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“The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), Simon Gratz autograph collection.” (12)
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Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , [New Utrecht, Kings Co.], NY, 17–18 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; signature of JS by ; three pages; Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, 1343–1928, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, dealer marking, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12⅜ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The document was inscribed with blue and brown ink. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red wax seal, and postmarked. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the second leaf, resulting in the loss of some text. Damage along a fold also resulted in the loss of one character. The document was later repaired, and the lost text was inaccurately reconstructed in graphite.
The letter left the possession of or his heirs at an unknown time and was subsequently acquired by attorney, legislator, and autograph collector Simon Gratz. Gratz’s entire collection was deeded to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1917, and the transfer was finalized in 1928.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, 1343–1928, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 17 and 18 March 1843, JS composed a letter in , Illinois, to , a prominent attorney and educator in , New York, regarding the ongoing fallout from ’s 1842 excommunication from the . In 1841, John C. Bennett had introduced James Arlington Bennet to the Latter-day Saints and in April 1842 had secured a commission for Bennet as the inspector general of the , as well as an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Nauvoo. Following John C. Bennett’s May 1842 excommunication for sexual misconduct and his subsequent endeavors to damage the church, JS began an extensive correspondence with James Arlington Bennet, who quickly became a close political adviser and advocate for the Saints. Bennet’s public endeavors on behalf of the church were largely in response to John C. Bennett’s allegations that JS was an accessory before the fact to the May 1842 shooting of former governor .
On 20 February 1843, wrote to JS to congratulate him on his discharge from arrest after officials attempted to extradite him to answer charges in the case. In addition, Bennet recounted his efforts to challenge ’s claims by corresponding privately with interested public officials and by publishing editorials in the public press. James Arlington Bennet mailed the letter on 27 February. JS received it in by 15 March.
JS likely began composing a response to ’s letter on the morning of 17 March 1843, when he spent “a part of the fore noon in the office.” He worked through multiple drafts of the letter, as evidenced by an extant draft in the handwriting of scribe . The draft contains only one revision, an insertion on the verso of the second leaf; the lack of pervasive editorial changes suggests that the draft was based on one or more prior versions. In the evening, JS “heard read . . . his own [letter] to [James] Arlington Bennet.” On 18 March, JS “closed Letter to Arlington Bennett.” It was presumably at this time that Phelps made a new copy—featured here—incorporating the insertion from the earlier draft. JS may have dictated additional minor changes at this time, as Phelps made revisions on the featured version. Phelps signed JS’s name on both copies. The letter was mailed from on 19 March. Correspondence between Nauvoo and generally arrived in two to three weeks. Bennet received the letter by 10 April 1843, when he replied to JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, to Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1842, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; Certificate, Moses K. Anderson to James Arlington Bennet, Springfield, IL, 30 Apr. 1842, Thomas Carlin, Correspondence, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; JS History, vol. C-1, 1325.

    Carlin, Thomas. Correspondence, 1838–1842. In Office of the Governor, Records, 1818–1989. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  2. [2]

    See Notice, 11 May 1842; and Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, chaps. 7–9.

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  3. [3]

    See, for example, Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842; and Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.

  4. [4]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 15 Mar. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 17 and 18 Mar. 1843; JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, [New Utrecht], NY, 17 Mar. 1843, draft, JS Collection, CHL.

  7. [7]

    See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841; and Historical Introduction to Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.

  8. [8]

    Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 10 Apr. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843, Draft *Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843

Page [2]

or the , has had the solemn opportunity and awful facts presented, that sudden and violent moves, too often bring shame and disgrace, in this world, and wretchedness and ruin, hereafter. No government; no body of men, or person, can long exist, and do business in the sight of heaven without truth and virtue. You say, “well, peace be to his manes,” but permit me to declare, that while intelligence continues, there will be no peace for the wicked, according to scripture.
As to , I think he will be satisfied what my opinion is of him, when he reads the story of the “lion” in the Times and Seasons of Feb, 15 1843. I have no knowledge that he holds a commission in the : His name is on not on the Rank Roll. You can best account for this. Your relation of his intentions in extracting from the Times and Seasons, is all in course; the great object was too glaring upon the face of it to be mistaken, aside from the folly and vanity,— and hotch potch which spotted his comments in the Herald. He and all men should know that decency, virtue, honesty sobriety and truth, are among the most precious essentials of life, and especially in matters relating to eternity. There is a quid pro quo in pure religion, by which pretentions are weighed as well as actions and words; and so the promise is that God will bring every man into judgment, with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil; and it is written in another place, that they shall be rewarded according to their works.
Your goodly expression,— “Go ahead,” &c. will (as has been the case,) be fully verified, while God goes with me:— And if you have a <​would only​> notion to join me before you die, count the cost as Jesus says, and go for eternal reward in [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 17–18 March 1843
ID #
2216
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:66–71
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. [11]

    In his 20 February 1843 letter, Bennet remarked in relation to John C. Bennett, “Well peace be to his Manes— Let him go. His own conscience if he has any will be a sufficient punishm[en]t.” The phrase “peace be to his manes” is based on a Latin phrase venerating the ancestral dead. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843; “Manes,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 6:114.)

    Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

  2. [12]

    See Isaiah 48:22; 57:21.

  3. [13]

    In a letter to the editor of the Times and Seasons, JS presented a parable of a “young fawn” (JS), an “ass” (presumably John C. Bennett), and “the lions of the forest” (newspaper editors). After the ass brayed at the fawn, the lions roared “as the voice of thunder.” The letter alluded to James Gordon Bennett as “a great lion, whose den was on the borders of the eastern sea” and quoted a New York Herald editorial that summarized JS’s legal troubles with Missouri and taunted JS by saying he should “try his power at working a miracle or two? Now’s the time to prove his mission—besides being very convienent for himself.” JS responded by pointing to biblical examples of God’s persecuted peoples and quoting the voice of Deity condemning the lions for their treatment of “the weak, the injured and the oppressed.” (Letter to Editor, ca. Feb. 1843; see also “Springfield, Ill.,” New York Herald [New York City], 15 Jan. 1843, [2]; and “Joe Smith in Trouble,” New York Herald, 16 Jan. 1843, [2].)

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

  4. [14]

    In the 13 August 1842 issue of the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett published a transcript of his commission as a brigadier general, dated 2 June 1842. On 8 September 1842, JS indicated to James Arlington Bennet that John C. Bennett, when he was functioning as major general of the legion, obtained the commission for James Gordon Bennett. No extant Nauvoo Legion records include James Gordon Bennett’s name. (James Gordon Bennett, “Rising in the World,” New York Herald [New York City], 13 Aug. 1842, [2]; Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 Sept. 1842.)

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

  5. [15]

    In his 20 February 1843 letter, Bennet indicated that James Gordon Bennett’s “sole object in publishing your Articles from the Times & Seasons, was as he assured me to get up a subscription list for his paper at Nauvoo as well as the excitement they produced here.” (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.)

  6. [16]

    See James 1:27.

  7. [17]

    See Ecclesiastes 12:14.

  8. [18]

    See 2 Timothy 4:14.

  9. [19]

    Bennet commented in his 20 February 1843 letter: “Go a head my dear Sir, the way is now clear. I may join you myself before I die. Surely the system of Religion cannot be bad that reforms bad men & makes them good members of Society & good Christians & this we know to be the result of your Teachings.” (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 20 Feb. 1843.)

  10. [20]

    TEXT: The phrase “join me before you die” was initially placed in quotation marks, which were subsequently canceled.

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