Part 18 (2/2)

The non-production of the plates thus satisfactorily explained, and secondary evidence being ad actually seen the plates; three of the nu that they were present when Joseph received the plates at the hands of the angel

Upon ering doubts as to the absolute authenticity of the above narrative, I was significantly ree not the faith thou dost not know, Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear”

At all events, upon the pretended revelations mentioned, Joseph Smith as ”prophet” founded the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, near Palmyra, New York, in 1830 Nor did he lack for followers

The eleven witnesses mentioned, and others, were coospel, and disciples in large numbers soon flocked to the standard of the ”prophet”

The history of delusions from the days of Mahoerness hich men are ever ready to seek out new inventions and to discard the old beliefs for the new

There is no tenet so ion What damned error, but some sober brow Will bless it and approve it with a text”

In 1833, Mormon colonies were established at Kirtland, Ohio, and in Jackson County, Missouri, but, owing to Gentile persecution, the ”saints” at length shook the dust of those unhallowed localities froe numbers in Hancock County, Illinois Here they built Nauvoo, the ”Holy City,” ”the beautiful habitation forlands were purchased by the saints, and a town laid out, which was nanifies fair, very beautiful, and it actually fills the definition of the words, for nature has not formed a parallel anywhere on the banks of the Mississippi”

The sacred city, as it was called, soon contained a population of fifteen thousand souls, gathered frolobe

Here were built the home of the prophet, the hall of the seventies, a concert hall, and other public institutions Chief as was the Te in white limestone upon the hilltops, a shrine in the wilderness whereat all the nations of the earth may worshi+p, whereat all the people may inquire of God and receive His holy oracles”

This temple, erected at a cost of nearly a million dollars, was at a later day visited by Governor Reynolds, and is thus described by hie and splendid edifice, built in the Egyptian style of architecture; and its grandeur and nificence truly astonished me It was erected on the top of the Mississippi bluff, which has a prospect which reached as far as the eye could extend over the country and up and down the river The e of this splendid edifice was the font in which the immersion of the saints was practised It was coration to Illinois, in 1839, the Whig and Dele for supremacy The respective party leaders at once realized that the new i political factor in the State To conciliate the Morain their support soon became the aim of the politicians This fact is the keynote to the statement of Governor Ford:

”A city charter drawn up to suit the Morislature No one opposed it, but both parties were active in getting it through This charter, and others passed in the same manner, incorporated Nauvoo, provided for the election of a ave them power to pass all ordinances necessary for the benefit of the city which were not repugnant to the Constitution This seeive them power to pass ordinances in violation of the laws of the State, and to erect a systeovernment for theion,--entirely independent of the anization of the State, and not subject to the commands of its officers Provision was also ion, to be composed of its own officers; and in the exercise of their duties they were not bound to regard the laws of the State

Thus it was proposed to establish for the Morislature with power to pass ordinances at ith the laws of the State These charters were unheard of, anti-republican and capable of infinite abuse The great law of the separation of the powers of governarded

The mayor was at once the executive power, the judiciary, and part of the Legislature One would have thought that these charters stood a poor chance of passing the Legislature of a republican people, jealous of their liberties, nevertheless they did pass both Houses unanimously Each party was afraid to object to the the Mormon vote”

Some indications of the hopes and fears of party leaders leaned from the statement of the politic John Reynolds, then a representative in Congress He thus speaks of the visit of Joseph Smith to the national capital:

”I had recently received letters that Sive him the civilities that were due him He stood at the tiion The sympathies of the people were in his favor It fell tothe Prophet Sistrate When ere about to enter the apartments of President Van Buren, the prophet asked me to introduce hie to e such nonsense on this occasion to the President But he repeated the request, and I introduced him as a Latter-day Saint, which ton a greater part of the winter, and preached often I becaer than ordinary stature, well proportioned, and would weigh about one hundred and eighty pounds He was rather fleshy, but was in his appearance, amiable and benevolent He did not appear to possess barbarity in his nature, nor to possess that great talent and boundless mind that would enable hiain to the narrative of Ford:

”Joseph Smith was duly installed Mayor of Nauvoo--this _Ie of the Mayor's court, and Chief Justice of the Municipal court; and in this capacity he was to interpret the laws he had assisted to anized with a h officers It was divided into divisions, brigades, cohorts, battalions, and companies; and Joseph Smith as Lieutenant-General was the Commander-in-Chief

The common council of Nauvoo passed many ordinances for the punishenerally different from, and much more severe than, that provided by the laws of the State”

That any Legislature would ever, under any stress of circumstances, have conferred--or have attempted to confer--such powers upon a municipality is beyond comprehension The statement, if unsustained by the official State records, would now challenge belief

Under the favorable conditions h wave of prosperity in Illinois Their number had increased to more than twenty thousand in Hancock and the counties adjoining

The owners of large tracts of valuable land, protected by legislation that finds no parallel in any State, courted by the leaders of both parties, and actually holding for a time the balance of political power in the State--they seemed indeed to be ”the chosen people,” as claimed by their prophet

It needed no prophet, however, to foretell that this could not long continue The Mormon leaders failed to realize that to champion the cause of either party would of necessity arouse the fierce hostility of the other, as in very truth it did Politics, the pri, proved their undoing in the end

Joseph Smith had, soon after his removal from Missouri, been arrested upon a requisition froed when brought upon a writ of _habeas corpus_ before Judge Pope, a Whig The ground of the decision was, that as Smith was not in Missouri at the tis, and that whatever he did--if he did anything --to aid or encourage the attempt, was done in Illinois, and not within the jurisdiction of Missouri laws, he was not a fugitive from justice within the provision of the Constitution of the United States The decision excited ett, it ”has borne the test of criticism, and is now the accepted rule of law in interstate extradition cases”

This for a tiain arrested, the prophet, under sie This, as Governor Ford says,

”Induced Se Douglas to be athem to vote for the Denorant to knohether he owed his discharge to the law or to party favor Such was the ignorance of the Mor to be lahich they thought expedient All action of the Government unfavorable to them they looked upon as wantonly oppressive, and when the laas administered in their favor they attributed it to partiality and kindness”

The last hope of the Whigs for Mormon support was abandoned in 1843 In the district of which Hancock County was a part, the opposing candidates for Congress were Joseph P Hoge, De, both lawyers of distinction The latter had been counsel for Ss last mentioned Grateful for the services then rendered, S contest