believe them all to be the offspring of a base and corrupt heart, and without the least shadow of truth, and further that he has used my name without my permission. I believe him to be a vile and wicked adulterous man, who pays no regard to the principles of truth or righteousness, and is unworrhy the confidence of a just community. I would further state that I know of no Order in the Church which admits of a plurality of wives, and do not believe that Joseph Smith ever taught such a doctrine, and further, that my faith in the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and in Joseph Smith, is unshaken.
.
, July 26, 1842.
seems to place very much confidence in the veracity integrity and honor of the above individuals, we hope that he will now believe their testimony.
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THE SANGAMO JOURNAL.
There is so much self importance in some men, that you cannot make them hear or understand, unless you hail them with a Speaking Trumpet. They seem destitute of the idea that any body but themselves, are entitled to a portion of the globe. The Sangamo Journal says that Mormons ought to be disfranchised, and their charters taken from them. By cutting out and detaching sentences, disorganising ideas, and disjointing paragraphs, and putting his own construction and interpretations upon [blank] them patrician Editor makes quite a ‘flourish of trumpets.’ As he seems to possess such entire confidence in ’s statements, though the Doctor has been proven guilty of purjury, we feel in duty bound to lay before the public a few extracts from his (s,) pen, for the consideration of the public.
We take it for granted that every one knows the Journal’s statement, and proceed with the extracts as follows:
“The foregoing article shows so little regard for truth, and the reasoning is so palpably fallacious, that I consider it useless to multiply many words on this subject, but, as the object and political designs of the writer are so apparent, rent, and the times so portentous, I cannot refrain from a duty which I owe both to myself, and the public.
1st. The ‘.’ This military body possesses, in the County of , the same corporate powers as appertain to the ‘Invinsible Dragoons of the 2nd Division of Illinois Militia,’ in the counties of Whlte, Edwards and Wabash, and no others whatever, I wrote, and procured, the charters for both corporations—they are both alike. Why does not Mr. [Simeon] Francis attack the Dragoons as well as the Legion? Simply because it would afford him no political capital. They are the two best military bodies in the , and are dissimilar only in point of numbers. Both charters are perpetual and in both corporations the Court Martial, composed of the commissioned officers, constitutes the ‘law-making power’ so much dreaded by Mr. Francis. The ‘Louisville Legion,’ the ‘Louisiana Legion,’ and the ‘Albany Burgess’ Corpse,’ are the same kind of corporations, and are to Kentucky, Louisiana, and , what the Invincible Dragoons,’ and the ‘Nauvoo Legion,’ are to ; and nothing more. They are all effeetive military forces, incorperated for the purpose of more perfect discipline; and who that loves his country would object to that? None. No, not one! But the Court Martial, the ‘lawmaking power,’ of the Nauvoo Legion is, to Mr. Francis, like the Upas tree of death—he is instantly seized with Hydrophobia, and the spirit of the demoniac shows itself in every paragraph. Who ever heard of a corporation without a ‘law making power? No one on earth, and none ever contemplated such an anomaly—it would be like a body devoid of the principle of vivification, inoperative and useless.
The ‘City of .’ This charter I likewise, wrote, and procured, without any ‘CORRUPT BARGAIN, or ‘nefarious PLOT AND LEAGUE,’ as charged by Mr. Francis—neither did ‘Joe Smith, the Mormon Prophet,’ as he calls him, ever see, or converse with, the leaders of either party on this subject, prior to the granting of the charters now under consideration: and I am bold to say that this possesses no unusual or extraordinary powers—certainly none which are not possessed in common by , , , or any other city . Have not all cities the use of a county or city jail? Certainly they have and Mr. Francis knows it as well as any other man—for if he is so ignorant as that he certainly deserves expatiation. Neither is the Mayor the ‘final judge,’ as Mr. Francis says, for any person may appeal from the decision of the Mayor or any Alderman to the Municipal Court, and from the Municipal to the Circuit Court of , and from the Circuit to the Supreme Court of the State of . So all is safe yet Mr. Francis. If the City Council of have passed any illegal ordinances, let the party agrieved apply to the judiciary for redress, and have the ordinances set aside—there would be no difficuly in such a case whatever. Come Mr. Francis, if you are a law abiding man, redress the grievances by due course of law, and there will be no barrier interposed. But this I presume, would not answer your party purposses in the coming election. I repeat it again— possesses no unusual powers whatever, and I defy the proof to the contrary.
The ‘,’ or Mormons. This body is inorperated under the general act, and not by special grant, and possesses no power or privilege but what is common to all other churches in .
The ‘Univetsity of the City of .’ This corperation is vested with such plenary powers as appertain to any other college or university in , and such only. Read Mr. Francis, and ‘Let him that readeth, understand.
General Joseph Smith. As to the election of this gentleman, I alone am responsible. If there is any moral turpitude attached to it, let it be placed upon my head. I organized the military forces of this , and the circumjacent country, like a Roman Llgion—a Legion with Cohorts—and Joseph Smith was duly elected Lieutenant General, which every military man knows is a reviewing, and not a commanding officer. George Washington, as Major General, was a fighting and commanding officer; but as Lieutenant General, he was the chief reviewing officer: so of all others. The peculiar organization of the Nauvoo Legion required that General Smith should be placed in his present situation as the one most appropriate. In relation to his commission there was no option with the —he was bound to issue on the authenticated return of the election: and if General Smith commands all the armies of the by rank, (according to Mr. Francis,) so mote it be; the Legion will then take the right of the forces, and will form No. 1, of the General Grand Encampment.
The 4th section of an act for the organization and government of the Militia of this ,—approved March 2d, 1833, and now in force, reads as follows—
‘Sec. 4. That there shall be one Adjutant General, Quarter Master General, and Pay Master General, to be appointed by the Commander in-Chief, to rank respectively as Colonels of Cavalry, etc. etc.[’] So it will be seen that there was not even the ‘show’ of incompatibility between my two commissions. I would advise Mr. Francis to study military law before he again speaks of the incompatibility of a staff office, with an office in the line. Any military man giving sush an opinion should be cashired for incompetency.
As Quarter Master General of the State of , I issued orders to the Warden of the Penitentiary, who had the custody of the public arms directing as equitable a distribution as possible, both of those furnished on my desidnation and requisition, and that of General Pearce, my predecessor; neither did I at any time order an undue proportion to the Nauvoo Legion, but positively refused to supply the full draft for which they had given bonds to the , on the grounds that other parts of the state had older claims. These claims I ordered to be supplied in order of date, having at the same iime [time] a due regard to the limited supply for the General Governemnt. should have drawn for about eightly thousand troops, (which would have supplied all the demands of the State,) whereas, from official neglect, she has drawn for only about thirty thousand. Let this be regulated by the appropriate departments, military and semi-military, and there will be no lack of public arms—no complaining that a small draft had swallowed them up—and no feeling on this subject. There is an abundant supply of arms for the State if the proper legal steps are taken to procure them; and the public weal requires that every independent company in the State should be furnished with its full quota; and this I hope that Col. Cooley, the successor of Col. Bassett, will consummate.
As a general offlcer of the line, I have always been a strict disciplinarian, and I always shall be, knowing as I do that no military force can be made respectable or avaliable, either in peace or war, without strict discipline, and due subordination. If it is necessary that a military organization should be kept up at all, it should be effective, well drilled, and always ready for the public service. Such, by indefatigable exertions, is the Nauvoo Legion, the division of my special command as Major General. should be proud of such a corps: they would do honor in the tented field, and bear upon the warrior’s shield—victory, liberty and LAW.
, Esq. This gentleman was not elected by, or in any way dependent on the Mormons. He was a Senator before the Mormons located in , and utterly declined a re-election. It is, then, to say the least of it, ungentlemanly, and cruel, to impugn his motives. He viewed the charters as every other liberal statesman did before their eyes were jaundiced by the rancor and fury of party strife.
I now close this article by stating that the charters under consideration were not passed on party grounds, for the vote was unanimous in the Senate, in their favor, and there were only fifteen dissenting in the House of Representatives: ’s friends voting for their passage in both Houses, and in the Council of Revision.
I have done for the present—will Mr. Francis publish?
Yours, Respectfully,
.
, Ill., June 14, 1842.
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THE SANGAMO JOURNAL, AND .
Invasion!Treason!!Ruin!!!Conspiracy!!!!Blood!!!!!Murder!!!!!! is booming through the colums of the Sangamo Journal, like
“The sound of the tempest when navies are stranded;
“Or roar of the whirlwind when forests are landed.”
The Mormons have already possessed themselves of this , and rule it—and they will soon govern the . Ye gods have mercy on us, for there are about thirty thousand of them, and the states must submit; no two ways about it; no alternative, we must all be Mormons or perish, unless we slope for . To arms! to arms! we shall be ruined! overthrown! slung out! our cities and nation will be taken away; we shall be greased and swallowed! gag[g]ed down at a single gulph, without time to kick; seventeen millions swept off by thirty thousand! Tis coming to pass: “one shall chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight.” O ye frogs of Egypt—the whole country is overrun, and we have only found it out about a week ago!
Up! up! let us beard the lion in his den, and chain the monster in his cage! O! O! O! come! come! come! help!
Ye brave of , draw near;—
Ye Anti-Mormons rush the rear.
Tis true they have not obtained any privilege but what was granted to them by the Legislature, but we are fearful they will; they have not sent a member to the House of Representatives, or to the Senate, but we are afraid they will. They have broken no law; nor violated the constitution of the , or of the , but we fear they will;—and now, ye salt of , , and elsewhere, let us kill them before they have a chance. Blow the bugle in the wilderness, sound an alarm in the cities, to arms! to arms!
This wont do Mr. Editor, why not come out and tell the truth; you have heretofore stated that “the Mormons were a good and a virtuous people; that the would be greatly benefited by the rapid increase of so virtuous and intelligent, and enterprising people,” now, sir, what has made the change? Have the Mormons become lazy? are they vicious? No! but when you had that “good streak” for the Latter Day Saints, you expected a quid pro quo in votes. Do you think the Mormons any worse than they were in 1840, when you could hardly say enough in their praise? no; but the August election is near and is determined to ride into power on the credit of the Mormons—nolens volens.
wishes to speculate and make political capital out of the Mormons, and is the stock jobber, the singed cat’s paw. But glory to the virtue and intelligence of the people, so base and degraded a vagabond cannot escape the merited contempt he deserves. His letters and afficavits [affidavits] parading along the columns of the Journal, remind one of Bonapart’s campaign to Russia: fragments of the army are seen fleeing in every direction, to escape an ‘ocean of flame,’ and a Russian winter: poverty, famine, and wretchedness—and so it must be with him. An imposter in masonry; a seducer; a teacher of muder in embryo, and a perjured villian! O wretched man that he is! Who believes him? No body: no; if there be any vain and vile enough to love the treason, they despise the traitor! ‘You cannot catch old birds with chaff,’ though you may flare up with all the circumstance and gravity of an honest man, yet it is possible that the ‘sober second thought of the people’ may be efficient enough to teach you ‘that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,’ but a wise man will hear both sides and then judge.
On the 18th of last June, your quondam friend , who henceforth may be dubbed the Knight of Philtres, and travel as the Don Quixote of the west, brandished his sword at you with great skill,—but Oh! how loving, and how benevolent! you can now give him the right hand of fellowship, murder and treason not excepted; cover his spotted character with the mantle of charity; and lend him a pair of goggles to cover his blood-shot eyes, that he may go to for repentance! Oh! Mr. [Simeon] Francis! Mr. Francis! blessed is the peace maker.
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“TALL OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW.”
can tell some truth; he says he had Joseph Smith appointed Lieut. Gen. for a play thing, because he did not know the difference between a Corporal or a General, and so one ral was just as good as another for him.
We think the general will show by his obedience, that he is an apt scholar, and will profit from experiance in what he has learnt from the nimble practising .
There is a little old Paul in Joe,—when he was a child he acted as a child, but now as a man he will act as a man, and teach the Machiavelian , that pets for play things may turn to prophets with power.
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In regard to all these matters, if alone was concerned we should have considered him altogether beneath our notice, and would have treated his communications with silent contempt; his abominable transactions are too well known in this for him to obtain any credence whatever; but as there are many political demagogues who have heralded these things forth to the world for political effect in the coming election, we therefore deem it a duty that we owe to ourselves, and to the public, to disabuse the public mind, and state matters of fact as they are in the above disclosures.
If an ordinance had not been passed in this prohibiting brothels and disorderly houses, and assessing a fine upon the frequenters of such places, perhaps the and some of his satellites might have considered this to be a paradise yet; and the ‘Zion of God;’ we noticed that he squirmed very much at its passage, but as he was always so virtuous a man of course it would not do for him to oppose it;—we must confess that we have no fellowship with such unfruitful works of darkness: and it is an opposition to this, and other acts of iniquity, that has brought out their “wonderful disclosures.”— In regard to all his witnesses, they are all exploded; but one or two of known ill fame; of course their proceedings or testimony are of no amount against us, nor would it be of any use if in our favor.
The has called upon many, as is fully proven, without authority, as their affidavits, and testimony demonstrate. As he has failed in this, we would respond to the call of , and the Sangamo Journal, for all men to come forward and testify to all that they know; we shrink not from investigation into all our acts, public or private, and are prepared to substantiate truths, and to rebut falsehoods. Delicacy has prevented us from publishing much testimony that has come before us, but if necessity requires, of course it must come out.
And in regard to the proceedings of the Sangamo Journal, we know that the editor of that paper looks upon as a villian; his own publications show this; and he has condescended to act the hypocrite, and make a political cat’s-paw of him, in the present crisis. “Oh shame where is thy blush?”
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For the Wasp.
TO THE INDEPENDENT VOTERS OF .
Ffllow Citizens:—
Our names having been announced in the Wasp, as candidates for the House of Representatives, permit us to say to you gentlemen, that we decline the honor of the nominations so kindly tendered us by some of our democratic friends, always willing to serve the cause of equal rights. The democratic ticket being full, Mr. [Thomas H.] Owen and being the candidates for the House of Representatives, they are democrats good and true, in their hands the people’s rights will be safe. It is to the Democratic Standard we call on our friends to rally