Show A historical SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF THE MORMON PEOPLE WHEN a full history of the morion people shall come to be written its s author whether he be friendly or hostile stile and every attentive reader whether he be bitterly opposed or generously partial to the subject of the e work will not fail to be impressed with fa two remarkable facts one is that t it in all the course of their interests and troublous career though parked at every stage by honesty thrift rift and aid good order the people were re constantly maligned by their neighbors and accused bf v views and practices inimical to the peace and wo ware of the country the other is that no sooner was one subterfuge of their opponents pierced by the light of truth and utterly disproved than a second was brought forward and urged successively throughout the confines of township county state and nation the ingenuity of their enemies has thus been shown in formulated charges of stealing swindling immorality murder rebellion and at last treason it may not be improper to say that a third fact will be no less prominent than the two mentioned it is that after each onslaught no matter how great the increase in virulence the people have gained in strength in numbers in prosperity and in the ability to withstand every kind of attack they were mobbed and plundered before they came into possession of and made beautiful their lovely gathering spot nauvoo they were hunted and driven by bloodthirsty men before they developed and made homes in the great basin an army was sent against them to exterminate them before they came into the prosperity which attended the building of the railroad they had to suffer imported officials hostile legislation fines imprisonment and finally denial of the elective franchise before their citi cities escame came to be regarded throughout the continent as desirable places to live models of sobriety synonymous with health beauty wealth and good order their members have been robbed murdered driven imprisoned and now deprived of the common rights for which the patriots bled and died yet they are today more numerous more wealthy more powerful to show in their lives the sincerity of their professions and the divinity of their cause than ever before we have said that the honest walk and conduct of the mormons cormons has put to the severest test the ingenuity of the enemy let us see how many times the latter has been forced to abandon his position and how often he has changed his front sixty years rarely furnish a sufficient review of the history of a whole community to meet the requirements of a just comparison in the present instance however the sixty years have been so crowded with events dissimilar indeed in their nature but identical in their purpose that there is ample material for such consideration as the moment seems appropriately to invite what is known as the mormon church had scarcely come into existence before its members began to feel the pressure of hostile surroundings within four years a space of time that under the most zealous could not make any religious system formidable in point of numbers a series of murderous assaults in which brutality to women and children cruel violence to men and wanton destruction to property were distinguishing features was directed against the unpopular sect armed mobs consisting of wild frontiersmen tiers men but led by educated bigots and sustained by the authority of the commonwealth waited upon the little colony with orders to leave the state forthwith fifteen minutes was the limit of time allowed for the consideration of an edict involving the loss of all that industry had accumulated besides a train of sorrows and sufferings which the heart of man could only imagine with sickening dread though the hour of departure was afterwards extended there was no modification of the absolute terms imposed our jackson county boys said lieutenant governor boggs have shown what they can I 1 I 1 the settlers do persecuted were left to draw their own inference it was compliance with the infamous demands of the mob or death at their hands before yielding assent the people addressed petition after petition to the governor of the state who replied in sentimental language but gave no promise of protection A communication from the secretary of war in behalf of the president of the united states was filled with like expressions for five years the inhuman work of the went on whether as a mere rabble of citizens with self chasen leaders or as a sheriffs posse with vague authority tho rity or as the militia of the state acting under orders of the executive the process was the same the brand of the incendiary and the musket of the assassin enforced the original demand five counties of missouri were in turn abandoned by the best citizens of the state their thriving settlements were a smoking ruin the soil had drank their blood in all the correspondence preceding the completion of the expulsion which took place in the dead of winter 1838 39 and under circumstances at once pitiful and shocking there is not a single charge officially made against the exiles it is true the laid numerous offenses at their doors cunning villains have always been ready with stories calculated to inflame the ignorant mind and appeal to popular clamor it was at first charged against the mor mons that their religion was an imposture they believed in revelation from on high another offense was that in their domestic affairs they were peculiar they were reserved in their deportment and dealing they did not mix with the wild elements of mankind which surrounded them in short they minded their own business these were atrocious crimes indeed I 1 for these were they outraged plundered and butchered 1 many of them came from new england where the antislavery anti slavery movement was beginning they were 11 1 I recognized as yankees were accused of secreting and stealing negroes and were hated as abolitionists with all the bitterness that the men who lived on the border of the slave states at that time felt for adherents of that doctrine this was held up as a most grievous offense and they were driven out at the point of the bayonet no charges of immorality then I 1 no talk of imper wm in imperio I 1 no holy abhorrence of polygamy no loyal anxiety to repress violations of law tor for there were charges neither of misdemeanor nor of felony I 1 no high voiced hypocrisy about disloyalty or treason for they were law abiding obedient to judicial summons and patriotic because they did not have slaves and did not want them they were abolitionists because they cultivated their land and attended their own affairs with no taste for lawless forays and no love for frontier excesses they were exclusive because their religion was strange and claimed the inspiration of divinity they were fanatics and because they were said to be abolitionists and exclusive and fanatical they were unworthy of place or protection within the state missouri washed her hands of them and did it in blood the distinguishing traits of thrift and industry which had attended the efforts of the mormons cormons in Miss missouri guri and ohio were again admirably presented in their new home in illinois they founded and built a city which was the pride and wonder of the state what little had remained to them after their repeated dr ivings furnished them no capital save a terrible experience with which to begin again but they shrank not before obstacles and set to work courageously on the bank of the mighty fetherof father Fathe of waters nauvoo grew as if by magic it was beautiful beyond any town in all the region there was no brawling no violence no disturbance of any kind to hinder the progress of business or the enjoyment of the favors which a kindly providence supplied in recompense of honest toil but if peace reigned within it was not because the old hostility without was dead if the crime of minding their own business made the people exclusive the same heinous charge could still be brought against them if it was fanaticism to believe in the revelations of heaven leaving others to believe what they chose they ware were still fanatical but these alone were slight pretexts for further atrocities the word abolitionism had not such terrors in illinois as in missouri A new objection must be sought against the prosperous community and as usual one was quickly found the members believed that in union there is strength they carried the theory into practice not only in religion but in commerce and politics cg it was a great stumbling block to their neighbors the independence which made them free to select the best candidates and the good sense which caused them to cast audited a united vote for them gave their efter enemies nies a weapon which has ever been readily used against them the politicians of the neighborhood offended at the course they took in this matter seized this pretext and magnified its dangers in every possible way of course when men seek excuses they will always find them having started out to give the mor mons a bad name it was easy to charge them with the prevailing crimes of horse stealing counterfeiting fei ting harboring vile characters and of living as a community by a system of plunder lawless persons from up and down the river found it to their advantage to shield their own practices and divert suspicion from themselves by attaching it to the unpopular citizens the world is always ready to believe the most unreasonable falsehoods against those who already whether deservedly or not have received a bad name an absurd charge of riot of which the participants had been legally acquitted was magnified into the crime of resisting the process of law and hence by a long stride in sophistry to rebellion one pretext now followed another in quick succession and it seemed that nothing but blood would satisfy the enmity which was raging on every side the threats made against the leaders of the people but especially against the prophet joseph smith were of the most murderous kind his surrender was demanded not so much to satisfy the law as the clamors of a bloodthirsty mob joseph foretold what would be his fate should he fall into their hands but to save the people and to comply with the demand of governor ford who demanded that he stand trial on the charges preferred against him he surrendered himself not however until the governor had pledged his own honor and the honor of the state that he should be protected how foully this pledge was violated the massacre at carthage proclaims it has been more than suspected that ford had knowledge of the intentions of the plot to murder the unarmed inmates of the jail at carthage whether guilty of this knowledge or not certain it is that he was a poor weak creature j who took no prec precautions ut 0 s to guard the prisoners or to preserve his own or the states honor he knew the i threats which had been made against the men who confided their lives to his keeping and he was warned ill boj advance of the attack which was to be made upon the prisoners yet atol conj the day the bloody deed was accod ac coni he took a large detachment of the militia from carthage to nauvoo at the very moment he was io nauvoo counseling submission on th the part of the people and making promises to them joseph and hyrum smith were assassinated and jobo joba taylor was nearly shot to death the indifference of governor golem or fo fofe and other authorities may be illus allu grated by remark thong though several of the mob were well knowel and their part in the terrible crime w never disputed not one was punished in passing from this dreadful scene let t us glance for a moment at the personality and attributes of one of the victims of that crime joseph smith the prophet of the nineteenth century naury was war the most remarkable anan n of f his he age was only thirty sight eight years old when he was mar byred yet inspired of god he had revealed a sublime system of the agy and had given to the world the most magnificent organization that had been witnessed since the days of the redeemer truths which had heen been hidden by false traditions and unmade men Mn made theories of salvation were re brought to light by him with astonishing plainness and simplicity men wondered in hearing themi how they could have been misunderstood they seemed so simple in such perfect agreement with scripture and appealing so strongly and con to the human mind he AL A was the incarnation of great qualities more self sacrificing man with the 11 exception eption of the lord jesus never lived ved among the earliest communications which he received from the lord ord was one which foreshadowed foreshadower fore shadowed his is probable martyrdom but with unflinching flinching courage he pursued the path which god had marked out tte was undaunted in the deadliest peril and in face of the most formidable able opposition he had entire con ence in the success and future of the the system which he was e of instrument in the hands of god founding ding he has been credited with rth having given to the world a new religion it in one sense this is true was as a 7 new religion to our but ut it age in was the old religion restored primitive mi tive 01 d purity and power the religion gion which has been taught by the son on of god himself fitta A more fitting J instrument to accomplish this ona wonderful erful the e work cannot be imagined youthful prophet possessed every quality necessary for the ac couple hini m of the labor assigned his bold il character stands out in relief as asa a beautiful all that example of la latt is ls great and heroic in m man manfor for berday erday day saints to admire or imitate church cn the ne murder ol of the leaders of the aco did d spirit not satisfy the sanguinary un which had already dy treated an unoffending head people so cruelly the was sone gone but eo the body y sur the brood must be killed not scotched scorched scot ched to do full credit to some of odthe the leading men of the state them the he famous stephen A couglas sit it must be said that time at this they came to nauvoo interviews and held with wit the pe ople chief men of the aple snaking them fair many prom P Ls not botoe one of tt that the them denied mormon people were suffer ing outrageous wrongs but public opinion was too strong even for in fluent ial politicians and they soon bowed to its mandates after the death of joseph smith work was resumed upon the temple the completion of which was awaited by the people with the greatest anxiety at the time the walls were scarcely up to the first story but the prophet left as a legacy a solemn charge that the work should be continued and every effort was concentrated to accomplish this end the activity of the mob kept pace with the zeal of the saints assaults were made upon the outlying settlements grain fields were destroyed and trampled down stock were driven oft off and killed and the people were compelled to flee into the city more than once nauvoo itself was threatened and it is a literal fact that the workmen on the walls walls of the temple carried tools in one hand and weapons in the other spurred on to new exhibitions of hate by the efforts of the people to complete their sacred edilee the mob became so violent that in the fall of 1845 the authorities of the state acknowledged their inability to longer protect the city officials came to nauvoo and held interviews with the leaders of the people an agreement was finally drawn up to the effect that the mob would commit no further acts act of violence if the people would consent to remove as soon as grass grew and water ran the compact was almost immediately broken and the work of plunder and destruction went on the mormons cormons from nearly all the surrounding country being gradually driven into nauvoo no power was exerted to protect them n nj voice lifted in their behalf at last the |