The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 19

The instinctive buoyancy of feelings that ever greets a new year was little shared by the imprisoned Prophet at the opening of 1839. His first burst of awakening thought was dedicated to the nation:

"O Columbia, Columbia, how art thou fallen! The land of the free, the home of the brave!—the asylum of the oppressed—oppressing thy noblest sons in a loathsome dungeon, without any provocation, only that they have claimed to worship the God of their fathers, according to his own word, and the dictates of their own consciences!!!"

There is a charming innocence in such spurts of eloquence. Joseph never doubted the right of his own position, and expected every one to look at everything from his standpoint, failing which they were certain to be corrupt and worthy of damnation, and the world's liberty was a farce.

His youthful claims to be a prophet had in a measure withdrawn him from the ordinary experience of the world. He knew little of the diversity and wide range of human thought and the influence of circumstances upon human judgment. The sentiments of his Arabian brother—"Great is Allah! and Mohammed is his Prophet," was the true interpretation of his thoughts. Joseph always believed that he ought to be the first subject of interest to the whole world, as his mission was its salvation or damnation. It has ever been difficult to prevent men of his kind from drawing down fire from heaven.

During the winter the lawless and unscrupulous in Upper ​Missouri were very cruel to the Saints. No Mormon's life was safe outside the settlements of that people, and any attempt to gather up the remnant of their farm property was certain to meet with fierce opposition and personal violence. A recital of barbarity is to be met with in the records of those times, such as would scarcely be credited now had not the "Jayhawking raids" in Missouri and Kansas rendered easy of belief the worst stories related by the Mormons.^[1]

The Missouri Legislature was not at rest concerning the expulsion of the Mormons. They felt that there was something wrong. The free States were liberal in their denunciation of the slave State, and many honourable gentlemen in Missouri felt the justice of the reproach. Even Governor Boggs is reported to have acknowledged the unconstitutionality of his exterminating order, and was desirous of preventing the cruel excesses to which the remaining Mormons were subjected, and General Atchison again appeared in their defence in the Legislature.

A joint committee of two senators and three representatives was appointed to investigate the causes of the late disturbance between "the people called Mormons and other inhabitants of this State, and the conduct of the military operations in repressing them." This was of no service to the Mormons. The committee was to meet on the first Monday in May, and by that time the Mormons were nearly all out of the State, and the testimony could only be heard from their enemies.

​Brigham Young and the other apostles and elders still at liberty were in the mean time devoting their best energies to prepare for a thorough exodus. The brethren covenanted to put all their property into the hands of a committee for this purpose so that the poor who had been plundered of everything could leave as well as those who were more favoured.

Illinois was greatly moved by the recital of their wrongs, and offered the exiles an asylum. In that State, land was plentiful, offers were numerous, and terms liberal. Universal sympathy with affliction was apparent. The citizens vied with each other in acts of kindness to the helpless. But it was impossible as yet to decide upon a locality for their gathering-place. Joseph was still in prison. The banks of the Mississippi, however, seemed to be appropriate for the general rendezvous.

The persecution that had centred on Joseph now fell upon Brigham, and in the middle of February he had to escape from Far West to save his life. He directed his fleeting steps towards Quincy, Illinois, whither many of the Saints had preceded him.

After some investigation in Missouri had taken place, Sidney Rigdon was released, but had for safety to return to prison till a favourable opportunity offered for making his escape out of the State. He also in due time reached Quincy.

Joseph protested against being tried before Austin A. King, of the Circuit Court. In one of the early difficulties in Jackson county a brother-in-law of Judge King had been killed. His Honour had also presided at some meeting hostile to the Mormons, and Joseph concluding that the Judge's impartiality would not be of the clearest stamp, resolved to get out of his jurisdiction. A petition "to Judge Tompkins, or either of the judges of the Supreme Court for the State of Missouri," was presented to the former, asking for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus, that the prisoners might be heard in their defence. This failing, Joseph resolved to escape from prison. He tried, but did not succeed.

With the Saints fleeing from Missouri and wandering like sheep without a shepherd, it appeared that the end of Mormonism had been reached; but it was far otherwise. There is vitality in prophecy, and Joseph's faith rose with his difficulties.

Shortly after his failure to escape from prison he issued a ​letter to the Saints which perhaps may be considered the most interesting document of his life—one which gives the reader ideas more characteristic of the man than anything he ever published. When surrounded by clerks and literary men the Prophet is not always discernible in the papers that bear his name, but in those issued from Liberty Prison the very man himself is visible in every word. The differences of style in this document, his arguments in one place and the bursting forth of the exuberance of his soul in prayer and prophecy in another furnish the key to his revelations. At one moment he humbly supplicates, and at another the remembrance of the wrongs that he had suffered fires him with indignation and carries him beyond himself.

In April, the Prophet and his fellow prisoners were indicted in Davies county on charges of "treason, murder, larceny, theft and stealing." The trial never occurred. The prisoners asked for a change of venue to Marion county, as the same men who sat on the grand jury during the day acted as their guard at night. They were granted a change of venue to Boone county, and while being conveyed thither, the sheriff who had them in charge gave them permission to escape. The State authorities were evidently anxious to get rid of them, and the prisoners longing for freedom availed themselves of the sheriff's courtesy and fled from "the land of promise."

Joseph turned his back for ever upon the soil of the new Jerusalem. Jackson county, with all the marvels and magnifi​cence that had been decreed for her during "this generation," was hereafter only to be sung in song. Forty years have already passed away since the revelation was given, and there is not a single Mormon acknowledging the leadership of Brigham Young upon all the holy land.

Notwithstanding all that has transpired, many of the aged Saints in Utah have not lost their faith, and yet look for something marvellous to occur in the ever-changing wheel of time, to favour the day when the promises of the Prophet Joseph will be fulfilled! The frequency with which Brigham has alluded to the return of the faithful Saints in Utah to Jackson county has shaken a great deal the credit that has been accorded to him for sincerity of faith. For many years he held the most positive language on this point; but latterly he has prudently added—"If the Lord will." Before he goes down to his grave he will probably taper even that off with the affirmation that "the Lord" has tried the faith of his Saints, and is now satisfied, and will not require them to fulfil the prophecies in "this generation." Brigham Young's love of the wealth which he has acquired in Utah is an effectual barrier against his ever fulfilling that prophecy.