This was the first meeting of the council following William Smith’s 19 October 1845 excommunication. Before his excommunication, Smith wrote a pamphlet critical of the Twelve Apostles that contained information about Council of Fifty plans such as the earlier Western Mission. The pamphlet may have fueled fears that Smith was going to further reveal council proceedings. Ten days later William Clayton reported a rumor that “Wm. Smith and others are trying to get up an influence with the president of the United States to prevent our going West and has already wrote to him on the subject, revealing the acts of the council of Fifty &c and representing the council as guilty of treason &c.” (“Part 3: September–October 1845”; Clayton, Journal, 19 and 29 Oct. 1845; William Smith, “A Proclamation,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 29 Oct. 1845, [1], [4].)

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.