Show In tho summer of 1S43 a desperate effortfi was made to kidnap JOSEPH SMITH and carry him into Missouri among his old enemies He was arrested on a requisition from the governor of Missouri by JOSEPH H REYNOLDS the agent of Missouri and HARMON T WILSON an officer of Illinois The arrest was made in Dixon in the northern part of Illinois and his captors tried to run him off without giving Mm an opportunity to consult counsel make any arrangement whatever for defense Hon CYRUS WALKER was in the neighborhood however and the prophet secured his services serv-ices and sued out a writ of habeas corpus beore a local magistrate and instead of going into Missouri he took his captors captive and went to Nauvoo where he was delivered from arrest At the time of this occnrrence there was an election pending in Illinois for members mem-bers of Congress and WALKER was the Whig candidate for tho district where the Mormons lived When JOSEPH SMITH called for his assistauco as a lawyer WALKER was making campaign speeches in that locality and refused utterly to assist him unless the prophet would pledge him his vote for representative to Congress This JOSEPH SMITH did and CYRUS WALKER understood that to mean not only the prophets vote but the vote of his friends He felt that his election was sure and boasted of it among his friends Ho quit the stump and devoted himself to the service ser-vice of JOSEPH SMITH with the above result The day before election however HYRUM SMITH told his brother JOSEPH that the spirit manifested it to him that it would be to the best interest of the people to vote the Democratic ticket and for Mr HouR the Democratic candidate for Con gres JOSEPH made that announcement in a public meeting in the course of which announcement he said I amnot come to tell you to vote this way that way or the other In relation to national matters I waut it to go abroad to the whole world that every man hould stand on his own merits The Lord has not given mo a revelation revela-tion concerning politics I have not asked Him for one I am a third party end stand independent inde-pendent and alone I desire to see all parties protected in their rights Referring to what HYRUM had communicated communi-cated to him he said I never knew EYRDII to say ho over had a revelation and it failed Let GOD speak and all mea hold their peace JOSEPH kept his pledge personally and I voted for CYRUS WALKER but tho Democratic Demo-cratic ticket was overwhelmingly victorious victo-rious In Nauvoo The result was like a thunderbolt to the Whig candidate and his party who had I been living in a fools paradise of fancied security To say that the sudden and un expected cnange analog in their defeat moved the Whip to deep indignation is but expressing it mildly There exist very good reasons for believing that the whole incident of the prophets arrest at Dixon was a Whig plot to capture the Mormon voto by having WALKER come to the rescue res-cue of the prophet and thus bind the Mormon Mor-mon people in gratitude to vote for him r the services ho had rendered to their leader Be that as It may Whig disappointment and rage knew no bounds and an agitation agita-tion was begun by them at Carthage and vicinity Meetings were called and resolutions reso-lutions passed denouncing the Mormons and charging them with all manner of crimes They agreed to support no man of either political party who should truckle to the Mormons for their influence and finally Resolved That when the government ceases to afford protection the citizens of course fallback fall-back upon their original inherent right of self defense The Messrs SMiTH will please take note that tho above resolution was not passed by Democrats but by disappointed Whigs The agitation thusbegun continued to increase In-crease in bitterness and to grow wider and wider and at last when united with the I gall of hell bubbling up in he hearts orS or-S S t L apostates in NHUVOO it resulted in the martyrdom of JOSEPH and HYRCM SMITH and the expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois The Messrs SMITH may say that it i was through a weak administration of the state government under Democratic rule that rendered such results possibler I That may be I is conceded that Gcvor J nor FOHD was a weak man But there is j nothing in Democratic principles that justified the governor in permitting mob rule begotten by Whig agitation to gain such power that men could La murdered while under the protection of the state and on entire people driven from their homes But i the Democrats are charge able with permitting those great crimes to occur the Whigs who began and carried on the agitation leading to the crimes aro I more directly chargeable with bringing it about and by mob violence We do not however charce Whigs ns such with being guilty of the blood of the brothers SMITH or any others who fell in thoso unhappy days or of the crimes of mobviolence and arson which disgraced the annals of Illinois at that time and on tbo other band we enter our solemn protest pro-test against efforts being made to bespatter bespat-ter Democrats as such with tho blood of murdered men Wo say to those who attempt at-tempt it shako not tho gory locks of martyrs mar-tyrs at Democrats you cannot say in truth that they are marc gullY of shedding that blood than the Whigs Could the great Mormon leaders voice be heard today to-day we believe that as in the case of Missouri mobbings ho himself would protest pro-test against the deep damnation of his taking tak-ing off being charged to either Democrats or Whigs as such S Once more Republican friends we tell you it is unworthy of you to base your efforts to pain converts to your party or to strengthen it by an appeal to the prejudice and passions of the Mormon people It is not that Democrats fear the facts in the case that this protest is made for a strict inquiry into the subject will vindicate them and wo are sanguine that by such an appeal the Democrats have more to gain than their opponents We make our protest pro-test because it Is improper ground for political discussion and we prefer to meet our opponents on issues existing betveen the two great national parties and let reason and cool judgment guide the people in determining the question of their party afllliotions We warn our Republican friends not to attempt t make Democrats S a such responsible for the persecutions and whatever of injustice has been heaped L upon the Mormon people in the past for in S that controversy if it is provoked they will L be put at a very great disadvantage Keep on proper political ground friends |