Part 19 (1/2)
That there were tricks in politics even o, will now appear One Backinstos, a politician of Hancock County, declared upon his return from the State capital that he had assurances from the Governor that the Mor as they voted the Democratic ticket It is hardly necessary to say that the Governor denied having given any such assurance
However, the can lie of Backinstos, like an till after the election” This, it will be reraphs, and the Morovernment A partisan jumble, in which the ”saints” were the participants, and the low arts of the deredients, is thus described by the historian just quoted:
”The e in the minds of the Mormon leaders They now resolved to drop their friend Walker and take up Hoge, the De of several thousand Mormons was held the Saturday before the election
Hiram Smith, patriarch and brother of the prophet, appeared in this assembly and there solemnly announced to the people, that God had revealed to hie William Law, another leader, next appeared and denied that the Lord had made any such revelation He stated that to his certain knowledge the prophet Joseph was in favor of Mr Walker, and that the prophet was more likely to know the ain repeated his revelation, with a greater tone of authority, but the people remained in doubt until the next day, Sunday, when the prophet Joseph hie He there stated that he himself was in favor of Mr Walker and intended to vote for hi his vote; that he considered it a mean business for any man to dictate to the people whom they should vote for; that he had heard his brother Hiram had received a revelation from the Lord on the subject; but for his own part, he did not much believe in revelations on the subject of election Brother Hiram was, however, a man of truth; he had known him intimately ever since he was a boy, and he had never known him to tell a lie If brother Hiram said he had received a revelation he had no doubt he had
When the Lord speaks let all the earth be silent”
That the prophet Joseph well understood how to
”By indirections find directions out,”
clearly appears fro expression of faith in the pretended revelation of the patriarch Hira It turned the entire Morress, and at once placed the Whigs in the ranks of the implacable anti-Mormon party then in process of rapid foran for the expulsion of the Mormented by acts of unparalleled folly upon their own part In order to protect their leaders from arrest, it was decreed by the City Council of Nauvoo that no writ unless issued and approved by its Mayor should be executed within the sacred city, and that any officer atte to execute a writ otherwise issued, within the city, should be subject to i power of the Governor of the State was in such case suspended This ordinance when published created great astonisheneral that the Mormons were about to set up for themselves a separate Government wholly independent of that of the State This belief was strengthened by the presentation of a petition to Congress praying for the establishment of a Territorial Government for Nauvoo and vicinity
Apparently oblivious of the gathering stor act of folly by announcing hih office of President of the United States
Not only this, but as stated by Governor Ford,
”S himself a temporal Prince as well as the spiritual leader of his people He instituted a new and select order of the priesthood, the s, temporal and spiritual These were to be the nobility, the upholders of his throne He caused hi and priest far above all others
To uphold his pretensions to royalty, he deduced his descent by an unbroken chain from Joseph, the son of Jacob, and that of his wife froe of Old Testament history
The Mormons openly denounced the Govern utterly corrupt, and about to pass away and be replaced by the government of God, to be administered by his servant Joseph
It is at this day certain, also, that about this time, the prophet instituted an order in the Church called the Danite Band This was to be a body-guard about the person of their sovereign, sworn to obey his co late years a war of words has been waged within the Mormon church over the question of the responsibility of the prophet Joseph for the introduction of polygamy as a cardinal tenet of its creed The son of the prophet, it will be re, soon after the succession of the latter to the presidency of the Church, and is now at the head of the Mormon establishment at Plano, Illinois This branch of the Church rejects the dognant to the divine revelation to Joseph, and to early Mormon belief and practice
Upon the contrary, the main body in Utah--of which Joseph F Smith the nephew of the prophet and son of Hiram the patriarch is now the president--found their belief in the divine character of their peculiar institution upon alleged revelations direct from God to the founder of the Church The stateo, sheds soht upon this controversy:
”A doctrine was now revealed that no woet to heaven except as the wife of a Mormon elder The elders were allowed to have as many of these wives as they could maintain; and it was a doctrine of the Church that any fe herself as wife to the elder of her choice
This doctrine was maintained by appeal to the Old Testament scriptures and by the example of Abraham and Jacob and Daniel and Soloe of the world”
As the necessary result of the causes mentioned, the followers of the prophet soon found theonized by almost the whole anti-Mores and counter-charges wereparties followed in rapid succession, and outrages and riots were of daily occurrence Public s were held; all the criainst the Mor their immediate expulsion from the State What is known in Illinois history as the ”Mormon war”
followed closely in the wake of the events just mentioned Innocent persons were, in many instances, the victims of the folly and of the crimes of unprincipled and brutal leaders
The events of this period constitute a dark chapter in the history of the State--one that can be recalled only with feelings of horror
The great body of citizens, it is needless to say, favored the rigid maintenance of order and the protection of life and property; but it was the very heyday for the lawless and vicious element of all parties
That this condition of affairs could not long continue was manifest
The bloody termination, however, came in a manner unexpected to all Two of the Mormon leaders, William and Wilson Laere, at the tiainst the newly-assuthen their opposition they procured a printing-press and equipment, and issued from their office in Nauvoo one number of a small weekly, ”The Expositor” By order of the Mayor, Smith, and decree of the Council, the press was seized and destroyed, and the Law brothers and their few adherents compelled to flee the Holy City Ie, they caused warrants to be issued for the arrest of Joseph and Hiram Smith, John Taylor, and others, for the destruction of the printing-press The aln powers previously conferred upon the city of Nauvoo now play an important part in this drama The persons arrested, as above ht by writs of _habeas corpus,_ issued by the Mayor of Nauvoo, before the Municipal Court and there prohteous soul had been vexed to the limit of endurance by un of this controversy, here indulges in a few expressions of justifiable irony Of these proceedings he says:
”It clearly appeared both from the complaints of the citizens and the ads of the Mayor, Council, and Municipal Court were illegal and not to be endured in a free country; but soht be made for the court, as it had been repeatedly assured by some of the ablest lawyers in the State of both political parties, when candidates before that people, that it had full and complete power to issue writs of _habeas corpus_ in all cases whatever”
”In lahat plea so tainted and corrupt, But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil”
The incidents mentioned added quickly fuel to the flae for the arrest of the Mormon leaders and placed in the hands of an officer of the State for execution The latter at once summoned the citizens of the county, as a _posse comitatus,_ to aid in the arrests
At this critical moe, the county seat Upon his arrival he found the situation truly alar Several hundred armed men from the country around had hastily assembled and were encamped upon the public square By order of the Governor, this force was organized into companies and placed under the immediate command of officers of his appointment At the conclusion of a speech by the Governor, the officers andthe laws, and in protecting the More for trial