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Letter from “Old Fifty,” 15 October 1842

Source Note

“Old Fifty,” Letter to editor of Times and Seasons [JS], , Hancock Co., IL, before 15 Oct. 1842. Version published in Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, 3:953–954. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

See Historical Introduction to Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
Letter from “Old Fifty,” 15 October 1842
Times and Seasons, 15 October 1842

Page 953

To the Editor of the Times and Seasons.
COLD COMFORT.
Dear Sir: Necessity frequently compels us to resort to means for self defence, which propriety, gentleness, meekness, and honor would gladly omit. It was said by the Lord, after the flood, that “the imagination of man’s heart was evil from his youth,”—and every century’s, every year’s.—yea, every day’s experience, shows the continued reality of his prophetic declaration. Perhaps I am somewhat selfish, when I read the papers of the day and observe such a multiplicity of abuse, low cunning and hypocricy, so lavishly bestowed upon the ;—when I say that it seems to me that the whole library of the regions of darkness and death was in the hearts of conspiring men to hinder, frustrate, or annihilate the closing dispensation of righteousness. I have a notable case in point, from the Quincy Whig of September 24, or properly speaking, the “Tools” who endeavor to manage that paper for official dignity. I shall have to take up the subject by piece meal, and make such remarks as the nature of the sophistical case may require. The first strain is thus:—
Joe Smith.—The last account we have of this person, he was on his way north, it was supposed for , by the way of , , &c. But we place no confidence in the account; we believe Joe is yet in or about the ‘,’ and occasionally comes forth from his hiding place when he can do so with impunity. He is too cunning for the or any of his officers, and he has deliberately put the laws of the at defiance.
There is nothing very cunning in the above paragraph, though the sense, probity, and sagacity, &c., of heralding Mr. Smith into , and then, in the next breath, “place no confidence,” in their own statement, are lost, and leaves the minds of reflecting people as vacant of real information, as an unfurnished house is of furniture. Again hear:—
If he will listen to a word from us, we would advise him to locate his new Jerusalem, away to the far West, in the , and there to build his temple and govern the Saints in his own way. In that case the advantages would be two-fold: for himself and followers, he would procure peace and quietness, for there would be no danger of their molestation in the enjoyment of their peculiar notions in that distant country;—to the Government, the location of himself and followers would be an advantage, because it greatly needs settlers in that region; and doubtless, Government would do something right handsome for Joseph, in the grant of a gift of lands, &c. if he would guarantee the emigration of any number of settlers.
So much hypocrisy, so barefaced an attempt at wholesale murder, has not even been contemplated by any other paper in the , however servile, mean, debased, or licentious. Locate the Mormons in , only think of it! After the society have lost in some one or two millions of dollars, besides many valuable lives; after they have builded a in , at a cost of sixty or seventy thousand dollars; and after they have commenced a beautiful at an expense of at least two or three millions of dollars, in ; when their numbers in all parts of the world amount to probably between one and two hundred thousand persons, without the least possible chance, under the depreciated state of the currency, and the general stagnation of business, to dispose of any property, but never mind, go to ! Take your journey, men, women and children, on horses, mules and asses, for wagons will not pass over the these many years to come, and a passage round Cape Horn, of twenty thousand miles, would be too long a trip and too expensive; therefore go on horseback and muleback, and those who are fortunate enough to escape famine and flood, will have an excellent chance to fight among the thirty or forty tribes of Indians: and should any get to , there are from ten to twenty thousand, breeds of all nations; Americans, English, Russians, French, Spanish, New Hollanders, Otaheitans, Chinese, &c., who are every thing but refined society, and they will settle the matter of Mormonism forever, and we, the editors of the Quincy Whig and all that believe as we do, will live on the plunder you leave behind, as has our cotemporaries in . Go to , and “doubtless Government will do something right handsome for Joseph.” This probably would take place when the English, Russian and American Governments, after fifty or sixty years negociation, happen to make a treaty, and settle the national right of territory, but nevertheless, as the Latter Day Saints are likely to increase, go to ! Hear again—
It is becoming more plainly evident every day, that the Mormons cannot live at in tranquility any great length of time—for there is a jealousy growing up between them and their neighbors of an opposite faith, which is rapidly approximating to hatred on both sides, and will eventually lead to popular outbreaks and violations of law. It is hardly to be expected, that a community of men so clannish as the Mormons, and so bigoted and selfish in their religious belief—and so willing to obey [p. 953]
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Letter from “Old Fifty,” 15 October 1842
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939
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Genesis 8:21.

  2. [2]

    The editor of the Quincy Whig was Sylvester Bartlett. (Masthead, Quincy [IL] Whig, 24 Sept. 1842, [1]; Asbury, Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, 74–75.)

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

    Asbury, Henry. Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, Containing Historical Events, Anecdotes, Matters concerning Old Settlers and Old Times, Etc. Quincy, IL: D. Wilcox and Sons, 1882.

  3. [3]

    “Joe Smith,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 24 Sept. 1842, [2].

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

  4. [4]

    “Joe Smith,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 24 Sept. 1842, [2].

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

  5. [5]

    A memorial church leaders submitted to the United States Congress estimated the value of lost property in Missouri at $2 million. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)

  6. [6]

    A November 1838 report estimated that forty church members died during the fighting in Missouri. (John B. Clark, Jefferson City, MO, to Lilburn W. Boggs, 29 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

  7. [7]

    John Corrill estimated that construction of the Kirtland, Ohio, temple cost approximately $40,000. (Corrill, Brief History, 21.)

  8. [8]

    The cost of building the city of Nauvoo to this date is unknown. However, in 1839 church leaders purchased the land on which the city was to be built for $136,500.

  9. [9]

    There is no precise accounting of the total membership of the church in 1842. Several contemporary observers estimated that the number of church members driven from Missouri in 1839 ranged anywhere between eight and fifteen thousand, which represented the bulk of the global population of church members. Thousands more men and women had joined the church by 1842, but this estimate of one to two hundred thousand church members seems unrealistically high. One scholarly estimate suggests that there were at least thirty thousand members of the church in 1846, but during the 1840s, sources frequently repeated these exaggerated claims of a church membership of more than one hundred thousand. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; May, “Demographic Portrait of the Mormons,” 122–123; “Important from Washington,” Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:74; “The Mormon Prophet,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1845, 6:854; William Smith, “Patriarchal,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1845, 6:904–905.)

    May, Dean L. “A Demographic Portrait of the Mormons, 1830–1980.” In After 150 Years: The Latter-day Saints in Sesquicentennial Perspective, edited by Thomas G. Alexander and Jessie L. Embry, 38–69. [Provo, UT]: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 1983.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  10. [10]

    Currency depreciation severely affected the Illinois economy following the collapse of the State Bank of Illinois in January 1842. It also prevented JS from making payments on both personal and church debts. (“State Bank of Illinois,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:728–729; Letter to Edward Hunter, 9 and 11 Mar. 1842; Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 13 May 1842.)

  11. [11]

    By summer 1836, Americans traveling to Oregon proved that certain passes over the Continental Divide could accommodate wheeled vehicles. Yet the perception that the Rocky Mountains prohibited travel by wagon persisted in much of the country. It was not until 1842, when the federal government started actively promoting settlement in Oregon territory, that news spread throughout the country that the mountains were not as formidable an obstacle to overland travel as once thought. Indeed, in September 1845, the Nauvoo Neighbor reported on John C. Frémont’s published account of his exploration of Alta California and Oregon territory, which indicated that “Capt. F[rémont] crossed them at four different places.” Brigham Young remarked to the Council of Fifty a week earlier that “it has been proved that there is not much difficulty in sending people beyond the mountains.” (Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 711–714; “Western Mountains and Rivers on the Route to Oregon,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Sept. 1845, [1]; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 9 Sept. 1845.)

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  12. [12]

    Men and women from various countries—including Russia, Spain, and France—settled in the Pacific Northwest, because each of the governments of these respective countries claimed a right to the territory in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (Twiss, Oregon Territory, 199–200, 211.)

    Twiss, Travers. The Oregon Territory, Its History and Discovery; Including an Account of the Convention of the Escurial, Also, the Treaties and Negotiations between the United States and Great Britain. . . . New York: D. Appleton, 1846.

  13. [13]

    Disputes between the United States and Great Britain over borders in the Pacific Northwest were heated in the early 1840s, and American political leaders disagreed on how best to stake their claim to the land that became Oregon territory. In 1818 the United States and Great Britain negotiated a joint occupation treaty for the northwest coast of North America. The treaty was designed to last ten years, but in 1827 the two nations extended the treaty indefinitely. By the 1840s, however, American politicians began calling for an end to the treaty. (Twiss, Oregon Territory, 224–248.)

    Twiss, Travers. The Oregon Territory, Its History and Discovery; Including an Account of the Convention of the Escurial, Also, the Treaties and Negotiations between the United States and Great Britain. . . . New York: D. Appleton, 1846.

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