Vol. I.
Warsaw, Illinois, January 17, 1844.
No. 44.
General Joseph Smith's Appeal
to
the Green Mountain Boys.
I was born in Sharon, Vermont, in 1805, -- where the first quarter of my
life grew with the growth & strengthened with the strength of that
"first-born" State of the "United Thirteen." From the old "French War" to
the final consummation of American Independence, my fathers, heart to
heart, and shoulder to shoulder, with the noble fathers of our liberty,
fought and bled; and with the most of that venerable band of patriots,
they have gone to rest, -- bequeathing a glorious country, with all her
inherent rights, to millions of posterity. Like other honest citizens, I
not only (when manhood came,) sought my own peace, prosperity, and
happiness, but also the peace, prosperity, and happiness of my friends;
and, with all the rights and realm before me, and the revelations of Jesus
Christ to guide me into all truth, I had good reasons to enter into the
blessings and privileges of an American citizen; -- the rights of a Green
Mountain Boy, unmolested, and enjoy life and religion according to the
most virtuous and enlightened customs, rules, and etiquette of the
nineteenth century. But, to the disgrace of the United States, it is not
so. These rights and privileges, together with a large amount of property,
have been wrested from me, and thousands of my friends, by lawless mobs in
Missouri, supported by Executive authority; and the crime of plundering
our property; and the unconstitutional and barbarous act of our expulsion;
and even the inhumanity of murdering men, women, and children, have
received the pass word of "justifiable" by legislative enactments, and the horrid deeds, doleful and disgraceful as they are, have been paid for by
government.
In vain have we sought for redress of grievances and a restoration to
our rights in the Courts and Legislature of Missouri. In vain have we
sought for our rights and the remuneration for our property in the Halls
of Congress, and at the hands of the President. The only consolation yet
experienced from these highest tribunals and mercy seats of our bleeding
country is, that our cause is just, but the government has no power to
redress us.
Our arms were forcibly taken from us by those Missouri marauders;
and, in spite of every effort to have them returned, the State of Missouri
still retains them; and the United States militia law, with this fact
before the government, still compels us to military duty; and, for a lack
of said arms, the law forces us to pay fines. As Shakespeare would say;
"thereby hangs a tale."
Several hundred thousand dollars worth of land in Missouri was
purchased at the U.S. Land Offices in that district of country:
and the money without doubt, has been appropriated to strengthen the army
and navy, or increase the power and glory of the nation in some other way;
and notwithstanding Missouri has robbed and mobbed me and twelve or
fifteen thousand innocent inhabitants murdered, and hundreds expelled, the
residue, at the point of the bayonet, without law, contrary to the express
language of the Constitution of the United States, and every State in the
Union; and contrary to the custom and usage of civilized nations; and
especially one holding up the motto: "The asylum of the oppressed;" yet
the comfort we receive to raise our wounded bodies, and invigorate our
troubled spirits, on account of such immense sacrifices of life, property,
patience, and right; and as an equivalent for the enormous taxes we are
compelled to pay to support the functionaries in a dignified manner,
after we have petitioned and pleaded with tears and been showed like a
caravan of foreign animals for the peculiar gratification of connoisseurs
in humanity, that flare along in public life, like lamps upon lamp-posts,
because they are better calculated for the schemes of the night than for
the scenes of the day, is as President Van Buren said, your cause is
just, but the government has no power to redress you!
No wonder, after the Pharisee's prayer, the Publican smote his breast
and said, Lord be merciful to me a sinner! What must the manacled
nations think of freemen's rights in the land of liberty?
Were I a Chaldean I would exclaim: Keed' nauh to-maroon lehoam elauhayaugh deyshemayaugh veh aur kau lau gnaubadoo, yabadoo ma-ar'guauoomen tehoat shemayaugh alah. (Thus shall we say unto them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.)
An Egyptian: Sa e eh-ni: (What other persons are these?) A Grecian: Diabolas basseleuei: (The Devil reigns.) A Frenchman: Messieurs sans Dieu, (Gentkemen without Go.) A Turk: Ain shems: (The fountain of light.) A german: sie sind unferstandig. (What consumate ignorance!) A Syrian: Zaubok. (Sacrifice!) A Spaniard: Il sabio muda conscio, il nescio ne. (A wise man reflects, a fool does not.) A Samaritian: Saunau! (O Stranger!) An Italian: O tempa! oh diffidanza! (O the times! O the diffidence!) A Hebrew: Ajtaij aol raicu (Thou God seest me.) A Dane: Hvnd tidende! (What tidings!) A Saxon: Hwaet riht! (What right!) A Swede: Hvad skilla: (What skill!) A Polander: Nav-yen-wheo bah poa na Jesus Christus: (Blessed be the name of Jesus Christ.) A Western Indian: She-mo-kah She-mo keh ough-nepgab. (The white man, O the white man, he very uncertain.) A Roman: Procul, o procul este profani! (Be off, be off ye profane!) But as I am I will only add: when the wicked rule the people mourn.
Now, therefore, having failed in every attempt to obtain satisfaction
at the tribunals where all men seek for it, according to the rules of
right: -- I am compelled to appeal to the honor and patriotism of my native
State: to the clemency and valor of "Green Mountain Boys;" for, throughout
the various periods of the world, whenever a nation, kingdom, state,
family, or individual has received an insult or an injury from a superior
force, (unless satisfaction was made,) it has been the custom to call in
the aid of friends to assist in obtaining redress. For proof we have only
to refer to the recovery of Lot and his effects by Abraham, in the days of
Sodom and Gomorrah; or to turn to the relief afforded by France and
Holland for the achievement of the independence of these United States.
Without bringing up the great bulk of historical facts, rules, laws,
decrees, and treaties, and bible records, by which nations have been
governed, to show that mutual alliance for the general benefit of mankind,
to retaliate and repel foreign aggressions; to punish and prevent home
wrongs, when the conservators of justice and the laws have failed to
afford a remedy, are not only common and in the highest sense justifiable
and wise, but they are also poorer expedients to promote the enjoyment of
equal rights, the pursuit of happiness, the preservation of life, and the
benefit of posterity.
With all these facts before me, and a pure desire to ameliorate the
condition of the poor and unfortunate among men, and, if possible, to
entice all men from evil to good, and with firm reliance that God will
reward the just, I have been stimulated to call upon my native State, for a
"union of all honest men;" and to appeal to the valor of the "Green
Mountain Boys" by all honorable methods & means to assist me in
obtaining justice from Missouri: not only for the property she has stolen
and confiscated, the murders she has committed among my friends, and for
our expulsion from the State, but also to humble and chastise, or abase her
for the disgrace she has brought upon constitutional liberty, until she
atones for her sins.
I appeal also to the fraternity of brethren, who are bound by kindred
ties, to assist a brother in distress, in all cases where it can be done
according to the rules of order, to extend the boon of benevolence and
protection, in avenging the Lord of his enemies, as if a Solomon, a Hiram,
a St. John, or a Washington raised his hands before a wondering world, and
exclaimed: -- "My life for his!" Light, liberty, and virtue forever!
I bring this appeal before my native State, for the solemn reason
that an injury has been done, and crimes have been committed, which a
sovereign State, of the Federal compact, one of the great family of "E
pluribus unum," refuses to compensate, by consent of parties, rules of
law, customs of nations, or in any other way. I bring it also, because the
national Government has fallen short of affording the necessary relief as
before stated, for want of power, leaving a large body of her own free
citizens, whose wealth went freely into her treasury for lands, and whose
gold and silver for taxes, still fills the pockets of her dignitaries "in
ermine and lace," defrauded, robbed, moved, plundered, ravished, driven, exiled,
and banished from the "Independent Republic of Missouri!"
And in the appeal let me say; raise your towers, pile your monuments
to the skies; build your steam frigates; spread yourselves far and wide,
and open the iron eyes of your bulwarks by sea and land; and let the
towering church steeples marshal the country like the "dreadful splendor" of
an army with bayonets: but remember the destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts;
remember the handwriting upon the wall, mene, mene, teke, upharsin;
remember the angels visit to Sennacherib and the 185,000 Assyrians; remember
the end of the Jews and Jerusalem, and remember the Lord Almighty will avenge
the blood of his Saints that now crimsons the skirts of Missouri! Shall wisdom
cry aloud, and her speech not be heard?
Has the majesty of American liberty sunk into such vile servitude and
oppression, that justice has fled? Have the glory and influence of a
Washington, an Adams, a Jefferson, a Lafayette, and a host of others,
forever departed, -- and the wrath of a Cain, a Judas, and a Nero whirled
forth in the heraldry of hell, to sprinkle our garments with blood; and
lighten the darkness of midnight with the blaze of our dwellings? Where is
the patriotism of '76? Where is the virtue of our forefathers? and where
is the sacred honor of freemen?
Must we, because we believe in the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ; the administration of angels, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,
like the prophets and apostles of old, -- must we be mobbed with impunity --
be exiled from our habitations and property without remedy; murdered
without mercy, -- and government find the weapons, and pay the vagabonds for
doing the jobs, and give them the plunder into the bargain? Must we,
because we believe in enjoying the constitutional privilege and right of
worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own consciences;
and because we believe in repentance, and baptism for the remission of
sins; the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; the
resurrection of the dead; the millennium; the day of judgment; and the
Book of Mormon as the history of the aborigines of this continent, -- must
we be expelled from the institutions of our country, the rights of
citizenship, and the graves of our friends and brethren, and the government
lock the gate of humanity, and shut the door of redress against us? -- If so,
farewell freedom; adieu to personal safety, and let the red hot wrath of
an offended God purify the nation of such sinks of corruption! For that
realm is hurrying to ruin where vice has the power to expel virtue.
My Father, who stood several times in the battles of the American
Revolution, till his companions in arms, had been shot dead, at his feet,
was forced from his home in Far West, Missouri, by those civilized, or
satanized savages, in the dreary season of winter, to seek a shelter in
another State; and the vicissitudes and sufferings consequent to his
flight brought his honored grey head to the grave, a few months after. And
my youngest brother also, in the vigor and bloom of youth, from his great
exposure and fatigue in endeavoring to assist his parents on their
journey, (I and my brother Hyrum being in chains, in dungeons -- where they
tried to feed us on human flesh -- in Missouri,) was likewise so
debilitated that he found a premature grave shortly after my father. And
my mother, too, though she yet lingers among us, from her extreme exposure
in that dreadful tragedy, was filled with rheumatic affections and other
diseases, which leave her no enjoyment of health. She is sinking in grief
and pain, broken-hearted, from Missouri persecution.
O death! wilt thou not give to every honest man, a heated dart to
sting those wretches while they pollute the land? and O grave! wilt thou
not open the trap door to the pit of ungodly men, that they may stumble
in?
I appeal to the Green Mountain Boys of my native State, to rise in
the majesty of virtuous freemen, and by all honorable means help bring
Missouri to the bar of justice. If there is one whisper from the spirit of
an Ethen Allen, or a gleam from the shade of a Gen. Stark, let it mingle
with our sense of honor and fire our bosoms for the cause of suffering
innocence, -- for the reputation of our disgraced country, and for the glory
of God; and may all the earth bear me witness, if Missouri, blood-stained
Missouri, -- escapes the due merit of her crimes, the vengeance she so justly
deserves -- that Vermont is a hypocrite -- a coward -- and this nation
the hot bed of political demagogues!
I make this appeal to the sons of liberty of my native State for help
to frustrate the wicked design of sinful men; I make it to hush the
violence of mobs; I make it to cope with the unhallowed influence of
wicked men in high places; I make it to resent the insult and injury made
to an innocent, unoffending people, by a lawless ruffian State; I make it
to show our nation's escutcheon; I make it to show presidents,
governors, and rulers, prudence; I make it to fill honorable men with
discretion; I make it to teach senators wisdom; I make it to learn judges
justice; I make it to point clergymen to the path of virtue; and I make it
to turn the hearts of this nation to the truth and realities of pure and
undefiled religion, that they may escape the perdition of ungodly men; and
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my Great Counsellor.
Wherefore let the rich and the learned, the wise and the noble, the
poor and the needy; the bond and the free, both black and white, take heed
to their ways, and cleave to the knowledge of God; and execute justice
and judgment upon the earth in righteousness; and prepare to meet the
judge of the quick and the dead, for the hour of his coming is nigh.
And I must go on as the herald of grace,
Till the wide-spreading conflict is over.
And burst thro' the curtains of tyrannic night.
Yes, I must go on to gather our race,
Till the high blazing flames of Jehovah
Illumines the globe as a triumph of right.
As a friend of equal rights to all men, and a messenger of the everlasting
gospel of Jesus Christ,
I have the honor to be,
Your devoted servant,
JOSEPH SMITH.
Nauvoo, Ill., Dec., 1843.
The Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys; For aid to assist in "licking" the Missourians, made by Joe Smith
a month or two ago -- will be found in another column. No doubt but all the Ethan Allens and Gen. Starks in the
State of Vermont will soon be "on their winding way," to assist their esteemed brother!
To show our great learning, after the fashion of the "Appeal," -- were we a Vermonter, we would say: Boowoo waugh!
Josephi. -- (You can't come it Josey!) Were we a Turk, we would say: Noah shah Mahomet. (You can't act Mahomet.)
Or a Western Indian, we would yell: Che-mo-ko-mon, Jo-Smith-e-kuk hah ug! (White man, Joe Smith, very unsartin.)
But as we are, we shall only say: Some men are fools by nature; and others are fools for lucre.
UNHEARD-OF OUTRAGE AND THE ALTON TELEGRAPH.
In our last, we copied an article from the Alton Telegraph, commenting in severe language on what the editors are pleased to call an "unheard-of outrage." It was our intention, when we marked the article for insertion, to accompany it with some remarks of our own; but in the hurry and excitement of Tuesday and Wednesday, it was entirely forgotten
We think the Telegraph need not have been quite so severe upon the actors in this matter. Situated at the distance of 150 miles from us, the editors of that print can know but little of the difficulties and vexations and dangers with which the people of this region are surrounded. Besides -- we have some recollection of an "unheard-of outrage," which was perpetrated in the goodly city of Alton -- in the murder of a certain Elijah P. Lovejoy by a mob; and if our memory serves us, the editor of the Telegraph had something to say by the way of extenuation. But circumstances alter cases; times change and men change with them.
We agree with the Telegraph that the conduct of the so-called "kidnappers" was reprehensible; but there is more excuse for them than the editors of that paper seem to appreciate. They have not had the facts correctly, They are briefly these -- as far as we have been able to learn: A certain Mormon named Avery, was arrested in Missouri, on a charge of Horse Stealing, and is now, as we believe, in jail in Palmyra awaiting his trial. On his examination he implicated his father, who resides on this side of the River, and who had a most notorious character. Some citizens of Missouri came over, and in company with citizems of this State, arrested said Avery, (without process) and took him to Missouri, where a Grand Jury found a true bill against him for the crime of which he was accused. (He has since, however, as we learn, been set at Liberty, by the operation of the Habeas Corpus -- which has become in this country a mere mockery, and a machine of injustice.)
The taking of Avery without process, we do not justofy; but have from the beginning condemned. Those concerned plead in extenuation -- That they had been continually harrassed by depredators from this side of the river; that Mo. had several times made application to Illinois for the arrest of an individual charged with crime, and have ever been unsuccessful. Had they taken that course in this case, the escape of the criminal would have been almost certain. They decided on a more summary method; and on them rests the responsibility. We think they erred. We believe in the application of no remedy for evils, but legal ones; even though they may bring present wrong, they will ultimately triumph.
It may not be generally known, that the Mormon Prophet is a great Land Speculator. The following, a standing advertsiement in the Nauvoo Neighbor, will show how he operates upon the brethren in that line:
Notice to Emigrants and Latter Day Saints Generally.
I feel it my duty to say to the brethren generally, and especially those who are emigrating to this place, that there is in the hands of the Trustee in Trust, a large quantity of lands, both in the city and adjoining Townships in this county, which is for sale -- some of which belongs to the church and is designed for the benefit of the poor, and also [to] liquidate debts owing by the church, for which the Trustee in Trust is responsible. Some also is land which has been consecrated for the building of the Temple, and some for the Nauvoo House.
If the brethren who move in here and want an inheritance will buy their lands from the Trustee in Trust, they will thereby benefit the poor, the Temple and the Nauvoo House, and even then only be doing that which is their duty and which I know, by considerable experience, will be vastly for their benefit and satisfaction in the days to come....
For the Warsaw Message.
Meeting of Citizens at Carthage.
At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of Hancock county, held in the court house in Carthage, on Wednesday the 10th day of January, 1844 --
The meeting was organized by the appontment of Jas. B. Matthews, Chairman, and John C. Elliott, Secretary.
The objects of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, on motion, it was decided that Valentine Wilson address the meeting, which he accordingly did in an appropriate and eloquent speech.
After which it was moved and decided that the chairman appoint a committee of three to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting, in regard to certain difficulties with the community of people called Mormons.
The chair named Walter Bagby, Colonel Levi Williams and Henry Newton, for that committee, who reported the following Preamble and Resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:
That while we have been denied the ends of Justice in Nauvoo, by the interposition of armed bodies, set up by the authorities of that city, and ordered to rescue a prisoner at all hazards, regardless of law or justice, from the rightful custody of an officer, which order was accordingly carried into successful execution, as is well authenticated in the case of Smith, the leader of the Mormon community at Dixon, in Lee county of this State.
And while the authorities of the city of Nauvoo have been continually passing ordanances in designation of the laws and constitution of the State of Illinois and of the United States, calculated, if carried into effect to be a source of galling oppression to the citizens of this county, and indeed to all who may be so unfortunate as to be placed under their operation; which laws have been in many cases executed upon individuals to their great detriment and annoyance.
And while we have seen a growing disposition on the part of that community and especially of their leader, the most potent Joseph Smith, to harrass us, by dragging our citizens from the most remote parts of the county to Nauvoo, to be tried for every petty offence, and when there to be subjected to all the indignities that the said Smith -- the most foul-mouthed blackguard that ever was commissioned by Satan to vex and torment the children of men -- could invent.
And while we have been threatened, vilified and abused in every possible form and manner, insomuch that we are driven to the conclusion that there is no alternative now left us, but the most object and ignominious resistance;
Still we desire to hold ourselves responsible to the laws of the country, so far as they are reasonably administered; and will at all times cheerfully submit to be tried by officers of our immediate vicinage; Yet --
Resolved, That seeing we have been constrained to believe that the authorities of Nauvoo, by a succession of the most extraordinary ordinances that were ever known to be passed by a deliberating body, design to bar themselves against the just and equitable operation of the laws, as well as by many other indications too numerous here to name. We hereby determine and pledge to each other, our sacred honor, and all our substance, so far as it may be needed, to resist every oppression that may be attempted to be imposed upon us, and every indignity that may be offered to any individual or community in this county, or the surrounding counties, by the authorities of Nauvoo, at the point of the bayonet.
Resolved, That we pledge ourselves most solemnly, that we will at all times hold ourselves in readiness to march at a moment's warning, to any point to which we may be called.
Resolved, That each and every one of us will use our influence and our best exertions, to induce those of our immediate neighborhood to engage heartily in the work, by organizing themselves into defensive bodies, that we may be at all times prepared for any emergency.
Resolved, That the editor of the Warsaw Message be requested to publish in his paper the proceedings of this meeting, -- the late ordinances of the City of Nauvoo in relation to the services of process, and the selling of liquors in said city...
THE AFFAIR AT CARTHAGE.
The Nauvoo Neighbor, as is usual with that print, on such occassions, comes out with a long rigmarole of untruth, about the affair at Carthage last week, between the citizens and Mormons.
The facts as they occurred, were about as follows: A constable from Nauvoo, went to Carthage on Saturday, and arrested one Milton Cook, on a charge of Bastardy, Before reaching the Justice -- but whetehr before they left Carthage or not, we did not learn -- the prisoner made his escape from the officer. In the mean time, some of the citizens turned out to defend Cook, declaring that he should not be taken to Nauvoo for trial; but offered no resistance to a hearing before any other magistrate. The officer, seeing that he could not succeed in his attempt, returned to the Justice who issued the writ, who summoned 11 men to his assistance. With this reinforcement, he returned on Monday night; when three or four of the party attacked Mr. Bartlett's grocery, in which Cook was supposed to be. They were met at the door with five or six bayonets, firmly grasped; and it appeared that one Mr. Eagel had no more prudence than to rush violently against one of them, and get himself hurt. Thus repulsed, the party retired for the night.
In the morning, it would seem, as by accident, the parties again met at Wilson's store. Considerable confusion and volence prevailed for a moment; when the pistol of Dr. Morrison, as he was attempting to draw it from his pocket, was accidently discharged. The ball, instead of striking one of the officer;s party in the forehead, and glancing off afain, to the imminent danger of the whole -- as the Neighbor has it -- passed very near the Doctor's own head, and lodged in the ceiling! -- No pistol was intentionally fired, and no bayonet plunged at the breast of any of the assailants, during the whole affray.
The combatants now separated; the constable and his posse set out for Nauvoo, declaring that they would return with the Legion, and take the prisoner, or lay the town in ashes!
The above are substantially the facts of the case. We leave our readers to make their own comments.
According to request of the Citizens' Meeting, we publish in this No. several of the Nauvoo Ordinances, tending to show how utterly regardless of all law and right & decency, the authorities of that city can make themselves. One ordinance authorizes marriages without a license; another sets Smith above the license laws of the State, "fir the health and convenience of travelers; another takes all process out of the hands of State officers, and puts it into those of the city; & yer another takes the pardoning power away from the Governor!
THE QUESTION OF COMPROMISE.
Mr. Gregg: -- in your paper published on the 10th inst., we find some remarks on the fifficulties which occured between the Carthagenians and the Mormons on Monday and Tuesday last, in which I think may be seen a strong squinting at a disposition to compromise with that people. Your closing paragraph runs thus:
"As a means of bringing about so desirable a result, we respectfully suggest that a public meeting of all parties be called, to meet at Carthage on as early a day as practicable to take into consideration the grievances and their remedy. What say you, fellow citizens?"
As for one, I say, NO Never!! Just as well might you call upon us to strike hands with Pirates or to compromise with the Powers of Darkness. Who is there amongst us so wanting in discrimination as not to be able to see, that a community constructed as is that at Nauvoo, headed by a leader so destitute of every moral principle, as we know Jo Smith to be, can be trusted? -- obeying a leader most implicitly who in their very midst has committed so long a catalogue of the most adominable acts, of which the imagination of man can conceive; attempting at the same time to cloak all his outrages under the sacred garb of religion, and that too, the pure and holy religion of Jesus Christ! In view of such wonderful presumption, I am constrained to cry out -- "O blasphemous wretch! Who can trust him?" I repeat it most emphatically, "Let no such man be trusted!" I again answer, I can make no compromise with Nauvoo, as a community, while it avows allegiance to the Beast and the False Prophet. If there are those, as you suggest, who would be willing to rid themselves and the country, of the evils growing out of the mad projects of that presumptuous wretch, let them show their faith by works, and come out, and disabuse themselves of the odium which cleaves to them like the fatal shirt of Nessus, and that will suffice me. For I hold that the little philosophy which I can lay claim to, has never yet taught me that when I see a thief, and other partakers with him, that these last can be honest men! No, Sir, I can never compromise with Jo Smith; nor yet with a community who consider his will as their pleasure -- no matter how absurd. And more especially cannot I compromise with Jo Smith, until I shall have seen his inflated vanity and his intoerable audacity humbled and subdued. I have seen too much of his treachery, and felt too much of his dastardly tyranny, when in the plenitude of his power, he expected no resistance. Who, then, in view of such a being, but with the full assurance that so soon as he shall have found himself in a situation to crush them with impunity, that he will not withold his hand for a moment? These are my feelings: They are the feelings of one who presumes to subscribe himself, --- Hannibal.
Remarks on the Above.
WE are glad that our Query has brought so prompt an answer -- though so unfavorable to our own views. One has spoken, -- and he has spoken, no doubt, the sentiments of many -- and we desire a further expression, on the part of our citizens. Our columns are always open to well tempered articles on a subject so momentous. Again we ask -- Fellow Citizens, what say you?
We acknowledge, that, inview of all the circumstances -- regarding the high state of excitement which has been produced upon the public mind -- the danger there is of collision and bloodshed, and consequent misery and ruin and death, to hundreds of innocent people -- in view of all these things, we have a "strong squinting at compromise." Rather thando worse, we would "strike hands with Pirates, or compromise with the Powers of Darkness" -- so far, at least, as to agree to a system of non-intercourse. We would not compromise with Joe Smith one inch, in the acknowledgement of his right to plunder, and destroy, and tyrannize, and dupe, as he is doing; or that he is any thing short of a demon in human shape, sent to scourge mankind. But we do believe that there are "ten righteous persons in the city" -- yes, fifty times ten -- who are innocent of any intention to do wrong. And, shall they, too, suffer? Shall there be no discrimination made between these, and that ruthless and guilty band, who disregard all law and all right? Shall all be made to suffer alike -- the innocent with the guilty. God forbid!
We see no use in attempting to disguise the fact, that many in our midst contemplate a total extermination of that people; that the thousands of defenceless women and children, aged and infirm, who are congregated at Nauvoo, must be driven out -- aye, DRIVEN -- SCATTERED -- like the leaves before the Autumn blast! But what good citizen, let us ask -- what lover of his country and his race, but contemplates such an event with horror?
Shall not, we would ask -- shall not the olive branch be at least held out to those innocent -- though deluded -- followers of the prophet? Shall not an attempt be made to set them right, in reference to the designs and aims of those, whom they have heretofore been taught to regard as their wirst enemies?
We still persist in the opinion that a compromise may be ebtered into that will do much good; that will, in its operation, entirely stay the work of destruction. And we call upon all our fellow citizens to aid in bringing about such a compromise.
Notes: (forthcoming)
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