fought in the Revolution and our innocent children alike slaughtered by our persecutors; we have seen the fair daughters of American citizens insulted and abused in the most inhuman manner; and finally we have seen fifteen thousand souls--men, women and children, driven by force of arms during the severities of the winter from their sacred homes and firesides, penniless and unprotected, to a land of strangers.
Under all these afflicting circumstances, we imploringly stretch forth {130} our hands towards the highest councils of our nation, and humbly appeal to the illustrious Senators and Representatives of a great and free people for redress and protection.
Hear, O hear the petitioning voice of many thousands of American citizens, who now groan in exile on Columbia's free soil! Hear, O hear the weeping and bitter lamentations of widows and orphans, whose husbands and fathers have been cruelly martyred in the land where the proud eagle exulting soars! Let it not be recorded in the archives of the nations that Columbia's exiles sought protection and redress at your hands, but sought it in vain. It is in your power to save us, our wives, and our children from a repetition of the bloodthirsty scenes of Missouri, and greatly relieve the fears of a persecuted and injured people, by ordaining for their protection the following ordinance, namely--
AN ORDINANCE
For the protection of the people styled the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, residing on the western borders of the State of Illinois.
PREAMBLE.
Whereas the State of Missouri at sundry times has unconstitutionally deprived a certain portion of her citizens (called "Mormons,") of their rights, property, lands, and even of their lives:
And whereas, in the years 1838 and 1839 the said State of Missouri with impunity did illegally and inhumanly exile and banish for ever from her limits and jurisdiction all the said citizens (called "Mormons,") that remained alive.
And whereas, after being hospitably received by the citizens of Illinois, the said State of Illinois did grant, enact, and charter for the benefit and convenience of the said exiled "Mormons" as follows:--
[Here in the original document is inserted the city charter of Nauvoo already published, Vol. IV, pp 239-249.]
And whereas, by the 10th article of the Constitution of the United States as amended--"Art. 10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;" and whereas, according to the fourth article and section second, "The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States:" and whereas, according to the second paragraph of the {131} third section of said Constitution, "The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make the needful rules and regulations respecting territory;" and whereas the said Congress has the power to protect each state against invasion and insurrection: and whereas most of the inhabitants of the city of Nauvoo are exiles from the State of Missouri: and whereas most of the lands owned in the State of Missouri were purchased from the United States, and patented by the United States to the amount of more than $200,000 worth: and whereas the United States are bound to clear the title and protect it: and whereas the said exiles or expelled "Mormons" have lost in property and damages about two millions of dollars: and whereas the said State of Missouri continues her ravages, persecutions, and plunderings, by kidnapping said exiles from Illinois, and by other depredations:
Now, therefore, to show the fatherly care of the United States, to ratify the said charter, to protect the said exiles from mob violence, and shield them in their rights:--
Section 1. Be it ordained by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities belonging to Territories, and not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, are hereby granted and secured to the inhabitants of the city of Nauvoo, in addition to the spirit, letter, meaning, and provisions of the afore-mentioned charter, or act of incorporation from the State of Illinois, until the State of Missouri restores to those exiled citizens the lands, rights, privileges, property, and damage for all losses.
Section 2. And be it further ordained, in order to effect the object and further intention of this ordinance, and for the peace, security, happiness, convenience, benefit, and prosperity of the said city of Nauvoo, and for the common weal and honor of our country, that the mayor of Nauvoo be, and he is hereby empowered by this consent of the President of the United States; whenever the actual necessity of the case and the public safety shall require it, to call to his aid a sufficient number of United States forces, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, and protect the innocent from the unhallowed ravages of lawless banditti that escape justice on the western frontier; and also to preserve the power and dignity of the Union.
Section 3. And be it further ordained that the officers of the United States army are hereby required to obey the requisitions of this ordinance.
Section 4. And be it further ordained that, for all services rendered in quelling mobs and preserving the public peace the said Nauvoo {132} Legion shall be under the same regulations, rules, and laws of pay as the troops of the United States.
City of Nauvoo, Illinois, December 21st, 1843.
Hyrum Smith, Benjamin Warrington,
John Taylor, Daniel Spencer,
Orson Pratt, Brigham Young,
W. W. Phelps, Orson Hyde,
Heber C. Kimball,
Councilors;
Orson Spencer,
Daniel H. Wells,
Samuel Bennett,
Geo. A. Smith,
Geo. W. Harris,
Aldermen;
Joseph Smith, Mayor;
Willard Richards, Recorder;
John P. Greene, Marshal. [1]
Two letters came into the post-office from the sheriff of Clark County, Missouri. From them it appears that that State wishes to continue the old game of seizing witnesses and making prisoners of them, to cover up her mobocracy and kidnapping under a legal form. The following answer was written:--
Letter: W. W. Phelps to J. White, Esq., Anent Avery Affair.
CITY OF NAUVOO, ILL., Dec. 21, 1843.
SIR,--Two letters were put into my hands this morning relative to the witnesses of Mr. Avery's innocence as to being accessory to horse stealing some four years since. In the first place, Mr. Avery was abducted from this State without process, contrary to law. In the second place, the principal for felony by the law of Missouri should be indicted within three years, &c. Again, the revised statutes of Missouri have a wise provision in such cases as Mr. Avery's. If Mr. Avery, therefore, will sue out a commission according to the law concerning {133} depositions, (R. S., page 219 to 222,) directed to Alderman Geo. W. Harris, an acting justice of the peace for the city of Nauvoo, and county of Hancock, the necessary testimony to establish Mr. Avery's innocence will be taken according to law, and forwarded to the proper officer in due time.
Respectfully, &c..
W. W. PHELPS.
J. WHITE, ESQ., Dep. Sheriff,
Clark Co., Waterloo, Mo.
P.S. You will have the politeness to show this to Mr. Avery.
In the evening I was visited by several strangers, and had considerable conversation with them.
_Friday, 22.--_At home at nine o'clock, a.m., reading a magazine to my children.
[Sidenote: Attitude of Prophet on Mobocracy and Politics.]
A little after twelve went into the store-room occupied by Butler and Lewis, and commenced a conversation with Dr. John F. Charles, to convince him that mobocracy is not justifiable, and that I did not deal in politics.
David Holman, living about two miles from Ramus, went out in the evening with his family visiting. About ten o'clock he discovered his house on fire. The neighbors had inquired how long he would be gone. A man rode to Carthage. A company went up, secured the provisions to themselves, and fired the house.
Warm and pleasant weather.
_Saturday, 23.--_At home, counseling the brethren who called on me, and attending to my domestic duties, making preparations for a Christmas dinner party.
Prayer meeting in the Assembly Room.
_Sunday, 24.--_At home. Received a visit from Mr. Richardson, one of the men who assisted in kidnapping Avery. He manifested some repentance and sorrow for his part in that transaction, and promised to use what influence he had with the Missourians to have Avery set at liberty.
[Sidenote: A Christmas Serenade.]
{134} _Monday, 25.--_This morning, about one o'clock, I was aroused by an English sister, Lettice Rushton, widow of Richard Rushton, Senior, (who, ten years ago, lost her sight,) accompanied by three of her sons, with their wives, and her two daughters, with their husbands, and several of her neighbors, singing, "Mortals, awake! with angels join," &c., which caused a thrill of pleasure to run through my soul. All of my family and boarders arose to hear the serenade, and I felt to thank my Heavenly Father for their visit, and blessed them in the name of the Lord. They also visited my brother Hyrum, who was awakened from his sleep. He arose and went out of doors. He shook hands with and blessed each one of them in the name of the Lord, and said that he thought at first that a cohort of angels had come to visit him, it was such heavenly music to him.
At home all day. About noon, gave counsel to some brethren who called on me from Morley Settlement, and told them to keep law on their side, and they would come out well enough.
At two o'clock, about fifty couples sat down at my table to dine. While I was eating, my scribe called, requesting me to solemnize the marriage of his brother, Dr. Levi Richards, and Sara Griffiths; but as I could not leave, I referred him to President Brigham Young, who married them.
[Sidenote: Rockwell's Return to Nauvoo.]
A large party supped at my house, and spent the evening in music, dancing, &c., in a most cheerful and friendly manner. During the festivities, a man with his hair long and falling over his shoulders, and apparently drunk, came in and acted like a Missourian. I requested the captain of the police to put him out of doors. A scuffle ensued, and I had an opportunity to look him full in the face, when, to my great surprise and joy untold, I discovered it was my long-tried, warm, but cruelly persecuted friend, Orrin {135} Porter Rockwell, just arrived from nearly a year's imprisonment, without conviction, in Missouri.
The following is his statement of his experience and sufferings by that people:--
Rockwell's Experience in Missouri.
I, Orrin Porter Rockwell, was on my way from New Jersey to Nauvoo; and while at St. Louis, on the 4th March, 1843, was arrested by a Mr. Fox, on oath of Elias Parker, who swore I was the O. P. Rockwell advertised in the papers as having attempted to assassinate Lilburn W. Boggs, and was taken before a magistrate in St. Louis.
I was then put into the St. Louis county jail, and kept two days with a pair of iron hobbles on my ankles. About midnight, was taken into the stage coach in charge of Fox, and started for Jefferson City. There were nine passengers, two of them women. I sat on the middle seat. One of the men behind me commenced gouging me in the back. I spoke to him, and told him that it was dark, and I could not see him, but that he was no gentleman. One of the ladies whispered to him, and he ceased the operation.
The next night, the driver, being drunk, ran against a tree, and broke the king bolt; and not knowing what to do, ironed as I was, I crawled into the boot, and found an extra bolt, and in the dark fixed the coach, got it off the tree, and we started on. Soon after, ran against a bank, and could not move. I was asleep at the time, but the bustle awake me, when I told them, if they would take off my irons, I would get off and drive, as the driver was too drunk to manage the horses. They refused. I, however, got hold of the lines, and, by the help of other passengers lifting at the wheels, got it righted, and I drove to the next stand, near the Osage river. The roads were very bad, and the load heavy; so we got along slowly.
There was an officer of the U. S. army in the coach. We were two days and two nights from St. Louis in reaching Jefferson City, where I was lodged in the jail two days and two nights. The U. S. officer went on.
Started on for Independence, still in charge of Fox. At Boonville, overtook the U.S. officer. We three were all that were in the coach all the way from Boonville to Independence. Sheriff Reynolds told me afterwards that when he looked into the stage he took me for the guard, and the officer for the prisoner, for he looked like the guilty one.
Was about four days going to Independence: arrived there just at night. A large crowd gathered around, making many remarks. Some {136} were for hanging me at once. I was then placed in the jail. In two or three days, underwent a sham trial before a justice of the peace. The courthouse was crowded, and the men were armed with hickory clubs. They set on boys from ten to twelve years of age to kick and punch me, which they did repeatedly. While in court, Fox was the main witness introduced, and he swore falsely.
Fox swore that I had stated to him that I had not been in the county for five years. I informed the court that Fox swore falsely, in proof thereof that the people of Independence knew that I had traveled through Independence several times during that time, for the people were all well aware of my having visited this place, which fact alone should satisfy them that Fox was swearing for money, which I afterwards learned that he obtained and divided with Parker.
The magistrate committed me to prison for my safe preservation, as he was afraid the people would kill me; but he could find no crime against me. This I was told by the officer who conveyed me to prison.
I was re-committed to jail, still wearing the iron hobbles, and was kept in the upper part in the day-time, and in the dungeon at night, with a little dirty straw for a bed, without any bedding, no fire, and very cold weather. For eighteen days I was not free from shaking with cold. I then got permission to buy 1 1/2 bushels of charcoal, which I put into an old kettle, and kept a little fire. When that was gone, I could not obtain any more.
After I was arrested at St. Louis, I was visited by Joseph Wood, an apostate "Mormon," who professed to be a lawyer. He was accompanied by Mr. Blanerhasset, who told me that everything I had would be taken from me, and proposed to take charge, keep, and return to me any property I might have with me. I let him have a pair of pistols, a bowie knife, and watch, which he never returned to me.
After the weather got a little warmer, they furnished me with a few old newspapers to read. A family lived at the corner of the jail. The women once in a while used to send out a little negro girl with a small basket of victuals. She handed up to the grate a big Missouri whip-stock, with a piece of twine, which I tied to the pole and drew up the basket, and let it down again.
I made a pin-hook and tied to the twine, and baited with a chunk of corn-dodger hard enough to knock a negro down with, and stuck it out of the grated window and fished for pukes. When passers-by came along, they would stop and gawk at me awhile, and pass on.
A preacher who had a family of girls lived on the opposite side of the street. The girls would watch and laugh at them, and call out and ask me if I got any bites. I replied, No, but some glorious nibbles.
{137} Numbers were put into the jail with me at different times, and taken out again. One of them, who was charged with a fraudulent issue of U. S. Treasury notes, was allowed to have his saddle-bags with him They contained some fire-steels, gun-flints, and articles of Indian trade. I sawed the irons nearly off with one of the fire-steels. He got the negro girl to get him a knife, and I finished cutting the fetters with it. He would frequently call for a good supper and pay for it, which was allowed him, but not allowed me. He was very anxious to escape, and urged me to undertake it with him. He ordered a good supper, and he ate very heartily. I would not eat, telling him that he could not run if he ate so much. Nearly dusk, as the jailer came in to get the dishes, we sprang to the door, and I locked him in, and threw the key into the garden. In coming down stairs, we met the jailer's wife. I told her that her husband was unharmed; I had only locked him up. We had a board fence to climb over, which was about twelve feet high. I climbed it and ran about twenty rods, when he called me to come and help him over, which I did. If I had not, I should have escaped. The pure air had so great an effect upon me, that I gave out and slacked my pace, The populace of the place came up, and I told them to run; they would soon catch him; and that I had given out and could not run. They soon returned with him. I fell into the crowd and walked back to the jail yard.
Sheriff J. H. Reynolds laid his hand upon my shoulder, he being the first to approach me. Asked where the key was. I told him, In the garden.
Smallwood Nowlin was the first who proposed to hang me on the spot, when Reynolds gave me a push towards the crowd, and said, "There he is, G--d--n him! Do what you damn please with him." Nowlin's son in-law (by marrying one of his mulatto wenches), a Mexican, stepped up to me to lay hold of me, when I told him to stand off, or I would mash his face. He stepped back.
I then walked up stairs into the jail. Was followed by Reynolds and others, until the room and stairs were full. Reynolds asked me what I had cut my irons off with. I went to the saddle-bags and handed him the knife and fire-steel. While feeling for them, I got hold of a piece of buckskin that had some three or four pounds of bullets tied up in it which I intended to use in mashing in the head of any one that should attempt to put a rope on my neck. A rope was passed along over the heads of the people into the room to a bald-headed man. About this time pistols could be heard cocking in every part of the room, and bowie-knives were produced as if for fight. In a few minutes the room was clear of all but three or four persons.
{138} I was then put into the dungeon, my feet ironed together, my right hand to my left foot, so close that I could not half straighten myself. The irons, when put on my wrists, were so small that they would hardly go on, and swelled them; but in eighteen days I could slip them up and turn them around my arm at the elbow. I was fed on cold corndodger and meat of the poorest description; and if I did not eat it all up, it was returned the next time.
About a month after the court sat, my irons were taken off, and I was so weak that I had to be led to the court-room by the officer. I was notified that a bill was found against me for breaking jail, and that the grand jury had failed to find a bill against me on the charge of shooting Boggs, as charged in the advertisement offering a reward for my apprehension.
I was taken into court, and was asked by the judge if I had any counsel. I told him I had not. He asked if I had any means to employ a counsel. I answered that I had none with me that I could control. He then said, Here are a number of counselors: if I was acquainted with any of them, I could take my choice. I told him I would make choice of Mr. Doniphan, who arose and made a speech, saying he was crowded with business, but that here are plenty of young lawyers who could plead for me as well as he could. The judge heard his plea, and then told me he did not consider that a sufficient excuse, and I could consider Mr. Doniphan my counsel.
I was then ordered back to jail, and ironed again in the same way. Mr. Doniphan asked for and obtained a change of venue to Clay County, which is in another district.
When the officers came to Independence jail for me, they requested me to get ready in a hurry, as they feared the mob would kill me. I told them I wanted to put on a clean shirt, if it cost me my life, as I had not been permitted to enjoy the luxury of a change of linen since I had boarded at the expense of Jackson County. While I was changing my shirt, the officers several times told me to hurry, or the mob would be on me and kill me.
When I got ready to start, the officers furnished me a very hard-trotting horse, with a miserable poor saddle, tied my feet under the horse with ropes, and my hands behind my back, and started off at a good round trot, in charge of two officers. In a short time a strange gentleman fell into our company, who was also on horseback. It was six miles to the ferry, where we could cross the Missouri river. When we got there, we saw the boat land on the opposite side, when several men got off the boat, and took a course to the woods, through which the road ran. The boat returned. This stranger asked--"Where are {139} those men going?" and was answered--"They are going to the woods to hew timber."
We then crossed, and took our way for Liberty. When we left the boat, we saw no signs of people, nor heard any sound of axes. After traveling some two or three miles, the woods became dense and brushy: we heard the crackling of brush, and the noise of men traveling through it. The officers and stranger appeared frightened, and urged speed, keeping close watch. We came to an opening in the woods, when the noise of crackling of brush ceased. We traveled safely to Liberty, where this stranger told his friends that he overheard several men in Independence planning to waylay me in the thick timber on the Missouri bottom, at the place where we heard the noises; but his being in company counteracted their plot. I was then lodged in Liberty jail. In a few days afterwards I learned that the men who went into the brush told it, that they went into the woods according to agreement to waylay me; but when they saw this stranger, it frustrated their plans.
In about ten days, on pretext of informality in the papers, I was remanded back to Independence jail. It was rumored that I was again going to be waylaid, when the two officers from Clay county took me by a different road, and so I escaped the second time.
When I was put in Independence jail, I was again ironed hand and foot, and put in the dungeon, in which condition I remained about two months. During this time, Joseph H. Reynolds, the sheriff, told me he was going to arrest Joseph Smith, and they had received letters from Nauvoo which satisfied them that Joseph Smith had unlimited confidence in me, that I was capable of toting him in a carriage or on horseback anywhere that I pleased; and if I would only tote him out by riding or any other way, so that they could apprehend him, I might please myself whether I stayed in Illinois or came back to Missouri; they would protect me, and any pile that I would name the citizens of Jackson county would donate, club together, and raise, and that I should never suffer for want afterwards: "you only deliver Joe Smith into our hands, and name your pile." I replied--"I will see you all damned first, and then I won't."
About the time that Joseph was arrested by Reynolds at Dixon, I knew that they were after him, and [yet had] no means under heaven of giving him any information. My anxiety became so intense upon the subject, knowing their determination to kill him, that my flesh twitched on my bones. I could not help it; twitch it would. While undergoing this sensation, I heard a dove alight on the window in the upper room of the jail, and commence cooing, and then went off. In a short time, he came back to the window, where a pane was broken: he crept through between the bars of iron, which were about two and-a-half inches apart. {140} I saw it fly round the trap-door several times: it did not alight, but continued cooing until it crept through the bars again, and flew out through the broken window.
I relate this, as it was the only occurrence of the kind that happened during my long and weary imprisonment; but it proved a comfort to me: the twitching of my flesh ceased, and I was fully satisfied from that moment that they would not get Joseph into Missouri, and that I should regain my freedom. From the best estimates that can be made, this incident occurred about the time when Joseph was in the custody of Reynolds.
In a few days afterwards, Sheriff Reynolds came into the jail and told me that he had made a failure in the arrest of Joseph.
After the lawyers had been about two months making out fresh papers, I was again conveyed to Liberty jail on a miserable horse, with feet and hands tied as before, but [by] a different road.
In a few days afterwards, my mother found where I was, and she came to see me and brought me $100, whereby I was enabled to fee Mr. Doniphan for his services as counsel.
The time of trial being continually delayed, I began to be uneasy. I was handcuffed in the dungeon, which is the basement story of the prison, and is about nine feet high. I took down the stove-pipe, pushed my clothes up through the stove-pipe hole, and then crawled through the hole in the floor, which was made of logs about fourteen inches thick, into the upper room. The hole was so small that it scratched my flesh, and made me bleed from many wounds. I then examined the inside door, and with the bail of the water pail I unbolted it; but finding I could not get through the outside door, I returned to my dungeon through the same narrow pass.
The following night I made another attempt through the same way; but, failing to get through the outside door, I lay down on the upper floor, where the boys who were bringing my food next morning found me. They made an alarm, when five or six men came and again conveyed me down into the dungeon. It caused quite an excitement.
My mother, learning that Mr. Doniphan had returned home, went to him, and prevailed on him to come and speak to me at the dungeon grate. While he was talking to me, a little boy, the son of a poor widow, about five or six years old, who had previously been to see me, finding I had no fire, had run home and brought some fire and chips to the grate. Mr. Doniphan said--"You little devil you, what are you doing here with this fire?" He replied, "I am going to give it to Mr. Rockwell, so that he can warm him." Doniphan then said--"You little devil you, take this fire and leave;" when the little urchin replied {141} (looking him in the face)--"Mr. Doniphan, you go to hell: I am going to give Mr. Rockwell this fire, so that he can warm him;" and he pushed it through the grate, gave me the chips, and continued to supply my daily wants of chips and fire while I continued in the dungeon.
From Mr. Doniphan I learned that a special term of court was called, and my trial would come on in about fifteen days. The night following this visit, some men came to the grates of my dungeon, and asked if I wanted to get out. I told them, No, as I had been informed that day that I should have a trial in a fortnight. They replied--"Honor bright: if you wish to get out, we'll let you out in a few minutes." I replied that I would rather remain, as my trial would come on so soon. Next morning one of the men came, put some money in the cleft of a stick, and put it through the hole to me. He refused to tell his name; but I knew by his voice that he was one of the men who came to me in the night.
The trial came on according to my last notification. I was tried for breaking Independence jail; and although the law of Missouri reads that, in order to break jail, a man must break a lock, a door, or a wall, still Judge King ruled that it was breaking jail to walk out when the door is open; and under this ruling the jury brought in a verdict of "five minutes' imprisonment in the county jail;" but I was kept there four or five hours, during which time several attempts were made to get up some other charge against me.
About 8 p.m. on December 13th, General Doniphan took me out and told me I must take across the country on foot, and not walk on any traveled road, unless it was during the night, as they would be apt to follow and again take me, as they did not care on what grounds, so they could make me trouble.
I accordingly started, accompanied by my mother, and went to the house of a widow, where I obtained my first supper in freedom for more than nine months. We then traveled two miles and obtained $4.
I then took through the woods to the road, where I heard two men riding on horseback. I hid behind a shady tree, and overheard one of them say, "He has not been gone many minutes: we shall soon overtake him."
I went round the houses and traveled in the fields by the side of the road. The moon was in its first quarter, and I traveled during the night about twenty-five miles. I carried a little food with me, and next day traveled on the road, and walked past Crooked River to a Mr. Taylor's, with all the skin off my feet.
A neighbor offered to take me in for the night, if I would go back {142} two miles. I did so, found his wife very cross with her husband, who said, "Stranger, you see my wife is very cross. I have got some whisky; let's drink: my wife will soon have something to eat." When supper was eaten, she became good tempered. I stayed in peace through the night. Next morning I ate breakfast with them, and gave them fifty cents, when the man brought out a horse, and sent a little boy with me fourteen miles, which was a very great relief to my weary feet.
The next night I stopped near where the Haun's Mill massacre took place.
The third day I walked till noon, and then hired a man to carry me the remainder of the day for seventy-five cents. Stayed at a house where I was well acquainted; but the people did not recognize me, and I did not make myself known. Paid fifty cents for supper, lodging, breakfast, and being sent twelve miles on horseback the next morning.
I then continued my journey about thirty miles, where I rested three days to recruit my feet. I was then carried twenty-five miles on horseback, and walked the same day twenty-five miles. The day following I walked forty miles, and then waited another day and engaged a man to carry me to Montrose, to which place I was three days in going. I immediately crossed the river to Nauvoo in a small boat, and came straight to the Mansion.
[Sidenote: Release of Daniel Avery.]
Daniel Avery was liberated from his imprisonment in Missouri by habeas corpus. This was, no doubt, on account of our vigilance in communicating with the Governor, and endeavoring to prosecute the kidnappers, and continually making public the conduct of Missouri.
Warm day; rain in the evening.
A PLAN FOR WOMEN'S SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE TEMPLE.
(From the Millennial Star.)
We have much pleasure in publishing and recommending the following plan to be adopted amongst the sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England. We believe that the completion of the Temple is as near the hearts of the sisters as to the hearts of the brethren, and that the following proposed [plan] will be responded to on the part of the English sisters in a manner that shall reflect honor upon themselves, and be materially instrumental in forwarding the great work.
{143} NAUVOO, Dec. 25, 1843.
To the Sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ in England, Greeting:--
DEAR SISTERS:--This is to inform you that we have here entered into a small weekly subscription for the benefit of the Temple funds. One thousand have already joined it, while many more are expected, by which we trust to help forward the great work very much. The amount is only one cent or a halfpenny per week.
As Brother Amos Fielding is waiting for this, I cannot enlarge more than to say that myself and Sister Thompson are engaged in collecting the same.
We remain,
Your affectionate sisters in Christ,
MARY SMITH,
M. R. THOMPSON.
NAUVOO, Dec. 25, 1843.
The ladies' subscription for the Temple, of one cent per week, is fully sanctioned by the First Presidency.
HYRUM SMITH.
We feel much to encourage this plan, and trust that the sisters in England will manifest that they will not be behind the sisters in Nauvoo in this laudable work. One thing in connection with this work we would mention, and request that it be attended to with the strictest accuracy; that is, that the name of each individual be recorded, and the amount which they subscribe, in order that such names may be transmitted to Nauvoo, where they will have to be entered in the books of the Lord's House. The sisters or others who may collect the subscriptions will please to be very particular on this point.
[Sidenote: Prophet's Joy at the Return of Rockwell and Avery.]
_Tuesday, 26.--_At home. I rejoiced that Rockwell had returned from the clutches of Missouri, and that God had delivered him out of their hands. Brother Daniel Avery also arrived about dusk this evening; and the Missourians have no longer the pleasure of exulting over any Mormon victims for the present; but their blood-thirstiness will not long be satisfied unless they seek out another victim on whom to glut their malice and vengeance.
_Wednesday, 27:--_Cold: a little ice in the river, which has been clear for some time past.
{144} I received letters from General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, and Hon. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, in answer to mine of Nov. 4.
Mr. Keith gave a lecture and concert of music in the assembly room this evening.
MR. ROCKWELL.
(Editorial from the Neighbor.)
The name of this individual is, no doubt, familiar to most of our readers. He has obtained some celebrity in the world also, not for his reputed virtue, but for his supposed crimes.
It will be recollected that he is the person who was basely and falsely implicated, along with Joseph Smith, as the reputed [would be] murderer of ex-Governor Boggs, while Mr. Smith was charged with being accessory before the fact. A vexatious lawsuit was instituted against Joseph Smith, wherein he was charged with the above-named crime; and finally, after many attempts of the governor of Missouri to get him into his power, was acquitted by the United States Court for the district of Illinois,
Stories of murder and blood were circulated from Maine to Missouri; they were iterated and reiterated by the newspapers of the whole Union, and painted in the most glowing colors that human ingenuity could invent. Mr. Rockwell was branded as a murderer, and Joseph Smith as accessory before the fact, without any other evidence than a story fabricated by some of our generous politicians, engendered in falsehood by hearts as dark as Erebus for religious and political effect.
This demagoguery and political corruption has caused an innocent man to be immolated in a Missouri dungeon for upwards of eight months, without the slightest evidence of his guilt, or even the most remote evidence of crime leading to his committal. He was taken without process, and committed to jail upon mere supposition, and finally acquitted without any shadow of proof having been adduced from beginning to end. This is the way that Missouri treats free-born American citizens, and they can obtain no redress.
Mr. Rockwell arrived here on Monday night, and has given us some of the details of his history since he was first taken in Missouri to the present time; and we can assure our readers that it will "a tale unfold" relative to that state, which even many of those who have been driven therefrom will find it difficult to believe that there did exist such monsters in human shape.
_Thursday, 28.--_At home. Elder Orson Hyde returned {145} from Adams county, having obtained quite a number of signatures to the Memorial to Congress, and made an affidavit of what he learned in Warsaw concerning the mob.
Affidavit of Orson Hyde--Disclosing Plan to Drive the Saints.
STATE OF ILLINOIS,
CITY OF NAUVOO. ss.
On the 28th day of December, 1843, came Orson Hyde before me, Joseph Smith, mayor of said city; and after being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that on the 26th instant, as he was passing from Lima to Nauvoo, through that part of Hancock county where Colonel Levi Williams resides, he was credibly informed that on Saturday previous the anti-Mormons held a meeting, drew up an article, and passed several resolutions, among which were these:--"We will revere and hold sacred and inviolate the Constitution of the United States, and also the Constitution of this State. We will visit the Mormons residing in our vicinity and require them to give up their guns; and such as do it shall dwell here in peace; but those who will not do it may have thirteen days to leave in; and if they are not off in that time, we will drive them." The above is the substance, but perhaps not the very words. They also swear that the Mormons shall never raise another crop in that region, &c.; &c., and further this deponent saith not.
ORSON HYDE.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 28th of December, 1843.
W. W. PHELPS, Clerk, M. C.
Daniel Avery having made affidavit of the cruel treatment he had recently received at the hands of Missourians, I here insert it:--
Affidavit of Daniel Avery--His Treatment in Missouri.
STATE OF ILLINOIS,
CITY OF NAUVOO. ss.
On the 28th day of December, 1843, came Daniel Avery before me, Joseph Smith, mayor of the city aforesaid, and after being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that on the second day of December, 1843, he was unlawfully arrested by force and arms, and kidnapped at Doty's Mill in Bear Creek precinct, Hancock county, and State aforesaid, by Colonel Levi Williams, his son John Williams, of Hancock county; John Elliott, a schoolmaster, from four-and-a-half miles below Warsaw; William Middleton and Joseph McCoy, of Clark county, Missouri, and four {146} others. Colonel Williams held his bowie-knife to his breast. Six of the others stood with their pistols cocked and their fingers upon the triggers, muzzles presented at his body, ready to fire; and two stood with clubs, and amidst the most horrid oaths and imprecations, took and bound with silk handkerchiefs your said affiant, and led him away between two men, one holding a savage bowie-knife on one side, and the other a cocked pistol on the other side, (having taken away your said affiant's weapons while binding him in the mill,) and led your affiant about a mile. Your affiant refused to walk any further, and they put him upon a horse, and tied his legs under the horse; and John Elliott, the aforesaid schoolmaster, led the horse as fast as he could make his way, through a thicket and by-way to the house of the aforesaid Colonel Williams. Here the kidnappers ate and drank; and after they had unbound me, (for they had bound me so tight that I was in great pain,) I was also suffered to partake.
They then put me upon the horse again, and bound me, and started for the river, the said schoolmaster Elliott leading the horse. When we came near a schoolhouse where there was a meeting, they came to a halt, sent messengers to the meeting, and in the course of half an hour they returned with an armed mob, with rifles and other weapons, sufficient to make the whole company number about twenty. Being all on horseback, they formed a circle, with your affiant in the center, who up to that time had acquainted every man he saw that they were kidnapping him, and marched in that order to a house on a point below Warsaw; and as I was very cold from being bound, they took me into the house to warm. I now called for a trial, as I had told them all the way that I never resisted legal authority. They said they were hunting a magistrate. Said I, "I understand you; you mean to force me into Missouri." McCoy returned, and said, "We are ready." It was about midnight. We went about three hundred yards up the river to a skiff. I refused to cross as they had promised me a trial. They forced me into a skiff and bound me, and five men put me across. Their names, so far as I could ascertain, are William Middleton, William Clark, Joseph McCoy, John Elliott, and Charles Coolidge. They landed at the tavern on the south side of the Des Moines, and took me into a back room, threw down a buffalo robe for my bed; but as my arms were bound so tight that I could not rest, I complained; told Middleton that was not the way he was used at my house. They felt at my arms and exclaimed, "By God, they are not too tight!" I begged to have one arm liberated, and finally they untied both, and I slept (under guard) on the buffalo robe before the fire.
About noon they got ready and started with me, guarded upon a horse, for McCoy's in Clark county, Missouri, about twelve miles distant. {147} It being night when we arrived, and I unwell through fatigue and confinement and the abuses before received, I went to bed. They had sent runners ahead; and after I had been in bed awhile, the sheriff came up from Waterloo, the county seat, a distance of about two miles, to arrest me and take me before a magistrate that night; but Middleton and McCoy objected, as I was sick. The sheriff, however, executed his writ, and left me in their care till morning. It being late before we breakfasted, he came in the morning and made the second scope of his authority and took me. He quizzed me the night before, to draw something out for testimony; but as innocence cannot be affected by truth, he was as wise at one end of the story as the other.
At Waterloo I was examined by a magistrate, who committed me upon the substance of an affidavit made by my son in duress with a bowie-knife at his breast, and upon a promise that he should be liberated from Monticello jail, where he was confined after being kidnapped some three or four weeks previous. My bonds were fixed at $1000; and as I had no bail in such a strange place, I was started for Palmyra jail, in Marion county. The deputy sheriff took me to Musgrove, the sheriff, a distance of ten miles. Here I sued out a writ of habeas corpus, but the judge remanded me to prison.
At Monticello my chains were taken off, and I was at liberty in the midst of a strong guard to view the town. Here a lawyer agreed to take me and my son through court (as the Missourians say,) for a horse. Saw my son in the prison; said he was forced at the point of a bowie-knife to make an affidavit against me; but he knew I was innocent.
I tried to be left with him in jail; but no, I was compelled to go to Palmyra, where I arrived the next evening. The sheriff thrust me into the dungeon without waiting to eat, warm, or anything else. The next morning the blacksmith came into the jail and ironed me to the middle of a great chain that was fast to the floor, where I remained in the horrid gloom of a Missouri prison two weeks.
From thence the deputy sheriff started, with me chained upon the horse in this wise. He then chained my right leg, and then passed the chain up to my left hand. In this way I traveled nine miles, when we stopped, and he changed the chain from my hand to the horse's neck. We arrived at Monticello, and I was chained all night.
The next day I was conveyed to Waterloo, and delivered into the custody of the sheriff of Clark county. I was kept under a strong guard by day, and at night chained to one of the guards or to the bedpost.
{148} I was informed that Middleton and McCoy procured an indictment against me, by giving bonds to the amount of some two or three hundred dollars, that they would hunt up testimony to the point for next court, there being nothing against me but the affidavit of my son before alluded to; and so the grand jury found a bill.
Ellison, my lawyer, deceived me, and put over my case for six months, because, as I suppose, I, being kidnapped, had no fees for him. I objected to having my trial put off for six months. I did not fancy the dungeon of Palmyra prison. The court concluded to let me to bail under bonds of $1000, but this I could not obtain. Subsequently it was reduced to $500, but all in vain, for I was unacquainted with the people.
This was on Saturday, and I was thus left to meditate on the mischief that may be made out of a little matter by meddlesome men.
On Monday I sued out a writ of habeas corpus; and after a fair hearing of the matter, I received the following order:--
STATE OF MISSOURI,
COUNTY OF CLARK. ss.
December, 25, 1843.
Ordered by the Clark County Court that Samuel Musgrove, sheriff of Clark county, discharge Daniel Avery from imprisonment, on an indictment found against him for the alleged crime of stealing a mare of Joseph McCoy.
By order of Court.
[Sidenote: [L. S.]]
Witness--Willis Curd, Clerk of said court, and seal of office this 25th of December, 1843.
Done at office in Waterloo, date above.
WILLIS CURD, Clerk.
HONS. JOHN W. DEWELLIN,
HENRY SNIVELY, Judges.
Very early on Tuesday morning your affiant started for Nauvoo and arrived the same evening about sundown, a distance of nearly twenty miles so crippled from the iron bondage and hard usage of Missouri, that he is hardly able to walk. To those who assisted your said affiant to obtain his release from bondage, he tenders his grateful acknowledgements; and further your affiant saith not.
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 28th day of December, 1843.
DANIEL AVERY.
W. W. PHELPS, Clerk, M. C.
[Sidenote: Joseph H. Jackson--Prophet's Interview with.]
{149} _Friday, 29.--_At home. In the forenoon, W. W. Phelps called and gave us a lesson on eloquence, and read my Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, and also a New Year's hymn without rhyme. Three p.m., I related to Dr. Bernhisel and Joseph H. Jackson [2] my commencement in receiving revelations. Mr. Jackson said he was almost persuaded to be one with me. I replied, I would that he were not only almost, but altogether.
At four p.m., I met with the City Council.
[Sidenote: Police Force of Nauvoo Increased.]
Having selected forty men to act as city policemen, they met with the Council, and were sworn into office to support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Illinois, and obey the ordinances of this city and the instructions of the Mayor, according to the best of their ability.
Names of police called by Captain Jonathan Dunham:
Jonathan Dunham, High Policeman, Charles C. Rich, 1st Lieutenant, Hosea Stout, 2nd Lieutenant, Shadrack Roundy, 3rd Lieut., John Pack, Ensign, Jesse P. Harmon, Orderly Sergt., John D. Lee, 2nd Sergeant, Daniel Carn, 3rd Sergeant, Josiah Arnold, 4th Sergeant, James Emmett, 1st Corporal, Alexander Mills, 2nd Corporal, Steven H. Goddard, 3rd Corporal, William Pace, 4th Corporal, Abraham C. Hodge, Pioneer, Levi W. Hancock, Fifer, Daniel M. Repsher, Fifer, Richard D. Sprague, Drummer, Samuel Billings, Drummer, {150} Abraham O. Smoot, Dwight Harding, John Lytle, Simeon A. Dunn, Andrew Lytle, Appleton M. Harmon, Howard Egan, James Pace, Benjamin Boyce, Francis M. Edwards, Lorenzo Clark, William H. Edwards, Davies McOlney, Moses M. Sanders, Abram Palmer, Warren A. Smith, Isaac C. Haight, George W. Clyde, John L. Butler, Vernon H. Bruce, Elbridge Tufts, Armsted Moffet, Truman R. Barlow, Azra Adams.
The Mayor said--
Address of the Mayor to the Nauvoo Police.
It is expected that a part will be on duty while others rest. It might be expected that thieves had crept into the Church for the purpose of concealing their wickedness under the garb of sanctity.
It is an abominable thing to set a thief to catch a thief; and I would look with the utmost contempt upon men who do this as guilty of a mean or cowardly act.
Some city councils have taken thieves out of their prisons, and employed them as policemen, under the old and foolish adage--"Set a rogue to catch a rogue," which is decidedly wrong, and is corrupt in policy.
You will act under the direction of Jonathan Dunham--we will call him High Policeman. In reality he is the captain of the police: but as men are apt to be frightened at a military title, we will use s civil title, as these policemen are all civil officers of the city.
Captain Dunham is the man to send after a thief. He will not come back, after following him a mile, to ask if he may shoot him, if he resists. Some men have strange ears and changeable hearts: they become transformed from their original purity and integrity, and become altogether different from what they were.
If the bloodthirsty hell-hounds of Missouri continue their persecution, we will be forbearing, until we are compelled to strike; then do it decently and in good order, and break the yoke effectually, so that it cannot be mended. The mob have been so repulsed in their last attempt at kidnapping, they may stand in fear, at least for a short time.
We will be in peace with all men, so long as they will mind their own business and let us alone. Even "Peace with Missouri" shall be the motto of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from this {151} time forth, if they will stop their persecution and oppressive warfare against us. Let them alone, for they stink in the nostrils of the Almighty: let them alone. Porter Rockwell has come home clear. A Missouri grand jury could not find a bill against him even in Jackson county; and that proves me clear of the charge of being accessory of shooting Lilburn W. Boggs. Many of our difficulties from the State of Missouri are hurled upon us through the influence of some of our near neighbors.
Governor Ford has boasted of being a law-abiding man. A governor certainly should be law-abiding. It is therefore our best policy to acquaint the Executive, by affidavits, of every violation of our rights, so that when the onset comes, he will be obliged by law to send the militia to our support. Let us keep cool as a cucumber on a frosty morning. Do not be excited. Say nothing about Missouri's oppression. "A soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger," therefore we "poor pussy" this generation.
Keep a strict account of the time you serve as policemen. Have the ordinances of the city always in your possession, and study them, sad ferret out all grogshops, gambling-houses, brothels, and disorderly conduct; and if a transgressor resists, cuff his ears. If anyone lifts a weapon or presents a pistol at you, take his life, if need be, to preserve your own; but enforce the ordinances, and preserve the peace of the city, and take care of your own lives. Let no horses be taken away out of the city, or anything else stolen, if you can help it.
Let Missouri alone. Keep out of her territory. Don't go over there on any business whatever. Any of this people would be subject to cruel abuse, if found in that State, in the same manner that Porter Rockwell has been. He was seized in St. Louis while attending to his lawful business, picked up and ironed, and thrown in jail without any form of law, conveyed to Independence in the custody of a ruffian who swore falsely in the hope of getting a reward, kept in irons all the way, lodged in Independence jail without even the form of an inquiry, chained double in a filthy, damp, unventilated dungeon,--chained hand and foot, so that he could not straighten for months, till his body was reduced to a mere skeleton, and he unable to walk when the irons were taken off, and he had to be led,--half fed on the refuse of what dogs would not eat: his case presented to a Jackson county grand jury, and not evidence enough to warrant them in even finding an indictment. After which, the Missouri court, in the plenitude of their justice, transmitted the innocent and unindicted man back to the dungeon, without fire, provisions, or any other comfort,--hoping by this torture, no doubt, to produce death, or force him to accede to an infamous proposition, "that whether Jo Smith was guilty or innocent, only come out against {152} him, you shall have your liberty, and receive a liberal reward." After months have passed away, without any shadow of law, the door is opened, and he is told to "slip off privately, or the people will hang you." Keep out of Missouri, if you don't want such treatment as this; for the Averys, Rockwell, and many others have been thankful to get away with their lives.
If any man attempts to bribe you in any way whatever, or persuade you to neglect your duty, tell the same to me. Let us have a reformation.
There are speculators in this State who are wanting to sell revolving pistols to us, in order to fight the Missourians, and at the same time inciting the Missourians to fight us. Don't buy: it would be better to buy ploughshares and raise corn with them.
My life is more in danger from some little dough-head of a fool in this city than from all my numerous and inveterate enemies abroad. I am exposed to far greater danger from traitors among ourselves than from enemies without, although my life has been sought for many years by the civil and military authorities, priests, and people of Missouri; and if I can escape from the ungrateful treachery of assassins, I can live as Caesar might have lived, were it not for a right-hand Brutus. I have had pretended friends betray me. All the enemies upon the face of the earth may roar and exert all their power to bring about my death, but they can accomplish nothing, unless some who are among us and enjoy our society, have been with us in our councils, participated in our confidence, taken us by the hand, called us brother, saluted us with a kiss, join with our enemies, turn our virtues into faults, and, by falsehood and deceit, stir up their wrath and indignation against us, and bring their united vengeance upon our heads. All the hue-and-cry of the chief priests and elders against the Savior, could not bring down the wrath of the Jewish nation upon His head, and thereby cause the crucifixion of the Son of God, until Judas said unto them, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, he is the man; hold him fast." Judas was one of the Twelve Apostles, even their treasurer, and dipt with their Master in the dish, and through his treachery, the crucifixion was brought about; and we have a Judas in our midst.
The Mayor blesses the Police.
It shall be said in time to come, Where are our old policemen? Let us have one of the old policemen, to stand at our window, guard our interest, and protect our families, and we shall be safe.
If you will magnify your office, the full confidence of Israel shall be the blessing that shall be conferred on you in time to come.
{153} Counselor Hyrum Smith spoke of the importance of the police office.
The Mayor said that if any one offered a bribe to a policeman, the city will pay that policeman twice the amount offered for the information, when reported to the Mayor.
_Friday, 29.--_My clerk made copies of five affidavits made yesterday by Elder Orson Hyde, Mr. Daniel Avery, and others, and sent the same to the Governor, with the following letter:--
Letter to Governor Ford--Accompanying Affidavits.
NAUVOO, December 30, 1843.
SIR:--I forward to your Excellency a number of affidavits relative to the late kidnapping of the Averys, and upon other matters. When the mob made efforts to resist the laws, Joseph Smith, as Mayor, gave notice to Major-General Law to hold a portion of the Nauvoo Legion in readiness; and Aaron Johnson, Esq., called for some troops to maintain the laws: but I am happy to say, none were ordered to march, as it was deemed most advisable to let Colonel Levi Williams and his mob flourish until indictments could be made at the Circuit Court of Hancock county.
We shall continue to keep your Excellency informed upon all matters of moment touching the premises.
_Saturday, 30.--_At nine, a.m., held Mayor's court. Two boys, Roswell and Evander White, were brought up for stealing six hens and a rooster. They were sentenced to pay for the fowls, and to ten days' hard labor each on the streets.
In the afternoon, met in the assembly room with the quorum. William Law and wife were not present. Warm and rainy.
_Sunday, 31st.--_At home.
In the afternoon, called with Elder Parley P. Pratt to see his wife.
At early candle-light, went to prayer-meeting; administered the sacrament; after which I retired. At midnight, about fifty musicians and singers sang Phelps' New Year's Hymn under my window.
{154} Warm and rainy. No ice to be seen.
The subjoined list shows a few of the publications for and against the Saints during the year.
Pro et con Mormonism, publications for the year 1843.
The Alton Telegraph published several very severe articles against the Church.
Edward Brotherton published a scurrilous pamphlet at Manchester, England, entitled "Mormonism--its Rise and Progress, and the Prophet Joseph Smith."
The Richmond Palladium published an amusing and favorable article on "Mormonism."
The Boston Bee published a series of articles favorable to the Saints, which had a beneficial effect in putting down prejudice and misrepresentation.
A favorable account of a visit to Nauvoo was published by Samuel A. Prior, Methodist minister.
The Morning Star, a Freewill Baptist paper, published a long and bitter article against the Latter-day Saints, entitled "Mormon Perversion."
A favorable article, entitled "Nauvoo and Mormonism," was published by a Traveler.
The Quincy Whig published several bitter articles against me.
The Warsaw Message, and subsequently the Warsaw Signal, published a continual tirade of abuse, misrepresentation, and lies against the Saints.
The New Haven (Con.) Herald published a favorable account of the "Mormons" in Nauvoo.
Footnotes:
1. There was also a Memorial prepared by the Prophet from the inhabitants of Hancock county generally to the same effect as the above, but it was never extensively signed or presented to Congress.
2. This man afterwards was discovered to be an adventurer and a most desperate character. Gregg in his Prophet of Palmyra, Chapter XXX, speaks of him as "an adventurer of fine appearance and gentlemanly manners, who appeared in the county (Hancock) during the troubles; went to Nauvoo, and became intimate with Smith and the leaders; afterwards turned against them--went to Warsaw and issued a pamphlet--claiming to be an expose of Mormonism and the evil purposes and practices of the Prophet * * * He was an entire stranger to the county and its people; no one knew whence he came or what became of him afterwards, when the excitement was all over. Hence it is just to say, that the equivocal position in which he stood very justly tended to lessen confidence of the public in his statements, and his little book made slight impression. The Mormons charged that he was an adventurer of the worst class--himself a counterfeiter, etc., and that he quarreled with the Prophet and the authorities because he was detected and exposed." Gregg also says that this "Expose was much of the same character as that of General Bennett's." (Ibid).
{155}
Chapter VII
PRESIDENT SMITH'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH JOHN C. CALHOUN--CARTWRIGHT DROWNING CASE, ENGLAND--CITY GUARDS INCREASED--FEARS OF LAW AND MARKS--INVESTIGATION BY THE CITY COUNCIL--RESISTANCE OF OFFICERS AT CARTHAGE--ANTI-MORMON OBJECTIONS TO CITY ORDINANCES--THE PROPHET'S DIFFICULTIES WITH FRANCIS M. HIGBEE--REGULATIONS FOR THE SALE OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.
_Monday, January 1, 1844.--_A cold, blustering rainstorm ushered in the new year.
At sunrise, Thomas Miller, James Leach, James Bridges, and John Frodsham were brought before me by the police, charged with disorderly conduct. Fined Miller $5: the others were discharged.
[Sidenote: New Year's at the Mansion.]
A large party took a new year's supper at my house, and had music and dancing till morning. I was in my private room with my family, Elder John Taylor and other friends.
_Tuesday 2.--_Two p.m., Hyrum Dayton was brought before Mayor's court for disorderly conduct in resisting and abusing the police: fined $25 and costs. His son, Lysander Dayton, for the same offense, was sentenced to ten days' hard labor, on the public streets; and subsequently, for contempt of court, ten days more.
Snow one inch deep.
I here insert Mr. Calhoun's answer to my letter of inquiry, dated November 4, 1843:--
Letter: John C. Calhoun to Joseph Smith--Defining What Former's Policy would be Towards the Saints if Elected President.
FORT HILL, December 2, 1843.
SIR:--You ask me what would be my rule of action relative the Mormons {156} or Latter-day Saints, should I be elected President; to which I answer, that if I should be elected, I would strive to administer the government according to the Constitution and the laws of the union; and that as they make no distinction between citizens of different religious creeds I should make none. As far as it depends on the Executive department, all should have the full benefit of both, and none should be exempt from their operation.
But as you refer to the case of Missouri, candor compels me to repeat what I said to you at Washington, that, according to my views, the case does not come within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, which is one of limited and specific powers.
With respect, I am, &c., &c.,
J. C. CALHOUN.
Mr. JOSEPH SMITH.
To which I wrote the following reply:--
Letter: Joseph Smith to John C. Calhoun--The Latter's Policy Towards the Latter-day Saints, if Elected President of the U. S. Considered.
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS, January 2, 1844.
Sir:--Your reply to my letter of last November, concerning your rule of action towards the Latter-day Saints, if elected President, is at hand; and that you and your friends of the same opinion relative to the matter in question may not be disappointed as to me or my mind upon so grave a subject, permit me, as a law-abiding man, as a well-wisher to the perpetuity of constitutional rights and liberty, and as a friend to the free worship of Almighty God by all, according to the dictates of every person's own conscience, to say that_ I am surprised_ that a man or men in the highest stations of public life should have made up such a fragile "view" of a case, than which there is not one on the face of the globe fraught with so much consequence to the happiness of men in this world or the world to come.
To be sure, the first paragraph of your letter appears very complacent and fair on a white sheet of paper. And who, that is ambitious for greatness and power, would not have said the same thing? Your oath binds you to support the Constitution and laws; and as all creeds and religions are alike tolerated, they must of course, all be justified or condemned according to merit or demerit. But why--tell me why are all the principal men held up for public stations so cautiously careful, not to publish to the world that they will judge a righteous judgment, law or no law? for laws and opinions, like the vanes of steeples, change with the wind.
One Congress passes a law, another repeals it; and one statesman says that the Constitution means this, and another that; and who does {157} not know that all may be wrong? the opinion and pledge, therefore, in the first paragraph of your reply to my question, like the forced steam from the engine of a steam-boat, makes the show of a bright cloud at first; but when it comes in contact with a purer atmosphere, dissolves to common air again.
Your second paragraph leaves you naked before yourself, like a likeness in a mirror, when you say, that according to your view, the Federal Government is "one of limited and specific powers," and has no jurisdiction in the case of the "Mormons." So then a State can at any time expel any portion of her citizens with impunity: and, in the language of Mr. Van Buren, frosted over with your gracious "views of the case," though the cause is ever so just, Government can do nothing for them, because it has no power.
Go on, then, Missouri, after another set of inhabitants (as the Latter-day Saints did,) have entered some two or three hundred thousand dollars' worth of land, and made extensive improvements thereon; go on, then, I say; banish the occupants or owners, or kill them, as the mobbers did many of the Latter-day Saints, and take their land and property as spoil; and let the Legislature, as in the case of the "Mormons," appropriate a couple of hundred thousand dollars to pay the mob for doing that job; for the renowned Senator from South Carolina, Mr. J. C. Calhoun, says the powers of the Federal Government are so specific and limited that it has no jurisdiction of the case! O ye people who groan under the oppression of tyrants!--ye exiled Poles, who have felt the iron hand of Russian grasp!--ye poor and unfortunate among all nations! come to the asylum of the oppressed; buy ye lands of the General Government; pay in your money to the treasury to strengthen the army and the navy; worship God according to the dictates of your own consciences; pay in your taxes to support the great heads of a glorious nation: but remember a "sovereign State" is so much more powerful than the United States, the parent Government, that it can exile you at pleasure, mob you with impunity, confiscate your lands and property, have the Legislature sanction it,--yea, even murder you as an edict of an emperor, and it does no wrong; for the noble Senator of South Carolina says the power of the federal Government is so limited and specific, that it has no jurisdiction of the case! What think ye of imperium in imperio?
Ye spirits of the blessed of all ages, hark! Ye shades of departed statesmen, listen! Abraham, Moses, Homer, Socrates, Solon, Solomon, and all that ever thought of right and wrong, look down from your exaltations if you have any; for it is said, "In the midst of counselors there is safety;" and when you have learned that fifteen thousand innocent citizens, after having purchased their lands of the United States {158} and paid for them, were expelled from a "sovereign State," by order of the Governor, at the point of the bayonet, their arms taken from them by the same authority, and their right of migration into said State denied, under pain of imprisonment, whipping, robbing, mobbing, and even death, and no justice or recompense allowed; and, from the Legislature with the Governor at the head, down to the Justice of the Peace, with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a bowie-knife in the other, hear them all declare that there is no justice for a "Mormon" in that State; and judge ye a righteous judgment, and tell me when the virtue of the States was stolen, where the honor of the General Government lies hid, and what clothes a senator with wisdom. O nullifying Carolina! O little tempestuous Rhode Island! Would it not be well for the great men of the nation to read the fable of the partial judge; and when part of the free citizens of a State had been expelled contrary to the Constitution, mobbed, robbed, plundered, and many murdered, instead of searching into the course taken with Joanna Southcott, Ann Lee, the French Prophets, the Quakers of New England, and rebellious negroes in the slave Slates, to hear both sides and then judge, rather than have the mortification to say, "Oh, it is my bull that has killed your ox! That alters the case! I must inquire into it; and if, and if--!"
If the General Government has no power to reinstate expelled citizens to their rights, there is a monstrous hypocrite fed and fostered from the hard earnings of the people! A real "bull beggar" upheld by sycophants. And although you may wink to the priests to stigmatize, wheedle the drunkards to swear, and raise the hue-and-cry of--"Impostor! false prophet! G--d--n old Joe Smith!" yet remember, if the Latter-day Saints are not restored to all their rights and paid for all their losses, according to the known rules of justice and judgment, reciprocation and common honesty among men, that God will come out of His hiding place, and vex this nation with a sore vexation: yea, the consuming wrath of an offended God shall smoke through the nation with as much distress and woe as independence has blazed through with pleasure and delight. Where is the strength of Government? Where is the patriotism of a Washington, a Warren, and Adams? And where is a spark from the watch-fire of '76, by which one candle might be lit that would glimmer upon the confines of Democracy? Well may it be said that one man is not a state, nor one state the nation.
In the days of General Jackson, when France refused the first instalment for spoliations, there was power, force, and honor enough to resent injustice and insult, and the money came: and shall Missouri, filled with negro-drivers and white men stealers, go "unwhipped of justice" for tenfold greater sins than France? No! verily, no! While {159} I have powers of body and mind--while water runs and grass grows--while virtue is lovely and vice hateful; and while a stone points out a sacred spot where a fragment of American liberty once was, I or my posterity will plead the cause of injured innocence, until Missouri makes atonement for all her sins, or sinks disgraced, degraded, and damned to hell, "where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
Why, sir, the powers not delegated to the United States and the States belong to the people, and Congress sent to do the people's business have all power; and shall fifteen thousand citizens groan in exile? O vain men! will ye not, if ye do not restore them to their rights and $2,000,000 worth of property, relinquish to them, (the Latter-day Saints,) as a body, their portion of power that belongs to them according to the Constitution? Power has its convenience as well as inconvenience. "The world was not made for Caesar alone, but for Cassius too."
I will give you a parable. A certain lord had a vineyard in a goodly land, which men labored in at their pleasure. A few meek men also went and purchased with money from some of these chief men that labored at pleasure a portion of land in the vineyard, at a very remote part of it, and began to improve it, and to eat and drink the fruit thereof,--when some vile persons, who regarded not man, neither feared the lord of the vineyard, rose up suddenly and robbed these meek men, and drove them from their possessions, killing many.
This barbarous act made no small stir among the men in the vineyard; and all that portion who were attached to that part of the vineyard where the men were robbed rose up in grand council, with their chief man, who had firstly ordered the deed to be done, and made a covenant not to pay for the cruel deed, but to keep the spoil, and never let those meek men set their feet on that soil again, neither recompense them for it.
Now, these meek men, in their distress, wisely sought redress of those wicked men in every possible manner, and got none. They then supplicated the chief men, who held the vineyard at pleasure, and who had the power to sell and defend it, for redress and redemption; and those men, loving the fame and favor of the multitude more than the glory of the lord of the vineyard, answered--"Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you, because we have no power."
Now, when the lord of the vineyard saw that virtue and innocence were not regarded, and his vineyard occupied by wicked men, he sent men and took the possession of it to himself, and destroyed those unfaithful servants, and appointed them their portion among hypocrites.
And let me say that all men who say that Congress has no power to restore and defend the rights of her citizens have not the love of the truth abiding in them. Congress has power to protect the nation against {160} foreign invasion and internal broil; and whenever that body passes an act to maintain right with any power, or to restore right to any portion of her citizens, it is the supreme law of the land; and should a State refuse submission, that State is guilty of insurrection or rebellion, and the President has as much power to repel it as Washington had to march against the "whisky boys at Pittsburgh," or General Jackson had to send an armed force to suppress the rebellion of South Carolina.
To close, I would admonish you, before you let your "candor compel" you again to write upon a subject great as the salvation of man, consequential as the life of the Savior, broad as the principles of eternal truth, and valuable as the jewels of eternity, to read in the 8th section and 1st article of the Constitution of the United States, the first, fourteenth and seventeenth "specific" and not very "limited powers" of the Federal Government, what can be done to protect the lives, property and rights of a virtuous people, when the administrators of the law and law-makers are unbought by bribes, uncorrupted by patronage, untempted by gold, unawed by fear, and uncontaminated tangling alliances--even like Caesar's wife, not only unspotted, but unsuspected! And God, who cooled the heat of a Nebuchadnezzar's furnace or shut the mouths of lions for the honor of a Daniel, will raise your mind above the narrow notion that the General Government has no power, to the sublime idea that Congress, with the President as Executor, is as almighty in its sphere as Jehovah is in his.
With great respect, I have the honor to be
Your obedient servant,
JOSEPH SMITH.
HON. ("MR") J. C. CALHOUN,
Fort Hill, S. C.
[Sidenote: Release of Pugmire and Cartwright from Prison, England.]
Jonathan Pugmire, Senior, and Thomas Cartwright discharged by Judge Whitehead, at Chester, England. The judge would not allow the costs of prosecution or witnesses to be paid by the Crown. It was very evident that the Church of England ministers were at the bottom of the machinations, and were sorely discomfited at the result. I insert the statement of the unfortunate occurrence given by Jonathan Pugmire, Junior:--
Cartwright Drowning--Accident at a Baptism in England.
Thomas Cartwright was baptized November 6, 1843, unknown to his wife, by Elder Jonathan Pugmire, Senior; but she had mistrusted he {161} had gone to the water, and went to Pugmire's house the same evening, and inquired where Tom was, (meaning her husband). Mrs. Pugmire answered she did not know.
After this, Mrs. Cartwright went out and met them returning from the waters of baptism, and shouted--"Damn you, I'll dip ye!" and expressing her determination to have revenge on Pugmire's family, she used a great deal of very bad language.
Some of the neighbors (not belonging to the Church) advised her not to speak too much against the Latter-day Saints, as she might yet become convinced of the truth of their doctrines and be baptized herself. She replied, "I hope to God, if ever I am such a fool, that I'll be drowned in the attempt!"
A short time afterwards, in consequence of her husband talking to her about the truths of the Gospel, she consented to go to Pugmire's house and hear for herself.
After attending a few times she told her husband she had a dream, in which she saw it was a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God, and requested to be baptized.
Mrs. Pugmire talked with her, reminding her of her harsh expression. She confessed all, and said, "I am very sorry; and as my conduct is known to all this neighborhood, I do not wish to have my baptism public, but to have it done privately; and I wish no female to accompany me to the water but you."
On the night of her baptism (November 23, 1843), she was conducted to the water by her husband and Elder Pugmire, witnessed by Mrs. Pugmire and James Moore. Previous to this time, Elder Pugmire had baptized eight or ten persons in the same place.
On arriving at the water, they found the creek had overflowed its banks, in consequence of a heavy rain which had fallen that day. Elder Pugmire examined its banks, and concluded he could attend to the ordinance without going into the regular bed of the creek.
This was done; but on raising Mrs. Cartwright, and as they were walking out, they both went under the water.
It was afterwards discovered that the water had undermined the bank, and it gave way under their feet. Meantime, Thomas Cartwright leaped into the creek and seized hold of his wife's petticoat; but the water carried her off, and left the garment in his hand.
James Moore got hold of Elder Pugmire by the hair of his head, Mrs. Pugmire holding Moore's hand, and thus they dragged him out.
Moore then ran to the village to give the alarm. On his return, he found Cartwright about one hundred yards from where he leaped in, {162} with his head above water, holding on to the stump of a tree. He said he could not have remained in that situation one minute longer.
George Knowlen swam the stream and got him out; but his wife was not found until the day following, when she was found about two hundred yards from where the accident occurred, standing upon her feet, with her head above water, the stream having fallen about two feet.
On Pugmire reaching home, a Church of England minister had him arrested and dragged from his family the same evening, and kept in custody of a constable until a coroner's inquest was held on the body of the deceased.
After she was buried, Cartwright was arrested, and both were sent to Chester jail, to wait their trial before the judge of assize. They were in confinement six weeks and three days before their trial came on.
The judge (Whitehead) remarked to the jury that baptism was an ordinance of our religion, and that it was a mere accident which had occurred. He advised the jurymen to be very careful how they examined the case before them--that it was an ordinance instituted by God (at that moment the Lord spoke by the voice of thunder, which shook the court house,) and advised the prisoners to be very careful in the future to select a proper place for the performance of that rite. They were then set free.
During their imprisonment, Pugmire had a vision, in which he was informed that they would be liberated; and he told Cartwright to be of good cheer, for they certainly would be acquitted.
Wednesday 3.--At home.
At noon, met with the City Council. The following is a copy of the minutes:--
Difficulty of Wm. Law et al. With the Police.
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL, Jan. 3, 1834, 2 o'clock.
Names of members called. All present.
The mayor directed the marshal to notify William Law and John Snyder that the council was in session, and informed the council that William Law had said to his brother Hyrum that the police had been sworn by him (the Prophet) secretly to put Law out of the way. [The Prophet said] "I have had no private conversation with any of the police but the high policeman, Jonathan Dunham, and that was to request him to have especial care of my personal safety, as I apprehended attempts to kidnap me by the Missourians." He called on the policemen to say if they had received any private oath from him, when they all said, "No."
Councilor Hyrum Smith said that William Law told him the police {163} had sworn him (Law) to keep the secret, which was that he was to be put out of the way in three months.
The mayor said he wished policemen to understand forever that all he wanted was that they should execute the ordinances of the city and his orders according to law.
Several of the police called for the individual to be named who made the statement to William Law.
The mayor said he thought proper that William Law should come and make his statement to the council on oath.
The mayor then said to the police, "If you see a man stealing, and you have told him three times to stand, and warned him that he is a dead man if he does not stand, and he runs shoot off his legs. The design of the office of the police is to stop thieving; but an enemy should not be harmed until he draws weapons upon you."
William Law came in, and was sworn to tell the whole truth touching the case before the council.
William Law said he had been informed that some of the policemen had had another oath administered besides the one administered to them publicly: that one of them said there was a Judas in General Smith's cabinet,--one who stood next to him; and he must be taken care of, and that he must not be allowed to go into the world, but must be taken care of; and he was not only a dough-head and a traitor like Judas, but an assassin like Brutus: that the idea had been advanced that the scriptures support such a doctrine.
Alderman Harris. Who is the person? and who told you?
Law. I am under obligations not to tell.
Alderman Harris. That is immaterial. You are bound to disclose the whole truth here by virtue of your oath.
Law. I am afraid to tell. One oath is as good as another.
The Mayor said he would protect him. He was bound to tell.
Law. Eli Norton told me.
Alderman Harris. Was Eli Norton of the police?
Law. No; but he got his information from Daniel Carn, who is a policeman.
The marshal was sent to bring Eli Norton.
The mayor said to the police--"On conditions I have had no private conversation with any of you, rise up and change the breech of your gun upwards," when all arose and changed the positions of their guns as indicated.
Counselor Hyrum Smith considered the matter very alarming when he heard it. He referred to Dr. Sampson Avard's and John Carl's treachery and false swearing in Missouri, and rehearsed what was said by the mayor to the police in the former council.
{164} The mayor said, "The reason why I made the remarks I did was on account of the reports brought from Missouri jail by O. P. Rockwell, that my enemies were determined to get me into their power and take my life, and thereby thought they would accomplish the overthrow of 'Mormonism.' And to enable them to effect this, they had secured the services of some of my most confidential friends, whom I did not suspect, and who were living in Nauvoo, to deliver me into their hands so that their religious organizations upon their own principles might stand; for they feared that 'Mormonism' would destroy their present religious creeds, organizations, and orthodox systems. They did not design to try me, but hang me, or take my life anyhow: that they had a man in our midst who would fix me out, if they could not get me into their power without." He then referred to his remarks at the previous council.
Minutes of last council being called for, were then read.
Eli Norton sworn.
Question by the Mayor Did Carn say I had administered a private oath?
Norton. No. Did not say much about Law. Did not say you had ever administered any private oath. Carn never intimated to me that Law must be put out of the way. Did not call William Law's name, nor any other name. Did not say the policemen had received a private oath. Understood Carn to say they had received private instructions; and if a man could not keep a secret, he was not worthy of a place in the Church. Did not say the mayor had given him a private charge. Did not tell where the danger was expected to come from. Told me there were dough-heads about. Did not say the dough-heads were in danger, but the mayor was in danger from the dough-heads.
Question by William Law: Did you not understand from Brother Carn that he was suspicious of some person near Joseph being a dough-head, and that that person was myself?
Answer: He mentioned a dough-head as being very near Joseph, and he guessed you was the man; and I thought it might be that Daniteism was not done with.
Mayor: Tell what you know that made you so alarmed about Brother Law.
Answer: There was no chain to the conversation; but I drew the inference that Brother Law was the dough-head from Carn's conversation; but Carn did not name Law.
Daniel Carn was sworn: Said, "I told Brother Norton that certain men had been counseled by the Prophet to invest their means in publishing the new translation of the Bible; and they instead of obeying that counsel, had used their property for the purpose of building a {165} steam-mill and raising a hundred acres of hemp; and the Lord had not blessed them in the business, but sunk their hemp in the Mississippi river. I told him it was my opinion that Brother Law was the dough-head referred to.
I have had no secret conversation whatever with the mayor, and never received any charge except the one, with the rest of the police, before the city council.
The mayor suggested the propriety, since Rockwell and others are clear, and we have the promise of protection from the governor; and as the police are now well organized, that they put up their guns and that the council pass such an order. The Danite system alluded to by Norton never had any existence. It was a term made use of by some of the brethren in Far West, and grew out of an expression I made use of when the brethren were preparing to defend themselves from the Missouri mob, in reference to the stealing of Macaiah's images (Judges chapter 18)--If the enemy comes, the Danites will be after them, meaning the brethren in self-defense.
The mayor instructed the police to lay up their arms till further orders.
At half past four p.m. council adjourned.
[Sidenote: Reconciliation of the Prophet and Wm. Law.]
The council spent nearly the whole day in investigating the subject and examining these two witnesses. The police were all sworn and cross-examined by William Law and the aldermen, and the result showed nothing but imagination, having grown out of the surmises of Daniel Carn; upon which Law became satisfied, shook hands with me, declaring he did not believe a word of the story, and said he would stand by me to the death, and called the whole council and the police to witness his declaration.
_Thursday 4.--_At home.
[Sidenote: Repartee of Joseph and Emma Smith]
I took dinner in the north room, and was remarking to Brother Phelps what a kind, provident wife I had,--that when I wanted a little bread and milk, she would load the table with so many good things, it would destroy my appetite. At this moment Emma came in, while Phelps, in continuation of the conversation said, "You must do as Bonaparte did--have a little table, just large enough for the victuals you want yourself." {166} Mrs. Smith replied, "Mr. Smith is a bigger man than Bonaparte: he can never eat without his friends." I remarked, "That is the wisest thing I ever heard you say."
_Friday 5.--_At home.
Last night I dreamed I saw two serpents swallowing each other tail foremost.
[Sidenote: Alarm of William Marks.]
Another tempest in a tea-pot, or big fuss about nothing at all. In consequence of the night being severely cold, some persons built a fire on the bank of the river, nearly opposite William Marks' house. He then became afraid, and concluded he must either be the Brutus or the dough-head, and lay awake all night, thinking the police had built the fire to kill him by! In the morning he called on me, reported the circumstances and expressed his fears, when another session of inquiry was held by the city council at his request, and the police sworn and questioned. The following is a synopsis of the minutes:--
Special Session of the City Council--Fears of Wm. Law and Marks.
[Sidenote: Friday, January 5, 1834, 11 a.m.]
Names of members called.
Prayer by O. Spencer.
Minutes of the last two councils read and approved.
Object of the council stated by the mayor, similar to the last council as William Law and William Marks had considered themselves in danger. When he heard the report he was unwilling to believe anything about it, from the course the thing took in the last council; but, for the sake of others, he had called this council.
As Leonard Soby was going home night before last, he was hailed by a supposed policeman with a gun, which frightened him. Soby says that a policeman had told him that Marks and Law must not cross his tracks; that Warren Smith said at another time that William Marks and William Law were enemies to Joseph.
I have never thought even to dream of doing anything against the peace of the inhabitants of this city. Did not know I had any enemies in this city: have stayed at home and heard but little: did not know that there was so much evil surmising among the people. My long forbearance to my enemies ought to be {167} sufficient testimony of my peaceful disposition toward all men. It occurred to my mind that it was not fear, but got up for effect; but I do not know it. I want the council to investigate this matter.
William Marks sworn. Testified that on Monday evening Brother Soby came up and said, "Are you aware of the danger you are in?" Marks replied, "No."
Soby: "Your life is threatened; a policeman stopped me in the dark last night as I was going home; I was alarmed. I supposed the threats were from that policeman, but I was mistaken. Another policeman, Warren Smith, said last Sunday that Joseph had enemies--that Law and myself were Joseph's enemies, and if they came in his way they might be popped over. A fire was kindled in the street near my house, and I thought I was watched. Francis Higbee told me, and a man in the east part of the town told me; and a man came from the other side of the river and told the story to that man, as he said. Yesterday morning, Hyrum Smith, Wilson Law, and William Law met in the street, and I told the story as before related.
Mayor. Did ever anybody tell you I directed you to be watched?
William Marks. No.
Marshal went for Francis M. Higbee and George W. Crouse.
Leonard Soby sworn. On Sunday, 31st December last, I met Warren Smith in Crouse's store; asked him if he knew who the Brutus was. Warren Smith said he believed William Law was one, and Marks another; they had better not come in his way. Did not say he would shoot them, or endanger their life in any way. Did not know whether there were any private instructions, or not. Believed Brother Marks was in danger. Did not think Marks in any danger from Joseph. Thought Warren Smith was under a wrong impression with regard to Marks. Warren Smith said, "He, Marks, had better not cross my path when I am on duty." I gathered the idea there was something wrong with Brother Warren Smith. Do not recollect any person present.
Mayor. Did Warren Smith or any other policeman give you to understand that I had authorized him to believe there was any difficulty between me and Brother Law or Marks?
Soby. No. He did not think Warren Smith would transcend his official duties towards Law or Marks. Felt at the time Marks and Law were in danger. Did not think they were in danger, if they did out rise up against the authorities.
Did not say he had any instruction. Said to Mr. Marks, "You have enemies." My impression was that somebody had been to Joseph to make a bad impression on his mind. Warren Smith did mention brother Marks' name, I think.
{168} Thirty policemen, all who were present, sworn. Testified that General Smith had never given them any private instruction concerning the case before the council.
Warren Smith said Soby asked his opinion who was the Judas. I said, from rumor, I would suspect William Law. Does not believe he mentioned Marks' name. My opinion was founded on rumor. Brother Isaac Hill said Brother Law was in a bad situation--was kicking, and if he did not mind, he would go over the board. If he had his property in available means and was away, he would feel better. Have heard it talked of that Brother Law was not going to stand. He did not tell what he was kicking at. I understand a Brutus to mean a treacherous man.
George W. Crouse sworn. Does not recollect any conversation between Warren Smith and Leonard Soby, at his store, relative to the case in question. Had a discussion about the duties of policemen.
Councilor John Taylor said it was customary in all cities for policemen to go armed in time of danger.
Councilor Orson Hyde confirmed Councilor Taylor's observation.
Councilor Hyrum Smith spoke. Told a story of the old Dutchman and the ox. Soby makes me think of an old Dutchman that had an ox--the first animal he ever owned in his life, and he broke him to ride; then he filled a sack with rocks and laid it on the ox's back, and got on himself, and told his son to hide by the roadside, and when he came along, to jump out and hollo boo, as he wanted to know how well his ox was broke. The son did accordingly. The ox was frightened, and threw the old man off. "Father," said the son, "I did as you told me." "Yes," said the old man; "but you made too big a boo."
Francis M. Higbee sworn. Have received the impression from rumor that Mr. Law, Mr. Marks and probably one or two others, could not subscribe to all things in the Church, and there were some private matters that might make trouble. Don't know of anyone being in danger. No one told me the police had received any private instruction. Could not tell who he had received these rumors from.
William Law spoke. Said he had no personal feeling against Warren Smith. Some two or three years since, he sued Brother Warren, and stayed the suit, &c. Was suspicious Warren Smith's feelings might have risen from that source.
Councilor Hyrum Smith, Daniel Carn, Warren Smith, Leonard Soby, and William Marks addressed the council.
The mayor spoke. Said no one had come to him with tales about William Marks, to prejudice his mind against him. Was totally ignorant of it. I said to Brother Dunham,--If any man approach {169} my house with arms, or attempted to disturb my house, I wanted the police to take care of that individual, whoever he might be. I repeat the instruction, and am perfectly astonished that Brother Law, Marks, or any other man should entertain such an idea [that they were in danger.] I live above suspicion on this subject from any source whatever. I never could bring my feelings to take revenge on my enemies. The City Council did not concoct the idea of having a police. The several wards petitioned for a police to protect them against invasion--wanted citizens to pass the streets at any time of night without molestation; but if the police see a man breaking in to my house or barn, or anybody's house or barn, tell him to stand, and inquire his business. I think it possible that some person has been practicing fraud on Brother Soby and the police and upon individuals, as the police, according to their instructions, had laid away their guns.
Don't guard Brother Marks' house any more. Men must not pervert the power entrusted to them like ex-Governor Boggs, whose executive oath required him to protect the Saints in Missouri, but perverted his power to enforce their extermination from the State.
Brother Soby does not know that it was a policeman who stopped him. Brother Marks does not know that the police kindled the fire before his house. Let the police have canes. Let the citizens pass and repass at all times of night.
Councilor Taylor spoke. Thought the conclusion drawn up by Brother Soby, that Joseph or somebody was going to get revenged by setting the guard to kill Marks, was the most contemptible that could be imagined; and if Brother Soby had had the respect for Brother Joseph he ought to have had, he could not have formed such a conclusion.
Mayor referred to Francis Higbee's testimony. Thought Francis Higbee had better stay at home and hold his tongue, lest rumor turn upon him and disclose some private matters which he would prefer kept hid. Did not believe there was any rumor of the kind afloat, or he could have told some of the names of his informants. Thought the young men of the city had better withdraw from his society, and let him stand on his own merits. I by no means consider him the standard of the city.
There has been a system of corruption and debauchery, which these rumors have grown out of; and the individuals who are the authors of them are those who do not want a police: they want to prowl in the streets at pleasure without interruption.
Alderman Orson Spencer spoke, approving the conduct of the police.
General Wilson Law said. "I am Joseph's friend: he has no better {170} friend in the world: I am ready to lay down my life for him;" and upon that the mayor and General Wilson Law shook hands.
The ordinance concerning the forty policemen read twice.
The mayor objected to assuming the entire disposal of the police beyond the definition of the ordinance.
Alderman George A. Smith said he could sleep with a fire near his house, if there were some of the police warming themselves by it; and he believed any honest man could do the same.
The police received the thanks of the council.
The cross-examination and speeches are generally omitted.
Council adjourned at dusk for the want of candles.
[Sidenote: Reflections of the Prophet as to Traitors in High Places]
What can be the matter with these men? Is it that the wicked flee when no man pursueth, that hit pigeons always flutter, that drowning men catch at straws, or that Presidents Law and Marks are absolutely traitors to the Church, that my remarks should produce such an excitement in their minds. Can it be possible that the traitor whom Porter Rockwell reports to me as being in correspondence with my Missouri enemies, is one of my quorum? The people in the town were astonished, almost every man saying to his neighbor, "Is it possible that Brother Law or Brother Marks is a traitor, and would deliver Brother Joseph into the hands of his enemies in Missouri?" If not, what can be the meaning of all this? "The righteous are as bold as a lion."
A number of gentlemen boarding at my house conversed with me on national affairs. I sent for Brother Phelps, who came and read my letter to John C. Calhoun, with which they were highly edified.
Elder Brigham Young went to La Harpe for the purpose of instructing the Saints.
Commenced snowing a little before sunset, and continued all night.
_Saturday, 6.--_Snow about four inches deep. I rode out with Emma in a sleigh.
The Bishops and lesser Priesthood met at Henry W. Miller's hall.
{171} _Sunday, 7.--_At home in the morning. In the afternoon, rode out to my farm, and preached in Brother Cornelius P. Lott's house.
The Twelve Apostles attended meetings and preached in different parts of the city.
At six p.m. attended prayer-meeting with the quorum in the assembly room. Law and Marks absent.
_Monday, 8.--_At home in the morning.
At eleven went to my office to investigate a difficulty between John D. Parker and his wife. After laboring with them about two hours, brought about a reconciliation.
I also had an interview with William Law in the streets.
My uncle, John Smith, from Macedonia, visited me.
Amos Fielding arrived from Liverpool.
_Tuesday, 9.--_At home.
I insert the following from the Neighbor, as a specimen of the respect which the Carthage mob has for law or justice:
DISGRACEFUL AFFAIR AT CARTHAGE--OFFICERS RESISTED.
On Tuesday last Horace S. Eldredge, one of our county officers, went to Carthage for the purpose of arresting Milton Cook, on the charge of bastardy, and bringing him before R. D. Foster, justice of the peace of this county, before whom affidavit had been made to that effect. He found the accused in Bartlett's grocery, (Carthage,) and arrested him.
Cook had a gun that he said he had loaded for the purpose, and would make a hole through the constable if he molested him, and swore he would not be taken.
Harmon T. Wilson and others then stepped forward to his assistance, and said that they had sworn to stand by him, and that he should not go. He [Eldredge] then returned with his process to the justice of the peace, and told him what had occurred.
Mr. R. D. Foster then summoned eleven men to go along with the constable and assist him in bringing the delinquent. They went out and drove to the grocery, where they expected to find him; but he was not there. They then went out for a short time, without making known their business, when they saw an armed force gathering.
{172} They shortly afterwards returned to the grocery, and saw him there where he swore he would not be taken. There was also an armed force standing in the door, who also swore he should not be taken.
The officer having the process, Mr. Markham and Mr. Eagle stepped forward and wished to reason the case with them, the officer at the same time demanding their assistance. They were met with an armed force of about twenty, four of whom stood in the doorway, two with guns and bayonets, and two with pistols.
The two having the bayonets charged directly at Mr. Markham, and swore they would run him through, and rushed upon him with their bayonets. He, however, warded off their blows with his arm, and the bayonet glanced and struck Mr. John Eagle in the abdomen. The bayonet went through his clothes, scratched his body, and glanced off without doing any further injury, other than giving him a slight cut in the hand.
Those having the pistols then attempted to shoot, when Mr. Markham seized the hand of one of them that held the pistol, and prevented him from firing. The other put his pistol to Mr. Eagle's breast, and swore he would shoot him.
The company at that time used all their force, and crowded the officers and their assistants some distance back, and carried off and secreted the prisoner. The officer and his company then went to the tavern to stay all night.
The next morning, about eight o'clock, the constable and Mr. Markham went to the grocery and searched, and Bartlett said that he was gone--that he had taken his horse and gone out of town.
They then saw a company of men gathered at Harmon T. Wilson's store, armed with guns, bayonets, pistols, clubs, and other missiles. Mr. Markham went to the store, where he found the constable and the prisoner. There were fifty in and about the store, all armed.
Mr. Eldredge then told the company present who he was, and demanded all in the house to assist in taking the prisoner, and then seized him. As soon as he laid hold of the prisoner, about six or eight men laid hold of the constable. Mr. Markham assisted the constable. When Mr. Markham had nearly succeeded in liberating the constable, a man who was called Dr. Morrison, drew his pistol and shot at Markham. The ball missed Markham, but came so near Mr. Coltrin's head, who was one of the assistants, as to graze his forehead.
As there were only four of the assistants in the store, they were overpowered by superior numbers, and the prisoner was taken away from them.
They saw that it would be impossible to take him without bloodshed, and consequently returned home. The parties engaged in this affray {173} swore that, regardless of all law, they would defend the prisoner, and he should not be taken.
We have received the above particulars from Mr. Markham, and can consequently rely upon the correctness of the statement, as he is one of the parties mentioned. The woman who was enciente, who made the affidavit, is not in the Church, neither is Mr. Eagle--the person who was struck with the bayonet. Mr. Eagle has gone to the governor to make complaint.
We think that it is high time that prompt measures be taken to put a stop to such abominable outrages. If officers can be insulted in this manner and the law violated with impunity, we think that we shall speedily slide back into the barbarous ages.
Some of our mobocratic friends who assembled at a mobocratic meeting some time ago in Carthage, were considerably chagrined at our terming them mobocrats. We wonder whether they now believe that they are, or not? If such proceedings as those are cherished, farewell to our Republican institutions! farewell to law, equity, and justice! and farewell to all those sacred ties that bind men to their fellowmen!
We would here ask where the sheriff was. Why was he not applied to? We merely ask for information. We don't know that he was present or applied to. If he was, it certainly was his duty to see the law magnified.
_Wednesday 10.--_At home.
[Sidenote: John Smith, Uncle of the Prophet, Ordained a Patriarch.]
Ordained Uncle John Smith a patriarch. Enjoyed myself well in an interview with the brethren and concluded to take a ride part way with my uncle on his return to Macedonia.
In consequence of a visit from some gentlemen from Carthage, I called the City Council together at seven p.m. I copy the minutes:--
Special Session of City Council; Complaints of Carthage Citizens Considered.
January 10, 1844, 7 p.m.
Names of members called.
The mayor said:--"Messrs. Backman, Hamilton, and Sherman, lawyers from Carthage, have called on me and told me that the occasion of the excitement at Carthage and the resistance to the law, in the case of the arrest of Cook, was the late ordinance of this council to prevent unlawful search or seizure of person or property by foreign {174} process in the city of Nauvoo; that they considered said ordinance was designed to hinder the execution of the statutes of Illinois within this city; consequently, they, the old citizens, felt disposed to stop the execution of processes issuing from the city precincts. They also raised objections against the process by Justice Foster for the apprehension of Cook, because it was made returnable to him alone, whereas they said the statute required it to be made returnable before himself or some other justice.
I explained to them the nature and reason of the ordinance--that was to prevent kidnapping under the pretense of law or process, and to facilitate the apprehension of thieves, &c., in this city, by throwing all foreign processes into the hands of the marshal, who would be most likely to know the hiding-places of fugitives from justice, who might secrete themselves in our city; and said that if any wrong impression had gone abroad with regard to the motives of the council in passing said ordinance, I would call the council immediately, that they might have the opportunity of giving any explanation necessary, so that the public might understand the ordinance in its true light. I have therefore called the council accordingly. I also referred the lawyers from Carthage to the statute which requires all processes issued in cases of bastardy to be returnable alone to the justice issuing the same, which they doubted until showed them the law, when they looked a little crest-fallen and foolish."
After deliberation, an additional section relative to the foregoing ordinance was read three times, and passed, by way of amendment:--
"Section 3. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Nauvoo, that nothing in the foregoing ordinance shall be so construed as to prevent, hinder, or thwart the designs of justice, or to retard the civil officers of the state or county in the discharge of their official duties, but to aid and assist them within the limits of this city.
"Passed January 10, 1844.
"JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor.
"WILLARD RICHARDS, Recorder."
Council adjourned.
Wrote a letter to Esquire Backman to inform him what the City Council had done.
[Sidenote: Complaints of F.M. Higbee against the Prophet.]
I received a long equivocating letter from Francis M. Higbee, charging me with having slandered his character and demanding a public trial before the Church. It contains no denial of the charges which he accuses me of having spoken against him, but is full of bombast.
{175}
_Thursday 11.--_At home.
Rode out, ten a.m., and returned at half-past one p.m.
This morning William Jones, who had stayed all night at Wilson's Tavern in Carthage, was arrested without process by Colonel Levi Williams and his company, who kept him in custody until noon without rations.
The Twelve Apostles gave an invitation to the Saints in Nauvoo to cut and draw for me seventy-five or one hundred cords of wood on the 15th and 16th instant.
_Friday 12.--_Thaw: snow nearly gone.
[Sidenote: Conference in Michigan]
A conference was held in Brownstown, Main county, Michigan. Elder Mephibosheth Sirrine, president; and Gehiel Savage, clerk. Nine branches were represented, containing 6 elders, 9 priests, 7 teachers, 1 deacon, 136 members, and 45 scattered members; one hundred members having removed from that state to Nauvoo since the conference in July last.
_Saturday 13.--_At home in the morning.
At ten o'clock, attended City Council, where a bill for an ordinance concerning the recording of deeds in this city was taken under consideration, and read twice. It elicited much discussion.
The ten policemen who were not present at the meeting of the City Council on the 5th instant were sworn in the matter of William Law and William Marks, and testified they had received no private instructions whatever from me.
A discussion took place on the subject of granting licenses for the sale of spirits.
I signed resolutions passed at a court martial held this morning.
Stephen M. Farnsworth was chosen president of the priests' quorum, and William Carmichael and William Box his counselors.
_Sunday 14.--_At home all day.
{176} A prayer-meeting was held at the assembly room. I did not attend.
Warm and rainy towards evening.
The Twelve Apostles preached at private houses in various parts of the city.
A branch of the Church was organized in New Orleans, with 34 members. T. B. Jackaway, president, and E. L. Brown, clerk.
_Monday 15.--_At home. Wrote to Sister Maria L. Campbell, Elmira, N. Y.
[Sidenote: A Wood Bee]
At nine, a.m., teams began to arrive with wood, according to the appointment of the Twelve Apostles, there being about 200 of the brethren chopping in the woods, and from thirty to forty teams engaged in drawing the wood to my house. About 100 loads were drawn, and as many more chopped, and left to be drawn another day.
[Sidenote: Threats of Francis M. Higbee.]
At ten, a.m., Dr. Richards called, and told me it was reported that Francis M. Higbee was going to put me under $10,000 bonds for speaking against him.
At the same time, Constable Eldredge summoned me to attend a court as witness before Esquire Johnson; and I went accordingly, to give my testimony.
The Twelve Apostles wrote the following letter:--
Letter: The Twelve Apostles to the Saints at Morley Settlement--Material Help Asked for.
NAUVOO, January 15, 1844.
To President Isaac Morley and the Saints at Morley Settlement, the Twelve send greeting:--
BELOVED BRETHREN--While the work of the Lord is great and sought out by all them that have pleasure therein, the Lord of the vineyard has laid special charges upon some of His servants to execute; and while we are striving by all means to raise funds to hasten the Temple the approaching spring, we are not unmindful of the "History of the Church," the "Great Proclamation to the Kings of the Earth," and the "Memorials to Congress," &c., all of which are now before the Church, though their {177} progress is retarded for the want of the necessities of life, in the families of those who are employed in this business.
Two or three clerks are necessarily employed, and that continually, by our Prophet, who cheerfully devote their time--not a tenth, but the whole, to roll on these desirable objects; but their hands are palsied and their pens stayed, more or less. Therefore, with the approbation of our President, we again call on you, as those who have ever been ready to listen to the wants of the Church, that you would raise such collections of provisions as you may have at your disposal, and forward the same without delay to us, for the special benefit of the clerks of President Smith or the Church. Asking no more, it is right they should not go hungry or naked.
Do you ask what is wanting? We answer, Look to your own households, and say what it requires to make them comfortable, and you will know just what is wanting by these men. Eatables of every kind, and even soap to keep their hands clean, is scarce at Nauvoo, and it takes many lights to keep the pen in motion these long evenings.
The President has plenty to do without supporting a number of clerks, whose business as deeply concerns every other individual in the Church as himself, although he has done it to a great extent and with great inconvenience; and we are confident that when you are made acquainted with the facts, you will be unwilling that Joseph should do all, and get all the blessing. And as you shall continue your liberality in temporal things, God shall pour out upon your heads blessings spiritual and temporal; and now is the time for action.
All is peace at Nauvoo, and the last report from the Carthaginians was, they were beginning to think it was time to throw down their arms and attempt a compromise. But the "Mormons" can truly say they have had no quarrel with them. It has all been between the citizens and the law, their own officers being the executors thereof; and we feel disposed to let them fight it out among themselves, while we live in peace and laugh at their folly.
With our prayers and blessings, we subscribe ourselves
Your brethren in Christ Jesus.
In behalf of the quorum,
B. YOUNG, President.
W. RICHARDS, Clerk.
The Municipal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Francis M. Higbee, on affidavit of Orson Pratt.
East wind in forenoon, and some rain. Brisk wind from N.W. in afternoon.
[Sidenote: Andrews' Appeal to the State of Maine.]
{178} Benjamin Andrews published in the Times and Seasons "An Appeal to the people of the State of Maine" setting forth the persecutions, murders, and robberies committed upon the Saints by the people of the State of Missouri, and soliciting the assistance of his native State in procuring redress.
_Tuesday, 16.--_Cold and windy.
[Sidenote: Francis M. Higbee on Trial--Reconciliation with Prophet.]
At ten, a.m., Francis M. Higbee was brought up before the Municipal Court, on complaint of Orson Pratt, for absenting himself from City Council without leave, when summoned as a witness, and for slanderous and abusive language towards one of the members of the Council.
The court adjourned, and the City Council commenced their session, continuing till two o'clock, during which time a reconciliation took place with Francis M. Higbee, who had written a slanderous letter concerning me, and said many hard things, which he acknowledged; and I forgave him. I went before the Council and stated that all difficulties between me and F. M. Higbee were eternally buried, and I was to be his friend for ever. To which F. M. Higbee replied, "I will be his friend for ever, and his right-hand man."
A number of the brethren assembled and chopped up the firewood which had been hauled to my house yesterday, and piled it up ready for use.
The following "Ordinance concerning the sale of Spirituous Liquors" was passed by the City Council:
An Ordinance concerning the Sale of Spirituous Liquors.
Whereas, the use and sale of distilled and fermented liquors for all purposes of beverage and drink by persons in health are viewed by this City Council with unqualified disapprobation:
Whereas, nevertheless the aforesaid liquors are considered highly beneficial for medical and mechanical purposes, and may be safely employed for such uses, under the counsel of discreet persons: Therefore,
{179} Sect. 1. Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Nauvoo, that the Mayor of this city is hereby authorized to sell said liquors in such quantities as he may deem expedient.
Sect. 2. Be it further ordained, that other persons not exceeding one to each ward of the city, may also sell said liquors in like quantities for medical and mechanical purposes by obtaining a license of the Mayor of the city. The above ordinance to be in full force and effect immediately after its passage,--all ordinances to the contrary notwithstanding.
Passed January 16, 1844.
JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor.
W. RICHARDS, Recorder.
An ordinance was also passed, authorizing Henry G. Sherwood to make out a city directory, and to establish an intelligence office in the city. Also the following ordinance:--
An Ordinance concerning Witnesses and Jurors' Fees.
Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Nauvoo, that hereafter all persons subpoenaed and attending upon courts of trial as witnesses, or as jurors in civil cases, shall not be compelled to testify or be held in attendance either as witness or juror, unless they shall first be tendered the sum of fifty cents per day for each witness and each juror subpoenaed.
Passed January 16, 1844.
JOSEPH SMITH, Mayor.
W. RICHARDS, Recorder.
_Wednesday, 17.--_At home settling accounts with various individuals. Gave deed of a lot to John Lytle.
The steamer Shepherdess sank near St. Louis, drowning forty passengers.
_Thursday, 18.--_At home, and wrote letters to Reuben McBride and Joseph Coe, Kirtland; Clark Leal, of Fountain Green; and to Justin J. Butterfield, Esq., Chicago.
[Sidenote: Assault Upon Nelson Judd.]
This afternoon a man called on Brother Nelson Judd, and said he wanted to sell him some wood below Davidson Hibbard's. He went to see the wood, the man saying he would meet him at the place. When below, Hibbard's two {180} men came up on horseback, and told him they had a warrant for him, for taking away Avery's things for Bear Creek. One shot at him twice and the other snapped at him twice with their pistols. Judd then coolly said, "Now, 'tis my turn," putting his hand into his pocket, although he knew he had no pistols: yet the men fled.
There was a cotillion party at the Mansion this evening.
_Friday, 19.--_Rode out in the course of the day. In the evening, gave a lecture on the Constitution of the United States, and on the candidates for the Presidency.
Mild weather. Cloudy in the afternoon.
A meeting was held in the assembly room to devise means for the founding of another library institution in Nauvoo.
{181}
Chapter VIII
PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON TO QUEEN VICTORIA--THE SEALING POWERS OF THE PRIESTHOOD--GOVERNOR FORD'S WARNING TO THE PEOPLE OF HANCOCK COUNTY--APOSTROPHE TO MISSOURI--JOSEPH SMITH NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES--HIS VIEWS ON THE POWERS AND POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
_Saturday, January 20th, 1844.--_Held Mayor's Court on the case--"City of Nauvoo versus Stephen Wilkinson," for breach of ordinance. I discharged the defendant, he paying costs.
At six, p.m., prayer-meeting in the assembly room. I was at home.
The High Council met, but, having no business, adjourned.
"STANZAS"
On the Presentation of the Book of Mormon to Queen Victoria.
BY MISS E. R. SNOW.
Before leaving London, Elder Lorenzo Snow presented to her Majesty Queen Victoria, and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, through the politeness of Sir Henry Wheatly, two neatly bound copies of the Book of Mormon, which had been donated by President Brigham Young, and left in the care of Elder Snow for that purpose; which circumstance suggested the following lines:--
Of all the monarchs of the earth That wear the robes of royalty, She has inherited by birth The broadest wreath of majesty. {182} From her wide territorial wing The sun does not withdraw its light, While earth's diurnal motions bring To other nations day and night.
All earthly thrones are tottering things, Where lights and shadows intervene; And regal honor often brings The scaffold or the guillotine.
But still her sceptre is approved; All nations deck the wreath she wears: Yet, like the youth whom Jesus loved, One thing is lacking even there.
But lo! a prize possessing more Of worth than gems with honor rife-- A herald of salvation bore To her the words of endless life.
That GIFT, however fools deride, Is worthy of her royal care: She'd better lay her crown aside Than spurn the light reflected there.
Oh would she now her influence bend--, The influence of royalty, Messiah's kingdom to extend, And Zion's "nursing mother" be.
Thus with the glory of her name Inscribed on Zion's lofty spire, She'd win a wreath of endless fame, To last when other wreaths expire.
Though over millions called to reign-- Herself a powerful nation's boast, 'Twould be her everlasting gain To serve the King, the Lord of Hosts.
For there are crowns and thrones on high, And kingdoms there to be conferred; There honors wait that never die; There fame's immortal trump is heard.
{183} Truth echoes--'tis Jehovah's word; Let kings and queens and princes hear; In distant isles the sound is heard; Ye heavens rejoice! O earth, give ear!
The time, the time is now at hand To give a glorious period birth: The son of God will take command And rule the nations of the earth.
Nauvoo, Jan. 20, 1844.
_Sunday 21.--_Preached at the southeast corner of the temple to several thousand people, although the weather was somewhat unpleasant. My subject was the sealing of the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
[The following synopsis was reported by Elder Wilford Woodruff:]--
Discourse: The Sealing Power in the Priesthood.
When I consider the surrounding circumstances in which I am placed this day, standing in the open air with weak lungs, and somewhat out of health, I feel that I must have the prayers and faith of my brethren that God may strengthen me and pour out His special blessing upon me, if you get very much from me this day.
There are many people assembled here to-day, and throughout the city, and from various parts of the world, who say that they have received to a certainty a portion of the knowledge from God, by revelation, in the way that He has ordained and pointed out.
I shall take the broad ground, then, that we have received a portion of knowledge from God by immediate revelation, and from the same source we can receive all knowledge.
What shall I talk about to-day? I know what Brother Cahoon wants me to speak about. He wants me to speak about the coming of Elijah in the last days. I can see it in his eye. I will speak upon that subject then.
The Bible says, "I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
{184} Now, the word turn here should be translated bind, or seal. But what is the object of this important mission? or how is it to be fulfilled? The keys are to be delivered, the spirit of Elijah is to come, the Gospel to be established, the Saints of God gathered, Zion built up, and the Saints to come up as saviors on Mount Zion.
But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples, erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances, baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations and sealing powers upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and redeem them that they may come forth in the first resurrection and be exalted to thrones of glory with them; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah. And I would to God that this temple was now done, that we might go into it, and go to work and improve our time, and make use of the seals while they are on earth.
The Saints have not too much time to save and redeem their dead, and gather together their living relatives, that they may be saved also, before the earth will be smitten, and the consumption decreed falls upon the world.
I would advise all the Saints to go to with their might and gather together all their living relatives to this place, that they may be sealed and saved, that they may be prepared against the day that the destroying angel goes forth; and if the whole Church should go to with all their might to save their dead, seal their posterity, and gather their living friends, and spend none of their time in behalf of the world, they would hardly get through before night would come, when no man can work; and my only trouble at the present time is concerning ourselves, that the Saints will be divided, broken up, and scattered, before we get our salvation secure; for there are so many fools in the world for the devil to operate upon, it gives him the advantage oftentimes.
The question is frequently asked "Can we not be saved without going through with all these ordinances, &c.?" I would answer, No, not the fullness of salvation. Jesus said, "There are many mansions in my Father's house, and I will go and prepare a place for you." House here named should have been translated kingdom; and any person who is exalted to the highest mansion has to abide a celestial law, and the whole law too.
But there has been a great difficulty in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corn-dodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a beetle. Even the Saints are slow to understand.
{185} I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen.
Prayer-meeting in the Assembly Room.
_Monday, 22.--_Rainy; wind easterly; mud very deep.
[Sidenote: Nauvoo Mansion Leased.]
Rented the Nauvoo Mansion and stables to Ebenezer Robinson for one thousand dollars per annum and board for myself and family and horses, reserving to myself three rooms in the house.
Prayer-meeting at President Young's; ten present.
[Sidenote: Sale of the Printing Establishment to John Taylor]
_Tuesday. 23.--_Ebenezer Robinson took possession of the Nauvoo Mansion, to continue it as a public-house. W. W. Phelps, Newel K. Whitney and Willard Richards valued the printing office and lot at $1,500; printing apparatus, $950; bindery, $112; foundry, $270; total, $2,832. I having sold the concern to John Taylor, who in consideration was to assume the responsibility of the Lawrence estate.
There was a cotillion party in the evening at the Nauvoo Mansion. The night was clear and cold.
The ship Fanny, Captain Patterson, sailed from Liverpool with 210 Saints on board.
_Wednesday, 24.--_Called at my office about one o'clock. I think the appraised valuation of the printing office rather too low.
Weather very cold.
The mob party at Carthage, Warsaw, and Green Plains continued their agitation.
_Thursday, 25.--_At home.
Prayer-meeting at Brother Brigham's: eight of the Twelve Apostles present. Weather extremely cold.
I approved of the doings of a general court-martial held January 13th.
{186} _Friday, 26.--_I dictated to my clerk an article on the situation of the nation, referring to the President's Message, &c.
Prayer-meeting at Brother Young's: eight of the Twelve Apostles present. Elder Orson Hyde went to Carthage to preach. Weather clear and cool.
_Saturday, 27.--_Weather extremely cold and clear.
Prayer-meeting in the assembly room. High Council met, but, having no business, adjourned.
_Sunday, 28.--_I had some company in the evening from Warsaw. I conversed with them on politics, religion, &c. Prayer-meeting in the assembly room. Weather very cold.
I insert the following from the Millennial Star:--
Importance of Elders Keeping Journals, Case of Healing Recorded.
MR. EDITOR:--The idea has frequently crossed my mind, that were the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ in this age to keep a journal of their travels and ministry, and record all the healings and miracles they had witnessed from time to time,--that should their separate journals be afterwards collected together and published in a volume, I am inclined to believe that a far greater number of manifest displays of the power of God would be therein recorded than is found in the journals of the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ in the early ages, at least so far as they are faithfully handed down to us in the New Testament Scriptures.
And although, as in days of old, we are frequently branded with the epithets of "fools, fanatics, religious enthusiasts, dupes, and vile impostors," yet "what we have felt and seen, with confidence we tell."
We have frequently heard from individuals on whose testimony we can rely with the greatest confidence, of extraordinary displays of the power of God in the gift of healing; such, for instance, as the blind receiving their sight, the deaf having their hearing restored, the lame man being made to "leap as an hart," the dumb spirit being cast out, and one instance of the dead being restored to life.
Another instance of the kind last mentioned, with a heart overflowing with gratitude, I desire to record. On the afternoon of yesterday, a child of mine, a girl aged eight years, was sliding on the rails of the staircase, when on a sudden she turned over, and fell from top to bottom with a most tremendous crash, falling on her head, and being completely double when picked up by her mother,--so much so indeed, that {187} her brother, who heard the noise, looked out of the kitchen, and seeing something lying in the passage motionless, concluded that his sister had thrown some dirty linen over the rails, and took no further notice. Her mother, on hearing the noise occasioned by her fall, hastened out of the parlor to the fatal spot, and immediately discovered it was poor Mary Jane, who lay motionless, speechless, senseless, yea, lifeless. She instantly took her up in her arms, and when she beheld her appearance, in an agony she cried out, "My child is dead! she has fallen and killed herself."
By this time I had hastened to the horrid scene, where I beheld my lovely girl stretched on the lap of her disconsolate mother, without the slightest appearance of life. I immediately examined her, and found that she breathed not, and that her pulsation had ceased. Her eyes also were wide open, and quite fixed as in death, and there appeared to be gathering over them the film of dissolution. In fact, if it be true that Eutychus (the young man mentioned in the 20th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, who fell from an upper story,) was taken up dead, it is equally true that my daughter was taken up dead, for there was not the slightest vestige of life apparent.
At this moment, with heart uplifted to my Heavenly Father, I, in mighty faith, placed my hands upon her and ejaculated, "Lord, heal my child!" when in one moment she shewed signs of life, and attempted to speak.
I immediately gave her to drink a little cold water, and bathed her head with the same. She then sat up and vomited considerably, and she is now so far recovered as this morning to sing a verse of a hymn and walk about as usual.
During my presidency over the Liverpool Conference, which is nearly eighteen months, I have witnessed many cases of healing, but never any so very striking as the one I have just related.
If you deem the narrative worthy of a place in your pages of the Millennial Star, you are quite at liberty to insert it.
I remain, dear brother,
Yours sincerely in the Gospel of Jesus,
GEORGE MITCHELSON.
[Sidenote: The Presidential Election Considered.]
_Monday, 29.--_At ten, a.m., the Twelve Apostles, together with Brother Hyrum and John P. Greene, met at the mayor's office, to take into consideration the proper course for this people to pursue in relation to the coming Presidential election.
The candidates for the office of President of the United States at present before the people are Martin Van Buren {188} and Henry Clay. It is morally impossible for this people, in justice to themselves, to vote for the re-election of President Van Buren--a man who criminally neglected his duties as chief magistrate in the cold and unblushing manner which he did, when appealed to for aid in the Missouri difficulties. His heartless reply burns like a firebrand in the breast of every true friend of liberty--"Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you."
As to Mr. Clay, his sentiments and cool contempt of the people's rights are manifested in his reply--"You had better go to Oregon for redress," which would prohibit any true lover of our constitutional privileges from supporting him at the ballot-box.
It was therefore moved by Willard Richards, and voted unanimously--
That we will have an independent electoral ticket, and that Joseph Smith be a candidate for the next Presidency; and that we use all honorable means in our power to secure his election.
I said--
The Prophet on the Campaign.
If you attempt to accomplish this, you must send every man in the city who is able to speak in public throughout the land to electioneer and make stump speeches, advocate the "Mormon" religion, purity of elections, and call upon the people to stand by the law and put down mobocracy. David Yearsly must go,--Parley P. Pratt to New York, Erastus Snow to Vermont, and Sidney Rigdon to Pennsylvania.
After the April Conference we will have General Conferences all over the nation, and I will attend as many as convenient. Tell the people we have had Whig and Democratic Presidents long enough: we want a President of the United States. If I ever get into the presidential chair, I will protect the people in their rights and liberties. I will not electioneer for myself. Hyrum, Brigham, Parley and Taylor must go. Clayton must go, or he will apostatize. The Whigs are striving for a king under the garb of Democracy. There is oratory enough in the Church to carry me into the presidential chair the first slide.
Captain White, of Quincy, was at the Mansion last night, {189} and this morning drank a toast. * * * "May Nauvoo become the empire seat of government!"
[Sidenote: Commencement of the Prophet's Views on Powers and Policy of U.S.]
I dictated to Brother Phelps the head of my pamphlet, entitled, "Views on the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States."
A Millerite lecturer came into the office with Brother Clayton, about five, p.m. I had some conversation with him about the definition of the Greek word Hades, and the Hebrew word Sheol, &c. He lectured in the evening in the hall.
Prayer-meeting at Elder Brigham Young's.
Governor Ford wrote the following expostulatory epistle to the citizens of Hancock County, through the Warsaw Signal:--
Governor Ford's Warning to the People of Hancock County.
SPRINGFIELD January 29, 1844.
DEAR SIR:--I have received the copy of the proceeding and resolutions of a meeting of the citizens of Hancock County, which you did me the honor to send me.
I have observed with regret that occasions have been presented for disturbing the peace of your county; and if I knew what I could legally do to apply a corrective, I would be very ready to do it. But if you are a lawyer, or at all conversant with the law, you will know that I, as a governor, have no right to interfere in your difficulties.
As yet, I believe that there has been nothing like war among you: and I hope that all of you will have the good sense to see the necessity of preserving peace. If there is anything wrong in the Nauvoo charters, or in the mode of administering them, you will see that nothing short of legislative or judicial power is capable of enforcing a remedy.
I myself had the honor of calling the attention of the Legislature to this subject at the last session; but a large majority of both political parties in that body either did not see the evil which you complain of, or, if they did, they repeatedly refused to correct it. And yet a call is made upon me to do that which all parties refused to do at the last session.
I have also been called upon to take away the arms from the Mormons, to raise the militia to arrest a supposed fugitive, and in fact to repeal some of the ordinances of the City of Nauvoo.
Hancock County is justly famed for its intelligence; and I cannot {190} believe that any of its citizens are so ignorant as not to know that I have no power to do these things.
The absurd and preposterous nature of these requests give some color to the charge that they are made for political effect only. I hope that this charge is untrue; for, in all candor, it would be more creditable to those concerned to have their errors attributed to ignorance than to a disposition to embroil the country in the horrors of war for the advancement of party ends.
But if there should be any truth in the charge, (which God forbid.) I affectionately entreat all the good citizens engaged in it to lay aside their designs and yield up their ears to the voice of justice, reason, and humanity. All that I can do at present is to admonish both parties to beware of carrying matters to extremity.
Let it come to this--let a state of war ensue, and I will be compelled to interfere with executive power. In that case also, I wish, in a friendly, affectionate, and candid manner, to tell the citizens of Hancock County, Mormons and all, that my interference will be against those who shall be the first transgressors.
I am bound by the laws and Constitution to regard you all as citizens of the State, possessed of equal rights and privileges, and to cherish the rights of one as dearly as the rights of another. I can know no distinction among you except that of assailant and assailed.
I hope, dear sir, you will do me the favor to publish this letter in the papers of your county, for the satisfaction of all persons concerned.
I am, with the highest respect,
Your obedient servant,
THOMAS FORD.
_Tuesday 30.--_At eleven, a.m., I went into the office with Colonel Jackson.
One, p.m., held mayor's court at my office, on the case "City versus Thomas Coates." Fined the defendant $25 and costs for beating John Ellison.
A Millerite preached again in the assembly room, and Elder Rigdon replied to him. There was a full house.
Prayer-meeting at Elder Brigham Young's.
[Sidenote: Winchester's Mission to Warsaw.]
_Wednesday, 31.--_Eleven, a.m., I called at the office, and told Benjamin Winchester to go to Warsaw and preach the first principles of the Gospel, get some lexicons, and return home.
{191} Prayer-meeting at Elder Brigham Young's in the evening. There seems to be quite a revival throughout Nauvoo, and an inquiry after the things of God, by all the quorums and the Church in general.
[Sidenote: Rigdon's Appeal to Pennsylvania.]
Sidney Rigdon published a lengthy appeal to the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, setting forth in pathetic style the grievances he had suffered through the persecution against the Church by the State of Missouri, which concludes as follows:--
Peroration of Rigdon's Appeal to Pennsylvania.
In confidence of the purity and patriotism of the representatives of the people of his native state, your memorialist comes to your honorable body, through this his winged messenger, to tell you that the altar which was erected by the blood of your ancestors to civil and religious liberty, from whence ascended up the holy incense of pure patriotism and universal good will to man, into the presence of Jehovah, a savior of life, is thrown down, and the worshipers thereat have been driven away, or else they are lying slain at the place of the altar. He comes to tell your honorable body that the temple your fathers erected to freedom, whither their sons assembled to hear her precepts and cherish her doctrines in their hearts, has been desecrated--its portals closed, so that those who go up thither are forbidden to enter.
He comes to tell your honorable body that the blood of the heroes and patriots of the revolution, who have been slain by wicked hands for enjoying their religious rights, the boon of Heaven to man, has cried and is crying in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, saying, "Redress, redress our wrongs, O Lord God of the whole earth."
He comes to tell your honorable body that the dying groans of infant innocence and the shrieks of insulted and abused females, and many of them widows of revolutionary patriots, have ascended up into the ears of Omnipotence, and are registered in the archives of eternity, to be had in the day of retribution as a testimony against the whole nation, unless their cries and groans are heard by the representatives of the people, and ample redress made, as far as the nation can make it, or else the wrath of the almighty will come down in fury against the whole nation.
Under all these circumstances, your memorialist prays to be heard {192} by your honorable body touching all the matters of his memorial. And as a memorial will be presented to Congress this session for redress of our grievances, he prays your honorable body will instruct the whole delegation of Pennsylvania, in both houses, to use all their influence in the national councils to have redress granted.
And, as in duty bound, your memorialist will ever pray.
SIDNEY RIGDON.
Miss E. R. Snow published the following apostrophe to--
"MISSOURI."
What aileth thee, O Missouri! that thy face should gather blackness? and why are thy features so terribly distorted?
Rottennesss has seized upon thy vitals, corruption is preying upon thy inward parts, and the breath of thy lips is full of destructive contagion.
What meaneth thy shaking? and why art thou terrified? Thou hast become like Belshazzar. "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin!" is indeed written against thee; but it is the work of thine own hand; the characters upon thy wall are of thine own inscription; and wherefore dost thou tremble?
Wouldst thou know the interpretation thereof? Hast thou sought for a Daniel to declare it unto thee? Verily one greater than a Daniel was in thy midst; but thou hast butchered the Saints, and hast hunted the Prophets like Ahab of old.
Thou has extinguished the light of thy own glory; thou hast plucked from thy head the crown of honor; thou hast divested thyself of the robe of respectability; thou hast thrust from thine own bosom the veins that flowed with virtue and integrity.
Thou hast violated the laws of our sacred constitution; thou hast unsheathed the sword against thy dearest national rights, by rising up against thine own citizens, and moistening thy soil with the blood of those that legally inherited it.
When thou hadst torn from helpless innocence its rightful protectors thou didst pollute the holy sanctuary of female virtue, and barbarously trampled upon the most sacred gems of domestic felicity.
Therefore the daughters of Columbia count thee a reproach, and blush with indignation at the mention of thy name.
Thou hast become an ignominious stain on the escutcheon of a noble, free and independent republic; thou hast become a stink in the nostrils of the Goddess of Liberty.
{193} Thou art fallen--thou art fallen beneath the weight of thine own unhallowed deeds, and thine iniquities are pressing as a heavy load upon thee.
But although thy glory has departed--though thou hast gone down like a star that is set forever, thy memory will not be erased; thou wilt be had in remembrance even until the Saints of God shall forget that the way to the celestial kingdom is "through great tribulation."
Though thou shouldst be severed from the body of the Union, like a mortified member--though the lion from the thicket should devour thee, thy doings will be perpetuated; mention will be made of them by the generations to come.
Thou art already associated with Herod, Nero, and the bloody Inquisition; thy name has become synonymous with oppression, cruelty, treachery, and murder.
Thou wilt rank high with the haters of righteousness and the shedders of innocent blood: the hosts of tyrants are waiting beneath to meet thee at thy coming.
O ye wise legislators! ye executives of the nation! ye distributors of justice! ye advocates of equal rights! arise and redress the wrongs of an innocent people, and redeem the cause of insulted liberty.
Let not the contagious spirit of corruption wither the sacred wreath that encircles you, and spread a cloud of darkness over the glory of your star-spangled banner;
Lest the monarchs of the earth should have you in derision; lest you should be weighed in the balance with the heathen nations, and should be found wanting; lest the arm of the Lord should be revealed in judgment against you; lest an arrow of vengeance from the almighty should pierce the rotten fabric of a once sheltering constitution, and your boasted confidence become like an oak dismembered of its branches, whose shattered trunk is torn piecemeal by the uprising of the tempest!
For the cries of the widow and fatherless, the groans of the oppressed and the prayers of the suffering exile have come up before the God of Hosts, who brought our pilgrim fathers across the boisterous ocean, and raised up a Washington to break the yoke of foreign oppression.
Morley Settlement, January, 1844.
_Thursday, February 1.--_At home: weather cold.
[Sidenote: An Appeal to Massachusetts--Phineas Richards.]
Phinehas Richards published a thrilling appeal to the inhabitants of his native state of Massachusetts, to consider the wrongs sustained in the loss of lives and property, and other damages {194} done to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he is a member.
Elder Reuben Hedlock wrote to President Brigham Young, giving the names of those who had emigrated at the expense of the office, amounting to $2,378; which is due from the emigrants.
_Friday, 2.--_Dr. Willard Richards called and read Phinehas Richards' appeal to the inhabitants of Massachusetts, for redress of Missouri grievances.
Prayer-meeting at Elder Brigham Young's. Weather cold.
I went into the assembly room, where I found Elders Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, and W. W. Phelps, to whom I related the following dream, which Elder Willford Woodruff reported:
The Prophet's Dream--Troubled Waters Overcome.
I was standing on a peninsula, in the midst of a vast body of water where there appeared to be a large harbor or pier built out for boats to come to. I was surrounded by my friends, and while looking at this harbor I saw a steamboat approaching the harbor. There were bridges on the pier for persons to cross, and there came up a wind and drove the steamboat under one of the bridges and upset it.
I ran up to the boat, expecting the persons would all drown; and wishing to do something to assist them, I put my hand against the side of the boat, and with one surge I shoved it under the bridge and righted it up, and then told them to take care of themselves. But it was not long before I saw them starting out into the channel or main body of the water again.
The storms were raging and the waters rough. I said to my friends that if they did not understand the signs of the times and the spirit of prophecy, they would be apt to be lost.
It was but a few moments after when we saw the waves break over the boat, and she soon foundered and went down with all on board.
The storm and waters were still very rough; yet I told my friends around me that I believed I could stem those waves and that storm, and swim in the waters better than the steamboat did; at any rate I was determined to try it. But my friends laughed at me, and told me I could not stand at all, but would be drowned.
{195} The waters looked clear and beautiful, though exceedingly rough; and I said I believed I could swim, and I would try it anyhow. They said I would drown. I said I would have a frolic in the water first, if I did; and I drove off in the raging waves.
I had swam but a short distance when a towering wave overwhelmed me for a time; but I soon found myself on the top of it, and soon I met the second wave in the same way; and for a while I struggled hard to live in the midst of the storm and waves, and soon found I gained upon every wave, and skimmed the torrent better; and I soon had power to swim with my head out of water: so the waves did not break over me at all, and I found that I had swam a great distance; and in looking about, I saw my brother Samuel by my side.
I asked him how he liked it. He said, "First rate," and I thought so too. I was soon enabled to swim with my head and shoulders out of water, and I could swim as fast as any steamboat.
In a little time it became calm, and I could rush through the water, and only go in to my loins, and soon I only went in to my knees, and finally could tread on the top of the water, and went almost with the speed of an arrow.
I said to Samuel, See how swift I can go! I thought it was great sport and pleasure to travel with such speed, and I awoke.
_Saturday 13.--_Prayer-meeting in the assembly room.
The High Council met. Did but little business.
A rather favorable article appears in Niles' National Register of this date, noticing the correspondence between myself and John C. Calhoun, a copy of which is contained in the political department of the same number.
It also notices the correspondence between myself and James Arlington Bennett, publishing the same, with some of our city ordinances. The editor also quotes the following from the Hawk Eye:--
Mormon Improvements.
Although much complained has been made about the Mormons, we saw on our late trip evidences of improvement on our prairies which we consider highly creditable to the Mormons who made them, without whom we doubt whether they would have been made for many years to come. All those who have traveled over the large prairie between Fort Madison, Warsaw and Carthage, remember how dreary it was a few {196} years since. Now it is studded with houses and good farms. The English, who understand hedging and ditching far better than our people, have gone upon that prairie and have enclosed extensive fields in this manner. Along the old Rock Island tract, which we traveled seven years ago, and which was then a dreary waste, we saw a field enclosed with a good sod fence, six miles long and one wide. We think such enterprise is worthy to be mentioned. As long as the Mormons are harmless, and do not interfere with the rights of our people we think they should be treated well. We shall never convince them that they are a deluded people, as far as their religious notions are concerned, in any other way.
[Sidenote: The 144,000 Selection Begun.]
_Sunday 4.--_I attended prayer-meeting with the quorum in the assembly room, and made some remarks respecting the hundred and forty-four thousand mentioned by John the Revelator, showing that the selection of persons to form that number had already commenced.
President Brigham Young held a meeting at Brother Chamberlain's, in the neighborhood north of the city; and Elder Wilford Woodruff, at Thomas Kingston's, six miles east of the city.
[Sidenote: City Council]
_Monday 5.--_The regular session of the Municipal Court was opened in the Mayor's office. Present, George W. Harris, George A. Smith, and N. K. Whitney. Adjourned to the Nauvoo Mansion, on account of the severity of the weather. I presided as Chief Justice. The assessors of the different wards in the city presented their tax-lists, which occupied nearly all day. The court remitted the taxes of the widows and of the poor who were unable to pay.
[Sidenote: Architecture of the Nauvoo Temple.]
In the afternoon, Elder William Weeks (whom I had employed as architect of the Temple,) came in for instruction. I instructed him in relation to the circular windows designed to light the offices in the dead work of the arch between stories. He said that round windows in the broad side of a building were a violation of all the known rules of architecture, and contended that they should be semicircular--that the {197} building was too low for round windows. I told him I would have the circles, if he had to make the Temple ten feet higher than it was originally calculated; that one light at the centre of each circular window would be sufficient to light the whole room; that when the whole building was thus illuminated, the effect would be remarkably grand. "I wish you to carry out my designs. I have seen in vision the splendid appearance of that building illuminated, and will have it built according to the pattern shown me."
[Sidenote: Originality of Bank Views.]
Called at my office in the evening, and revised my "Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States." I was the first one who publicly proposed a national bank on the principles set forth in that pamphlet.
_Tuesday, 6.--_Very cold day.
I spent the evening with my brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, and the Twelve Apostles and their wives, at Elder John Taylor's; took supper, and had a very pleasant time.
_Wednesday, 7.--_An exceedingly cold day. In the evening I met with my brother Hyrum and the Twelve Apostles in my office, at their request, to devise means to promote the interests of the General Government. I completed and signed my "Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States," which I here insert:
Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States.--Joseph Smith.
Born in a land of liberty, and breathing an air uncorrupted with the sirocco of barbarous climes, I ever feel a double anxiety for the happiness of all men, both in time and in eternity.
My cogitations, like Daniel's have for a long time troubled me, when I viewed the condition of men throughout the world, and more especially in this boasted realm, where the Declaration of Independence "holds these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" but at the same time some two or three millions of people are held as slaves for life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours; and hundreds of our own kindred for an infraction, or supposed infraction, {198} of some over-wise statute, have to be incarcerated in dungeon gloom, or penitentiaries, while the duellist, the debauchee, and the defaulter for millions, and other criminals, take the uppermost rooms at feasts, or, like the bird of passage, find a more congenial clime by flight.
The wisdom which ought to characterize the freest, wisest, and most noble nation of the nineteenth century, should, like the sun in his meridian splendor, warm every object beneath its rays; and the main efforts of her officers, who are nothing more nor less than the servants of the people, ought to be directed to ameliorate the condition of all, black or white, bond or free; for the best of books says, "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."
Our common country presents to all men the same advantages, the facilities, the same prospects, the same honors, and the same rewards; and without hypocrisy, the Constitution, when it says, "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America," meant just what it said without reference to color or condition, ad infinitum.
The aspirations and expectations of a virtuous people, environed with so wise, so liberal, so deep, so broad, and so high a charter of equal rights as appears in said Constitution, ought to be treated by those to whom the administration of the laws is entrusted with as much sanctity as the prayers of the Saints are treated in heaven, that love, confidence, and union, like the sun, moon, and stars, should bear witness,
"For ever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine!"
Unity is power; and when I reflect on the importance of it to the stability of all governments, I am astounded at the silly moves of persons and parties to foment discord in order to ride into power on the current of popular excitement; nor am I less surprised at the stretches of power or restrictions of right which too often appear as acts of legislators to pave the way to some favorite political scheme as destitute of intrinsic merit as a wolf's heart is of the milk of human kindness. A Frenchman would say, "Presque tout aimer richesses et pouvoir." (Almost all men like wealth and power.)
I must dwell on this subject longer than others; for nearly one hundred years ago that golden patriot, Benjamin Franklin, drew up a plan of union for the then colonies of Great Britain, that_ now_ are such {199} an independent nation, which, among many wise provisions for obedient children under their father's more rugged hand, had this:--"They have power to make laws, and lay and levy such general duties, imports, or taxes as to them shall appear most equal and just, (considering the ability and other circumstances of the inhabitants in the several colonies,) and such as may be collected with the least inconvenience to the people, rather discouraging luxury than loading industry with unnecessary burthens." Great Britain surely lacked the laudable humanity and fostering clemency to grant such a just plan of union; but the sentiment remains, like the land that honored its birth, as a pattern for wise men to study the convenience of the people more than the comfort of the cabinet.
And one of the most noble fathers of our freedom and country's glory, great in war, great in peace, great in the estimation of the world, and great in the hearts of his countrymen, (the illustrious Washington,) said in his first inaugural address to Congress--"I behold the surest pledges that as, on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views or party animosities will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the pre-eminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world."
Verily, here shine the virtue and wisdom of a statesman in such lucid rays, that had every succeeding Congress followed the rich instruction in all their deliberations and enactments, for the benefit and convenience of the whole community and the communities of which it is composed, no sound of a rebellion in South Carolina, no rupture in Rhode Island, no mob in Missouri expelling her citizens by Executive authority, corruption in the ballot-boxes, a border warfare between Ohio and Michigan, hard times and distress, outbreak upon outbreak in the principal cities, murder, robbery, and defalcation, scarcity of money, and a thousand other difficulties, would have torn asunder the bonds of the Union, destroyed the confidence of man with man, and left the great body of the people to mourn over misfortunes in poverty brought on by corrupt legislation in an hour of proud vanity for self-aggrandizement.
The great Washington, soon after the foregoing faithful admonition for the common welfare of his nation, further advised Congress that "among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention, that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." As the Italian would say--"Buono aviso."
{200} The elder Adams, in his inaugural address, give national pride such a grand turn of justification, that every honest citizen must look back upon the infancy of the United States with an approving smile, and rejoice that patriotism in their rulers, virtue in the people, and prosperity in the Union once crowded the expectations of hope, unveiled the sophistry of the hypocrite, and silenced the folly of foes. Mr. Adams said, "If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable, it is when it springs not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information, and benevolence."
There is no doubt such was actually the case with our young realm at the close of the last century. Peace, prosperity, and union filled the country with religious toleration, temporal enjoyment, and virtuous enterprise; and grandly, too, when the deadly winter of the "Stamp Act," the "Tea Act," and other close communion acts of Royalty had choked the growth of freedom of speech, liberty of the press, and liberty of conscience--did light, liberty, and loyalty flourish like the cedars of God.
The respected and venerable Thomas Jefferson, in his inaugural address, made more than forty years ago, shows what a beautiful prospect an innocent, virtuous nation presents to the sage's eye, where there is space for enterprise, hands for industry, heads for heroes, and hearts for moral greatness. He said, "A rising nation spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye,--when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day. I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking."
Such a prospect was truly soul-stirring to a good man. But "since the fathers have fallen asleep," wicked and designing men have unrobed the Government of its glory; and the people, if not in dust and ashes, or in sackcloth, have to lament in poverty her departed greatness, while demagogues build fires in the north and south, east and west, to keep up their spirits till it is better times. But year after year has left the people to hope, till the very name of Congress or State Legislature is as horrible to the sensitive friend of his country as the house of "Bluebard" is to children, or "Crockford's" Hell of London to meek men. [1]
When the people are secure and their rights properly respected, then the four main pillars of prosperity--viz., agriculture, manufactures, {201} navigation, and commerce, need the fostering care of Government; and in so goodly a country as ours, where the soil, the climate, the rivers, the lakes, and the sea coast, the productions, the timber, the minerals, and the inhabitants are so diversified, that a pleasing variety accommodates all tastes, trades, and calculations, it certainly is the highest point of supervision to protect the whole northern and southern, eastern and western, centre and circumference of the realm, by a judicious tariff. It is an old saying and a true one, "If you wish to be respected, respect yourselves."
I will adopt in part the language of Mr. Madison's inaugural address,--"To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations, having correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality towards belligerent nations; to prefer in all cases amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of differences to a decision of them by an appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries, and so baneful to free ones; to foster a spirit of independence too just to invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look down upon them in others; to hold the union of the States as the basis of their peace and happiness; to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the States and to the people as equally incorporated with and essential to the success of the general system; to avoid the slightest interference with the rights of conscience or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve in their full energy the other salutary provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press,--so far as intention aids in the fulfillment of duty, are consummations too big with benefits not to captivate the energies of all honest men to achieve them, when they can be brought to pass by reciprocation, friendly alliances, wise legislation, and honorable treaties."
The Government has once flourished under the guidance of trusty servants; and the Hon. Mr. Monroe, in his day, while speaking of the Constitution, says, "Our commerce has been wisely regulated with foreign nations and between the States. New States have been admitted into our Union. Our Territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable treaty, and with great advantage to the original States; the States respectively protected by the national Government, under a mild paternal system against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise partition of power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best proofs of {202} wholesome laws well administered. And if we look to the condition of individuals, what a proud spectacle does it exhibit! On whom has oppression fallen in any quarter of our Union? Who has been deprived of any right of person or property?--who restrained from offering his vows in the mode which he prefers to the Divine Author of his being? It is well know that all these blessings have been enjoyed in their fullest extent; and I add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime of high treason." What a delightful picture of power, policy, and prosperity! Truly the wise man's proverb is just--Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
But this is not all. The same honorable statesman, after having had about forty years' experience in the Government, under the full tide of successful experiment, gives the following commendatory assurance of the efficiency of the Magna Charta to answer its great end and aim--to protect the people in their rights. "Such, then, is the happy Government under which we live; a Government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is formed; a Government elective in all its branches, under which every citizen may by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized by the Constitution, which contains within it no cause of discord, none to put at variance one portion of the community with another, a Government which protects every citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to protect the nation against injustice from foreign powers."
Again, the younger Adams, in the silver age of our country's advancement to fame, in his inaugural address (1825), thus candidly declares the majesty of the youthful republic in its increasing greatness;--"The year of jubilee, since the first formation of our union, has just elapsed: that of the Declaration of Independence is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this Constitution. Since that period, a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A Territory, bounded by the Mississippi, has been extended from sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union, in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, the inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by the ax of our woodsman. The soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers. Our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively {203} as under any other Government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding, in a whole generation, the expenditures of other nations in a single year."
In continuation of such noble sentiments, General Jackson, upon his ascension to the great chair of the chief magistracy, said, "As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will, as long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending, a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis."
General Jackson's administration may be denominated the acme of American glory, liberty, and prosperity; for the national debt, which in 1815, on account of the late war, was $125,000,000, and being lessened gradually, was paid up in his golden day, and preparations were made to distribute the surplus revenue among the several States; and that august patriot, to use his own words in his farewell address, retired, leaving "a great people prosperous and happy, in the full enjoyment of liberty and peace, honored and respected by every nation of the world."
At the age, then, of sixty years, our blooming Republic began to decline under the withering touch of Martin Van Buren! Disappointed ambition, thirst for power, pride, corruption, party spirit, faction, patronage, perquisites, fame, tangling alliances, priestcraft, and spiritual wickedness in high places, stuck hands and revelled in midnight splendor.
Trouble, vexation, perplexity, and contention, mingled with hope, fear, and murmuring, rumbled through the Union and agitated the whole nation, as would an earthquake at the centre of the earth, the world heaving the sea beyond its bounds and shaking the everlasting hills; so, in hopes of better times, while jealousy, hypocritical pretensions, and pompous ambition were luxuriating on the ill-gotten spoils of the people, they rose in their majesty like a tornado, and swept through the land, till General Harrison appeared as a star among the storm-clouds for better weather.
The calm came, and the language of that venerable patriot, in his inaugural address, while descanting upon the merits of the Constitution and its framers, thus expressed himself:--"There were in it features which appeared not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple representative Democracy or Republic. And knowing the tendency of power to increase itself, particularly when executed by a single individual, predictions were made that, at no very remote period, the Government would terminate in virtual monarchy.
"It would not become me to say that the fears of these patriots have {204} been already realized. But as I sincerely believe that the tendency of measures and of men's opinions for some years past has been in that direction, it is, I conceive, strictly proper that I should take this occasion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore given of my determination to arrest the progress of that tendency, if it really exists, and restore the Government to its pristine health and vigor."
This good man died before he had the opportunity of applying one balm to ease the pain of our groaning country, and I am willing the nation should be the judge, whether General Harrison, in his exalted station, upon the eve of his entrance into the world of spirits, told the truth, or not, with acting President Tyler's three years of perplexity, and pseudo-Whig-Democrat reign to heal the breaches or show the wounds, secundum artem.
Subsequent events, all things considered, Van Buren's downfall, Harrison's exit, and Tyler's self-sufficient turn to the whole, go to show-- [2] * * * certainly there is a God in heaven to reveal secrets.
No honest man can doubt for a moment but the glory of American liberty is on the wane, and that calamity and confusion will sooner or later destroy the peace of the people. Speculators will urge a national bank as a savior of credit and comfort. A hireling pseudo-priesthood will plausibly push abolition doctrines and doings and "human rights" into Congress, and into every other place where conquest smells of fame, or opposition swells to popularity. Democracy, Whiggery, and cliquery will attract their elements and foment divisions among the people, to accomplish fancied schemes and accumulate power, while poverty, driven to despair, like hunger forcing its way through a wall, will break through the statues of men to save life, and mend the breach in prison glooms.
A still higher grade of what the "nobility of nations" call "great men" will dally with all rights in order to smuggle a fortune at "one fell swoop," mortgage Texas, possess Oregon, and claim all the unsettled regions of the world for hunting and trapping; and should an humble, honest man, red, black, or white, exhibit a better title, these gentry have only to clothe the judge with richer ermine, and spangle the lawyer's finger with finer rings, to have the judgment of his peers and the honor of his lords as a pattern of honesty, virtue, and humanity, while the motto hangs on his nation's escutcheon--"Every man has his price!"
Now, O people! people! turn unto the Lord and live, and reform this nation. Frustrate the designs of wicked men. Reduce Congress at {205} least two-thirds. Two Senators from a State and two members to a million of population will do more business than the army that now occupy the halls of the national Legislature. Pay them two dollars and their board per diem (except Sundays.) That is more than the farmer gets, and he lives honestly. Curtail the officers of Government in pay, number, and power; for the Philistine lords have shorn our nation of its goodly locks in the lap of Delilah.
Petition your State Legislatures to pardon every convict in their several penitentiaries, blessing them as they go, and saying to them, in the name of the Lord, Go thy way, and sin no more.
Advise your legislators, when they make laws for larceny, burglary, or any felony, to make the penalty applicable to work upon roads, public works, or any place where the culprit can be taught more wisdom and more virtue, and become more enlightened. Rigor and seclusion will never do as much to reform the propensities of men as reason and friendship. Murder only can claim confinement or death. Let the penitentiaries be turned into seminaries of learning, where intelligence, like the angels of heaven, would banish such fragments of barbarism. Imprisonment for debt is a meaner practice than the savage tolerates, with all his ferocity. "Amor vincit omnia."
Petition, also, ye goodly inhabitants of the slave States, your legislators to abolish slavery by the year 1850, or now, and save the abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame.
Pray Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress.
Break off the shackles from the poor black man, and hire him to labor like other human beings; for "an hour of virtuous liberty on earth is worth a whole eternity of bondage." Abolish the practice in the army and navy of trying men by court-martial for desertion. If a soldier or marine runs away, send him his wages, with this instruction, that his country will never trust him again; he has forfeited his honor.
Make honor the standard with all men. Be sure that good is rendered for evil in all cases; and the whole nation, like a kingdom of kings and priests, will rise up in righteousness, and be respected as wise and worthy on earth, and as just and holy for heaven, by Jehovah, the Author of perfection.
More economy in the national and state governments would make less taxes among the people; more equality through the cities, towns and country, would make less distinction among the people; and more honesty and familiarity in societies would make less hypocrisy and flattery in all branches of the community; and open, frank, candid decorum to all men, in this boasted land of liberty, would beget esteem, {206} confidence, union, and love; and the neighbor from any state or from any country, of whatever color, clime or tongue, could rejoice when he put his foot on the sacred soil of freedom, and exclaim, The very name of "American" is fraught with "friendship!" Oh, then, create confidence, restore freedom, break down slavery, banish imprisonment for debt, and be in love, fellowship and peace with all the world! Remember that honesty is not subject to law. The law was made for transgressors. Wherefore a * * * * good name is better than riches.
For the accommodation of the people in every state and territory, let Congress show their wisdom by granting a national bank, with branches in each State and Territory, where the capital stock shall be held by the nation for the Central bank, and by the states and territories for the branches; and whose officers and directors shall be elected yearly by the people, with wages at the rate of two dollars per day for services; which several banks shall never issue any more bills than the amount of capital stock in her vaults and the interest.
The net gain of the Central bank shall be applied to the national revenue, and that of the branches to the states and territories' revenues. And the bills shall be par throughout the nation, which will mercifully cure that fatal disorder known in cities as brokerage, and leave the people's money in their own pockets.
Give every man his constitutional freedom and the president full power to send an army to suppress mobs, and the States authority to repeal and impugn that relic of folly which makes it necessary for the governor of a state to make the demand of the President for troops, in case of invasion or rebellion.
The governor himself may be a mobber; and instead of being punished, as he should be, for murder or treason, he may destroy the very lives, rights, and property he should protect. Like the good Samaritan, send every lawyer as soon as he repents and obeys the ordinances of heaven, to preach the Gospel to the destitute, without purse or scrip, pouring in the oil and the wine. A learned Priesthood is certainly more honorable than "an hireling clergy."
As to the contiguous territories to the United States, wisdom would direct no tangling alliance. Oregon belongs to this government honorably; and when we have the red man's consent, let the Union spread from the east to the west sea; and if Texas petitions Congress to be adopted among the sons of liberty, give her the right hand of fellowship, and refuse not the same friendly grip to Canada and Mexico. And when the right arm of freemen is stretched out in the character of a navy for the protection of rights, commerce, and honor, let the iron eyes of power watch from Maine to Mexico, and from California to Columbia. Thus may union be strengthened, and foreign speculation prevented from opposing broadside to broadside.
{207} Seventy years have done much for this goodly land. They have burst the chains of oppression and monarchy, and multiplied its inhabitants from two to twenty millions, with a proportionate share of knowledge keen enough to circumnavigate the globe, draw the lightning from the clouds, and cope with all the crowned heads of the world.
Then why--oh, why will a once flourishing people not arise, phoenix-like over the cinders of Martin Van Buren's power, and over the sinking fragments of smoking ruins of other catamount politicians, and over the windfalls of Benton, Calhoun, Clay, Wright, and a caravan of other equally unfortunate law doctors, and cheerfully help to spread a plaster and bind up the burnt, bleeding wounds, of a sore but blessed country?
The Southern people are hospitable and noble. They will help to rid so free a country of every vestige of slavery, whenever they are assured of an equivalent for their property. The country will be full of money and confidence when a National Bank of twenty millions, and a State Bank in every state, with a million or more, gives a tone to monetary matters, and make a circulating medium as valuable in the purses of a whole community as in the coffers of a speculating banker or broker.
The people may have faults, but they should never be trifled with. I think Mr. Pitt's quotation in the British Parliament of Mr. Prior's couplet for the husband and wife, to apply to the course which the King and ministry of England should pursue to the then colonies of the now United States, might be a genuine rule of action for some of the breath-made men in high places to use towards the posterity of this noble, daring people:--
"Be to her faults a little blind; Be to her virtues very kind."
We have had Democratic Presidents, Whig Presidents, a pseudo-Democratic-Whig President, and now it is time to have a President of the United States; and let the people of the whole Union, like the inflexible Romans, whenever they find a promise made by a candidate that is not practiced as an officer, hurl the miserable sycophant from his exaltation, as God did Nebuchadnezzar, to crop the grass of the field with a beast's heart among the cattle.
Mr. Van Buren said, in his inaugural address, that he went in the Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt, on the part of Congress, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, against the wishes of the slave-holding States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists.
Poor little Matty made this rhapsodical sweep with the fact before his eyes, that the State of New York, his native State, had abolished {208} slavery without a struggle or a groan. Great God, how independent! From henceforth slavery is tolerated where it exists, constitution or no constitution, people or no people, right or wrong_: Vox Matti! Vox Diaboli!_ And peradventure, his great "sub-treasury" scheme was a piece of the same mind. But the man and his measures have such a striking resemblance to the anecdote of the Welshman and his cart-tongue, that when the Constitution was so long that it allowed slavery at the capitol of a free people, it could not be cut off; but when it was so short that it needed a sub-treasury to save the funds of the nation, it could be spliced! Oh, granny, granny, what a long tail our puss has got. [3] * * * But his mighty whisk through the great national fire, for the presidential chestnuts, burnt the locks of his glory with the blaze of his folly!
In the United States the people are the government, and their united voice is the only sovereign that should rule, the only power that should be obeyed, and the only gentlemen that should be honored at home and abroad, on the land and on the sea. Wherefore, were I the president of the United States, by the voice of a virtuous people, I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom; I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious patriots who carried the ark of the Government upon their shoulders with an eye single to the glory of the people, and when that people petitioned to abolish slavery in the slave states, I would use all honorable means to have their prayers granted, and, give liberty to the captive by paying the Southern gentlemen a reasonable equivalent for his property, that the whole nation might be free indeed!
When the people petitioned for a National Bank, I would use my best endeavors to have their prayers answered, and establish one on national principles to save taxes, and make them the controllers of its ways and means. And when the people petitioned to possess the territory of Oregon, or any other contiguous territory, I would lend the influence of a Chief Magistrate to grant so reasonable a request, that they might extend the mighty efforts and enterprise of a free people from the east to the west sea, and make the wilderness blossom as the rose. And when a neighboring realm petitioned to join the union of liberty's sons, my voice would be, Come--yea, come, Texas; come Mexico, come Canada; and come, all the world: let us be brethren, let us be one great family, and let there be a universal peace. Abolish the cruel custom of prisons (except certain cases), penitentiaries, court-martials for desertion; and let reason and friendship reign over the ruins of ignorance and barbarity; yea, I would, as the universal friend of man, open the prisons, open the eyes, open the ears, and open the hearts of all {209} people, to behold and enjoy freedom--unadulterated freedom; and God who once cleansed the violence of the earth with a flood, whose Son laid down His life for the salvation of all His Father gave him out of the world, and who has promised that He will come and purify the world again with fire in the last days, should be supplicated by me for the good of all people. With the highest esteem, I am a friend of virtue and of the people,
JOSEPH SMITH,
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS, February 7, 1844.
Footnotes:
1. Reference is had to Crockford's famous gaming club house at No. 50 on the west side of St. James St., London.
2. For Explanation of Ellipses See footnote p. 75 this volume.
3. For explanation of Ellipses See footnote p. 75 this volume.
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