HISTORY
OF
MORMONISM.
This junto of conspirators was enabled to procure a printing-press early in the summer, and one number of their journal was issued and circulated. Smith expected to be abused, but the boldness of his ene-mies and the graveness of the charges which they preferred against him took him by surprise. He had never imagined that a set of men could be found in the midst of his dominions—in his own city, at his very door—who should possess moral mo-ral courage sufficient to assail him with so much licence through the public press.—To think of tolerating a journal which at once threatened and defied him was out of the question ; but how to rid himself of the nuisance was a matter of the greatest perplexity. To call out his military, de-stroy the press, and hang every person con-cerned in the publication of the paper, would scarcely have been a proceeding sufficiently summary to satisfy the venge-ance of the incensed Prophet. Had he acted from the first impulses of his murder-ous inclinations, the Laws would have atoned for their temerity with their lives. But Smith was too politic to adopt illegal measures, whilst there was any hope that the matter could be satisfactorily accom-plished under the authority of the law,—Smith was determined to head the "law-and-order party," and throw upon his ad-versaries the odious imputation of mobbers. In this dilemma he took counsel of one Style, a Mormon lawyer, who advised him that the obnoxious paper was, without question, a nuisance, and as such should without delay be abated; that the Muni-cipal Court of the city of Nauvoo had jurisdiction of all such offences; that the character of the journal should be imme-diately brought before the court for the grave deliberation of its judges, who had an undoubted right on a proper investiga-tion to make an order requiring the city Marshal to cause its abatement.
This counsel was adopted and acted up-on. A petition was filed charging that a certain weekly newspaper, called the Nau-voo Expositor, had advocated seditious and disorganizing doctrines, derogatory to the peace and good order of society at the city of Nauvoo, and praying that an order might might be made in the premises declaring the same a nuisance, and requiring its de-struction. The judges acted on the peti-tion, and gravely declared the press a nuis-ance, and made the necessary order for its abatement. This decree was immediately carried into into execution. The Marshall summoned to his assistance a cohort of the Legion, numbering two hundred men, with which he proceeded to the office of the Ex-positor, and carried away the press, type, paper, and all the fixtures of the establish-ment, beyond the corporation limits, where he completely destroyed the whole appar-atus "according to due form of law." No resistance was made by the parties interes-ted to this wanton destruction of the press, but there was a settled determination on the part of the Laws to bring Smith and his associates to justice. A writ was taken out for him and the principal persons con-cerned with him in the late transaction, before a Justice of the Peace at Carthage, and a special officer appointed for its exe-cution. This officer without any delay, visited Nauvoo for the purpose of arresting Smith. With this intention he called on him, exhibited to him his authority, which the Prophet unequivocally refused to obey, alleging that the Laws of their abettors had fomented an exitement against him in the country, particularly at Carthage, which would be dangerous for him to encounter; that he had no protection but what was guaranteed to him by the true hearts and the truer steel of the Nauvoo Legion ; and until his own military refused to give him their support, he never would surrender him-seli to his enemies, who had sworn to take vengeance upon him whenever he should be placed in their power.
The officer, unsupported by any assist-ance, was compelled to return to Carthage without any prisoners. A large and exci-sed meeting was soon collected at the court-house, to which the officer reported his failure, and the determination of Smith to resist his authority. This report tended to inflame the passions of the already ex-cited masses beyond all control. There were those who advocated the policy of in stantly arming the masses, marching to Nauvoo, and driving the insubordinate Mor-mons from the State. Others no less deter-mined; but more prudent and rational, re-commended that the warrant which Smith had refused to obey should be placed in the hands of the sheriff; that he should summon to his aid the power of the coun-ty; that, at the same time, a delegation should be appointed whose duty it should be to visit Springfield, and make a full statement of the facts to the Governor, and invoke the aid of the State in support of the law. This moderate counsel prevailed. The delegation to confer with the Gover-nor was appointed, and departed for Springfield.
In the mean time the sheriff issued his proclamation to the people of the county, and never was a proclamation received with more delight or obeyed with more alacrity. The farmer abandoned his field, the me-chanic his shop, the merchant his counting-room, and the professional man his books, and all hastened to vindicate the outraged law, and restore the reign of order and jus-tice. All sorts of arms were called into requisition: old fire-locks half eaten with rust, fowling-pieces guiltless of the blood of bird or beast, pistols and bowie-knives, were all pressed into the patriotic service, and burnished for the day of battle. Squad-rons of horse and detachments of infantry were organized, officered, and equipped with wonderful facility in every part of the coun-ty, and marched into Carthage, where the sheriff had established his head-quarters.
Nor was the delegation to the capital less successful, and on the receipt of the in-telligence of the insubordination of the Mormons, the Governor immediately de-parted from Carthage. As he proceeded on his route, he collected, as occasion offer-ed, a volunteer force, which, on his arrival, numbered five or six hundred men. The forces now assembled at Carthage under the command of the Governor were, in all about one thousand men, which was less than one half of the numerical strength of the Nauvoo Legion, with which they were to contend. Notwithstanding Smith was aware of the inferiority of the Governor's troops; he exerted all his vigilance to guard against surprise. All his forces were mar-shalled and placed under arms. The note of prepartion for the approaching battle was heard in every quarter of the city. A night-watch patrolled the streets; picets were stationed on the outskirts, bands of horsemen by day and night scoured the ad-jacent forests and prairies. The Prophet, refusing to surrender himself to justice, had placed himself under the ban of procription: he was in open war with the executive of the State to which he he owed allegiance, and with lofty resolu-tion he determined to bravely fight it through. The position of Nauvoo is natu-rally a strong one. The Mississippi river, by the curve which it makes at that point, protects three fourths of its boundaries from invasion. It is accessible to an ene-my only on the east and north-east by the Carthage and La Harpe roads. One of these, the Carthage road, was flanked on each side with deep ravines sufficint to pro-tect a large army from the raking fire of artillery. Also skirts of forest, interspers-ed with thick undergrowth, overhung this road, and afforded an impenetrable cover to the saintly forces, who concealed by this covering, could, unperceived, pour a destruc-tive fire on the approaching enemy. Un-der such circumstances, the Prophet fan-cied he could hold out successfully against any force which Governor Ford could bring against him.
The Governor, on his arrival, immediate-ly dispatched a small detachment of troops to Nauvoo, sending by them a letter to Smith, in which he informed him of the danger which he would incur from the ex-cited masses in case he continued to resist, and threatening him with the concentrated power of the State if he still refused to sur-render himself. Smith still determined to resist. To obey the authority of the State would seal his doom. The excited coun-trymen who had been pouring into Car-thage were impelled by an uncontrollable de-sire for vengeance, which nothing would satiate but his blood. On this refusal of the Prophet to accompany them, the troops, with the exception of one of their number, returned to Carthage and reported the fact to the Governor, with the representation that Yates, the person who remained be-hind, was compromising the dearest inter-ests of the county to the Mormons.
Upon the receipt of this intelligence, a troop of horse, under the command of Cap-tain Dunn, was dispatched to Nauvoo, with a requisition for all the arms furnished by the State to the Nauvoo Legion. This ex-pedition had advanced less than half the distance, when it was met by Smith and his brother Hyrum, and several other dis-tinguished Mormons, who were included in the writ for riot. Through the representa-tions made by Yates to Smith, he had con-cluded to surrender himself to justice. His fears had been aroused by the bustle of preparation which was heard in every part of the county, and which was rapidly ex-tending throughout the State. He justly feared that, although he might readily vanquish the force now assembled at Car-thage, the authority of the State would eventually triumph, and the scenes of vio-lence from which they had just escaped in Missouri would be reenacted in Illinois, and the faithful would again be driven in hope-less exile from their homes.
Under this impression, the Prophet and his friends surrendered themselves. When they arrived at Carthage, they were great objects of curiosity to the Governor's troops many of whom resided at a distance from Nauvoo, and had never caught a glimpse of a genuine prophet of the latter days.—To gratify this natural and laudable curiosi-ty, the Governor requested the Sheriff to parade the troops and introduce to their no-tice Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, who, by way, was second in the Church, and very frequently assumed the propetic char-acter, to the great edification of the saints. This request of the Governor was strictly complied with by the Sheriff; the troops were placed on parade, and the Prophet was introduced as Gen. Joseph Smith to the army. But as he and his suite rode along the extended lines, bowing with the most re-spectful courtesy to the "citizen soldiery," no response or welcome or approbation greeted his overtures for friendship; no kindly sympathy sparkled in the eyes of the sullen Anti-Mormons; no shout of applause burst from the embattled host! All was cold, grave, silent, and threatening; and as the proscribed imposter passed, every coun-tryman in the ranks, nerved with intense hate, convulsively grasped his weapon, his respect for the law and the fear of its penal-ties only preventing summary vengeance from being taken at that moment. The troops muttered their disapprobation of the conduct of the Sheriff in presenting to them an impostor and vagabond under a milita-ry title which they had been taught to re-spect. It was impossible to conciliate the wrath of the troops against their prisoner. They were determined in their hatred to the Mormon character; and no overtures made by Smith or his friends, amongst whom they began to regard the Governor, could ever induce them to look upon him with any degree of allowance.
The vincictive troops were dismissed from parade, and immediately afterwards, Smith and his fellow-prisoners were brought before the justice of the peace who had is-sued the warrant, to be examined on a charge of riot for the destruction of the printing press. It was claimed by the pro-secution that they were not ready for trial; that owing to the resistance which the pris-oners had made, and the probability that they would still continue to resist, no effort had been made to procure the necessary testimony in the case. The surrender of themselves as prisoners had taken the pros-ecution by surprise, and found them with-out witnesses; it was therefore asked that the case should stand over until the 27th of June, which was only three days, but would be sufficient time for them to pro-cure the testimony; and during which im it was asked that the prisoner should be committed to the common jail at Car-thage, to await their examination. The course proposed by the prosecution was adopted by the justice; the continuance was granted, and the prisoners were remand-ed to jail. But whilst the justice was pre-paring the commitment, they demanded their right to enter bail for their appearance at the examination, and thus discharge themselves from arrest. This was their un-questioned right, and the bail proposed be-ing unexceptionable, the justice was com-pelled to accede to this request; but, be-fore the nessary bonds could be prepared, and the bail formally accepted and approv-ed, another process was issued and served upon the Prophet, Hyrum Smith, Willard Richards, and John Taylor, charging them with treason against the State, in resisting the authority of government, in levying troops and fortifying the city, with the avowed purpose of giving battle to the Go-ver and the State troops. This grave charge, was, of course, not bailable. The prisoners were now compelled either to pro-cure their discharge on examination, which was doubtful, or be confined like common felons in the county jail. The prosecution urged the same reasons in this as in the former case for a continuance, which was granted; and the Prophet and his associ-ates were fully committed to await their ex-examination, which was to take place three days afterwards.
To be continued.
