The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 24

Harassed by prosecutions from every side, in constant danger of being surprised and carried off to Missouri, and realizing that political jealousies were working up the State of Illinois against him and the Mormon people, the Prophet turned his eyes towards the Pacific to find there an abiding-place for Zion. As early as 1842, he prophesied that the Saints would remove to the Rocky Mountains, and in the spring of 1844, while troubles were increasing upon him, he selected a company of men to explore that unknown region, prophesying at the same time that within five years from that date, the Saints should be located there beyond the influence of mobs. In his private history he writes under date of February 20th, 1844:

"I instructed the Twelve Apostles to send out a delegation and investigate the localities, California and Oregon, and hunt out a good location where we can remove to after the Temple is completed and where we can build a city in a day and have a government of our own: get up into the mountains where the devil cannot dig us out, and live in a healthy climate where we can live as old as we have a mind to."

His design was to found an independent State somewhere west of the Rocky Mountains, and to further that end he sent a delegation to Washington seeking the countenance and, if possible, the coöperation of the Government to his scheme. The apostle Hyde,^[1] as chief of that delegation, wrote from the ​seat of government, April 25, 1844, that the Prophet's proposition to go West found great favour with leading senators, especially with Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and some members of the Cabinet, but the Government feared that a misunderstanding might arise with England. Oregon was then by treaty jointly occupied by both nations, and it was apprehended that going as the emigrants would, as something like an armed force and in such numbers, it might be regarded by England as an infraction of that treaty, and so the Government declined any recognition of the proposed exodus.

Inexplicable enough, as it seemed to the uninitiated, at the very time that this proposition was made by Joseph to move to the West, his name was put forth as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, and hundreds [Governor Ford says "two or three thousand "] of the elders were sent over the States preaching Mormonism and electioneering for Joseph. At that time Clay and Calhoun were rival candidates, and Joseph failed not to ask them categorically what their course of action would be towards the Mormons in case of election. The Prophet was never without a double string to his bow—if it were possible to have two, and when he apprehended that personally he might fail in reaching the chair of Washington, he wanted to know what either of the other candidates would do before he cast the Mormon vote in Illinois.

Joseph was dissatisfied with both Clay and Calhoun. He handled them severely in lengthy communications for the indefinite answers they had sent him, and issued his own "Address to the American people" on the leading topics of the day.

It is difficult to believe that Joseph meant more in giving his name as a candidate than simply to place before the public his views upon national policy, and exhibit, as he believed, his fitness as a statesman to become the chief executive of the nation.

The incidents in the history of Nauvoo from this time to the assassination of Joseph Smith, and after that to the expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois, are intensely interesting, and as Governor Ford's record of the circumstances of those times is in a measure official, citations from it are doubly valuable and will be freely used. No writer on either side of a conten​tion could well be perfectly unbiased or even strictly truthful, as he could not personally know the movements of both sides. The reader will, therefore, receive with caution even the Governor's statement, observing, however, that whatever colouring there may be here and there against the Mormons, it is more than balanced by the damaging admissions he makes against their enemies. He says:

"Soon after these institutions were established, Joe [Joseph] Smith began to play the tyrant over several of his followers. The first act of this sort which excited attention was an attempt to take the wife of William Law, one of his most talented and principal disciples, and make her his spiritual wife. By means of his common council, without the authority of law, he established a recorder's office in Nauvoo, in which alone the titles of property could be recorded. In the same manner and with the same want of legal authority, he established an office for issuing marriage licenses to the Mormons, so as to give him absolute control of the marrying propensities of his people. He proclaimed that none in the city should purchase real estate to sell again, but himself. He also permitted no one but himself to have a license in the city for the sale of spirituous liquors; and in many other ways he undertook to regulate and control the business of the Mormons. This despotism administered by a corrupt and unprincipled man soon became intolerable. William Law, one of the most eloquent preachers of the Mormons, who appeared to me to be a deluded but conscientious and candid man, Wilson Law, his brother, major-general of the Legion, and four or five other Mormon leaders, resolved upon a rebellion against the authority of the Prophet. They designed to enlighten their brethren and fellow-citizens upon the new institutions, the new turn given to Mormonism and the practices under the new system, by procuring a printing-press and establishing a newspaper in the city,^[2] to be the organ of their complaints and views. But they never issued but one number. Before the second could appear the press was demolished by an order of the common council, and the conspirators were ejected from the Mormon Church.

"The Mormons themselves published the proceedings of the council in the trial and destruction of the heretical press; from which it does not appear that any one was tried, or that the editor or any of the owners of the property had notice of the trial, or were permitted to defend in any particular.

"The proceeding was an ex-parte proceeding, partly civil and partly ecclesiastical, against the press itself. No jury was called or sworn, nor were the witnesses required to give their evidence upon oath. The councillors stood up, one after another, and some of them several times, and related what they pretended to know. In this mode it was abundantly ​proved that the owners of the proscribed press were sinners, whoremasters, thieves, swindlers, counterfeiters and robbers, the evidence of which is reported in the trial at full length. It was altogether the most curious and irregular trial that ever was recorded in any civilized country; and one finds difficulty in determining whether the proceedings of the council were more the result of insanity or depravity. The trial resulted in the conviction of the press as a public nuisance, the mayor was ordered to see it abated as such, and if necessary to call the Legion to his assistance.

"The mayor issued his warrant to the city marshal, who, aided by a portion of the Legion, proceeded to the obnoxious printing-office, and destroyed the press and scattered the types and other materials."^[3]

The editor and seceding Mormons hastened to Carthage, and writs were issued for the arrest of the mayor of Nauvoo, Joseph Smith, and others engaged in the destruction of the Expositor. The municipal court of Nauvoo set aside the writs and discharged the prisoners. Aroused by the inflammatory reports of what the Mormons were charged with contemplating, and believing that there was an "irrepressible conflict" at hand, a committee was appointed at Carthage to visit the Governor and ask that the militia be called out to execute that writ. The Governor determined to investigate in person the complaints, and immediately visited Carthage. On his arrival he found an armed force already assembled and hourly increasing under the summons and direction of the constable of the county, to serve as a posse comitatus, to assist in the execution of that writ. The general of the brigade had called upon the militia of the counties of McDonough and Schuyler, and a considerable number had been gathered at Warsaw under command of Col. Levi Williams.

Governor Ford informed the mayor and council of Nauvoo of the complaint, and requested a committee to be sent to meet him, to lay before him their statement of the difficulty. Such acknowledgments were made by this committee that the Governor readily concluded what the facts really were. He says:

"Convinced that the Mormon leaders had committed a crime in the destruction of the press, and had resisted the execution of process, I determined to exert the whole force of the State, if necessary, to bring them to justice. But seeing the great excitement in the public mind, and the manifest tendency of this excitement to run into mobocracy, I was of opin​ion that before I acted, I ought to obtain a pledge from the officers and men to support me in strictly legal measures, and to protect the prisoners in case they surrendered; for I was determined, if possible, the laws of the land should not be made a cats-paw of a mob to reduce these people to a quiet surrender, as the convenient victims of popular fury. I therefore called together the whole force then assembled at Carthage, and made an address, explaining to them what I could, and what I could not, legally do, and also adducing to them various reasons why they as well as the Mormons should submit to the laws; and why, if they had resolved upon revolutionary proceedings, their purpose should be abandoned. The assembled troops seemed much pleased with the address, and upon its conclusion, the officers and men unanimously voted with acclamation to sustain me in a strictly legal course, and that the prisoners should be protect-ed from violence. Upon the arrival of additional forces from Warsaw, McDonough, and Schuyler, similar addresses were made with the same result.

"It seemed to me that these votes fully authorized me to promise the accused Mormons the protection of the law in case they surrendered. They were accordingly duly informed that if they surrendered they would be protected, and if they did not the whole force of the State would be called out, if necessary, to compel their submission. A force of ten men was dispatched with the constable to make the arrests, and to guard the prisoners to headquarters.

"In the mean time, Joe [Joseph] Smith, as lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Legion, had declared martial law in the city; the Legion was assembled and ordered under arms; the members of it residing in the country were ordered into town. The Mormon settlements obeyed the summons of their leader, and marched to his assistance. Nauvoo was one great military camp, strictly guarded and watched, and no ingress or egress was allowed, except upon the strictest examination. . . . .

"However, upon the arrival of the constable and guard, the mayor and common council at once signified their willingness to surrender, and stated their readiness to proceed to Carthage next morning at eight o'clock. Martial law had previously been abolished. The hour of eight o'clock came, and the accused failed to make their appearance. The constable and his escort returned. The constable made no effort to arrest any of them, nor would he or the guard delay their departure one minute beyond the time, to see whether an arrest could be made. Upon their return they reported that they had been informed that the accused had filed and could not be found."^[4]

The crisis had arrived. Writs for his apprehension, and writs of habeas corpus for his discharge, had in turn done their work till the culmination had been reached. Joseph resolved ​on flight. He crossed the river to Montrose, where he could conceal himself till ready for his departure for the Eastern States or the Canadas, as reported by some, or for the Rocky Mountains, as reported by others.^[5]