On Saturday quite a sensation was created in this city, by the appearance of Joe Smith, the Mormon prophet, in our midst. -- He was arrested by the Sheriff upon the warrant of the Governor, with a view of surrendering him to the authorities of Missouri. He was taken from the custody of the Sheriff by the Marshall of this district, upon a writ of Habeas Corpus made returnable before the Circuit Court of the United States, and the time of hearing set for this morning at 10 o'clock. J. Butterfield, Esq., U. S. District Attorney, is his sole counse;. The ground upon which his discharge is based is, that he is not a fugitive from justice within the meaning of the act of Congress, or the constitution of the United States, which authorizes the surrender of an individual in one State to the authorities of another State, for trial, upon an alledged commission of a crime. J. Lamborn, the Attorney General, will appear in support to the legality of the warrant issued by the Governor of this State; but from a candid examination of the law I am satisfied the impostor, Joe Smith, will be discharged. He is clearly not a fugitive from justice within the intent and meaning of both the act of Congress and the constitution of the United States.

He was attended by a retinue of some fifteen or twenty of as fine looking men as my eyes ever beheld. My great astonishment is, how men possessing the intellectual faculties, refinement of education, and cultivated minds, that most of his body guard apparently do, can be so outrageously blinded, and led captive by imposition, as they are by Joe Smith. As for Joe Smith, his demeanor as far as I could observe, was by no means censurable, and he apparently was as unconcerned as to what was passing around him, as though he was a perfect stranger to the whole proceedings. I designated him at once from the accuracy of the likeness in Bennett's exposure of Mormonism...

The report made by the committee on Banks and Corporations, recommending the repeal of all the city charters in the State, was taken up on Thursday, and the House, by a vote of 57 to 59, refused to read the bill a second time. I am inclined to the opinion that very important amendments will be made in [several] of the city charters, previous to the adjournment of the Legislature. None deserves to so great an extent the absolute necessity of the legislative pruning knife as that granted to the Mormons. Their influence, however, over politicians, is unbounded, and they possess neither the moral courage, or firmness, to incur the displeasure of this deluded sect, by manfully coming out and doing what is right in regard to them...

The trial of Joe Smith was put off on yesterday, at the solicitation of the Attorney General, until to-morrow morning, at which time it is expected the argument will be gone into. The result will undoubtedly prove the discharge of the Mormon impostor...


Notes: (forthcoming)

The examination of Joe Smith before the Circuit Court of the United States, resulted, as I anticipated it would, in the discharge of the Prophet. The decision of Judge Pope was uncommonly clear and lucid, and gave universal satisfaction, so fas as I have heard any opinion expressed. As the question decided was of great public interest, it is to be hoped the Judge will furnish a copy of his opinion for publication. It will be recollected, that the question of Joe Smith's having procured Rockwell to commit the dastardly and cold-blooded act, of attempting, under the cover of night, to assassinate Gov. Boggs, did not at all come up in this investigation; but he was discharged upon the broad principle that he was not a fugitive from justice, within the meaning and contemplation of the act of Congress, and the Constitution of the United States. There is, therefore, but one course to be pursued, and that is for the Legislature of this State, by legal enactment, to provide a punishment commensurate with the crime committed, and that should be imprisonment for life, in solitary confinement in the Penitentiary of the State. Joe Smith, for the time being, has escaped that punishment he so richly merits, but a righteous restribution will yet be visited upon him. No man , whose hands are stained with the blood of a fellow mortal can successfully elude the punishment. The day of its visitation upon him may be far distant, but arrive it certainly will...

Mr. Vinyard of Pope, has introduced a bill repealing the Mormon charters. Whether his laudable effort will be sustained by the House, is doubtful. Joe Smith has too great a capital to throw into the political market for investment, to be easily frustrated in any of his nefarious designs. The politicians on both sides will fight sky in committig themselves against him, [tho] virtually by their refusing to take the unconstitutional powers he posses from him, legalizing debauchery, fraud, imposition, and crime of the blackest grade. For a season they may profit by such legislation but ere they little expect it, the indignation of an incensed and insulted community will be so great as to entirely overwhelm every public man, who dares to truckle to Mormonism, for the sake of their support. Every man that does so, secures a few short days of empty political fame at the sacrifice of everything like virtue and correct morals.

Gen. Bennett called upon me to-day. He leaves here to-night, with the intention of stopping at Alton and delivering a course of lectures. My opinion in regard to him has been frankly expressed in the columns of the Telegraph, in a review of his work on Mormonism. A personal interview with him has confirmed, in all respects, what I then thought and said of him.


Notes: (forthcoming)

On Thursday last, a bill introduced by Mr. Vinyard of Pope, providing for the repeal of the Mormon charters, came up for consideration and gave rise to a violent and acrimonious debate. It originated, however, with Smith, the member from Hancock, and the brother of the impostor Prophet, by assailing, in an uncalled for and disgraceful manner, the citizens of the State of Missouri. Mr. Davis, of Bond, replied to him with great force and effect, and triumphantly vindicated our sister State from the foul aspersions sought to be cast upon her by the deluded member from Nauvoo. He warned the House not to tamper longer with these charters, but to obey that voice which came up to them from the people, and repeal them. He showed the extraordinary powers contained in these charters and admonished the House of the evils that would necessarily [flow] from them, and finally deluge this State with their pernicious influences, if not checked now, while in the bud. The appeal came from an honest heart and a sound understanding, but fell upon "stony and barren land." The political influence wielded by the Prophet. made the politicians of both sides shrink from the performance of their duty, and by a vote of 60 to 33, the bill was laid upon the table. May they never have to repent of thisvote; but I fear the day will come when their great error will be seen , but too late to remedy it.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  QUINCY  HERALD,  JUDGE  POPE,
THE  DISCHARGE  OF  JOE  SMITH.

Never have we had called to our notice a more vile, dastardly, unjust, and blackguard attack upon private character and worth, than one which is made in the Quincy Herald of the 12th inst., upon the Hon. N. Pope, Judge of the U. S. District Court; Justin Butterfield, Esq., the U. S. District Attorney; and the Ladies who were in attendance during the argument of counsel, upon an application to discharge Joe Smith upon Habeas Corpus in the U. S. Circuit Court.

The attack is contained in a letter purporting to be written at Springfield, under the signature of Alpha. And never was there in so small a space as the letter occupies, a greater amount of libellous matter contained, than is to be found in the production of this secret and cowardly assassin of private character. The whole tone of the letter is that Judge Pope and Mr. Butterfield, both of whom occupy distinguished and responsible public stations, acting under the solemnity of an oath, had conspired together to arrest Joe Smith, the Mormon Impostor, from the arms of justice, by turning the judicial tribunal over which one of them presides, into a farce, and by going through with the form of a trial, allowing the accused intentionally to elude the penalty of the law. The decision in this important case is denounced by this concealed assassin of reputation, as a "great outrage" "unparalleled in the history of judicial proceedings," and one that "will ever stand as a monument of disgrace to those concerned in the farce."

That the public may judge how perfectly groundless are such accusations, we this day present them the decision of Judge Pope, which will be found on the first side of this days paper. * It is the most triumphant vindication of the foul aspersions sought to be cast upon him by this base libeller, that could be made, and no man having the slightest knowledge of the principles of law, or possessing discernment enough to discriminate between right and wrong, can arise from its perusal save with a thorough conviction of the correctness of the decision to which his honor, Judge Pope came. It is a production which as a jurist he has great reason to be proud of, and which we, as a citizen of Illinois, feel an unbounded pride in spreading before the public.

The truth is, the masterly, clear, and lucid argument of Mr. Butterfield, and the able decision of Judge Pope, has placed the previous legal advisors of Joe Smith, in regard to the legality of the requisition of the Governor of Missouri upon the Governor of this State for him, in rather a sad dilemma. They informed him he had no legal redress, and they stand convicted of either gross ignorance of their profession, or an intention wilfully to deceive Joe Smith as to what his legal rights were. And no matter which horn of the dilemma they assume, disgrace is the inevitable result. For them there is no escape, and to cover their own shame, they seek to cast imputations upon the Judge who tried, and the counsel who defended the accused. And both of whom have forgotten more law, than all the previous legal advisors of Joe Smith combined, ever knew, or will know.

In regard to the attack made by this letter writer upon the ladies who were present during the argument of counsel, it is not our duty to repel it. They were the wives and the daughters of the most respectable citizens of this State. They all have either fathers or husbands living, and it more properly belongs to them as their natural guardians to resent the insult, than to the conductor of a public press. All we can say is, that the attack is as ungentlemanly as it is cowardly.

In the remarks we have made, we do not desire to be viewed in the light of an apologist of Joe Smith. Our opinion of him has been too often, and too unreservedly expressed to need repitition here. We believe he combines in his composition all the elements of a base, wicked, dangerous and corrupt man. And that he has openly violated the laws of God and man for which he should be severely punished. That punishment, however, should be meted out to him in the manner prescribed by the constitution and the laws, and in no other way. And although "his sins were as scarlet" still would we insist upon his being tried and punished, before an impartial legal tribunal, according to the principles of law and justice.

In this case, his discharge was based upon those immutable principles, and with it, as a good citizen, we are bound to be content.

The only reason we do not republish the article to which this is a reply, is, that it is entirely too vulgar and indecent to admit of so doing.

_________
* Not having received a copy of the decision referred to, in season for insertion this week, it will appear in our next paper. -- Publishers.


Notes: (forthcoming)

OPINION  OF  JUDGE  POPE.
________

Circuit Court of the United States, for the District of Illinois -- December Term, A. D. 1842. Before the Hon. Nathaniel Pope, Presiding Judge -- Ex-parte Joseph Smith, (the Mormon prophet,) on Habeas Corpus. J. Butterfield and B. S. Edwards, Counsel for Smith. J. Lambourn, Attorney General, for the State of Illinois.
________

This case came before the Court upon a return to a writ of Habeas Corpus, which was issued by this Court on the 31st of December, 1842, upon a petition for a habeas corpus on the relation of Joseph Smith, setting forth that he was arrested and in custody of William F. Elkin, Sheffif of Sanagmon county, upon a warrant issued by the Governor of the State of Illinois, upon the requisition of the Governor of the State of Missouri, demanding him to be delivered up to the Governor of Missouti, as a fugitive from justice; that his arrest as aforesaid was under color of a law of the United States, and was without the authority of law in this, that he was not a fugitive from justice, nor had he fled from the State of Missouri.

Afterwards, on the same day, the Sheriff of Sangamon county returned upon the said habeas corpus, that he detained the said Joseph Smith in custody by virtue of a warrant issued by the Governor of the State of Illinois upon the requisition of the Governor of the State of Missouri, on the affidavit of Lilburn W. Boggs -- copies of the said affidavit, requisition and warrant were annexed to the said return in the words and figures following: --

"State of Missouri, |
.................................. | s.s.
County of Jackson |

This day personally appeared before me, Samuel Weston, a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Jackson, the subscriber, Lilburn W. Boggs, who being duly sworn, doth depose and say, that on the night of the sixth day of May, 1842, while sitting in his dwelling in the town of Independence, in the county of Jackson, he was shot with intent to kill, and that his life was despaired of for several days; and that he believes, and has good reason to believe from evidence and information now in his possession, that Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet, was accessary before the fact of the intended murder; and that the said Joseph Smith is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois; and the said deponent hereby applies to the Governor of the State of Missouri to make a demand on the Governor of the State of Illinois, to deliver the said Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet, to some person authorized to receive and convey him to the State and county aforesaid, there to be dealt with according to law.
                                  LILBURN W. BOGGS.

Sworn and subscribed before me, this 20th day of July, 1842.
SAMUEL WESTON, J. P."


"The Governor of the State of Missouri, to the Governor of the State of Illinois --
GREETING,

Whereas, it appears by the annexed document, which is hereby certified to be authentic, that one Joseph Smith is a fugutive from justice, charged with being accessary before the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, in this State, and it is represented to the Executive department of this State, has fled to the State of Illinois;

Now, therefore, I, Thomas Reynolds, Governor of the said State of Missouri, by virtue of the authority in me vested by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do by these presents demand the surrender and delivery of the said Joseph Smith to Edward R. Ford, who is hereby appointed as the agent to receive the said Joseph Smith on the part of this State.

In testimony whereof," &c.


"The People of the State of Illinois, to the Sheriff of Sangamon county -- GREETING.

Whereas, it has been made known to me by the Executive authority of the State of Missouri, that one Joseph Smith, stands charged by the affidavit of one Lilburn W. Boggs, made on the 20th day of July, 1842, at the county of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, before Samuel Weston, a Justice of the Peace, within and for the county of Jackson aforesaid, with being accessary before the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, on the night of the 6th day of May, 1842, at the county of Jackson, in said State of Missouri, and that the said Joseph Smith has fled from the justice of said State, and taken refuge in the State of Illinois:

Now, therefore, I Thomas Ford, Governor of the State of Illinois, pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of this State, do hereby command you to arrest and apprehend the said Joseph Smith, if he be found within the limits of the State aforesaid, and cause him to be safely kept and delivered to the custody of Edward R. Ford, who has been duly constituted the agent of the said State of Missouri, to receive said fugitive from the justice of the said State, he paying all fees and charges for the arrest and apprehension of said Joseph Smith, and make due return to the Executive Department of this State, the manner in which this writ may be executed.

In testimony whereof." &c.


The case was set for hearing on the 4th day of January, 1843, on which day Josiah Lamborn. Attorney General of the State of Illinois appeared, and moved to dismiss the proceedings and filed the following objections to the justification of the Court, viz:

"1st. The arrest and detention of Smith was not under or by color of authority of the United States, or of any officers of the United States, but under and by color of authority of the State of Illinois, by the officers of Illinois.

2d. When a fugitive from justice is arrested by authority of the Governor of any State, upon the requisition of the Governor of another State, the courts of justice, neither State or Federal, have any authority or jurisdiction to inquire into any facts behind the writ."

The counsel of the said Joseph Smith then offered to read in evidence affidavits of several persons, showing conclusively that the said Joseph Smith was at Nauvoo, in the County of Hancock and State of Illinois, on the whole of the 6th and 7th days of May, in the year 1842, and on the evenings of those days, more than three hundred miles distant from Jackson County, in the State of Missouri, where it is alleged that the said Boggs was shot, and that he had not been in the State of Missouri at any time between the 10th day of February and the first day of July, 1842, the said persons having been with him during the whole of that period. That on the 6th day of May aforesaid, he attended an officer's drill at Nauvoo aforesaid, in the presence of a large number of people, and on the 7th day of May aforesaid he reviewed the Nauvoo Legion in presence of many thousand people.

The reading of these affidavits was objected to by the Attorney General of the State of Illinois, on the ground that it was not competent for Smith to impeach or contradict the return to the habeas corpus. It was contended by the council of the said Smith, 1st. That he had a right to prove that the return was untrue. 2d, That the said affidavits did not contradict the said return, as there was no averment under oath in said return that said Smith was in Missouri at the time of the commission of the alleged crime or had fled from the justice of that State. The court decided that the said affidavits should be read in evidence, subject to all objections; and they were read accordingly.

The cause was argued by J. Butterfield and B. S. Edwards, for Smith, and by Josiah Lamborn, Attorney General of the State of Illinois, contro.

J. Butterfield, counsel for Smith, made the following points: --

1. The court has jurisdiction.

The requisition purports on its face to be made, and the warrant to be issued, under the Constitution and laws of the U. States, regulating the surrender of fugitives from justice. -- 2nd sec. 4th article Const. U. S. -- 1st sec. of the act of Congress of 12th Feb. 1793.

When a persons rights are invaded under a law of the United States he has no remedy except in the courts of the United States -- 51 sec. 3d article Const. U. S. -- 12th Wend. 323, -- 16 Peters 543.

The whole power in relation to the delivering up of fugitives from justice and labor, has been delegated to the United States, and Congress have regulated the manner and form in which it shall be exercised. The power is exclusive. The State Legislature have no right to interfer, and if they do, their acts are void. -- 2d and 3d clause of 2d sec. 4th article Const. U. S. -- 2d vol. laws U. S. 331. - 16 Peters 617-18, 623. -- 4th Wheaton's Rep. 122, 193-12 Wend. 312.

All courts of the United States are authorized to issue writs of Habeas Corpus when the prisoner is confined under or by color of authority of the United States -- Act of Congress of Sept. 24th. 1780, sec. 14, 2d condensed 33. -- 3d Cranch 447. -- 3d Peters 193.

2. The return to the Habeas Corpus is not certain and sufficient to warrant the arrest and transportation of Smith.

In all cases on Habeas Corpus previous to indictment, the court will look into the depositions before the Magistrate, and though the committment be full act in form, yet if the testimony prove no crime, the court will discharge ex parte. -- Taylor 5th, Cowan 50.

The affidavit of Boggs does not show that Smith was charged with any crime comitted by him in Missouri, nor that he was a fugitive from justice.

If the committment be for a matter for which by law the prisoner is not liable to be punished, the court must discharge him. -- 3. Bac. 431.

The Executive of this State has no jurisdiction over the person of Smith to transport him to Missouri, unless he has fled from that State.

3. The prisoner has a right to prove facts not repugnant to the return, and even to go behind the return and contradict it, unless committed under a judgment of a court of competant jurisdiction. -- 3d. Bacon 435, 438. -- 3d. Peters 202 -- Gale's Rev. Laws of Ills. 323.

The testimony introduced by Smith at the hearing, showing conclusively that he was not a fugitive from justice, is not repugnant to the return.

J. Lamborn. Attorney General of the State of Illinois, in support of the points made by him, cited 2d Condensed Rep. 37; Gordon's Digest, 73; Gale's Statutes of Illinois 318; Conkling 85; 9th Wendall 212.


And afterwards, on the 5th day of January, 1843, Judge Pope delivered the following

O P I N I O N:

The importance of this case, and the consequences which may flow from an erroneous precedent, effecting the lives and liberties of our citizens, have impelled the Court to bestow upon it the most anxious consideration. The able arguments of the counsel for the respective parties, have been of great assistance in the examination of the important question arising in this cause.

When the patriots and wise men who framed our constitution were in anxious deliberation to form a perfect union among the States of the confederacy, two great sources of discord presented themselves to their consideration: the commerce between the States and fugitives from justice and labor. The border collisions in other countries had been seen to be a fruitful source of war and bloodshed, and most wisely did the Constitution confer upon the National Government the regulation of these matters, because of its exemption from the excited passions awakened by conflicts between neighboring States, and its ability alone to adopt a uniform rule, and establish uniform laws among all the States in those cases.

This case presents the important question arising under the constitution and laws of the State of Illinois can be transported from his own State to the State of Missouri, to be there tried for a crime, which if he ever committed, was committed in the State of Illinois; whether he can be transported to Missouri, as a fugitive from justice, when he has never fled from that State.

Joseph Smith is before the Court, on habeas corpus, directed to the Sheriff of Sangamon county, State of Illinois. The return shows that he is in custody under a warrant from the Executive of Illinois, professedly issued in purusance of the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of the State of Illinois, ordering said Smith to be delivered to the agent of the Executive of Missouri, who had demanded him as a fugutive from justice, under the 2d section, 4th article, of the Constitution of the United States, and the act of Congress passed to carry into effect that article. The article is in these words, viz: "A person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other crime who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall on demand of the Executive authority of the State, from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime," -- The act of Congress made to carry into effect this article, directs that the demand be made on the Executive of the State where the offender is found, and proscribes the proof to support the demand, viz: indictment or affidavit.

The Court is respectful to inform the Governor and Attorney General of the State of Illinois, of the action upon the on the day appointed for the hearing, the Attorney General of the State of Ilinois appeared and denied the jurisdiction of the court to grant the

1st. Because the warrant was not issued under color or by authority of the United States, but by the State of Illinois.

2d. Because no can issue in this case from either the Federal or State Courts, to inquire into the facts behind the writ. In support of the first point, a law of Illinois was read, declaring that whenever the Executive of any other State shall demand of the Executive of this State, any person, as a fugutive from justice, and shall have complied with the requisition of the act of Congress in that case made and provided, it shall be the duty of the Executive of this State to issue his warrant to apprehend the said fugitive, &c. It would seem that this act does not purport to confer any additional power upon the Executive of this State, independent of the power conferred by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but to make it the duty of the Executive to obey and carry into effect the act of Congress. The warrant on its face, purports to be issued in pursuance of the constitution and laws of the United States, as well as of the State of Illinois. To maintain the position that this warrant was not issued under color, or by authority of the laws of the United States, it must be proved that the United States could not confer the power on the Executive of Illinois. Because, if Congress could and did confer it, an act of Illinois could take it away, for the reason that the Constitution and Laws of the United States passed in pursuance of it, and treaties are the Supreme law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary not withstanding. This is enough to dispose of that point. If the Legislature of Illinois, as is probable, intended to make it the duty of the Governor to execute the power granted by Congress and no more, the Executive would be acting by authority of the United States. It may be that the Legislature of Illinois, appreciating the importance of the proper execution of those laws, and doubting whether to carry them into effect, deemed it prudent to impose it as a duty, the neglect of which would expose him to impeachment. If it intended more, the law is unconstitutional and void. -- 10 Peters 617, Prigg vs. Pennsylvania.

In supporting the second point the Attorney General seemed to urge that there was greater sanctity in a warrant issued by the Governor than by an inferior officer. The court cannot assent to this distinction. This is a Government of Laws, which describes a rule of action, as obligatory upon the Governor as upon the most obscure officer. The character and purposes of the habeas corpus aregreatly misunderstood by those who suppose that it does not review the [fact] of an Executive functionary; all who are familiar with English history must know that it was extorted from an arbitary monarch and that it was hailed as a second Magna Charta, and that it was to protect the subject from arbitary imprisonment by the King and his minions which brought into existance that great Palladium of liberty in the latter part of the reign of Charles the Second. It was indeed a magnificent achievement over arbitrary power. Magna Charta established the principles of liberty; the Habeas Corpus protected them. It matters not how great or obscure the prison keeper, this magnificent writ, wielded by an independent Judge, reaches all. It penetrates, alike the Royal Towers and the local prisons, from the garret to the secret recesses of the dungeon. All doors fly open at its command, and the shackles fall from the limbs of prisoners of State as readily as from those committed by subordinate officers. The warrant of the King and his secretary of State could claim no more exemption from that searching enquiry, 'the cause of his caption and detention, than a warrant granted by a justice of the peace. It is contended that the U. States, is a government of granted powers, and that no Department of it can exercise powers not granted. This is true. But the grant is to be found in the 24 section of the 3d article of the Constitution of the United States. 'The Judicial power shall extend to all cases in law or equity, arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made and which shall be made under their authority.'

The matter under consideration presents a case arising under the 2d section 4th article of the Constitution of the United States, and the act of Congress of February 12th 1793, to carry it into effect. -- The Judiciary act of 1789 confers on this Court (indeed on all the courts of the U. States,) power too issue the writ of Habeas Corpus, when a person is confined 'under color of or by the authority of the United States.' Smith is in custody under color of, and by authority of the 21 sec. 4th art. of the Constitution of the U. States. As to the instrument employed or authorized to carry into effect that article of the Constitution (as he derives from it the authority to issue the warrant,) he must be regarded as acting by the authority of the U. States. The power is not official in the Governor. but personal. It might have been granted to any one else by name, but considerations of convenience and policy recommended the selection of the Executive, who never dies. The citizens of the States are citizens of the U. States; hence the U. States are as much bound to afford them protection in their sphere, as the States in their's.

This court has jurisdiction. Whether the State courts have jurisdiction or not, this court is not called upon to decide.

The return of the sheriff shows that he has arrested and now holds in custody Joseph Smith, in virtue of a warrant issued by the Governor of Illinois, under the 2d section of the 4th article of the Constitution of the United States, relative to fugitives from justice, and the act of Congress passed to carry it into effect. The article of the Constitution does not designate the person upon whom the demand for the fugitive shall be made; nor does it prescribe the proof upon which he shall act. But Congress has done so. The proof is "an indictment or affidavit" to be certified by the Governor demanding. The material part of the letter is in these words, viz: -- "Lilburn W. Boggs who being duly sworn, doth depose and say, that on the night of the sixth day of May, 1842, while sitting in his dwelling in the town of Independence, in the county of Jackson, he was shot with intent to kill, and that his life was despaired of for several days; and that he believes, and has good reason to believe from evidence and information now in his possession, that Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet, was accessary before the fact of the intended murder; and that the said Joseph Smith is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois" This affidavit being thus verified, furnished the only evidence upon which the Governor of Illinois could act. Smith presents affidavits proving that he was not in Missouri, at the date of the shooting of Boggs. This testimony was objected to by the Attorney General of Illinois, on the ground that the Court could not look behind the return. The Court deems it unnecessary to decide that point, inasmuch as itthinks Smith entitled to his discharge for defect in the affidavit. To authorize the arrest in this case the affidavit should have stated distinctly, 1st. That Smith had committed a crime. 2d That he committed it in Missouri.

It must appear that he fled from Missouri to authorize the Governor of Missouri to demand him, as none other than the Governor of the State from which he fled can make the demand. He could not have fled from justice, unless he committed a crime, which does not appear. It must appear that the crime was committed in Missouri, to warrant the Governor of Illinois in ordering him to be sent to Missouri for trial. The 2d section, 4th article declares, he 'shall be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.'

As it is not charged that the crime was committed by Smith in Missouri, the Governor of Illinois could not cause him to be removed to that State, unless it can be maintained that the State of Missouri can entertain jurisdiction of crimes committed in other States. The affirmative of this proposition was taken in the argument with a zeal indicating sincerity. But no adjudged case or dictum was adduced in support of it. The Court conceves that none can be. Let it be tested by principle.

Man in a state of nature is a sovereign, with all the perogatives of Kings, Lords, and Commons. He may declare war and make peace, and as nations often do, who 'feel power and forget right,' may oppress, rob and subjugate his weaker and unoffending neighbors. He unites in his person the legislative, judicial and executive power -- 'can do no wrong,' because there is none to hold him to account. But when he unites himself with a community, he lays down all the prerogatives of a sovereign, (except self defense,) and becomes a subject. He owes obedience to its laws and the judgments of its tribunals, which he is supposed to have participated in establishing, either directly or indirectly. -- He surrenders also, the right of self-redress. In consideration of all which, he is entitled to the aegis of that community to defend him from wrongs. He takes upon himself no allegiance to any other community, so owes it no obedience, and therefore cannot disobey it. None other than his own sovereign can prescribe a rule of action to him. Each sovereign regulates the conduct of his subjects, and they may be punished upon the assumption that they know the rule and have consented to be governed by it. It would be a gross violation of the social compact, if the State were to deliver up one of its citizens to be tried and punished by a foreign State, to which he owes no allegiance, and whose laws were never binding on him. -- No State can or will di it.

In the absence of the constitutional provision, the State of Missouri would stand on this subject in the same relation to the State of Illinois, that Spain does to England. In this particular the States are independent of each other. A criminal, fugitive from the one State to the other, can not be claimedas of right to be given up. It is most true as mentioned by writers on the laws of nations, that every State is responsible to its neighbors for the conduct of its citizens, so far as their conduct violates the principles of good neighborhood, So it is among private individuals. But for this, the inviolability of territory, or private dwelling, could not be maintained. This obligation creates the right, and makes it the duty of the State to impose such restraints upon the individual as the occcasion demands. It was in the performance of this duty, that the United States passed laws to restrain citizens of the U. States from setting on foot and fitting out military expeditions against their neighbors. While the violators of the law kept themselves within the U. States, their conduct was cognizable to the courts of the U. States, and not of the offended State, even if the means provided has assisted in the invasion of the foreign State. A demand by the injured State upon the U. States for the offenders, whose operations were in their own country, would be answered, that the U. States' laws alone could act upon them, and that as a good neighbor it would punish them.

It is the duty of the State of Illinois, to make it criminal in one of its citizens to aid, abet, [contract], or advise any person to commit a crime in her sister State. -- any one violating the law would be amenable to the laws of Illinois, executed by its own tribunals. Those of Missouri, could have no agency in his conviction and punishment. But if he shall go into Missouri, he owes obedience to her laws, and is liable before her courts, to be tried and punished for any crime he may commit there, and a plea that he was a citizen of another State, would not avail him. If he escape, he may be surrendered to Missouri for trial. But when the offense is perpetrated in Illinois, the only right of Missouri, is to insist that Illinois compel her citizens to forbear to annoy her. This she has a right to expect. -- for the neglect of it, nations go to war and violate territory.

The court must hold that where a necessary fact is not stated in the affidavit, it does not exist. It is not averred that Smith was accessary before the fact, in the State of Missouri, nor that he committed a crime in Missouri: therefore he did not commit the crime in Missouri, -- did not flee from Missouri to avoid punishment.

Again, the affidavit charges the shooting on the 6th pf May, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, 'that he believes and has good reason to believe, from evidence and information now (then) in his possession, that Joseph Smith was accessary before the fact, and is a resident or citizen of Illinois.' There are several objections to this. Mr. Boggs having the 'evidence and information in his possession,' should have incorporated it in the affidavit, to enable the court to judge of their sufficiency to support his 'belief.' -- Again, he swears to a legal conclusion, when he says that Smith was accessary before the fact. What acts constitute a man an accessary is a question of law, and not always of easy solution. Mr. Boggs' opinion, then, is not authority. He should have given the facts. He should have shown that they were committed in Missouri, to enable the court to test them by the laws of Missouri, to see if they amounted to a crime. Again, the affidavit is fatally defective in this, that Boggs swears to his belief.

The language in the constitution is, 'charged with felony, or other crime.' Is the constitution satisfied with a charge upon suspicion! It is to be regretted that an American adjudged case has been cited to guide the court in expounding this article. Language is ever interpreted by the subject matter. If the object were to arrest a man near home, and there were fears of escape if the movement to detain him for examination were known, the word charged might warrant the issuing of a capias on suspicion. Rudyard, (reported in Skin. --) was committed to Newgate for refusing to give bailfor his good behavior, and was brought before the Common Pleas on Habeas Corpus. The return was, that he had been complained of, for exciting the subjects to disobedience of the laws against solitious conventicles; and upon examination they found cause to suspect him. Vaughn, Chief Justice of Tyrrel and Artcher against Wild, held the return insufficient. 1st, because it did not appear but that he might abet frequenters of conventicles in the way the law allows. 2d, To say that he was complained of or was examined, is no proof of his guilt. And then to say that he had cause to suspect him is to cautious; for who can tell what they count a cause of suspicion, and how can that ever be tried? At this rate they would have arbitrary power upon their own allegation, to commit whom they pleased.'

From this case it appears that suspicion does not warrant a committment, and that all legal intendments are to avail the prisoner. That the return is to be most strictly construed in favor of liberty. If suspicion in the foregoing case did not warrant a commitment in London by its officers, of a citizen of London, might not the objection be urged with greater force against a committment of a citizen of our State to be transported to another on suspicion? No case can arise demanding a more searching scrutiny into the evidence than in cases arising under this part of the constitution of the U. States. It is proposed to deprive a freeman of his liberty; to deliver him into the custody of strangers; to be transported to a foreign State, to be arraigned for trial before a foreign tribunal, governed by laws unknown to him; separated from his friends, his family and his witnesses, unknown and unknowing. Had he an immaculate character, it would not avail him with strangers. Such a spectacle is appaling enough to challenge the strictest analysis.

The framers of the constitution were not inawnsible of the importance of courts possessing the confidence of the parties. They therefore provided that citizens of different States might resort to the federal ciurts in civil cases. How much more important that the criminal have confidence in his Judge and Jury! Therefore, before the capias is issued, the officers should see that the case is made out to warrant it.

Again, Boggs was shot on the 6th of May. The affidavit was made on the 20th of July following. Here was time for inquiry, which would confirm into certainty or dissipate his suspicions. He had time to collect facts to be laid before a grand jury, or be incorporated in his affidavit. -- The court is bound to assume that this would have been the course of Mr. Boggs, but his suspicions were light and unsatisfactory.

The affidavit is insufficient, 1st. Because it is not positive. 2d. Because it charges no crime, 3d. It charges no crime committed in the State of Misssouri. Therefore, he did not flee from the justice of the State of Missouri, nor has he taken refuge in the State of Illinois.

The proceedings in this affair, from the affidavit to the arrest, afford a lesson in Governors and Judges, whose action may hereafter be invoked in cases of this character.

The affadavit simply says that the affaint was shot with intent to kill, and he believes that Smith was accessary before the fact to the intended murder, and is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois. It is not said who shot him, or that the person was unknown.

The Governor of Missouri in his demand calls Smith a fugitive from justice, chargied with being acessary before the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, in this State, (Missouri). This Governor expressly refers to the affidavit as his authority for that statement. Boggs in his affidavit does not call Smith a fugitive from justice, nor does he state a fact from which the Governor has a right to infer it. Neither does the name O. P. Rockwell appear in the affidavit, nor does Boggs say Smith fled. Yet the Governor says he has fled to the State of Illinois. But Boggs only says he is a citizen or resident of the State of Illinois.

The Governor of Illinois responding to the demand of the Executive of Missouri, for the arrest of Smith, issues his warrant for the arrest of Smith, reciting that "whereas Joseph Smith stands charged by the affidavit of Liliburn W. Boggs with accessary before the fact to an assault with intent to kill, made by one O. P. Rockwell, on Lilburn W. Boggs, on the night of the 6th day of May, 1842, at the county of Jackson, in said State of Missouri, and that the said Joseph Smith has fled from the justice of said State, and taken refuge in the State of Illinois."

Those facts do not appear by the affidavit of Boggs. On the contrary. it does not assert that Smith was accessary to O. P. Rockwell; nor that he had fled from the justice of the State of Missouri, and taken refuge in the State of Illinois.

The court can alone regard the facts set forth in the affidavit of Boggs as having any legal existence. The mis-recitals and over statements in the requisition and warrant are not supported by oath, and can not be received as evidence to deprive a citizen of his liberty, and transport him to a foreign State for trial. For these reasons Smith must be discharged.

At the request of J. Butterfield, counsel for Smith, it is proper to state, in justice to the present Executive of the State of Illinois, Governor Ford, that it was admitted on the argument, that the warrant which originally issued upon the said requisition, was issued by his predecessor; that when Smith came to Springfield to surrender himself up, upon that warrant, it was in the hands of the person to whom it had been issued at Quincy, in this State; and that the present warrant, which is a copy of the former one, was issued at the request of Smith, to enable him to test its legality by writ of Habeas Corpus.

Let an order be entered that Smith be discharged from his arrest.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Mr. Davis of Bond, from the committee on the Judiciary, reported back the bill introduced some time since, by Mr. Vinyard of Pope, providing for the repeal of all the sections in the Mormon charters, which extends to them privileges or powers not possessed under other city charters in the State, and recommended its passage. In consequence of the absence of the Nauvoo member, Smith, the brother of the Prophet, the bill was passed over until his return. Most of those who have heretofore voted against the repeal of the entire Mormon charters, have upon all occasions expressed a willingness and desire to expunge from them all obnoxious provisions contained in those charters. An opportunity is now presented by which the sincerity of these professions can be tested, and if they vote for the passage of this bill reported by the committee on the Judiciary, I shall award to many the praise of being honest, a qualification I now do not think they possess. The desire to carry favor with Joe Smith, and his hordes of deluded followers, purely for the purpose of securing his political influence, blinds many of the Representatives to everything against the performance of a duty which they know the best interest of the country demands at their hands.


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Assassin Detected.

O. P. Rockwell, charged with the attempt to take the life of Ex-Governor Boggs, was secured in St. Louis on Sunday last, and has been sent to Jackson County for trial. He came to St. Louis from the Ohio, under a feigned name, and had taken a seat in the stage for Springfield under a second feigned name, when he was recognized and safely committed to the keeping of the ministers of the law. We trust he will receive a fair and impartial trial, and if guilty made to suffer the utmost penalty of the law. It is a pity his principal, Joe Smith, was not in his place. Rockwell was but the dupe of the arch impostor, Joe Smith.

---

... [Legislative Report] ... The bill was then read the third time and passed.

The bill to repeal certain sections of the [bill?] to incorporate the City of Nauvoo, was then taken up for consideration. This bill [repealed?] the [-----------] [-------] of the above [-------] holy city [-----------] [-------] provides for the [-----] boundaries of the corporation of Nauvoo [-------- -------] a Municipal Court in said City [------ ----] the City Council to [issue?] writs of habeas corpus, and to impose a fine of $150 on any person who may refuse to [accept of any office therein] -- and authorizes the establishment of the Nauvoo Legion. The bill having been read, Mr. Smith of Hancock moved to amend the [same] by the addition of a new section, repealing the charters of the different Cities of the State. Some debate ensued, in which Mses. Smith of Hancock, Kuykendall, and Owen took part; when [-----] moved to amend the proposed amendment, so as to direct that the provisions of the bill shall apply to the charters of all the Cities of the State, as well as to that of Nauvoo. The motion was agreed to -- ayes 80, nos 17. The question was then taken on ordering the bill as amended, to be engrossed and carried; ayes 66 nos 31.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MILLER  OUTDONE!

In the Times as Seasons, of March 1st, Joe Smith, the Mormon impostor, addresses a communication to the Editor, which closes as follows: "Therefore, hear this, O Earth, the Lord will not come to reign over the righteous in this world in 1843, nor until every thing for the bridegroom is ready."

We had supposed that Capting Tyler intended vetoing the humbuggery of Mr. Miller, but Joe has got the start of him as will appear from the above. We would advise Miller and Joe Smith to enter into partnership, as together they might for a season longer succeed in humbugging the credulous, while, on the other hand, if they get to prophesying against each other the old adage will be verified -- "When rogues fall out honest men will get their due." It is difficult to ascertain which is the most preposterous, Mormonism or Millerism.

---

AMUSING!

The Mormons, in their Times as Seasons, denouncing Millerism as humbuggers! But calling the kettle black, in every sense of the word.


Notes: (forthcoming)

JOE  SMITH -- THE  IMPOSTOR.

A late number of the Missouri Republican announces that Joe Smith has been indicted in that State for treason and murder, and that a requisition has been made upon the Governor of this State by the Governor of Missouri for him. The Republican further asserts that it was the intention of the authorities to keep this matter secret until the arrest of Joe could be secured; but that some faithful Locofoco at Springfield gave Joe the information that he was about to be arrested, and that he had sloped. We further learn from the same source, that Rockwell, who is now in jail in Missouri, has consented to turn State's evidence, and disclose the designing advisers by whom he is surrounded.

For the honor and credit of the State we sincerely trust this information is correct, and that this base imposter and swindler may be brought to justice. Rockwell now has it in his power to make some little reparation for the evil he has inflicted upon society, by stating publicly and correctly the whole design of Joe Smith, and exposing the frauds, impositions and wrongs that this vile imposter has so successfully and so long perpetrated upon the community. This is due to the public, and more particularly to the people of this State. And for one we will spare no pains to enable those who have so long been led captive by the delusions and humbuggery of Joe Smith, to cast off the chains of idolatry and man worship with which they are bound, and by permitting reason again to resume her sway over them, become good and law-abiding citizens, and worshippers of HIM who hath so touchingly warned us in the book of inspiration, to beware of "False Prophets" that would rise up among them.

There can exist no doubt but that politicians in the neighborhood of the Mormon influence will refrain from an expression of opinion, or lending any assistance toward the faithful and fearless administration of the law upon this Prince of Humbugs. -- Through the influence and aid of this praetorian cohort, Joe may again be enabled to escape. But we have no hesitation in saying that the vast body of the people will visit their indignation and contempt upon any man or set of men who, for political purposes, shall attempt to screen Joe Smith or his deluded followers from being brought to justice wherever and whenever they have violated the laws of their country with impunity.


Notes: (forthcoming)

JOE  SMITH.

We are wholly unable from any accounts contained in the Northern papers, to give any thing like an accurate or satisfactory statement of the arrest and release of Joe Smith, upon the requisition of the Governor of Missouri. Both sides are truckling like whipped puppies to secure the Mormon strength, and the law and its officers are treated with contumely and contempt. A more disreputable state of things never before existed in a free and englightened government.

The facts, as near as we can ascertain them, are that Joe was arrested by the agent from Missouri and an officer of this State, at Dixon, Lee county, upon a requisition of the Governor of Missouri. He applied, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus and was taken before that very impartial and disinterested lrgal tribunal, the Municipal Court of Nauvoo. The officers of this misnamed court of justice are composed of the most blinded, infatuated and unprincipled of Joe's deluded followers, and the result was precisely what every man of common sense might have known it would be -- a discharge of the Prophet from the legal custody of the officers of the law. The State Register asserts that the agent of Missouri has applied to Gov. Ford for an armed force to aid him in arresting Joe again, but that the Governor had not decided whether to grant the request or not. By this we understand that if the Mormons will vote for Mr. Hoge, the Loco-foco candidate for Congress, the request will not be granted; if on the other hand, they refuse, then Gov. Ford will turn out the militia to arrest, if possible, the Prophet. -- Thus the administration of the law will be basely prostituted for political effect.

We regard the location of this unprincipled scoundrel in Illinois, as one of the greatest calamaties that ever befel the State. He, and those over whom he exercises the most unlimited control, now hold the balance of political power in this State. Governed by no political principles whatever, they at every election throw themselves in the market like cattle for sale. They vote, or promise to vote, with this party, or that, as their personal interests are advanced by those to whom they give a support. The result is, their blasphemies, their violations of law, their utter disregard of all the social relations of life, are permitted to progress with impunity. And when justice is attempted to be visited upon them, the arm of the law is found to be too short to reach them. Politicians and Demagogues not only court but fear them, solely in consequence of their political power and strength; and attempt to disguise it as we may, the Mormons are now a privileged sect in this boasted land of equal rights. We therefore regard it as the most unfortunate affair that ever befel the State of Illinois, when Joe Smith selected this State as the theatre of his actions, to carry out his blasphemous, corrupt, and irreligious designs. It speaks but poorly in favor of the advancement of christianity or even civilization.


Notes: (forthcoming)

JOE  SMITH.

We learn, from good authority, that the Prophet has surrendered his office, and annointed his brother. Joe, for some time past, has been in deadly fear of the "Goths and Vandals" of Missouri, and he verily believes that his holy person will be more secure in performing a pilgrimage in Europe or the Rocky Mountains, than it will be to remain under the shadow of the temple, protected by that immaculate body, the Nauvoo Municipal Court. An appropriate text for the Prophet's valedictory, when he cast his mantle upon his brother, might have been found in the 109th Psalm, 6th verse -- "Set thou a wicked man over (them); and let Satan stand at his right hand."


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMONS.

Voted, at last, against their particular friend, Cyrus Walker, Esq., to a man. This is no more than we expected, and it is a righteous retribution upon those Whigs, who, for political effect, have been truckling to the depravity and baseness of the Mormon, with holy Joe at their head. They have proven, by this last vote of theirs, that no dependence whatever can be placed upon them or their promises -- that they are without principle, political or moral, and that treachery and deception constitute one of the principal attributes of their nature.

We hope the Whigs in the Mormon section of the country will hereafter have nothing to do with them whatever. They are congeniel spirits for Locofocos and repudiators, and consequently cannot entertain feelings in common with men of integrity and honor. It is far more creditable to Mr. Walker to have been defeated by their union against him, than to have been elected by their votes. Of this, reflection will satisfy him, and candor compel him to admit. Every political stride of "HOLY JOE." emboldens him in impudence and lawlessness. -- The following, which we cut from the last Illinoisn, displays in a graphic manner the love Joe entertains for the laws and the peace of society. It is but the beginning of the end.

"MORMON OUTRAGE -- A gentleman of this town, who has just returned from a visit to Carthage, states that "considerable excitement exists in Hancock county on account of a gross outrage commited by holy Joe Smith, upon the Collector of that county.

It seems that Joe had taken offense at the Collector on account of the manner in which he had discharged his duty, in reference to some of the prophet's lots in Nauvoo; and during a recent visit of the Collector to that city, he was attacked and cruelly beaten by Joe in presence of several hundred of his faithful. The Collector had been quite ill for some weeks, and was scarcely able to travel at the time the outrage was perpetrated. From the statement of our informant, we shall not be surprised to hear of Joe's sudden disappearance shortly."


Notes: (forthcoming)

==> A gentleman from Nauvoo, informs us that Joe Smith has sent to Gov. Ford for authority to defend himself by military force against a supposed attack from the Missourians. It is well understood that Joe apprehends no such attack. And that his making this request is more for the purpose, if granted. of warring upon our own citizens, than upon those of Missouri. Joe doubtless understands that his contract with Gov. Ford was, in trabsferring the Mormon vote to Hoge, and it is a reasonable presumption that his call upon the Governor for the necessary authority will not be in vain.


Notes: (forthcoming)

GREAT ANTI-MORMON MEETING.

Below will be found the proceedings, in part, of a large meeting of citizens, without distinction of party, lately convened in Hancock county, in this State. This meeting was composed of those comprising the immediate neighbors of the Mormons, and consequently acquainted from personal observation with the many outrages committed by this deluded sect against the citizens of this State. Those outrages are enumerated in the proceedings which follow this article; and we most earnestly commend them not only to the perusal, but the serious reflection of every well wisher of Illinois.

That the people of this State would finally be driven to the course pursued by the citizens of Hancock county, to protect themselves and their property from the unbridled violence of the impostor, Joe Smith, we have never for a moment doubted; and we have been the more firmly convinced, by seeing politicians of both sides winking at their lawless enormities, and truckling to their vile and debased practices, solely for the purpose of securing the influence and votes of the Mormons, as candidates for office. In view of this inevitable result, we have unremittingly and fearlessly warred against Joe Smith, as well as the course of politicians towards him, [maugre?] the complaints of even many with whom we have and do act politically. The charge, that in our opposition to the Mormons we have been governed by political considerations, we have treated with that silent contempt it alone merited; relying upon the virtue and intelligence of the people, who may have watched our course in this respect, as a shield against any such imputation. Whether the fears we have entertained and so frequently reiterated in regard to the designs of the vile impostor, Joe Smith, are about being realized, we leave to the judgment of every unprejudiced mind who may peruse the proceedings of the citizens of Hancock county. All we can now urge is, for the people of this State to act as become good citizens, as christians, as law-abiding men, without regard to party, in the suppression of the open and unblemishing vices and blasphemies practiced, unrebuked, by the Mormons at Nauvoo. Without we unite as did the "law and order party" in Rhode Island, regardless of party distinctions, for the suppression of Mormonism in our midst, they will finally triumph over us; and the early settler and sturdy pioneer together with all who do not avow and practice their absurdities, wickedness and blasphemies will be banished from this State or fall victims to their vengeance and lawlessness.

What a rebuke is the present state of things at Nauvoo, and in Hancock county, upon those members of the last Legislature, who, for political considerations entirely, refused to repeal such portions of the Mormon charters as were clearly in violation of the Constitution of this State, and of the U. States; and which conferred powers upon that sect, which no other denomination or portion of the citizens of Illinois possessed or asked? How can such unfaithful, unpardonable public servants, reconcile their coduct with the duty they owed to their injured and abused constituency? How can they expect the countenance or support of any honest man, when they reflect that it was entirely within their power to have averted the storm that now threatens to burst upon us, and yet shrunk from a faithful performance of their duty? For all such, whether Whig or Locofoco, there is no excuse -- no palliation whatever. They have sacrificed their country at the shrine of party, and alike deserve and will receive the execrations of all good citizens.

There is no part of the proceedings of the citizens of Hancock, that gratifies us as much as the resolution which declares, that as a body, they will withhold their support from ALL CANDIDATES who shall hereafter be found truckling to the Mormons for their support. Let this course be pursued in all parts of the State, and an issue will then be made which must result in the triumph of law, order, virtue and religion, over lawless violence, disorder, vice in its most aggravated forms, and unheard of blasphemies -- an issue which must determine whether the prophecy of this unmittigated scoundrel. Joe Smith, "that Illinois was to become his without a conquest," is indeed to be realized or not. The citizens of Illinois have long enough slumbered upon their posts at the rapid encroachments made upon the laws and institutions of their country by the deluded and misguided Mormons. They have too long -- either for their credit or security -- suffered the public functionaries of their State to barter and trade with the Mormons, and to screen them from the penalties of violated laws, merely to secure Mormon support. It is to be hoped they will become awakened to a sense of their duty, and, by bringing every violator of law within the Mormon camp to speedy justice, teach them that they cannot, as heretofore, trample upon the laws of the country with impunity.

---

GREAT MEETING OF ANTI-MORMONS. -- A meeting of the citizens of Hancock county, was held at the Court House in Carthage, on the 19th of August, for the purpose of giving an expression of their feelings, and uniting their influence to reform Mormon abuses in that county. The meeting adjourned on that occasion, until the 6th of September, when it again assembled and reported the following preamble and resolutions:

This meeting having convened for the purpose of taking under advisement a subject of vital importance, not only to this country, but to all the surrounding counties, regret that we are necessarily and irresustibly forced to the conclusion, that a certain class of people have obtruded themselves upon us, calling themselves Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, and under the sacred garb of Christianity, assumed, as we honestly believe, that they may the more easily, under such a cloak, perpetrate the most lawless and diabolical deeds, that have ever, in any age of the world, disgraced the human species,

In evidence of the above charge, we find them yielding implicit obedience to the ostensible head and founder of this sect, who is a pretended Prophet of the Lord, and under this Heaven-daring assumption, claiming to set aside, by his vile and blasphemous lies, all those moral and religious institutions which have been established by the Bible, and which have, in all ages been cherished by men, as the only means of obtaining those social blessings, which are so indispensably necessary for our happiness.

We believe that such an individual, regardless as he must be of his obligations to God, and at the same time entertaining the most absolute contempt for the laws of man, cannot fail to become a most dangerous character, especially when he shall have been able to place himself at the head of a numerous horde, either equally reckless and unprincipled as himself, or also made his pliant tools by the most absurd credulity that has astonished the world since its foundation.

In the opinion of this meeting, a crisis has arrived, when many of the evils to be expected from a state of things so threatening have transpired. We feel convinced that circumstances have even now occurred, which prove to us most conclusively, that Joseph Smith, the false Prophet before alluded to, has evinced in many instances, a most shameless disregard for all the forms and restraint of Law; by boldly and presumptuously calling in question the acts of certain officers, who had fearlessly discharged the duties absolutely imposed upon them by the laws, particularly when they have come in contact with his own sordid and selfish interests.

He has been heard to threaten -- nay, he has committed violence upon the person of an officer, because that officer dared honestly to do his duty according to law.

He has caused his City Council to pass laws contrary to the laws of the State, and subversive of the rights of citizens of this State.

Citizens have been arrested, tried and punished, for breaches of these mock laws, from time to time, in such manner that they have been compelled in the humiliating necessity of seeking an asylum elsewhere, in order to escape the tyranny and oppression of this modern Caligula.

He has caused the writ of habeas corpus to be issued by the Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo, in a case not provided for in the Charter of that city, and indeed contrary to the letter of that instrument, and, himself a prisoner, arrested under grave charges made by a neighboring State, brought before said court, tried and acquitted -- thereby procuring his own rescue from the custody of the law.

Citizens from the adjoining counties have been denied the right to regain property stolen and taken to Nauvoo, even after they have discovered both the thief and the property; and themselves, under the most frivolous pretenses, arrested, fined, and other property rifled from them, to satisfy the mock judgment and costs of his cormorant officers.

Persons upon whom stolen property has been found in the city of Nauvoo have been brought before this religious political Chief, and he, in the capacity of Mayor of the city, has refused to convict them, where the cases have been most clear and palpable.

We have had men of the most vicious and abominable habits imposed upon us, by his dictum, in order, as we verily believe, that he may the more certainly control our destinies, and render himself, through the instrumentality of these base creatures of his ill directed power, as absolute a despot over the citizens of this county, as he now is over the serfs of his own servile clan.

And to crown all, he claims to merge all religion, all law, and both moral and political justice, in the knavish pretension that he receives, fresh from heaven, divine instructions, in all matters pertaining to these things; thereby making his own depraved will the rule by which he would have all men governed.

He has caused large bodies of his ragamuffin soldiery to arm themselves, and turn out in pursuit of officers legally authorized to arrest himself, he being charged with high crimes and misdemeanors committed in the State of Missouri, and those officers arrested by the vilest hypocrisy, and placed in duress, that he might enable himself to march triumphantly into Nauvoo, and bid defiance to the laws of the land.

In view of the above grievances, this meeting feel that it is their bounden duty to resist by every laudable means, all such unwarrantable attacks upon their liberties: therefore,

Resolved, 1st, That, inasmuch as we honestly believe that the combination of people calling themselves Mormons, or latter day saints, have given strong indications in their recent movements that they are unwilling to submit to the ordinary restraints of law, we are therefore forced to the conclusion, that the time is not far distant when the citizens of this county will be compelled to assert this right, in some way.

Resolved, 2d, That while we would deprecate anything like a lawless violence without justifiable cause, yet we pledge ourselves in the most solemn manner, to resist all the wrongs which may be hereafter attempted to be imposed on this community by the Mormons, to the utmost of our ability; peaceably if we can, but forcibly if we must.

Resolved, 3d, That in the event of our being forced into a collision with that people, we pledge ourselves, that we will stand by and support each other, in every emergency, up to the death.

Resolved, 4th, That we believe, that it is also the interest of our friends in the neighboring counties, and. also, in the neighboring States, to begin to take a firm and decided stand against the high pretensions and base designs of this latter day would-be Mahomet.

Resolved, 5th, That provided we must necessarily, for the well being of this community, the protection of our dearest rights, and the preservation of our excellent institutions, adapt measures to humble the pride and arrogance of that audacious despot; we therefore call upon all good and honest men, without distinction of party or place to come to the rescue.

Resolved, 6th, That we pledge ourselves in the most determined manner, that, if the authorization of the State of Missouri shall make another demand for the bofy of Joseph Smith, and our Governor shall issue another warrant, to stand ready at all times to serve the officer into whose hands such warrant may come, as aPosse in order, that it may not be said of us, in future, that the most outrageous culprits have been suffered 'to go unwhipped of justice.'

Resolved, 7th, That a corresponding committee be appointed to communicate with the different parts of this county, and also with other counties; and we would also recommend to all surrounding counties to appoint like committees, for the purpose of a mutual interchange of views in regard to the subjects embraced in these proceedings.

Resolved, 8th, That as it has been common for several years past for politicians of both parties, not only of this county, but likewise of the State, to go to Nauvoo and truckle to the heads of the Mormon clan, for their influence, we pledge ourselves, that we will not support any man of either party, in future, who shall thus debase himself.

Resolved, 9th, That if the Mormons carry out the threats they have made in regard to the lives of several of our citizens, we will, if failing to obtain speedy redress from the laws of the State, take summary and signal vengeance upon them as a people.

Resolved, 10th, That when the government ceases to afford protection, the citizens of cpourse fall back upon their original and inherent right of self defense.

Committees were appointed in all parts of the county to correspond and co-operate with citizens in other counties to further the object of this meeting.

On motion of Chas. C. Stephens, the following Resolution was unanimously adopted.

Resolved, That the President of this meeting be requested to communicate with the Governor of Missouri, and responsibly request him to make another demand upon the authorities of this State for the body of Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet; and in the event of a requisition and an order, for the arrest and delivery to the proper officers of the State of Missouri, we offer our service to enforce said order -- and pledge ourselves to sustain the supremacy of the laws in all hazards, and under all circumstances.

---

==> What will Gov. Ford say to the developments made by the citizens of Hancock county, of the conduct of his new allies -- the Mormons. We advise him, instead of running as a candidate for the United States Senate to move to Nauvoo and become one of Joe's disciples.


Notes: (forthcoming)

KIDNAPPING -- UNHEARD-OF  OUTRAGE.

A few days since, two Mormons were kidnapped from the neighborhood of Nauvoo, by some citizens of Missouri, who are now in confinement in that State. The excuse for this high-handed measure, it is unnecessary for us to look intoNo matter how great the injury inflicted by those who have been kidnapped, upon their captors, the act is alike arbitrary, illegal, and oppressive. No man in his senses, who, for the last three years has been accostumed to peruse the Telegraph, will accuse us of either favor or partiality towards the Mormons. We have spoken of them from our firm convictions of right, and as we believed, the evidence in our possession justified. Unprincipled, and unworthy of the countenance of all honest men, as the leaders among them may be, they are, nevertheless, Citizens of the State of Illinois, and, as such, are entitled to all the protection that the constitution and the laws of the State throw around the person, the property and the liberty, of the most worthy and favored in our midst.

We understand that satisfactory evidence of the caption and unlawful detention of the two Mormons, has been transmitted to the Governor; and his aid asked, as the Executive of this State, in demanding the release of the two citizens of Illinois from the authorities of Missouri. This demand, we are credibly informed. the Governor has refused to make. Why he has done so, is to us most inexplicable. Here has been a direct invasion upon the rights of two of our citizens, the protection of whose life, liberty and property, is guarantied to them by the constitution of Illinois -- an utter disregard and palpable violation of our State sovereignty -- and a gross outrage committed against our laws. And yet, we are told the Executive has not the power to demand of the authorities of Missouri, the release of two of our citizens, who have been illegally captured, within the limits of our State, and transported via et armis, into the State of Missouri. What, we would inquire, was, some short time since, the conduct of the Governor of Vermont when one of its citizens was captured by British subjects, and taken into British territory? A demand -- yes, an unqualified demand, was made by the Governor of Vermont; upon the British authorities, for the immediate release of the citizens of Vermont, and that demand was not only unhestitaingly complied with, but an ample and satisfactory apology was made for the offense. When any of our seamen have been impressed, what has been the course of the Executive of the nation? It has been an instantaneous demand for their release. And, we insist, there is no difference in principle, between impressing our seamen, and the caption of the citizens of Vermont, and the case of the two Mormons under consideration. We trust Gov. Ford will recall this hasty determination of his, and act as becomes the Executive of an independent and Sovereign State, and not as a pot-house politician. This a grave and serious question, directly affecting every citizen of this State For if our State Government is inadequate to the protection of the liberty and persons of the citizens, it is time for us to know it. We do not believe, if a proper demand was made by Gov. Ford, that the Executive of Missouri would for a moment hesitate to comply with it. And, if he did, we are satisfied the citizens of Missouri would not uphold him in his course. They, as well as us, and in fact, the citizens of the whole Union, have the deepest, most abiding interest, in the rigid maintenance of the laws and a faithful allegiance to the principles of the constitution, both Federal and State. At that moment we even indirectly acquiesce in any such unlawful and mobocrat seizure of the person or property of the citizen, that instant we are levelling a blow at the civil institutions of our countrywhich will make the mighty fabric of American Independencetotter to its very base. The evil of one such violationof the constitution is incalculable and goes farther to bring a Republican form of government into disrepute than any other misfortune that could befall us. Against every thing of the kind, partaking in the remotest degree of a mobocratic or turbulent spirit, we enter an unqualified protest. We are against it as a citizen, as a professional man, as an Editor, and as a Whig; the fundamental principle of whose political creed is -- obedience in every respect to that constitution and the laws of the country.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  LATE  KIDNAPPING.

The Warsaw Message of the 17th of January -- which reached us only a day or two since -- expresses the opinion that the remarks in the Telegraph of December 30, condemnatory of the kidnapping of two Mormons by certain citizens of Missouri, "need not have been quite so severe upon the actors in this matter," and that although justly censurable, "there is more excuse for them" than we "seem to appreciate." This may be so. It is quite as possible that the outrage in question was attended by extenuating circumstances, the force of which could not well be estimated "at a distance of 150 miles," as was that to which the worthy Editor alludes. We are gratified to believe that he concurs with us in the opinion that a resort to violence. in any case, is unjustifiable in a country of laws; and cheerfully transfer to our columns his own account of the affair, which is as follows:

A certain Mormon, named Avery, was arrested in Missouri, on a charge of horse stealing, and is now, as we believe, in jail in Palmyra waiting his trial. On his examination he implicated his father, who resides on this side of the river, and who had a most notorious character. Some citizens of Missouri came over, and in company with citizems of this State, arrested said Avery, (without process) and took him to Missouri, where a Grand Jury found a true bill against him for the crime of which he was accused. (He has since, however, as we learn, been set at liberty, by the operation of the Habeas Corpus -- which has become in this country a mere mockery, and a machine of injustice.


Notes: (forthcoming)

A NEW CANDIDATE!

The Nauvoo Neighbor -- a Mormon journal -- in a long and elaborate article, in which it attempts to show that "the Latter-day Saints" have but little to expect to fear from the success of Mr. Van Buren, avows its determination to support Gen. Joseph Smith for the next Presidency! We opine that the Prophet, whatever may be his merits, will not get more votes at the approaching election, than the Locofoco candidate obtained in 1840.

Notes: (forthcoming)

Some weeks since, we announced the discontinuance of the "Message," -- a Whig journal, hithertofore published at Warsaw, Hancock county, in this State, and the contemplated resurrection of the "Signal." in its stead. Two or three numbers of the last mentioned paper have recently found their way to our desk, and make quite a respectable and and business-like appearance. We regret, however, to notice the tone in which, in his introductory address, the Editor alludes to the difficulty now existing between the Mormons and the other citizens of Hancock. It is not to our design to interfer in the controversy, unless it should unfortunately become a State affair. But we hope the leading men on both sides, and especially the conductors of the press, instead of laboring to keep alive the flame of discord, will do all in their power to allay an excitement which can lead only to the most disasterous results.


Notes: (forthcoming)

About 300 Mormons, recently arrived from England, have passed up the river, within the last two weeks, on their way to Nauvoo. The most [-------] acquisitions to the Saints now seem to come from abroad.

Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON  STATE  CONVENTION.

It appears, by the last Nauvoo paper, that, at a public meeting held in that city on the 23d of last month, the Mormons resolved to call a State Convention, to assemble at the same place on the 19th of May inst. for the purpose of consulting upon measures for the furtherance of their designs in the next Presidential elections. Every country is invited to send two delegates, "to whom the hospitalities of the city will be tendered" during their attendance. The meeting expressed the opinion that the Mormons "can bring, independent of any other party, from two to five hundred thousand into the field;" and nominaled several gentlemen to attend the Baltimore Convention, (which?) to make overtures to that body!" "It is in contemplation," adds the Neighbor, "to hold a National Convention, in the city of Baltimore, or some other Eastern city, as shall be agreed upon." -- Well, we shall see what we shall see.

---

THE  MORMONS.

In noticing the resuscitation of the Warsaw Signal, in our paper of March 25, we took occasion to express our regret at the tone in which the Editor, in his salutatory Address, had referred to the difficulties existing between the Mormons and other citizens of Hancock, as well as the hope that the leading men on both sides, and especially the conductors of the press, would do all in their power to allay the prevailing excitement. The Signal of April 24th, favors us with a long reply, in which the misdeeds of the Mormons, and the crimes imputed to their Prophet are enumerated; and which winds up by saying, that we can know nothing of the atrocities perpetuated by those people, or that we would not "lecture" it "for endeavoring to expose such a gang of outlaws, black-legs, and bloodsuckers."

Now, we readily admit that our acquaintance with the matters spoken of, is very limited; and, under this conviction, we have for some time past seriously thought of paying a visit to Nauvoo, in the course of the present summer, for the purpose of ascertaining, by personal observation, how far the reports so extensively circulated, to the prejudice of that famous city, and her singular population, are entitled to credit. We acknowledge farther, that if the charges exhibited by the Editor, against the Mormons, are susceptible of proof, then his denunciation of them, in, his first number, may be entirely justifiable. -- Our objections to his address do not arise so much from our belief that there was no real fround for suspicion, as because it appeared to have perjuried the case, and to be calculated to inflame passions, and increase prejudices, already too much excited. We did not intend to "lecture" our contemporary; but merely volunteered a little advice, which we hoped would be received in the spirit in which it was given, and we shall regret to be compelled to believe the contrary.

---

==> The last Warsaw Signal announces the discontinuance of the Hancock Democrat -- a small Locofoco "campaign paper," published at the same place, the first appearance of which was noticed in the Telegraph of the 6th of April -- after a painful struggle between life and death, of about three weeks duration. It seems now that the Mormons have set up for themselves, and brought out a candidate for the presidency, Locofocism is in the wane in Hancock and the neighboring counties, and bids fair soon to become totally extinct in that section of the State. The Signal adds, that the Democrat, "never having any soul, there are no hopes of its resurrection." Peace to its' ashes!


Notes: (forthcoming)

SCHISM  AMONG  THE  MORMONS.

The last Warsaw Signal states that a rupture has taken place among the Mormons -- a respectable number of the most intelligent members of that body have seceded, under the guidance of William Law, and set up for themselves. It does not appear that the religious views of the seceders have undergone any material change. They profess to believe that Joseph Smith was once a true prophet; but contend that he is now fallen from grace, and no longer worthy to remain at the head of the Church. Private information confirms the above intelligence in its most essential features.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMON  SCHISM.

In our paper of the 18th ult., we briefly noticed a report, which had reached us from various quarters, that an open rupture had taken place between Joseph Smith and some of the most intelligent of his former adherants; and that the latter had actually renounced their allegiance to the Prophet and set up for themselves. Later accounts indicate that these seceders are in earnest. -- They have issued a Prospectus for a new paper, to be called the "Nauvoo Expositor," which is expected to appear immediately; and is to be published under the superindentence of William Law, Wilson Law, Chas, Jones,, Francis M. Higbee, Robert D. Foster, and Charles A. Foster, all, until within a short period, leading members of the Mormon Church. Its avowed object is to hold up, in all their naked deformity, the countless and unheard-of enormities practiced by Jos. Smith, and those who adhere to him, under and assumed and unwarrantable construction of the provisions of the charter granted them by the Legislature of Illinois. The Prospectus also promises, that the "Expositor" will advocate an "unconditional repeal of the Nauvoo City Charter -- unmitigated disobediance to political revelations -- the pure principals of morality and truth -- the exercise of freedom of speech in Nauvoo -- to sustain all in worshipping God according to their consciences, and oppose, with uncompromising hostility, any union of church and State -- and to give a statement of the facts as they really exist in Nauvoo."

In the controversy between Joseph Smith and his adherents on the one hand and the seceders on the other, we mean to take no part. Our opinions, in relation to the former, have been heretofore spread before the readers of the Telegraph, and nothing his since come to our knowledge to force us to change, but on the contrary, much to confirm them. The publication of the "Expositor" will, we trust, lead to the elucidation of all the facts; and enable the people of Illinois to decide how far the longer toleration of Mormonism, as it has hitherto existed among them, with all its privileges and immunities is consistent with their safety, and the welfare of the state. Let us have the truth -- the whole truth -- and if the Prophet and his followers prove as vile and unprincipled as we and many othershave hitherto held them to be, let them be punished according to the magnitude of their transgressions. If not, let the excitement prevailing against them cease altogether; and let them continue to remain undisturbed. Although we honestly believe Joseph Smith to be an impostor, yet, if it shall be made to appear that he is a virtuous man, and his adherents a blameless and law-abiding community, it will afford us pleasure to recall all we may heretofore have said to their prejudice, and lend them all needful aid in making their innocence known to the world.

---

==> HYRUM SMITH, upon whose shoulders Joseph has allowed his mantle of prophecy to fall, was one of the delegates to the Locofoco Convention that lately nominated J. P. Hoge, Esq., for re-election to Congress. Hyrum is said to have asserted before the Convention, that he had received a revelation from the Lord, that the 2000 Mormon votes in the district were to be given to Mr. Hoge. Was there ever greater blasphemy or hypocrisy?

---

MORMON  OUTRAGES  RENEWED.

A Deputy Marshall of the district of Illinois, proceeded to Nauvoo a few days since, with a process issued by Hon. Nathaniel Pope, Judge of the District Court of the United States, for the arrest of JEREMIAH SMITH, upon a criminal charge of embezzling money. The Deputy Marshal succeeded in arresting Smith; when "HOLY JOE," by the exercise of his arbitrary power, caused his follower to be taken out of the possession of the United State's Officer, and brought before the Municipal Court of Nauvoo, for an examination under the writ of "Habeas Corpus," issued by that immaculate body. The Marshal, Col. Prentiss, favored the writer with a perusal of the letter of his Deputy, in which he stated that the examination was to come off on the next day, and the result was involved in doubt. He farther avowed a fixed determination on his part fearlessly and faithfully to execute the process of the United States Court, regardless of the course of this mock tribunal of justice, whose chief business is the release of all rogues who take shelter at Nauvoo, and are subsequently arrested by any process of law, whether issued from the State or Federal Courts. Should Joe Smith refuse to surrender the accused into the hands of the Deputy Marshal, Col. Prentiss will repair in person to the scene of the action, with such a force as will insure obedience to the Constituted authoriries of the Government.

---

==> The Upper Mississippian republishes a paragraph from a late number of the Telegraph, in which we (the Senior Editor) had announced the intention sometime this summer, "of paying a visit to Nauvoo, for the purpose of ascertaining, by personal observation," the correctness of the reports so extensively circulated, to the prejudice of that famous city; and then discourseth as follows: --

"Ah! indeed. If you should stay a day or two in Nauvoo, you will go away fully prepared, doubtless, to pronounce a verdict upon that 'famous city and her singular population,' -- much more so than those citizens of the country and neighborhood, who have been witnesses of their conduct for years! What would be thought of us, if we should visit the 'famous city' of Alton, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Editor of the Telegraph and the rest of her 'singular population,' are knaves and swindlers? We should of course call on the suspected individuals, (as you will when you go to Nauvoo) and if they should deny the charge -- or if 'Knavery' is not written in black letters n their foreheads -- their innocence is completely established of course!

We could name more than one individual, who has done the same thing the Telegraph designs doing, and for the same purpose; and who, after having been kindly received by the Prophet -- rode round in his carriage, and shown the 'lions' of the city, the oxen and the mummy -- have gone away fully convinced that Joe is a much abused and persecuted individual, and a very fine fellow, after all! and discrediting the concurrence testimony of hundreds of witnesses, who have had ten times the opportunity of knowing, and no more inducements for misrepresentation."

And pray, found, what would you have us do? Having little or no faith in Mesmerism, we are not fortunate enough to possess the gift of clairvoyance; and consequently, at this distance from the stage of action, we are wholly unable to see the 'tricks" which Joseph Smith is said to be playing "before high Heaven," and in arrogant defiance of the State authorities. Now, we confess, we feel some little curiosity to see this "Lion in his den." We are inclined to believe that there must be something attractive about him -- that he is not, perhaps, so utterly depraved as he is represented to be -- since he has been able to exercise almost unlimited control over the minds and persons of a large and rapidly increasing number of followers, some of whom are unquestionably men of intelligence, and, so far as is known, of good moral character, for ten years upwards. If he is in fact both a fool and a knave, his position, during the period mentioned, has been a standing miracle. We wish, if practicable, to ascertain if this is really the case.

Our friend and associate in the management of this paper, is pretty decidely Anti-Mormon in his opinions, as the columns of the Telegraph during the campaign of 1841-42, will abundantly testify. We, on the contrary, are Anti-Humbug; that is all, and as Locofocoism is by far the most widely-spread, as well as incomparably the most mischevious, of all the Humbugs of the day, we are disposed to war against it exclusively, without meddling with controversies which may arise on other subjects any farther than the public good seems absolutely to require. If Mormonism is actually founded on imposture, as its opponents profess to believe, it will surely come to naught; and will not outlive the generation in which it was ushered into existence. But if a mere harmless excrescence on the vigorous and prolific tree of liberty, growing on the American soil, it may be safely suffered to remain until it shall either drop off, or be reincorporated into the parent trunk. At any rate, we never have believed, since it first began to attract attention, that it will ever prove sufficiently formidable, if left to itself, to do as much mischief as would be unavoidably occasioned by any attempt to put it down by any means other than enlightened public opinion.

---

JOE  SMITH  vs.  HENRY  CLAY.

The last Nauvoo Neighbor publishes a correspondence, which has recently taken place between the Mormon Prophet and the Whig candidate for the next Presidency, the character of which induces us, (the senior Editor); not without much reluctance, to give up the hope hitherto cherished, almost against our own convictions, that the former is not quite as great a villian as he is generally represented to be as well as the idea of visiting Nauvoo. The gravest charges against him, if clearly proved, could not possibly make a more unfavorable impression on our mind than the perusal of his last letter of the 13th of May -- which would disgrace the vilest wretch in the Penitentiary -- and henceforward, we shall endeavor to shun him, and his adherents, as a moral pestilence. -- It is perhaps proper to remark, that the preceeding article was in type, when the correspondence reached us; otherwise it would not have appeared.


Notes: (forthcoming)

JEREMIAH  SMITH,

whom we mentioned last week as having beenwrested from a deputy Marshal by the authorities of Nauvoo, was released by "HOLY JOE." Concluding, however, that discretion was the better part of valor, Mr. Smith. subsequently determined to attend the deputy Marshal to Springfield; when his honor, Judge Pope, after giving him a hearing, directed he should be sent to the District of Columbia for trial, where he stands indicted for embezzling money.

---

The impostor, Joe Smith, was indicted upon several criminal charges at the late term of Hancock Circuit Court. Of the grand jury who found the bills against him, twelve were Mormons. -- Justice, thought sometimes tardy, is generally sure. What bew move this arrant scoundrel will adopt to get rid of paying the penalties of the law, we know not. -- But if his future efforts are as successful as his past, there is little danger of his conviction.


Notes: (forthcoming)

ANOTHER  OUTRAGE  AT  NAUVOO.

The new Nauvoo journal -- the 'Expositor' -- made its appearance last week; and according to promise, began its career by divilging the 'secrets of the prison-house.' It seems, by an extra from the 'Neighbor' -- the Prophet's official organ -- that these new 'revelations' did not suit his holiness; and that the City Council, at a meeting held on Monday last, declared the establishment 'a nuisance,' under the provisions of their charter, and commanded the Marshal to abate it. This officer accordingly preceeded to the office, at the head of the police, took the press, materials, and paper into the street, and made a bonfire of them! What will be the result of this outrage none can tell; but, for the honor of the State, we hope it will not be suffered to go unpunished.

---

THE  CRISIS.

Ever since our earliest connection with the press, either as Editor or correspondent, we have unceasingly raised our feeble but disregarded voice against the course adopted by politicians, in clothing the arch impostor, JOE SMITH, with power, and attaching importance to him and his deluded followers by courting their support as a body, and chiming in with their miserable cant, that they were an "abused and persecuted race." We have insisted that, so lsoon as they were fairly warmed into existence, they would turn upon those who had sustained them; and that violence, bloodshed, and a wanton disregard of the law, would be the only means by which they would attempt to maintain their power, against the civil and religious institutions of our country. That crisis, which we have so often foretold as with prophetic certainty, has arrived. Joe Smith has proceeded from one extreme to another of lawless violence, until the citizens of the county in which he has located have arisen without distinction, and determined, by solemn resolutions, to wage against the Mormons A WAR OF EXTERMINATION. The cause which has given rise to this unjustifiable course, grows out of a most shameful attack made by Joe Smith and his minions upon the liberty of the Press. It is already known that a newspaper, called the "Nauvoo Expositor," lately made its first appearance in that modern Sodom, under the auspices of an association of gentlemen, who are seceders from the mockery and blasphemies of "HOLY JOE." The first number of the Expositor we have perused with care, and feel no hesitation in saying that it was conducted with all the decorum, and propriety, that could be expected from any paper, engaged in the attempt to expose the enormities of Mormonism, and correct the evils that inevitably flow from so corrupt a fountain. This paper, Joe Smith -- under the sanction of the power vested in the corporate authorities of Nauvoo by an Illinois Legislature -- pronounced a nuisance, and directed that it should be removed by its destruction. A lawless gang of desperadoes, without principle, and without responsibility, in obedience to the edict of the PROPHET! assailed the office in which were the press and materials of the Expositor, and made a bonfire of all that could be consumed by that element, and destroyed the residue by breaking it into a thousand atoms. The Editor of the Warsaw Signal was also threatened with death, if he dared to persist in his denunciations of the impostor and villain, Joe Smith.

The citizens of Hancock, aroused to a pitch of phrenzy, and smarting under the accumulated wrongs heaped upon them by Joe Smith, called a public meeting, and passed resolutions inflammatory in the extreme; and in a spirit which, if carried into execution, renders a personal collision between the citizens and the Mormons inevitable. We cannot better portray the feeling that pervades that community, than by quoting from an Extra of the Warsaw Signal, giving the proceedings of the citizens, the following extract:

"We have only to state, that this is sufficient! War and extermination is inevitable! Citizens, arise, one and all!!! Can you stand by, and suffer such infernal devils to rob men of their property and rights without avenging them? We have no time for comment -- every man will make his own. Let it be with powder and ball!!!"

No one will accuse us of partiality or favor towards the Mormons, No one will so far forget what is due to candor and truth as for a moment to doubt, that nothing would afford the writer more gratification than to see the Mormons who are guilty brought to justice, and, the whole of them removed peaceably beyond the limits of our State. When therefore, we condemn, as we unhesitatingly do, the mobocratic tone of the proceedings of the public meeting at Warsaw, it is only for the reason that we regard the maintenance of the law and its supremacy as of far greater value than any other earthly consideration. There is a remedy for the punishment of those who have destroyed private property, and threatened the life of an estimable and unoffending citizen. The institutions under which we libe furnish AN AMPLE PROTECTION TO BOTH LIFE AND PROPERTY, if we will confide in their authority, instead of resorting ro brute force. Let the guilty, then, be arrested, condemned, and punished to the very extent of the law. Let the citizens turn out en masse to aid the officers of the law in its administration. If it becomes necessary. But as a friend deeply sympathising with the citizens of Hancock under their wrongs -- as one who has ever cried aloud and spared not, against the wickedness, blasphemy, and hypocrisy, of Joe Smith -- we earnestly intreat them not to violate the law -- the only resort potent enough to furnish them protection -- by attempting a "war of extermination" against the Mormons, outrageous and disgraceful as has proven their conduct. We warn them against a resort to violence. Should they do it, instead of receiving the sympathy of the citizens of other States, they will be visited with their anathemas. For the time has come, which demands of the law abiding citizens from one extremity of the Union to the other, to raise their voices against every thing wearing the semblance of a mob.

We are free to admit, that we have regarded with no less mortification than alarm, the frequency with which the torch of the public incendiary. the destruction of private property, the pillage of public institutions; and the loss of life, have been heralded forth to the world as the trophies of victory of a ruthless and ungovernable mob. We have read with chagrin and humiliation, the censure of the European press, upon these frequent outbreaks throughout our land, and smarted under the consciousness of the justness of the rebuke, that such scenes would disgrace the most despotic government in the world. much more a people boasting of its Republican, Democratic institutions. In them the dispassionate observer can discover the germ of anarchy, disorder, and ruin; and conscience proclaims in every American heart, that, unless a stop is put to these lawless outbreaks, we will soon, as a nation, be numbered only among those that were. In conclusion, then, we again intreat the citizens of Hancock not to indulge in the spirit evinced by the published proceedings of their public meeting; but, under any and all circumstances, to flee to the law as the agis of their safety and protection.

---

THE  MORMONS.

Our latest intelligence from Nauvoo is down to Tuesday evening. It is reported that about 1,000 persons were assembled in arms, at Carthage and Warsaw, and designed making an attack upon Nauvoo on Wednesday last. A mass meeting of the citizens of Hancock county was convened at Carthage on the 13th inst., at which great indignation was expressed on account of the recent destruction of the printing office of the Nauvoo Expositor, by the authorities of Nauvoo. At this meeting inflammatory resolutions were passed, in which we were sorry to see the mob spirit so strongly predominate. Nauvoo was under Martial law, and preparations making for a vigorous defense in case of attack. Great numbers are deserting the Prophet in his hour of need. Notwithstanding all the warlike demonstrations that have been making, er are inclined to believe that no attack was made on Wednesday by the citizens of the adjoining counties, as contemplated. For the honor of our State, we hope that it has not been disgraced by mob violence. Let us trust in the civil law for redress. From present appearances these deluded people are about to be scattered from internal commotions. Sidney Rigdon, and his family, passed down on the Osprey, on Wednesday last. He is proceeding to fulfill the Prophet's vision, by settling in the vicinity of Pittsburg.


Notes: (forthcoming)

LATEST  FROM  NAUVOO.

A passenger in the Osprey, who spent an hour in Nauvoo Tuesday morning last, informs us that everything was quiet when he left and that all apprehension of a conflict between the Mormons and the citizens had subsided. It seems that the Governor, soon after his arrival in Hancock county, sent a communication to the Prophet, advising him of his determination to enforce the laws, promising him protection providing he would submit voluntarily, but warning him at the same time that he (the Governor) would not answer for his, (Joe's) safety should an appeal to arms become indispensible. These representations, backed by a large military force, had the desired effect; and after some parleying, the Mormon leader, and the principal actors in the recent outrage, gave themselves up, and are now under arrest, to answer for their offenses before the tribunals of the State. The public arms at Nauvoo, were also returned to the Governor; and all ideas of resistence to the constituted authorities was abandoned -- Gov. Ford was at Carthage, the seat of justice for Hancock County, with his prisoners; and Warsaw was thronged with armed citizens, ready to proceed against the Mormons, in case of necessity, when our informant passed by. A gentleman of this city who came down in the Die Vernon on Wednesday night, confirms the above; and adds that it was reported at Quincy when he left the place, that sixteen Mormons, besides those who had voluntarily surrendered, had been arrested on the charge of having threatened to burn Warsaw, immediately upon the withdrawal of the troops, and confined in the Rushville jail.

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Authentic information from the [Seat of War], [Present matters] between the Mormons and the Citizens:

On Saturday evening, Mr. Rockwell, of Warsaw, arrived in the City, by the Die Vernon, with an order from the Governor for the State arms. From him we have gleaned the following facts, which can be relied upon. The Mormons were about 3,500 strong, when he left, all fully armed and equipped, with a full supply of provisions and ammunition. The were also in possession of six pieces of artillery, carrying six pound balls. The City of Nauvoo was under martial law; and the forces of Joe Smith were daily increased by arrivals of Mormons from other sections of the country.

Gov. Ford had arrived at Warsaw; and had declared publicly his fixed determination to bring to the aid of the civil authorities all the force he possessed for the arrest of those concerned in the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, and for the faithful and fearless administration of the law. To this end, he sent by our informant orders to the Brigadier General of the fourth brigade to rendexvous forthwith at Warsaw, provided with eight says' provisions. This brigade consists of four regiments, and is about two thousand strong. There were also under arms at Carthage, and its vicinity, one thousand citizens, ready to aid in the execution of the laws. Gov. Ford had dispatched two expresses to Nauvoo, commanding Joe Smith to send two of the most discrete members of the Common Council to the Governor, with an explanation, (if any they had to make,) of their conflict in destroying the private property of citizens of this State. These messengers had not returned to Warsaw, when Mr. Rockwell left.

Mr. R. brought with him to this City, an order from the Governor upon Col. Buckmaster for all the arms of the State in his possession fit for service. These have been procured by Mr. R., who will leave with them this evening on the Die Vernon. The twenty muskets, and three six pounders [also]. The residue of the arms are so out of order as to be useless. A collision between the Mormons and the citizens we now regard as inevitable. Knowing the deep interest that will be felt by the public, the writer has determined upon going to Warsaw by this evening's packet, whence our readers will be kept constantly advised of the progress of affairs at Nauvoo and its vicinity. He has made such arrangements as will enable him to procure the earliest and most authentic information.


Notes: (forthcoming)

AWFUL TRAGEDY! -- MURDER OF
JOSEPH  AND  HYRUM SMITH.

The substance of most of the following letters from our friend and associate, G. T. M. Davis, Esquire -- who left here early last night for the purpose of procuring accurate information in relation to the proceedings against the Mormons -- was laid before our City readers, in an Extra, on Saturday morning. They are now republished at length, for the information of the public generally; and will doubtless be perused with deep interest. The friends of humanity will rejoice to learn, from the last letter -- which did not reach us till Monday -- that two only of the Mormon leaders, JOSEPH, and HYRUM SMITH, have fallen victims to mob violence, instead of four, as was originally reported.

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                                           Carthage, June 26, 1844, 8, P. M.

Since my arrival here this morning, my time has been spent in endeavors to procure correct information as to the unfortunate and lamentable state of things existing in this county, between the citizens on the one part, and the Mormons on the other, and if possible to ascertain what will prove the result of the whole affair. Thus far but little information, satisfactory to myself, has been acquired. All is excitement and confusion on the part of the citizens, with no concert of action, and united but in one sentiment; and that is, a fixed determination to rid themselves, in some way or other, of the obnoxious leaders of the Mormons. Up to this writing no collision whatever has taken place between the belligerent parties. Joseph Smith, and Hyrum Smith, have been tried, and bound over, for a riot, in destroying the printing press and materials of the "Nauvoo Expositor." The bail of each was fixed at five hundred dollars; which they readily procured. Both of them are now under arrest and in close confinement upon a charge of Treason. Their trial was fixed for this afternoon; but, upon the application of the accused, it has been postponed until Saturday of this week, the 29th inst. The prisoners have to be escorted to and from the jail to the Court-house, under the protection of an armed force. A more frightened being I have never looked upon than Joe Smith. His cheeks are blanched with fear, his limbs quiver under an insupportable consciousness of guilt; and like all tyrants, when stripped of their power, he exbitits in his every move and action, the craven spirit of a coward. The wonder and astonishment of ALL is, how so base a poltroon ever could have [wielded] such [----ed] power over [several] thousand human beings, as he has.

The number of persons under arms, at this place, Warsaw, and their vicinity, does not, in my opinion, exceed seventeen hundred. They are not very well equipped, and are all to march Nauvoo to-morrow, under the command of Gov. Ford as commander-in-chief. What the object of this move is, no one can tell. The only excuse, so far as I can learn, is, to gratify curiosity, under the pretext of searching for counterfeitors, &c. Thus far, the Governor has dobe every thing in his power to maintain the supremacy of the law, preserve the peace and quiet of the community, and allay as much as was in his power the excitement of the people. Mr. Wood, a lawyer from Burlington, has labored hard to give a political cast to the affair, and to impress Gov. Ford with the idea of doing the same. In it, however, he has signally failed; for there is but one mind among all the citizens in regard to this matter, without distinction of party or sect. Mr. Wood is the counsel of the Smiths; and will resort to any means to screen them from that punishment their manifold sins and iniquities so richly entitle them to.

The Governor has succeeded in procuring from Joe Smith, about two hundred stand of arms, and three field pieces belonging to the State. There are about five hundred stand of arms in the posession of the Mormons; which in my opinion will never be recovered. Every exertion, however, that can be made on the part of the Executive, will be to secure them. I have become well acquainted with the two Messrs. Law, Doctor Foster, and the two Messrs Higbee. Their statements of the conduct of Joe Smith, and the leaders of the Mormons, are astounding almost beyond credence; and if the half they publicly state is true, a more depraved, unprincipled, desperate set of scoundrels never were congregated together. I was informed by them that a robbery of some extent has been commited in Alton by order of "JOE;" and also in the neighboring town of Saint Charles. Their lives have been openly threatened by the Mormons, and they regard their own destruction inevitable, unless Joe and Hyrum Smith, as well as a few other of the leaders, are placed beyond the power of doing injury. Notwithstanding the accumulated wrongs and injuries inflicted upon the citizens, by the Mormons, there is a commendable spirit on the part of the former, only to hold the leaders responsible; and the convictions of my mind are, that before they disband, a desperate effort will be made to visit summary punishment upon the two Smiths, and possibly one or two others at Nauvoo. The citizens state openly, that it is now reduced to the alternative, that either they in a body must abondon the county of Hancock and their property, or the leaders of the Mormons must quit the country. A more deplorable, unfortunate state of things never existed in any community; and when you hear the grievances of the citizens portrayed by them, your sympathies at once become aroused in their behalf. There is, however, no excuse for a departure from the requisitions of the law. If there was any, or could be any, under any circumstances, it would be found in the case of the citizens of this county. You need not be at all surprised to hear, at any time, of the destruction of the two Smiths by the populace. The Governor has placed a guard of fifty men to protect the jail in which they are confined from attack, and destruction; but judging from what I hear and see I entertain but little hope of the success of his efforts. I now think of going to Nauvoo to-morrow with the army; and if so, will write you from that place.     Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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                                            Warsaw, June 27, 1844, 12, P. M.

I have simply time to announce to you that Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith, his brother, as well as W. Richards, the Recorder of Nauvoo, have all fallen victims to the ungovernable indignation of the citizens of Hancock. -- The Governor, this morning, having ascertained that it would be impossible to control the troops, if he marched them into Nauvoo, declined going there with them as anticipated when I wrote on yesterday; and consequently disbanded them. At about six o'clock this evening, a body of citizens from Hancock county, numbering about five hundred, assembled in the vicinity of the jail at Carthage, where the above three persons were confined, and made an attack upon it. The two Smiths and Richards were well provided with arms, and fired upon the citizens, wounding three of them, but not dangerously. This increased the indignation and excitement of the citizens; and the result was, the death of the three persons above named. The town of Warsaw is in a high state of excitement, the men all under arms, sentinels stationed at every accessible point, and the women and children all removed to other places. They anticipate an attack from the Mormons so soon as they shall hear of the death of their Prophet and two of their principal leaaders. I left Nauvoo at seven o'clock this evening, and arrived at this place a few moments since. When I left they of course had not heard of the death of the Smiths and Richards; but I do not entertain the belief they will rise against the citizens.

My reason for this belief is, that Gov, Ford addressed the Mormons in Nauvoo, about the very hour the conflict was going on in Carthage, in which he took a bold, manly, independent stand. He told them they were the aggressors; that the destruction of the press by them was an arbitrary, illegal, unjustifiable act; that it had, in connection with their other conduct, incensed the people of the State against them almost beyond control; that they had added to the outrage by disregarding the process of law when issued against them for its violation, and compelling the Executive to call out the militia of the State to aid in executing such process; that these things could not, and would not, be tolerated in this free government; and that he regretted that they had not profited by the experience they had learnt in both Ohio and Missouri. He further informed them it had been with the utmost exertions, that he had succeeded in preventing the citizens from marching down upon their beautiful city, and laying it in waste by a general conflagration and exterminating its inhabitants, men, women and children; that he was as much bound to protect them as the other citizens of the State; but candor compelled him to state to them, that such was the excitement in the country against them, that he was satisfied, if a conflict ensued between them and the citizens, it would be utterly out of his power to extend to them any protection.

Statements such as these, as well as much more, which if my time would permit I should like to lay before the public, emanating from the Executive of our State, induce me to believe [that the Mormons] [---- will ----- -------] [to make an attack upon the citizens]. Should they, however, do it, the massacre of human life will be great. At Warsaw, I conversed freely with the citizens; and I state confidently that they have not the remotest idea of attacking the Mormons, either collectively or individually. Those who have fallen victims to their own unhallowed purposes, are alone looked upon by the citizens of Hancock as the guilty ones. The mass of the Mormons are regarded but as the dupes and deluded followers of those who have gone to render an account of the deeds done in the body; and they are not held responsible by the citizens for the oft-repeated aggressions made by them upon their persons and property. I must again repeat my entire approbation of the course pursued by Gov. Ford. And although he has been unable to save the lives of those who have fallen, he has nevertheless been the means of preserving those of hundreds and hundreds at Nauvoo. He has become perfectly convinced of the sufferings and persecutions inflicted upon the citizens by the leaders of the Mormons; but nevertheless was determined at all hazards to maintain the supremacy of the law. The country around about Nauvoo has been informed by expresses of the state of affairs; and in all probability, by the setting of to-morrow's sun, several thousand armed men will be on the ground to repel successfully any attack made upon them by the Mormons. They have several pieces of cannon, and every male capable of bearing arms is prepared for an attack. The steamer Boreas has been secured to return from Quincy with volunteers, should they be prepared to come up in the morning. There is here but one feeling among all classes, ages, and sects -- that of a fixed determination to protect themselves to the utmost. They have adopted the reply of Commodore McKenzie, when asked by any for their authority in doing what they have done, "that in the necessity of the case they found their law." Doctor Singleton, with a company of sixty men, was left in Nauvoo this evening, and some apprehend the Mormons will make an attack upon them, as well as Governor Ford and his escort of about the same number of horse, who expected, when I left, to camp within a few miles of Nauvoo on his return to Carthage. I anticipate nothing of the kind myself, for the reasons hereinbefore stated. I only allude to it, to guard against a thousand rumors, that may reach you, which will be without foundation. I have written this in great haste and in the midst of excitement, which must furnish an apology for its imperfections. I ought to have mentioned that Col. Buckmaster, of our City, constitutes one of the Governor's escort.
                    Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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                                           Quincy, June 28, 1844, 6, A. M.

On the arrival of the Boreas this morning, announcing the news of the death of the Smiths and Richards, the bells of the city were at once rung, and by 5 o'clock an immense concourse of citizens assembled. The meeting was addressed by W. H. Roosevelt, Esq., of Warsaw; when a resolution was at once adopted to render the citizens of Warsaw and Carthage all the assistance in their power, against any attack that might be made upon them by the Mormons. The Rifle Company, under command of Capt. Morgan; the Quincy Guards, under command of Capt. Swindler; the Irish Volunteers, under command of Capt. Kelly; and a large volunteer company, raised at an hour's notice, under command of Capt. A, Johnson, leave in a few moments on the Boreas, for Warsaw. They number about 300 strong, of as good men as ever pulled a trigger. The shores are covered with hundreds and hundreds of citizens, who are cheering the troops on in the cause in which they are engaged. I return to Warsaw with them, and shall exert all my feeble abilities to stay the hand of destruction. A great deal of excitement (unnecessary in my opinion) has been created through apprehension that the Mormons had massacred Capt. Singleton's Company, as well as Gov. Ford and his escort, on hearing of the death of their prophet. If those apprehensions are realized in the remotest degree, no power on earth can prevent an indiscriminate slaughter of the entire population of Nauvoo. After the boat is under way, I shall address the troops, as well as all others, assembled on her, with a view of allaying excitement, and preventing, if possible, the shedding of more blood, save in the dernier resort of absolute self-defense.

The enthusiasm of the thousands assembled assembled upon the beach, as we leave Quincy, is tremendous. Their shouts are like claps of thunder. I will write from Warsaw. I have seen a slip from the office of the "Quincy Whig," which is inaccurate in regard to the particulars of the tragedy. The particulars given in my seconf letter, you may rely upon.           Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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                                            Warsaw, June 28, 1844, 2, P. M.

The Boreas reached here a few moments since. All is quiet; no intelligence having been received at all from Nauvoo, and nothing from Gov. Ford since one o'clock last night. At that hour, an express arrived from the Governor, with verbal orders to Col. Knox to repair to Carthage with all the men there were here. Knox and another left for Carthage immediately, since whixh nothing has been heard from them. This has created some apprehensions on the part of the citizens, The express from the Governor stated that the latter had met the messenger going to Nauvoo, with the intelligence of the catastrophe , about four miles out of the city. He retained the messenger, and sent a confidential express to Capt. Singleton, to immediately march with his men to Carthage. This is all the information that can be relied upon, which has been obtained from either the Governor or Capt. Singleton, at Warsaw, up to the moment of the boat's leaving, (2, P. M.) From it the inference is gathered that all our citizens, comprising either the escort of Gov. Ford, or the members of Capt. Singleton's company, are safe and unharmed. It is more than probable that up to this morning, at least, the Mormons had heard nothing of the afairs at Carthage. An express has been dispatched to the Governor from the Quincy volunteers, since their arrival here, which will return immediately.

I learn that, in addition to the two Smiths and Richards, a fourth Mormon, by the name of Phelps, who I am informed was a member of the City Council, was also killed; making the aggregate four Mormons, who have atoned for their outrages upon the citizens with their lives. The three individuals from among the citizens who are wounded, are Messrs. Wills, Gallaher, and Voorhees. I had a personal interview with Mr. Wills, who informs me that he was shot by Joe Smith, who fired a six barreled revolving pistol in the crowd before he was shot. -- There were about a dozen Mormons in the room where the two Smiths were confined; and the only wonder is all were not killed [------- ----------- ------------ ----------] apprehension, lest Messrs. Knox and Bedell, the two expresses sent last night to Governor Ford, have been seized by the Mormons. A large portion of the citizens of this place marched to Carthage and back yesterday, a distance of nearly forty miles, over very bad roads, and are consequently wholly unfit for service to-day. They are now, however, fully relieved and protected by the four companies from Quincy. Twenty-four hours will fully restore them, and enable them to resist to the last moment, every attempt on the part of the Mormons to injure either their persons or their property. I return to Quincy on the Boreas; and if any thing new is learnt before the Die Vernon leaves to-morrow morning, I will write you.
                 Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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                                           Quincy, June 29, 1844.

Gov. Ford has arrived here; but as yet I have not had an opportunity of talking with him. I, however, learn from Mr. Linn, of St. Louis, who was at Carthage at the time of the tragedy, that only two were killed; Joseph and Hyrum Smith; and Dr. Richards only wounded. The bodies have been taken into Nauvoo, and surrendered to the families of the deceased. All was peace and quietness in Nauvoo. A public meeting was called by the City Council; and the inhabitants were addressed by one of their number, as also by Col. Buckmaster. They pledged themselves not to raise an arm, or strike a blow, under any circumstances, unless attacked by the citizens. You will, therefore, perceive that the views heretofore expressed by me, as to the course that would be pursued by the Mormons, have been verified to the letter, maugre the opinions of a few discontented spirits, who are determined not to be satisfied with any thing less than driving the Mormons out of the country. The troops have not returned here; but I presume will in the course of to-day or to-morrow.
                 Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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Sundry communications from the Junior Editor -- who still remains at Quincy, the Governor's Head-quarters -- giving the particulars of the mournful tragedy at Carthage, and the circumstances conected with it, will be found on our first page. We are indebted to the same friend for the following additional letters and documents, received on Wednesday last. They should have reached us at an earlier hour; but having been put on the steamer Boreas, they did not find their way here until after having first paid a visit to St. Louis.

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                                           Quincy, June 29, 1844.

Inclosed is a copy of the Circular and order of Gov. Ford, handed me by him since I wrote this morning; which you will please publish in the next Telegraph. I also learn that it was a Mormon named Taylor, and not Dr. Richards that was wounded. This is the head quarters of the Executive for the present; and as fast as any information is received by him from Nauvoo, I will put you in possession of it at the earliest opportunity.           Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ILLINOIS.

I desire to make a brief but true statement of the recent disgraceful affair at Carthage, in regard to the Smiths, so far as circumstances have come to my knowledge. The Smiths, Joseph and Hyrum, have been assassinated in Jail, by whom it is not known, but will be ascertained. I pledged myself for their safety, and upon the assurance of that pledge, they surrendered as prisoners. The Mormons surrendered the public arms in their possession, and the Nauvoo Legion submitted to the command of Capt. Singleton, of Brown county, deputed for that purpose by me. All these things were required to satisfy the old citizens of Hancock that the Mormons were peaceably disposed; and to allay jealousy and excitement in their minds. It appears however that the compliance of the Mormons with every requisition made upon them failed of that purpose. The pledge of security to the Smiths, was not given upon my individual responsibility. Before I gave it, I obtained a pledge of honor by a unanimous vote from the officers and men under my command, to sustain me in performing it. If the assassination of the Smiths was committed by any portion of these, they have added treachery to murder, and have done all they could to disgrace the state, and sully public honor.

On the morning of the day the deed was committed, we had proposed to march the army under my command into Nauvoo. I had however discovered on the evening before, that nothing but utter destruction of the city would satisfy a portion of the troops; and that if we marched into the city, pretext would not be wanting for commencing hostilities. The Mormons had done every thing required, or which ought to have been required of them. Offensive operations on our part would have been as unjust and disgraceful, as they would have been impolitic, in the present critical season of the year, the harvest and the crops. For these reasons I decided in a council of officers, to disband the army, except three companies, two of which were retained as a guard for the Jail. With the other company I marched into Nauvoo, to address the inhabitants there, and tell them what they might expect in case they designedly or imprudently provoked a war. I performed this duty as I think plainly and emphatically, and then set out to return to Carthage. When I had marched about three miles, a messenger informed me of the occurrences at Carthage. I hastened on to that place. -- The guard, it is said, did their duty but were overpowered. Many of the inhabitants of Carthage had fled with their families. Others were preparing to go. I apprehended danger in the settlements from the sudden fury and passion of the Mormons and sanctioned their movements in this respect.

General Deming volunteered to remain with a few troops to observe the progress of events, to defend property against small numbers, and with orders to retreat if menaced by a superior force. I decided to proceed immediately to Quincy, to prepare a force, sufficient to suppress disorders, in case it should ensue from the foregoing transactions or from any other cause. I have hopes that the Mormons will make no further difficulties. In this I may be mistaken. The other party may not be satisfied. They may recommence aggression. I am determined to preserve the peace against all breakers of the same, at all hazards. I think present circumstances warrant the precaution, of having a competent force at my disposal, in readiness to march at a moment's warning. My position at Quincy will enable me to get the earliest intelligence, and to communicate orders with the greatest clarity.

I have decided to issue the following general orders:

                                  HEAD QUARTERS,}
                           Quincy, June, 27, 1844.}
It is ordered that the commandants of Regiments in the Counties of Adams, Marquette, Pike, Brown, Schuyler, Morgan, Scott, Cass, Fulton and McDonough, and the Regiments composing Gen. Stapp's brigade, will call their respective Regiments and Battalions together immediately upon the receipt of this order, and proceed by voluntary enlistment to enroll as many men as can be armed in their respective Regiments. They will make arrangements for a campaign of twelve days, and provide themselves with arms, ammunition, and provisions accordingly, and hold themselves in readiness immediately to march upon the receipt of further orders.

The independent companies of Riflemen, Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery in the above named Counties, and in the County of Sangamon will hold themselves in readiness in like manner.     THOMAS FORD,
              Governor, and Commander in Chief.

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                                           Quincy, June 30, 1844, 10:30 A. M.

Capt. Singleton, Maj. Hart Fellowes, and Gen. Hinman, arrived here early this morning from the seat of war, accompanied by Capt. A. Jonas, from Columbus. The three former gentlemen reported to the Governor, that about 2000 men were assembled at Carthage, a portion of whom were determined to commence a war of extermination against the Mormons. They further reported to the Governor, that false statements, calculated to engender hostile feelings, and excite the bitterest prejudices, were constantly put in circulation among the troops, by those determined to drive by force the Mormons from our State. Gov. Ford remains inflexible in his purpose of maintaining, at all hazards, and at any expense, the majesty and supremacy of the laws. To that end, he has dispatched Maj. Fellowes, Gen. Hinman, and Capt. Jones, to Nauvoo, with full orders to reconnoitre at that point, and ascertain if there is any factious spirit existing among the Mormons, or design on their part to make any attack either upon the persons or property of any of our citizens. He has also ordered them to ascertain if there are any of our citizens, either at Warsaw or Nauvoo, who are attempting to excite a mob spirit among the people; and, if so, to order them at once to desist from such illegal acts, and to disband; and, in case of refusal, to have them arrested. He has further ordered them to disband in his name, any forces which may have assembled at Warsaw, from either the State of Missouri, or the Territory of Iowa, under the penalty of arrest and punishment, if they disregard his orders.

The Governor has also issued an order to Gen. Deming, in command of the militia at Carthage to disband the forces there, unless, in his opinion, the safety of the people if Hancock, as well as of the inhabitants of Nauvoo, requires absolutely that the whole or a portion of them should be kept tigether. He has further instructed Gen. Deming to arrest all persons who are circling or shall circulate false rumors among the people, for the purpose of creating a rebellious or mobocratic spirit among the militia; as well as all persons who in any way shall attempt to create a force to make an attack upon Nauvoo without the authority of law. Both of these orders the Governor favored me with a view of. It shows, and should satisfy the law-abiding portion of the citizens of this State, that by him the supremacy of the law will be maintained, and the peace and safety of the people secured. Men of all parties by hundreds flock around the Governor, expressing their approbation of his course, and pledging themselves to stand by him if he requires their services.

Information brought by Capt. Singleton, as well as others who left Nauvoo as late as six o'clock last evening, fully justifies the opinion that there is not the remotest danger to be apprehended from the Mormons making an attack upon the citizens unless first assailed. They now seem to desire peace, and their leaders have so expressed themselves in their public addresses in Nauvoo. The two Smiths were buried last evening, without creating any excitement or turbulent appearances among the Mormons. Dr. Singleton informs me that Mr. Taylor, (who is the Editor of the Nauvoo Neighbor) was in a dangerous situation when he left Carthage yesterday. One of the balls, he thinks, perforated the lower portion of one of Mr. Taylor's lungs, and four or five others were lodged in different parts of his thigh, (the fleshy part.) His physicians were about attempting to extract the latter.

You may rely upon my keeping you advised officially of all that transpires.
                 Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

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                                             Quincy, July 1, 1844.

The Quincy troops returned home this morning by the Boreas, and were dismissed. The same will be done in Carthage, when tranquillity will again be restored to the community.
                 Yours, truly,     G. T. M. D.

---

In addition to the information contained in the above, we have received an Extra from the Nauvoo Neighbor, issued on Tuesday evening last, from which we copy the following resolutions, adopted at a meeting of the City Council, held on the preceding day, to take into consideration the communication addressed to them by the Governor, through Mess. Jonas and Fellowes. A general meeting of the Mormons took place afterwards; when the resolutions of the City Council were responded to, "with a hearty amen;" and votes of thanks passed to the Governor's agents, and other gentlemen, who had exerted themselves for the preservation of the public peace. The hope may, therefore, be indulged, that no farther act of violence will disgrace the State; but that the general tranquillity will soon be restored. -- We rejoice to observe that the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, perpetrated as it was in direct violation of the pledged faith of the State Executive, is every where denounced as one of the most cowardly and perfidious acts ever committed in a civilized country.


Resolved, For the purpose of insuring peace, and promoting the welfare of the county of Hancock and surrounding country, that we will rigidly sustain the laws, and the Governor of the State, so long as they and he sustain us in all our constitutional rights.

Resolved, secondly, that to carry the foregoing resolutions into complete effect, that inasmuch as the Governor has taken from us the public arms, that we solicit of him to do the same with all the rest of the public arms of the State.

Resolved, thirdly, to further secure the peace, friendship, and happiness of the people, and allay the excitement that now exists, we will reprobate private revenge on the assassinators of General Joseph Smith, and General Hyrum Smith, by any of the Latter Day Saints. That instead of "an appeal to arms," we appeal to the majesty of the law, and will be content with whatever judgment it shall award; and should the law fail, we leave the matter with God.

Resolved, That this City Council, pledge themselves for the city of Nauvoo, that no aggressions by the citizens of said city shall be made on the citizens of the surrounding country, but we invite them, as friends and neighbors to use the Savior's golden rule, and "do unto others as they would have others do unto them," and we will do likewise.

Resolved, lastly, that we highly approve of the present public pacific course of the Governor to allay excitement and restore peace among the citizens of the country, and while he does so, and will use his influence to stop all vexatious proceedings in law, until confidence is restored, so that the citizens of Nauvoo can go to Carthage or any other place for trial, without exposing themselves to the violence of assassins, we will uphold him and the law by all honorable means.

        G W. HARRIS, Pres't, pro tem.

WILLARD RICHARDS, Recorder.


Notes: (forthcoming)

LET  HIM  THAT  IS  WITHOUT  SIN
CAST  THE  FIRST  STONE.

During our intercourse with the world, we have found, that in all the relations of life, the prevailing desire of mankind apparently is, to sit in judgment upon the motives and conduct of their fellow men...

We have made these preliminary remarks, [in] consequence of the unqualified condemnation, and harsh epithets, which have generally been applied by the papers in St. Louis, towards the citizens of Hancock county, and which will without doubt be applied by the [----s] of other critics towards them. We regard the course thus taken, and to be taken, [as] the more unkind, because no paper thus [far] that has sat in judgment upon the old citizens of Hancock, have in any satisfactory manner placed the oft-repeated outrages [heaved?] upon them through the instrumentality of the two Smiths, fairly before the public. [All?] the newspaper sympathy has been bestowed upon the Impostors; while the victims of their impositions and lawless depravations, for the last eighteen months, have received only bitter denunciations, harsh epithets, and condemnation without a hearing. In what we have said -- in what we are [about] to say -- we wish distinctly to be understood as being no advocate, or even apologist, under any circumstances, for mob law. We are among those who believe that, since the formation of this government, down to the present time, during the whole catologue of mob violence and popular outbreak that has so repeatedly disgraced the history of this country, there has been no excuse whatever for either of those revilutionary scenes. We believe that the existence of the real or imaginary evils sought to be corrected, in all instances that have occurred, by mob violence, was not fraught with half the danger to the peace and security of the community in which they existed, as the application of the remedy for the correction of these evils. Entertaining such views, and basing our rule of action upon this principle, we of course protest against the manner in which the Smiths met their death. We, however, assert fearlessly, that, in our opinion, those engaged in taking the lives of these two acknowledged unprincipled scoundrels, can approximate nearer a justification -- were such a thing possible -- than can any other community in the entire Union upon whose escutcheon rests the indelible blight of a popular outbreak for the redress of grevances.

We have spent the last ten days at Carthage, Warsaw, Nauvoo and Quincy, amid the scenes of the excitement which existed previous to and subsequent to the fatal termination of the Smiths' earthly career. Actuted by no spirit of partisanship, either with the one side or the other, we were a calm and dispassionate observer of most that transpired, and determined to give the whole facts to the people in an impartial and authentic manner. This is still our design; but of course its necessary length will require the appearance in pamphlet form. All we intend in this article, is simply to place, in anticipation of that, a few of the grievances of the citizens of Hancock fairly before the public. This statement must necessarily be brief, and in some extent imprefect. The fact that the Mormons, even in the helpless days of their infancy as a sect, have been found, from some cause or another, so obnoxious to the citizens at large, as to be compelled to remove; first from the State of New York, secondly from the State of Ohio, and lastly from the State of Missouri, is of itself an evidence that there is something in their daily walk directly at variance with the interests, habits, and manners of all other classes of community, that no reflecting or unbiased mind can escape admitting. It will be remembered that, since their sojourn in our midst, from a sect of a few hundred, they have expanded into a community of at least fifteen thousand, clothed with the most extraordinary and arbitrary powers, the subjects of favor and partiality of previous legislation, and taught by the unprincipled and designing demagogues of all parties, that in them rested the power of wielding, by the influence of their votes at the ballot box, to a great extent the destinies of this State. It should also be borne in mind, that this community of Mormons is a compound of ignorance and villainy -- the mass falling under the class of ignorance; while nine-tenths of all the principal men, and their immediate instruments, are most justly to be enumerated as villains and desperadoes of the deepest dye. It further should not escape the attention of the reader, that this city of Nauvoo has, for the last twelve or eighteen months, been the rendezvous of many of the most depraved and hardened villains in the country; and that our courts of justice have been found impotent in dragging those offenders from their fastenings to answer for their violations of law. Another very important fact to be kept in remembrance, is, their unlimited control of all the offices in Hancock county, in consequence of the numerical strength of the Mormons far, very far, exceeding that of the residue of the citizens. Hence the County Commissioners' Court, which selects the panel of grand and petit Jurors, the Sheriff, the Jailor, a majority of all the Justices and Constables, the Clerks of the County Commissioners, as well as the Circuit Court, the Assessor, and Collector, are either Mormons, or, if possible, what is worse, Jack Mormons; that is, men who though not professing their religion but knowing their iniquities join with them for the sake of office in their crusade against the citizens in general. Thus, at a single view, it will be perceived that if a Mormon violates the law in Hancock county, the fact that he could only be indicted by his own brethren, or if indicted, tried by a jury selected from the body of his own friends, the whole under the control of Joe and Hyrum Smith, who have never, in any instance, failed to release any of their faith charged with the commission of crime, is an insurpassable barrier against his conviction. So also, if a Mormon has a suit to prove any thing necessary for his success, or by means of a packed jury, to obtain a verdict against the weight of evidence as well as the principles of law. All these things will hereafter be more fully and minutely detailed to the public.

This state of things, during the last eighteen months, has rendered the situation of the citizens of Hancock every thing else but desirable or enviable. Their property has been stolen time and time again, traced to the precincts of the "holy city," and there it was, as well as the perpetrators of the outrage, secured from detection. They have virtually lived under the iron sway of the Base Despot, Joe Smith, for months and months, with fear and trembling. They have seen the process of the Courts of this State, as well as of the United States openly condemned, and offenders arrested under both, released by the unheard of exercise of the before their mock tribunal of justice. They have seen the Collector of their county, who was an old citizen, dragged from his horse by Joe Smith in person, and most unmercifully beaten, because that officer discharged with fidelity his duty. And although the Collector, from previous indisposition, was scarcely able to sit upon his horse, and the outrage committed upon him was almost without a parallel; yet Joe Smith, entrenched behind his forces, went "inwhipped of justice." They have seen one of their most reputable citizens charged by Joe Smith with murder, because that person came in contact with his interest in the disposition of real estate, and upon the examination before the justices, heard Smith, notwithstanding his affidavit to the contrary, swear he believed the accused innocent. Still Joe Smith was invulernable, and he went unscathed of the vengeance of the law. They have seen him, backed by his City Council, enter the private dwelling of a citizen, and drag his printing press and materials into the street, and destroy them under the contemptible pretext that he was abating a nuisance. They have had satisfactorily shown to them, by the testimony of seven or eight persons, formerly connected with the Mormons, that this same Joe Smith instigated and procured the attempted assassination of Gov. Boggs of Missouri. And when the voice of an outraged community cried aloud for redress, they were answered, "It is the King of Nauvoo who hath done it; he can do no wrong!" They have heard the open and undisguised threat made by Hyrum Smith, that one of their peaceable, quiet, and unoffending citizens -- Mr. Sharpe, of the Warsaw Signal -- should forfeit his life for the exercise of a constitutional privilege -- THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH! through the columns of his paper. They have heard of the declarations of this same outcast, that Warsaw should be laid in ashes, and their children left "houseless save in a mother's arms, couchless save upon a mother's breast," because they had contended for the rights and privileges of freemen, and against the uninterrupted violations of law, by Joe and Hyrum Smith, as well as those over whom they swayed unlimited dominion.

This is but a faint outline of the grievances and sufferings of the citizens of Hancock. They could not appeal to the courts of justice for redress; for reasons I have before stated. Deprived of most of the enjoyments of life, living in constant apprehension of the destruction of their lives as well as their property, insulted, abused, trampled upon, by the arbitrary exercise of power the Mormons swayed, it with them either "Victory, or Death!" They deserve the sympathy of every feeling heart, and the commission of every honest mind. That they did wrong in taking the law into their own hands, even under such aggravated circumstances, but few, if any, can question. Yet those who sit in judgment on them, could judge in mercy, at least. And more especially, should the citizens of Alton, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, as well as their respective papers, be extremely cautious in the measure of their condemnation upon the citizens of Hancock. The example which all the above places have set in countenacing either directly or indirectly popular outbreaks in their midst, should seal their lips against condemning the citizens of Carthage and Warsaw. And while casting the mantle of charity over what has been done, all should unite in publicly acknowledging their error and in endeavirs to eradicate from society every vestige of this turbulent and unlawful spirit, which, if remaining unchecked much longer, will swallow up in one common vortex the liberties of the American people.

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THE  RECENT  TRAGEDY.

Our friend and associate, G. T. M. Davis, Esq., returned home late on Saturday evening last, from his visit to the North: and, in the preceding article, has given his views somewhat in detail in relation to the late lamentable tragedy in Hancock county, and the matters connected with it. To the general scope of his remarks, it gives us (the senior) unfeigned satisfaction to yield a cordial assent; and especially to the sentiment -- which cannot be too strongly, too earnestly, or too universally inculcated -- that the evils, real, or imaginary, sought to be removed by a resort to mob violence, are not half so dangerous to the peace and security of a community in which they may exist, "as the application of the remedy." But, while we go thus far, we cannot conscientiously admit that the press has been too harsh, in its denunciations of the recent outrage; or that the ruthless assassins of the Mormon leaders are more excusable than "any other community in the entire Union, upon whose escutcheon rests the indelible blight of a popular outbreak for the redress of grievances."

With every disposition on our part to make all possible allowance for the recent excitement against the Mormons, and its most tragical result, and cheerfully admiting that our friend has enjoyed a much better opportunity than we have of obtaining full and accurate information in relation to this lamentable affair, we are nevertheless compelled to dissent wholly from the latter opinion. We believe, on the contrary, that it is impossible for the public press to speak with too much reverity of the murder of the Smiths; and that this outrage exceeds in enormity any other heretofore perpetrated in the United States -- so far as our recollection extends -- for the following, among other reasons: --

That the Mormon Prophet had given himself up voluntarily, on the demand of the Governor, at a time when successful resistance, or escape, was at least highly probable, if not absolutely certain -- that having quietly submitted to the law, full and complete protection was justly due to him, without any special guaranty -- and that this protection was more particularly his right, inasmuch as the public faith of the State had been solemnly pledged for his safety, as a condition precedent to his submission, by her Chief Magistrate, acting not only in his civil capacity, but also in his character of Commander-in-chief of her military force, supported by "a pledge of honor" unanimously given by the officers and men under his command, to sustain him in its performance. It is immaterial, in a case like this, whether the victim was innocent or guilty of the numerous crimes laid to his charge. He was powerless in the hands of his enemies; and if culpable, no reasonable doubt could exist of his conviction, and consequent punishment. Having literally and faithfully complied with all the demands of the State Executive, even so far as to cause his followers to give up their arms, under a most sacred promise that his person would be respected; the daring violation of a pledge thus solemnly given; under the circumstances, distinguishes this case from every other, and places it conspicuously at the head of "the black-lettered list" of public offenses in the United States.

It is not necessary to state that we do not intend, by these remarks, to charge the respectable population of Hancock county with the perpetration of the atrocious deed in question. That they deeply deplore it, we cannot, will not doubt. But in all cases of this kind, the innocent are doomed, in a great measure, to share in the condemnation of the guilty, until the latter are discovered and punished; and we hope every proper exertion will be used to effect this object. Nor is it less the duty of the conductors of the press, every where, "to cry aloud, and spare not;" to denounce, in the strongest terms every case of resort to mob violence, be its object what it may; and to exert the vast influence which they can command, if cordially united for one common purpose, in support of the supremacy of the law. By this means, a correct and healthy public sentiment may be formed, which will speedily arrest the swelling tide of moral evil which threatens to overwhelm the land, and involve our Republican institutions in one common ruin. -- We might say much more. A just sense of our responsibility to the public, would not permit us to say less; and the intelligent reader, being now in possession of the views of our respected associate, as well as of our own, we submit the whole matter to his better judgment.

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FROM  THE  SEAT  OF  WAR.

In another column will be found a letter from one of the most reputable citizens of Warsaw, which will speak for itself. We regret its censure upon Mr. Jonas, and cannot but think that his error must have been one of judgment, not of the heart. From our personal observation while in Hancock, we apprehend more danger from secret incendiaries and attempts at assassination on the part of the Mormons, than from an open united attack. The letter which we publish coincides in this respect with our own views. To us it is most unaccountable that any Mormon will act so directly at variance with his own interest, as well as that of the entire community at Nauvoo, as to commit those depradations, and thus provoke a second outbreak, which would inevitably result in their extermination. Against such a course, they have been warned, not only by the Governor in person, but by others who have addressed them; and if in the face of all this they rush heedlessly into danger, the consequences will fall upon their own heads.

We deem it our duty to guard the public against placing implicit confidence in every thing that is promulgated as to attacks, and designs, of either the one side or the other. The entire community of Hancock county are a great deal excited; and efforts should be made by all good citizens to allay, not increase it. They naturally look with the most intense anxiety at every step taken by their opponents; and circumstances of but trivial importance are magnified by them into matters of serious moment. This state of affairs is natural, as all can bear witness to, who have been unfortunate enough to live in a community visited by an outbreak and resort to violence on the part of the citizens.

We feel bound to publish the letter of our correspondent -- first, for the reason that we have unlimited confidence in him as a good citizen; and secondly, because we think the citizens of Hancock should be heard as well as the other side. They feel deeply aggrieved; and upon every principle of justice they should be heard in their own defense. The reader of course will draw his own conclusion from the matters offered on either side.

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FROM  HANCOCK  COUNTY.

Our latest intelligence from the scene of the Mormon excitement is to the 6th instant; at which time every thing was quiet, both at Nauvoo and Warsaw. It is to be hoped that the exertions of the well-disposed part of the population of Hancock, will prevent any farther disturbances of the public tranquility.

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COMMUNICATIONS.      

                                                 Warsaw, Ill., July 4, 1844., 7 p. m.

DEAR SIR: -- Our town has been remarkably quiet for the last two days; and all classes are now pursuing their various vocations of business and labor. We -- as I understand and regret exceedingly -- have been basely misrepresented by persons who claim a high standing in the community; I mean persons who were sent here expressly to ascertain the feelings of our citizens. They have taken expressions of loafers and a few drunken persons about the streets, who are mostly strangers to the citizens here, for the general feeling of the citizens of Warsaw.

Mr. Jonas was here, and addressed us some 15 or 20 minutes, while the Osprey was waiting for him; his language was abusive, and such as we all believe he was not authorized by Gov. Ford to use towards us. I have made notes of his speech here, and would give them, if I had time, and let you judge. Suffice it to say, that he was respected and heard only as a messenger from Gov. Ford. Except two or three of our citizens, who have left, all are united, and determined to remain, unless driven by force, of which we have no fear at present. Our patrol is still continued at night. The Mormons, through the adjoining settlements, are threatening vengeance. Mr. Karnes, who lives in the Mormon settlement near Bear Creek, has been driven from his home, and his house is occupied by Mormons. They threaten to kill him if he returns. Horatio Benton, a brother in law of Capt. Smith, of the Carthage Grays, who resides about four miles north-east of Warsaw, was shot at by some persons unknown. I saw him yesterday; he informed me that he was at Carthage on Monday last, and returned and came to Warsaw Tuesday, and went back in the afternoon; left his house just at dusk to do some work on his farm; and when he had gone about 60 yards from his house, he heard the report of two rifles in quick succession; one ball passed, as he thought, directly in front of his face, and the other made a hole through his frock coat, about opposite his knee or thigh. I saw the hole; and am satisfied, in conversing with his friends and acquaintances, that his narrative is true. A man living in Green Plains precinct, by name Parnell Lewis, was pursued by three Mormons armed, through the brush and hills, two or three hours, but succeeded in making his escape. Several of our best citizens, who have taken an active part only in bringing Joe to justice, have had their lives threatened by Mormons whose names are known.

On my return from Carthage, when I saw you there last, myself and Mr. Wansar, my companion, were hailed about 9 o'clock at night by two men, standing by the side of the road about 1 1/2 miles beyond Chapman's, in the prairie. They were standing by their horses, with their bridles in their hands. As we passed they called Mr. Sharp. We halted, on said, Is that you, Mr. Sharp? I said, no; my name is ____, from Warsaw. I inquired their names; one gave me a name which I do not remember. I did not know the voice or name; perhaps they were friends, but their conduct was very suspicious; and although I did not apprehend danger at the time, yet now, I feel very well satisfied, from circumstances that have come to my knowledge since I returned, that they had evil designs against Mr. Sharp. I could extend my catalogue further; but I have already been too tedious. I am satisfied that if they do not alter their course, that they will bring down vengeance on themselves.

We are aware the public generally do not approve of the means employed to rid the country of the Smiths; but I believe it has saved hundreds of valuable lives. Dr. Taylor, as well as another who conducted the bodies to Nauvoo, (either Richards or Markham,) informed several persons, (and among others a man named Goodrich, from Warsaw, but now of Quincy, seeking work,) that they had made arrangements to escape the next night following the death of Joe and Hyrum; and also that the pistols were conveyed to the prisoners by their friends concealed in their boots. Affidavits will be taken of all important evidence, which will satisfy the public, if they are not already satisfied, as to the character and conduct and designs of the Mormons since Smith's death.

I could write you pages like the preceding, but will close, lest I weary you.


Note: The last two articles, reproduced above, have not yet been confirmed as having come from the July 13th issue of the Telegraph.

THE  REMEDY.

The recent outbreak in the county of Hancock, which has resulted so disastrously to the credit of those engaged in it, and which has subjected the State to an expense of at least twenty-five thousand dollars, with a fair prospect if its being still further involved, calls for the early attention of the public in the application of a remedy that will for the future guard against such occurrences. To our mind, there is but one way in which this can be done; and that is, by an unconditional repeal of all the Nauvoo charters. It is the incessant abuse of powers under those charters by the Mormons, that has broughting about the conflict in which the two Smiths lost their lives, and involved the State, at a time when her tax-payers are so illy able to bear it, to a large additional debt. Now, the people, so far as we can ascertain, are unitedly for the repeal of those charters. But we (the junior) have spent two winters at Springfield, during the sessions of our Legislature, and are too well acquainted with the action of demagogues towards the Mormons, to have any confidence that a majority of that body will reflect, in their action, the wishes of their constituents in this respect. We, therefore, call upon the people of the different counties in the State, to require of their candidates for the Legislature, an unconditional pledge, that they will go in for a repeal of the Nauvoo charters. In this way only, can the least reliable assurance be had, that they will take this absolutely necessary step.

We call upon the respective candidates in this country, either to pledge themselves that, if elected, they will vote for, and use all their influence to secure a repeal of the Mormon charters; or to decline giving the pledge. For one, we have no idea of voting, except understandingly on this matter; and the disreputable truckling heretofore, on both sides, to the Mormons in the Legislature, fully satisfies us, that the abuse by them of the powers conferred upon them by a previous Legislature, never will be corrected, unless the people take the matter into their own hands, and elect no man who does not stand unconditionally pledged before the public to secure the attainment of this desirable end. We hope, therefore, the respective candidates in this county will, through the columns of the next Telegraph, give to the public their views, either one way or the other, in regard to this subject.

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==> The St. Louis Reveille very modestly accuses us (the junior) or exaggeration, in our article of last week, "in the very general and loose charges against Smith. We have no disposition to interfer, in the remotest degree, with the views and opinions of the Editors of that paper in regard to the Mormons; but we do object to their charging us with exaggeration, upon any other testimony than their own "ipse dixit." We know that every charge we preferred against the Smiths are true, and reaffirm them as such now. When the Mormons were in Missouri, there was no charge or crime too heinous to prefer against them by our neighbors; and so infamous was their conduct regraded there, that the Governor of the State, at an expense of over two hundred thousand dollars, drove them away at the point of the bayonet. In Missouri, judging from the report made by their Legislature, and which we have read with care, the Mormons never perpetrated one-half the outrages they have in Illinois. Yet, in Missouri, they were bad enough to be expelled; but in Illinois, where their conduct is twice as bad, they are subjects of sympathy and commiseration by a portion of the St. Louis press. If the Reveille thinks the Mormons unjustly charged, and not half as bad as isrepresented, let its Editors invite them back to Missouri, where they were banished from their lands and deprived of their property, without the slightest remuneration by that State. When they do this, and not before, can any of the papers of St. Louis, or Missouri, with any degree of propreiety undertake to lecture either the people or the press of Illinois as to their course towards the Mormons. All we ask is, that our neighbors of Missouri shall take the beam out of their own eyes, before they undertake to pluck the mote from ours. And we again repeat, fearless of successful contradiction, that every law, human and divine, has been again and again outraged and trampled upon by Joe and Hyrum Smith, while residents of Illinois.

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DEMAND  FOR  TROOPS.

The Missouri Republican of Tuesday last, states that Gov. Ford has made a requisition on the U. S. Government for 500 men, to be stationed in Hancock county, in order to keep the peace between the Mormons and the Anti-Mormons. We hope the demand will be acceded to; and that we shall hear of no farther outrage in that quarter.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMONS.

From Captain Gray, of the steamer Potosi, we learn that the two Laws, who are seceders from the Mormons, have commenced a settlement near Rock Island, on the Illinois side, and that large numbers of the Mormons are quitting Nauvoo and joining the Laws. The Potosi took up a number of families on her last trip, and was to take up several more on her next trip. The division among them is a happy circumstance for themselves, as well as for the community in which they are located. We trust it will, to some extent, check their invasions upon the rights of others which caused the recent difficulties at Carthage.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  LATE  TRAGEDY!

The Editor of the Warsaw Signal, in one of his recent numbers, reads us, (the senior) a lecture of some two and a half columns, for having joined in what he is pleased to call "a bitter denunciation of those who were concerned in the late fatal tragedy." -- As we are thoroughly convinced that the too common practice of crimination and recrimination, if resorted to in the present case, is calculated to keep up the prevailing excitement and prevent reason for resuming her ordinary sawy over the public mind, we do not intend, at this time, to be drawn into a prolonged controversy on the subject in question. -- Let it suffice to remark that after having attentively and impartially examined all the statements made on both sides -- so far as opportunity for so doing has been afforded us -- our original opinion had undergone no change. We still believe that the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, under the circumstances in which it was perpetrated, stands "conspicuously at the head of the black-lettered list of public offences in the United States." This atrocious act, has, in fact, been condemned in much stronger terms than we have used, by some of the most judicious and intelligent journalists in the United States; but we do not deem it necessary to repeat them here. The view we have hitherto taken on this lamentable affair, is unfortunately too well sustained by admitted facts, to require any indorsement.

The Editor observes -- "Mr. Bailhache says, that there was a pledge of honor unanimously given by the officers and men under Gov. Ford's command, to sustain him in the pledge he had given. This is untrue" -- Now, to show what this bold denial of the correctness of our assertion is worth, it is necessary only to quote the expressions used by the Governor, in his address "to the people of Illinois" -- the authority on which we mainly relied when the opinion to which exception has been taken was expressed, and which nothing we have since seen has weakened. Says he -- "The pledge of security to the Smiths was not given upon my individual responsibility. Before I gave it, I obtained a pledge oh honor by a unanimous vote from the officers and men under my command, to sustain me in performing it." We need say no more on this point, except to express our astonishment at the cool impudence with which in the very teeth of the above declaration from the high functionary to whom the pledge in question was given the conductor of the Signal pronounces our statement to be "not true." Nothing to surpass, if equal to it, has passed under our observation, even in the most reckless and abandoned of the LocoFoco journals.

On the remainder of the article we do not feel called upon to offer any remark. It is a tolerable specimen of sophistry, such an an ingenious advocate would resort to, for the purpose if possible, of saving a client, whose guilt was but too conclusively established, from the penalty of the law; and unblushingly justifies the murder, not only on account of the numerous atrocities which it takes "for granted" the Mormon Prophet had already perpetrated, but also, because of those which it undetakes to "prove" he would not have committed, had he been allowed to live after the election just about to take place! We doubt whether any convict has ever expiated his crimes upon a scaffold, in whose behalf as valid a plea could not have been made. -- The Editor thinks that persons "residing two hundred miles off are not very competent to form a correct opinion on the subject. This, is to a certain extent, we admit. But it is nevertheless quite possible that we may "judge" of the affair referred to with as much accuracy and impartiality as those who were immediately concerned in it, either as principals, or accessories; and who, should the law take its course, may be hereafter required to appear at the bar of justice as criminals, to answer for the offense. We add no more.

P. S, Since the above was written and placed in the hands of the compositor, we have seen an address from Gov. Ford "to all the people of Warsaw in Hancock County," -- which may be found in another column -- which not only fully justifies the view we have heretofore taken of the late mournful tragedy, but also indicates that the principal actors, not yet satisfied, are actually thirsting for more blood. Should this be the case, we would seriously warn those misguided men, that public opinion will not sustain them in a renewal of hostilities. Already is the sentiment generally prevalent throughout the country, that, in the lamentable occurrences which have heretofore taken place, the Mormons "have been more sinned against than sinning," and should the letter, in the event of another attack, turn upon their persecutors, as did the Jews in the days of Ahasuerus, and inflict upon them condign punishment, no one would interfere to prevent it.

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MORE  TROUBLES.

To the politeness of B. Clifford, Jr., Esq., the vigilant Postmaster at Quincy, we areindebted for the following address, issued in hand-bill form by Gov. Ford, "to the people of Warsaw, in Hancock County." Our own impression is, that misreprentations are being made to Gov. Ford, in regard to the designs of the people of Warsaw against the Mormons. The public should place but little confidence in what they hear, as to the premeditated attacks either from one side or the other, unless sustained by clear and indisputable proof. In this instance such proof is wanting.

To the People of Warsaw, in Hancock County.

I am continually informed of your preparations and threats to renew the war, and exterminate the Mormons. One would suppose that you ought to rest satisfied with what you have already done. The Mormon leaders, if they ever resisted the law, have submitted to its authority. The have surrundered the public arms; and appeared to be ready to do anything required, to make atonement for whatever wrong may have been done. Since the assassination of their two principal leaders, under circumstances well calculated to inflame their passions, and drive them to excesses for the purposes of revenge, they have been entirely peaceful and submissive; and have patiently awaited the slow operation of the laws to redress the wrongs of which they complained. -- There has been no retaliation; no revenge; and for any thing I can ascertain, there will be none. Those of your people, who are charged with being the most hostile to them, have lived, if they knew it, in perfect security from illegal violence. I am anxious for a pacification of your difficulties. You cannot drive out or exterminate the Mormons. Such an effort would be madness, and would not be permitted by the people of the State. You cannot be sustained in it either by force or law. You are blinding yourselves to your weakness, and keeping an agitation which must fail of the purpose intended, and recoil with terrible energy upon your heads. I exhort you to reconsider your infatuated resolutions. Try your Mormon neighbors again, and if you cannot dwell together in amity, you may at least refrain from injuring each other. From the moderation of the Mormons, under what they conceive to be the deepest injury, you might well hope that if they ever entertained designs inconsistant with your liberty and happiness, that those designs have been abandoned. They are also interested in preserving the peace. It is not natural to suppose that they, any more than yourselves, wish to live in continual alarm. They hope for quiet, and will be peaceful and submissive in order to enjoy it. But you are continually driving them to desperation by an insane course of threatening and hostility, and depriving yourselves of peace by the same means used to disquiet them.

If I have said any thing severe in this address, I pray you, attribute it to my deep conviction that your course is improper and unwarrantable. Such is the opinion of the people at large in the State, and all over the country. From being right in the first instance, you have put yourselves in the wrong, and there are none who sustain you. As men of sense, you are bound to see, if you will open your eyes, you cannot effect your purposes. Nevertheless you are still training and drilling, and keeping together, and threatening a renewal of the war. I have said to you often that you cannot succeed; by this time you ought to see it for yourselves. What can your small force do against two thousand armed men, entrenched in a city, and defending themselves, their wives and children? Besides, if you are the aggressors, I am determined that all the power of the State shall be used to prevent your success. I can never agree that a set of infatuated and infuriated men shall barbarously attack a peaceful people, who have submitted to all the demands of the law; and when they had full power to do so, refrained from inflicting vengeance upon their enemies. You may count on my most determined opposition -- upon the opposition of the law and upon that of every peaceful law abiding citizen of the country. This is not spoken in anger. God knows, I would do you no injury unless compelled to do so to sustain the laws. But mob violence must be put down. It is threatening the whole country with anarchy and ruin. It is meancing our fair form of government, and destroying the confidence of the patriot in the institutions of his country.

I have been informed that the Mormons about Lima and Macedonia, have been warned to leave the settlements. They have a right to remain and enjoy their property. -- As long as they are good citizens, they shall not be molested; and the sooner those misguided persons withdraw their warning and retrace their steps, the better it will be for them.     THOMAS FORD.
            July 25, 1844.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  LATE  MORMON  TROUBLES.

The reader has been already informed that the Junior Editor of this paper has prepared a full account of the recent lamentable occurrences in Hancock county -- a part of which he was an eye-witness -- with the view of having the same published in pamphlet form, for the information of the public. The work made its appearance a few days since; and, we understand, may be obtained at Mr. Buffum's Auction Store in this City. We have not yet been able to read it entirely through; but, so far as we have examined it, we have found it highly interesting, and we are persuaded that it will be sought for with eagerness. It is noticed in a late number of the St. Louid New Era.

G. T. M. Davis has published a pamphlet of 48 pages, containing a brief history of the rise and progress of Mormonism, and the circumstances that led to and attended the death of Joe and Hyrum Smith. Mr. Davis is a gentleman of high character and respectable [--- ----] - was acquainted with all [the] parties concerned, and was in the immediate vicinity, at the time of the recent Mormon difficulties when Joe Smith was killed. The pamphlet is probably as fair and impartial, and as much to be relied on, as any thing that has been published respecting these [fanatics] and their impostor leader. So long as we have an ignorant, credulous and superstitious population, will we have prophets, priests and impostors pretending to possess extraordinary supernatural powers, and [willing] to live off of the fat of the land by [imposing] on the weakness and fears of a [deluded] people. The way to guard against [-----] [is] to have the people well educated, and [----- ---em] to think and act for themselves independently of priestly dictation.


Note: Mr. Davis' pamphlet must have reached the Editor of the New Era about the beginning of the second week in August. A note in the number of that paper for Aug. 8th asks when the pamphlet will be forthcoming.

GOV.  FORD  AND  THE  MORMONS.

Hitherto, we have rejected all communications reflecting upon the motives and conduct of Gov. Ford, in the late Mormon difficulties, because we believed the authors of those communications were unacquainted with the facts and the circumstances that surrounded the action of the Executive. We adhered the more rigidly to this course, from the fact, that the writer of this article was an eye-witness to the conduct of Gov. Ford, and was satisfied at the time his conduct was prompted by pure motives, though many of his actions were at best indiscreet. In this opinion we still remain; having seen nothing thus far to disturb our convictions as to what we personally observed. His last Circular, however, issued upon the eve of the recent election, addressed to the citizens of Warsaw, is far, very far, from being satisfactory to usl and has created in our mind the suspicion that it was dictated purely by political motives, and a desire to control the Mormon votes. If this is true, every honest act of the Governor, during this unfortunate affair, is swallowed up in the baseness of this last movement; and he deserves naught else than the anathemas of every upright man in the community. Thus much we have felt bound to say, preliminary to admitting into another column the communication of a gentleman who occupied the most important post in the late Mormon troubles, and who, like ourself, was among the few of his political opponents who believed Gov. Ford honest in the course he pursued. It is signed "Fair Play," and to it we direct the attention of the reader. The writer is a man of the highest character and respectability, responsible for every assertion he makes, and competent to maintain those assertions at any and all times. He is in no way connected with either the Mormons, or the old citizens of Hancock, but is a resident of Brown county; and the fact, that, up to the issuing of the last political circular of Gov. Ford, he sustained the Executive, and vindicated him from the aspersions cast upon him on all hands, entitles his communication to great weight and consideration.

---

                                Mt. Sterling, Ill., Aug. 14, 1844.
G. T. M. Davis, Esq.:

Dear Sir -- I have, as you know, been an eye witness of most of the movements connected with the late Mormon difficulties. I have also been a close observer of every thing that was calculated either to conquer or encourage the insolence and predatory spirit of that most lawless and abandoned sect; but never has any thing fallen under my observation, so palpably base and inviting to farther depredation, as the late letter of his Excellency to the citizens of Warsaw. Although I esteemed his first communication in reply to the "Committee of Safety," illiberal, harsh, and undignified, my confidence in the rectitude of his purposes was in no wise abated. I believed the Governor designed to act independently of all political considerations; and confiding in the sincerity of his professions, and the justice and honesty of his purpose, I never ceased to defend him from many foul asperations, which had found their way into every assembly I chanced to meet. But, sir, I have been deceived; or the Governor has been most villainously treated, by men calling themselves his friends,

Since the publication of his last letter to the citizens of Warsaw, I have, for my own information and satisfaction, visited that place; and from personal observation, and the statements of gentlemen whose scrupulous regard for truth and veracity place them far above suspicion, I am forced irresistibly to the conclusion, that great injustice has been done them by Gov. Ford; and that he, or those who advised him in the premises, are responsible to the public for having fabricated charges against the citizens of Warsaw, for the sake of giving to the Executive an opportunity of appearing to be the friend of the Mormons, and thus to secure their support in the then approaching elections. And if the Governor, in his last communication, has been influenced by political, or other consideration than the public peace and tranquility, this fact will of itself unfold many things which to some are mysterious, and are by others treated as ill advised, or hasty and inconsiderate action.

To say nothing of the intention, the effect of the communication alluded to has been to secure Mormon votes, and to embolden and encourage the Mormons to renew their outrages upon the property and persons of the old inhabitants of Hancock; and the people of Warsaw, in addition to the evils under which they labor at home, have been egregiously slandered abroad.

I am unwilling to suspect the Governor of a departure from that line of policy which seemed to characterize his early movements, and which gained for him the approbation of all parties. I know he has confided in a man who, I believed at the time, was a Mormon tool, and whose recent conduct proves him to have been so. But I did not velieve then, as I am unwilling to believe now, that he was at all suspected by Gov. Ford. However, late developments (I allude to the Mormon nominations) show the hollowness of his heart, and the duplicity of that blandness and insinuation of manner, by which many unsuspecting persons were entrapped. The person I suspect of having advised the last letter of Gov. Ford is the man who, at head quarters, was called Gen. Deming; but who I am unwilling to honor with a title, the authority of which has been perverted to the most base and unhallowed purposes; and which gives him a cast as much blacker than the d---l. Has Gov. Ford been deceived himself, or has he been deceiving others? Suspended as I am between two opinions, I shall make diligent inquiry to relieve myself from so unpleasant a dilemma. If Gov. Ford has been deceived, it is due to himself, and to his friends, who have defended his course hitherto, that he should expose the vile invader of his confidence. The charges made by the Governor against the citizens of Warsaw, must have come from some confidential quarter, or else have been DREAMED by the Governor for the purpose of recapturing his lost allies. Upon this point it becomes the Governor to speak in vindication of himself.

The inhabitants of Warsaw are threatened [----- ------- ------- ----- ----] on suspicion of having been engaged in the assassination of the Smiths; and the newly elected Sheriff is, I understand, by uniting a civil and military office, to carry out the design of the Mormons. The people of Warsaw ought not, they will not, submit to arrest and trial by Mormon officers and jury. They know they are free -- they are determined to die free, sooner than live to be slaves -- they are men of discernment, conscious of their rights, and seek not the cover of night to maintain them. It is said that the "legion" is to be called out to make the arrest. Glorious day, that, which shall so auspiciously dawn, for ridding the county of an evil that threatens the nation with civil revolution. The people of Warsaw are quiet and peaceable, but determined and resolute -- "small in numbers, but of tried and war proof valor" -- calm and dignified, they are imperturbably firm.     FAIR PLAY.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  STATE  REGISTER.

Of the 16th inst. says:

Brigadier Gen. John J. Hardin, has been ordered by the Governor to take command of such a militia force as may be necessary to suppress disturbances in Hancock county, if any further disturbances should take place during the short absence of the Governor at the Nashville convention.

Where there is any responsibility to be assumed, Gov. Ford is exceedingly liberal in putting forward Whigs. Hence, Gen. Hardin is given the command of the military force, if one is brought out to suppress disturbances anticipated by Gov. Ford. Capt. Singleton, a Whig, was in like manner placed in command at Nauvoo, during the late disturbances; and Messrs. Jonas and Fellowes, two Whigs were also sent by the Executive to Warsaw and Nauvoo, to ascertain the public feeling, &c. To many this may look like liberality; but to our mind, judging from the last missle hurled by the Governor at the Warsaw people, it was design. The less the Whigs identify themselves with Gov. Ford, in his "billing and cooing" with the Mormons the better it will be for them. If there is any censure, it will be sure to be heaped upon the Whigs; and if any praise, it will be monopolized by the Locofocos. As a party, the Locos and Mormons are identified; and the only safe course for the Whigs to pursue, is to abstain from touching the "unclean thing."

---

THE  MORMONS.

We learn from the Nauvoo Neighbor, that Daniel Spencer, Esq. one of the members of the City Council, has been elected Mayor of Nauvoo, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the murder of Joseph Smith. It is said in some of the papers, that Sidney Rigdon, Esq. will succeed the deceased in the Presidency of the Mormon Church; but this seems to require confirmation.

---

THE  MORMONS  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY.

The subjoined article is extracted from the last number of the Nauvoo Neighbor. If the course it indicates should be strictly pursued by the Mormons, it may contribute something towards the restoration of amicable relations between their neighbors and themselves. Viewed with abhorrence by some, and with distrust and suspicion by others, it is hardly possible for them to mingle in the party conflicts of the day without exciting the prejudice and perhaps the hatred of the old citizens. But, if they will remain quiet, yield ready obedience to the laws, and attend exclusively to their own concerns, the present excitement against them may subside, and they will doubtless be permitted, like the Shakers and similar communities, to enjoy their peculiar religious opinions without molestation. That they would consult their own best interesrs, by pursuing the course suggested, cannot be questioned.

---

A laudable respect for the wise course pointed out to us, as a church and people, by our late venerable and distinguished fellow-servant, and president of said church, Joseph Smith, who was our candidate for the Presidential chair of the United States, but who was inhumanly murdered by a portion of the powers that exist in this land, would say to us, if nothing more, beware how you vote for a Chief Magistrate of this Government! As a people we have exercised the elective franchise, heretofore, as far as we could, for our own good, and the best interest of the nation, but what have we gained? Nothing is the simple answer, as touching any redress or redemption in consequence of our banishment without just cause or provocation, from the "Independent Republic of Missouri," at an immense sacrifice of land and property, and the land purchased of the general government.

It would seem from all past experience in our case, that partizans and politicians, while they love our votes, they hate our influence and prosperity, and therefore, after they have obtained their aims and ends, leave us among the missing; perfectly contented to chuckle over the subterfuge of having used us as a passport to honor, profit, fame and wealth for their own gracious benefit, and then shove us aside to guess our way to respectability, competency, privilege, and even a moderate share of morality -- clandestinely acting the "Levite," that we may drag out and draw along a scrimptexistence in exile, among what is highly lauded to the nations of the earth, as a great, mighty free people, -- THE ASYLUM OF THE OPPRESSED!!

Such conduct manifested to us as a people, is cruel, unjust, and oppressive; and, as not one of the candidates now before the nation for the high office of Chief Magistrate, has given us a pledge, that if he be elected to that exalted station, he will use all honorable means, constitutionally, lawfully, physically and forcibly to grant us redress and redemption for all wrongs -- and as our candidate for this high office, has been butchered in cold blood, for aught we know to the contrary, to prevent him from being elected, and the murderers running at large with impunity -- and as we are not Abolitionists, and will not go against one half the interest of the nation -- what shall we do as honest and consistent men? Shall we honor the "views of the powers and policy of the Government," as published by the now martyred Gen. Joseph Smith? WE WILL. Therefore let every man of our faith be left free to choose and act for himself, but as a people we will honor the opinions and wisdom of our martyred General; and as a matter of propriety, we cannot vote for, or support a candidate for the Presidency, till we find a man who will pledge himself to carry out Gen. Smith's views of the powers and policy of the Government, as he published them. Patriotism and integrity demand this course from the true Latter day Saint. Unus pro omnium.


Notes: (forthcoming)

GOV.  FORD  AND  THE  MORMONS.

The last State Register contains the following letter from Gov. Ford, with a request, that the Whig papers generally should publish it. Having been among those who had their fears aroused, that the last address of the Governor was dictated purely by political considerations, we readily comply with his request. Candor, however, requires at our hands, that we should say, the letter of his Excellency by no means satisfies us that he is guiltless of the charge preferred against him by many of the papers, and among them the Warsaw Signal, whose Editor is of the same political faith with the Governor. The public are yet uninformed, what grounds Gov. Ford had for issuing his last address, which, to say the least of it visited upon the citizens of Warsaw the grossest injustice. The letter of the Governor is silent upon this point; and he contents himself with simply denying the charge, and adding the assertion that he had hoped the Mormons would not have voted at the late elections. There is no doubt the Mormons would have pursued the very course Gov. Ford desired, had it not been for his last address to the citizens of Warsaw, and the unwarrantable course pursued by Col. Taylor, of Springfield, who addressed them at Nauvoo, making the Governor's last missive his text. The idea that the Mormons were displeased with any portion of Gov. Ford's last address, is preposterous in the extreme; and we are only astonished that the Governor should have [jeopardized] his reputation, by making such an assertion. The address was published in the Mormon papers, and highly approved; and the Governor handsomely whitewashed by them for issuing it. If the testimony upon which the Governor made this assertion is of the same character as that which prompted him in giving birth to his last address, we think he will find it very difficult to satisfy the public, that his course in this respect has not been an unjustifiable one. We venture nothing in the assertion, that so long as the Mormons continue to vote in a solid phalanx, either for the one side or the other, demagogues and dishonest politicians will continue to tamper with then, and they will keep the entire community surrounding them in a state of excitement and dissatisfaction.

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                                    SPRINGFIELD, Aug. 27, 1844.
Messrs Walters & Weber:

Since my return from Nashville, I perceive that a portion of the public press have been charging me, that I influenced the Mormon vote to the Democratic Ticket at the late election. This charge is wholly untrue, and does me great injustice. My letter to the Warsaw people was not designed to have, nor did it in fact have, any influence whatever upon the determination of the Mormons in regard to politics. On the contrary, portions of that letter gave great offense to them, as I am informed. I have not endeavored to conciliate one of those parties more than another, and it is a great satisfaction to me to know that I have not pleased either of them. No man could have done so, and done right.

As to the Mormon vote, I would have been exceedingly glad if they had omitted to vote at all; though I would not advise them, or any other people, to divest themselves of the privileges of freemen -- to disfranchise themselves in this free country by so doing. But still I was selfish enough to hope that they would not vote at the last election. For no one knew, better than I did, the amount of difficulty with which I would be embarrassed in my future efforts to preserve the peace and enforce the laws in that section of the country, in case the Mormons voted, and more especially if they voted the Democratic Ticket. I knew well the tendency of such an event to run the whole matter into a political and civil war. For this reason I have assiduously endeavored to keep this controversy separated from the party politics of the day, by every means in my power. I have not been in the habit of controverting what has been said of me in the newspapers; andmust plead as my apology in the present instance for so doing, the danger, in case of another outbreak, of men dividing in the war, without reference to the merits of the controversy.

I am perfectly willing that a committee of Whig members of the Legislature may investigate the subject, and to abide by their resprt; so confident am I that even my political opponents will, upon a proper inquiry, be compelled to acquit me of censure.
                           I am most respectfully,
                                           THOMAS FORD.

P. S. Will the Editors who have copied this charge against me, do me the justice to insert this note!           T. F.

---

==> There has been a regular "fisticuff" between two or three of the APOSTLES in the Mormon church at Nauvoo. One of them, by the name of Wright [sic], it is said, is enrollling a company of some three or four hundred, with a view of emigrating to California. Success to the enterprise! And we hope that others of these totally depraved leaders will "go and do likewise." The sooner they leave not only Illinois, but the United States, the better it will be for the peace, security, and happiness, of the people.

---

THE  MORMON  TRAGEDY -- AGAIN!

The Editor of the Warsaw Signal continues to denounce us, (the senior) because of our unwillingness to retract the opinion we have heretofore expressed -- that the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, under the circumstances in which it was perpetrated, stands "conspiuously at the head of the black-letter list of public offenses in the United States." -- Well, be it so. Although we aim to merit, and are gratified to receive, the approbation of all, we are nevertheless unwilling to secure it at the sacrifice of what we esteem a sacred public duty. In fact, it is hardly to be expected that any of those who, a few weeks only before the horrid occurrence took place, had solemnly resolved, in public meeting, that their difficulties with the Mormons could be settled by nothing short of powder and ball, will be persuaded, by any thing that an impartial observer may say, that they committed a heinous crime in carrying their murderous resolutions into effect; and we are inclined to believe that nothing which the perpetrators, or their apologists, may offer, in extenuation or justification of the act, will change the views we have heretofore taken of that truly lamentable affair.

Our cotemporary says, if when, in his address to the people of Illinois, the Governor stated that, before he gave the assurance of security to the Smiths, he obtained a pledge of honor by a unanimous vote from the officers and men under his command to sustain him in performing it, his Excellency "meant to convey the idea that such ananimous pledge was given by all the officers and men in the county, under military command," he, the Editor will venture to say --- "that it is false," and that he can prove this assertion "by the testimony of scores of witnesses, whose character for truth and veracity will compare favorably with any men in the State." -- Now, we do not deem it our business to decide, whether Governor Ford did actually mean what he said, on the above occasion, or the contrary -- Since the resumption, in part, of the Editorial charge of the Telegraph, we have neither flattered him on the one hand, nor vilified him on the other. The only notice we have taken of him has been to give his official communications a reasonable degree of credence. If he has misled us, by giving a false coloring to the murder of the Smiths, the fault is not ours. His testimony, however, is good, until contradicted by evidence equally respectable, and conclusive.

It matters but little, however, in considering the question at issue, whether Joseph Smith was guilty or innocent of the atrocious crimes laid to his charge by his enemies, and which still remain to be proved. Had he been even tried, convicted, and sentenced to suffer the most painful and ignominious death, to take his life in any way, other than that pointed out by the law, would have been willful murder. To kill him before trial, after he had voluntarily surrendered himself, upon the most perfect assurance of safety to his person, that could have been asked or given, was incomparably more criminal. It is this damning fact, which stamps his assassination with a character of unparalleled atrocity. Had he been attacked, while he remained at Nauvoo, surrounded by his devoted followers, the matter would wear a totally different aspect; and the act, however censurable, would have been at least redeemed from the imputation of "perfidity and cowardice." But, as it now stands, it cannot be spoken of without abhorrence; and the futile attempt to justify or excuse it, only serves to give it a still darker hue. The true policy of those concerned should be, to patiently submit to the rebuke which they so richly deserve; and endeavor, by their future respect for the laws, to atone for their past misconduct.

The Signal insists that we, (the senior) should be the last to speak in terms of decided reprobation of the late outrage in Hancock county; for the reason that, about seven years since, we "apologized" for, or at least "failed to condemn," a far more atrocious crime, perpetrated in this place. But, if this latter assertion were actually true, the soundness of the position deduced from the alleged fact might still be questioned. At the period spoken of, those scenes of popular violence, which have of late so frequently disgraced the country, and clothed the land in mourning, were comparatively rare. It was, therefore, quite natural that those among whom they occurred should endeavor to excuse or palliate them, in order to escape the odium which they were calculated to bring upon the community in the midst of which they suffered to take place. But now, when their magnitude and frequency seem actually to threaten the very existence of our social and political system, it is no longer allowable to be mealy-mouthed. -- More especially are the conductors of the press, every where, bound strongly to denounce all and every outbreak, let the pretense for it be what it may. Nor should any former dereliction of duty be offered as an excuse for a similar neglect at a time like this, when a resort to mob violence appears to be fearfully on the increase in almost every part of the Union.

But, it is not the fact, that we either "apologized" for, or "failed to condemn" the riots which unhappily occurred in this city in 1837. On the contrary, we denounced them in terms sufficiently decided to provoke the resentment of some of the individuals concerned, who anonymously threatened our press with demolition, and our person with violence, for having, as they alleged, spoken "too harshly" of "those gentlemen" who had determined "to stop the course of Abolition in this place." True, a few of the most zealous of the persecuted party also censured us, because we had not deemed it proper to take an active part on their side. But the great body of the citizens generally approved of our course; and now, after the lapse of seven years, we are still of the opinion, that, had we acted differently, the excitement and ill-feeling which then prevailed -- abd which it was the dearest wish of our heart to assist in allaying -- might have continued to exist to the present day. Aiming to inculcate the duty of mutual concession and forbearance, we used the language of mildness and persuasion, rather than that of bitter reproach and invective. In this, we are aware, we differed from the Editor of the Signal, who seems to have heretofore done, and to be still doing, his best to fan the flame of discord in his own neighborhood.

It is not necessary to our present purpose to institute a comparison between the lawless transactions which took place in Alton in 1837, and those which have so recently occurred in Hancock county. -- The reflecting and candid observer will perceive at once that there is a very marked distinction between them. Destruction was unquestionably the object of the mob in both cases. In the one, however, the intended victims were defenseless captives, who had given themselves up under a most solemn assurance of protection -- in the other, it was a certain description of property, defended by armed men, who might have left the post of danger, without molestation, at any time before the attack. The first was effected with as little hazard to the prepetrators as a cook is liable to when decapitating a chicken -- the last cost the asailants as much blood as the assailed. The one, who committed in open day, by a large armed force, in the presence of an approving multitude, and is now unblushingly justified, if not gloried in -- the other, at a late hour of the night, while the citizens were buried in sleep, by a small number of unknown and irresponsible persons, and has ever since subjected Alton and her population to contumely and reproach. We might easily carry the comparison much farther; but forbear. It will remain for the Editor of the Signal to decide whether we shall ever again refer to the subject.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON  NEWS.

The following letter to one of the Editors was received a few days since, from a source entitled to credit. From all we can gather, we should not be at all surprised if there was another outbreak during rge session of the Hancock Court. Sidney Rigdon has gone back to Pittsburg, with a view of establishing a paper in that city; having been expelled from the Mormon Church, together with a number of his friends, for "unchristian-like conduct." Every thing appeared quiet at Nauvoo at the last accounts, although but little harmony seemed to exist among the leaders.


                       Montebello, Hancock Co., Sept. 3, 1844.
MR. DAVIS:
SIR -- I have examined your pamphlet with much interest; and take pleasure in assuring you it is as correct a statement as is now before the public and indeed, in this vivinity, it is looked upon as containing the facts in the case; for which, to you, the citizens seem to feel very grateful.

Jas. S. Jackson has come out with a succinct statement of their muserable, calamitous and contemptible manoeuvering, exposing in a very brief manner Joe's nefarious attempts for power. His pamphlet is spoken very favorably of by those who seem best acquainted with the facts, and by many too who are devoted to the original principles of Mormonism.

At the present time, the Mormons are in a considerable state of excitement, with reference to Joe's successor; and it is impossible to tell, from the external aspect things wear, what the result of their deliberations will be. At present, there are three aspirants to the throne -- Sidney Rigdon, Lymon Wight, and Brigham Young. But Brigham Young leads the chase; being at the head of the hounds, or the 12 Latter Day Scoundrels, he has superior advantages. Lyman Wight, with his little band of Spartan brothers, has fled into the wilderness; where it is not known; but I, as well as many others, suppose he has gone among the Red men of the forest. He started last Wednesday, and the report is to-day, there are 100 more on the eve of joining him.

They complain very bitterly of Brigham Young as a leader; and think he is a very bad man; for, say they, brother Joseph used to say "he was too ballpated to ever have the management of anything, or any body;" and if we suffer him to lead us, he will conduct us to wretchedness and ruin. Sidnet Rigdon, is looked upon by that community as being a wise, as well as a very discreet and judicious man; and it is thought by some of them, he is far better calculated to lead that people than is any other man in their midst. It is currently reported today in the city, that Gen. John C. Bennett has addressed a letter to Col. J. M. Higbee, in which he states that there are many important things communicated to him by Joe, before his death, when he, Hiram and Bennett were the only acting members in the first presidency; but under the solemnities of an oath, that he, Bennett, would not divulge them, either in friendship or emity, during Joe's lifetime; but should Joe survive him, these secrets were to be communicated to another. It is stated in this letter to Col. Higbee, that Sidney Rigdon, was appointed a prophet, seer, and revelator, by special revelation by Joseph Smith -- to officiate after Joseph's death -- and that Wm. Marks and Brigham Young, were to be his councilors, inasmuch as they would give heed to the word of the Lord.

There is a very unpleasant state of things anticipated in this county in October, at Court time. It is the intention of the Mormons at that time to urge the ferreting out of the assassins, as they term them. They state the Governor is going to lend them no assistance, for he was at the bottom of the plot; and they will try what virtue there is in the Civil law; and if it is brought successfully to bear, it will save an appeal to the lex talionis. They have succeeded in electing their ticket to a man. over the citizens of the county; and consequently anticipate a Mormon jury. There is, therefore, little doubt but that indictment will be found against several individuals in the county -- particularly in Warsaw -- for the Mormons love Warsaw as a christian loves the liquid fires of the Tartarlan regions. The Mormons anticipate, if any individual refuses to be arrested, a call will be made by Sheriff Deming, of sable notoriety, upon the Mormon junto, for a posse from Nauvoo, and if the Legion is not sufficiently strong, the Lesser Deming will unite the civil with military power, and by this means, be enabled to trench men's necks to order. It is very evident something of a serious character is entertained upon the part of the Mormons, if any resistance is shown by any individual or individuals; which there will be, if any attempt is made to arrest. They have just had a complete organization in the Legion -- elected a Lieutenant General and Major General, and still seem determined to crown things ne plus altra.

Yours, very respectfully,
VERITAS.

---

THE  PROPHET.

Is the name of a new Mormon paper, published in the city of New York. It goes for Polk and Dallas, not withstanding the determination of the faithful at Nauvoo came to, a short time since, not to interfere in the Presidential election. We had no confidence at the time, that they were sincere in their professions; and the appearance of the Prophet confirms our views.


Notes: (forthcoming)

GOV.  FORD  AND  THE  MORMONS.

The last State Register conveys the official intelligence that Gov. Ford has ordered out 2,500 Militia of the State, to repel an anticipated attack on the part of the citizens of Hancock county upon the Mormons. From all the information we can obtain, there is not the slightest provocation for this warlike attitude of the Governor; and to us it is most unaccountable, that he will suffer himself not only to be made the dupe of a few designing demagogues, but that he will consent to plunge the State of Illinois some twenty thousand dollars more deeply in debt, on account of this community of Mormons. As. however, it is necessary that the Latter-day Saints should be retained in the State, and kept under the fear of theExecutive, to give to the party to which he is attached, the political ascendancy; with him and his party it may appear justifiable that Illinois should foot the bills created by first exciting the fears of the Mormons, and then affording them a mock protection by calling out a large armed force. The Mormons will cost the State of Illinois this year not less than FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, through the agency of the Governor and his confidential advisers; and if the tax payers of the State are willing to submit to such oppression and injustice, they have less of the independence of freemen about them than we had supposed.

There can be no doubt, but that the citizens of Illinois, will, without distinction of party, render the Executive all the assistance in their power, to uphold the laws, and maintain the public peace and security. But there should be clear and incontestable proof of the violation of the one, or the invasion of the other, before any call should be made by the Governor upon them. There is nothing that tends more rapidly to the annihilation of every thing like confidence in the laws of the country, than these repeated requisitions upon an armed force, for their maintenance. This shows a spirit of insubordination, and lawless violence, which we do not believe can justly be attributed to any portion of the citizens of the State; and the finale of this call for 2,500 Militia, will demonstrate that there was no need of it whatever. All the papers, as well as the boats from Warsaw and Nauvoo, agree in reporting that the utmost peace and quietness reign at both those places; and the first intimation they will have, of an outbreak between them, will be the military orders of Commander in Chief, Ford, for an army of 2,500 men.


Notes: (forthcoming)

DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  MORMON  CHURCH.

Through the politeness of a friend, we have received the following manifesto, of a portion of the Mormons in regard to the successorship of the impostor, Joe Smith. The elements of discord and disunion are successfully at work in the community at work in the community at Nauvoo; and no doubt rests upon our minds, but that the total dissolution of the Church will be the inevitable result. Factions may spring up among them, and some unprincipled and ambitious leader seek to set himself on the throne of power so firmly established by Joe Smith for his own base purposes. But every such attempt, will, as heretofore, result in a failure. With the fall of the mock "PROPHET," fell also the throne of despotism he had erected in this Republic, and the charm that enabled him to delude the populace has, with his death, departed, we trust forever.

---

To the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints.

It becomes an imperative obligation devolving upon the friends and adherants of Pres. Sydney Rigdon, to make an explicit and candid statement of the causes, which have led to their disunion and disfellowship with the adherents of the Twelve in their illegal and unwarrentable assumption of the authority of their first Presidency.

It is well known to every well informed member of the Church, that the law, organization, and government of said Church is contained in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, as received through Joseph Smith by revelation. By reference to that book we find that the church is governed by the Presidents of the High Priesthood, appointed by revelation, whose duty is to preside over the whole church, the Twelve being subordinate to that authority and acting under its direction.

The melancholy catastrophe of the murder of Joseph Smith, the presiding President and Hyrum, his brother, resulted in having one individual only known to the church as pointed out by repeated revelations, as holding the Presidency and Keys of this last Kingdom, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator for the Church, viz: Sydney Rigdon.

Pres. Rigdon, who was then in Pittsburg, received instruction from the Lord to repair to this place and present himself to the Church, for their acceptancere or rejection; which actually did result in his rejection, and the appointment of the Twelve (by a large majority) of the Church to the Presidency of the Church and its entire control.

Verily believing, as we do that this was a vital departure from the order of Heaven and a rejection of the only man, who sustained the legal relations of a Revelator to the Church, and who was competant to reorganize the first Presidency, we dissented and lifted our voices against such proceedings and manifested our adherence to President Rigdon.

In consequence of this rejection President Rigdon has received a commandment to reorganize the church and for this reason the Twelve and their adherants have assiduously studied and striven to misrepresent the character and designs of President Rigdon, and his friends, and have not scrupled to ascribe to them motives and designs the most base and dishonorable.

We do declare that Pres. Rigdon is above all malevolent aspirations of his reputation, and is known to us as a worthy, law-abiding citizen, and a gentleman of unblemished character.

We do moreover declare our sincere conviction, that in rejecting Sidney Rigdon, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, no longer exists, except in connection with him; and that God has given no authority for an organization of the Church differing from that contained in the book of Doctrine and Covenants.

Heretofore, the accused, has had the privilege of trial, and opportunity to reply to the charges brought against them, but on the memoriable 8th day of September, 1844, this privilege was denied in open and flagrant violations of all the laws and rules of the churche; thus manifesting clearly that the course they have pursued towards us is one unsanctioned by law and unhallowed by justice.

Signed by -- Sam'l James, Wm. Richards, Leon. Soby, Geo. Morey, J. B. Bosworth, Sam'l Bennett, George W. Crouse, J. A. Forgeus, David Scott -- and many others.
at Nauvoo, Sept. 8, 1844.

---

LATEST  FROM  THE  SEAT  OF  WAR.

We learn from various sources that Gov. Ford disbanded his troops on Monday last; and that a portion of them have returned to Quincy. Thos. C. Sharp, Esq., Editor of the Warsaw Signal, Col. Williams, and a Mr. Jackson, have given themselves up, and are prisoners in the hands of the Governor. -- What disposal has been, or will be, made of them, is not stated. A young man named Norris, one of the Springfield Cadets, lost his life on the night of the 28th ult.; having been shot during a false alarm, given purposely to try the men. Thus has the miserable force resulted in the death of an estimable citizen. Will not the next Legislature vote the Executive a sword, by way of acknowledgment of his exploits during the campaign.

---

THE  HANCOCK  TRAGEDY -- AGAIN!

In the Warsaw Signal of the 18th of September -- which, by the way, did not reach us Monday last -- the Editor makes another labored attempt to prove that we (the senior of the Telegraph) committed a grevious error, when, soon after the murder of the Smiths, we expressed the opinion that this outrage stood "conspiciously at the head of the black-lettered list of pibloc offences in the United States." -- Had this article found its way to our desk in due season, it would have received a prompy reply. Under present circumstances, however, we cannot think of continuing the controversy; and had we been aware, in the first instance, of the relation in which our opponents unfortunately stands, towards the melancholy affair in question, we should have deemed it wholly improper to argue the point with him. He is now under arrest for an alleged participation in the murder, and boldly justifies the act on the ground that "the ones who killed Joe and Hyrum Smith, were doing God and their country essential service." It is, therefore, his business to show that such was in fact the case -- not ours. Heaven be praised, to prosecute, or sit judgment upon him. -- We sincerely wish him a safe and honorable deliverance; and fervently hope that, should he fall into the hands of the Mormons, either voluntarily, or otherwise, they will pay more respect to the sancity of the law, whose protection he has a right to claim, than was manifested by "the old citizens of Hancock county" on the memorable 27th of June last.

---

THE  MORMONS  AND  GOV.  FORD

An excellent letter from a gentleman of intelligence and high standing, which shows in no enviable attitude the strange and unjustifiable conduct of Gov. Ford in ordering out 2500 Militia of the State, will be found below, and will be purused with deep interest by our readers. Accompanying this communication, is one of the public notices, that so haunted the disturbed imagination of the Executive, and which was the foundation for the unaccountable course pursued by him. If the reader can discover any thing in this notice which resembles a belligerent aspect, or any thing that can be tortured into an invitation to the Missourians to visit Illinois armed, and provisioned for a ten days' campaign; all we can say is that their perceptive faculties are far more astute than ours. It does seem as though fate had decreed that Illinois should be the butt end of ridicule for the whole nation. In the person of her Governor, she is more than disgraced; and his conduct in calling out an armed force of 2500 men at the time he did, ought to subject him to impeachment and conviction. Our estimate of the expense to which the Governor's foolery would subject the State, was fifty thousand dollars; but we perceive that the Sangamo Journal estimates it to double that sum. A few more such items of expense as this, and the prospects of the canal will be blasted for years.

---

                                                 Warsaw, Ills., Sept. 23, 1844.

Gentlemen -- Quite an excitement, but altogether of a ludicrous and amusing character, has been produced in our town this evening, by intelligence of some new war movements on the part of his Excellency, Gov. Ford. A gentleman just from Carthage brings a copy of the State Register, in advance of the mails, which says that his Excellency has ordered out 2500 militia in consequence of the contemplated encampment to be held in this place on the 27th inst. Where these troops are to come from, or to what point they will be directed to march, we know not -- rumor says, however, that they are to rendezvous at Macomb, McDonough county, there to await further orders.

The State Register says that the Missourians have been invited to the encampment, and presumes the object is to "violate law." Now I happen to have one of the circulars issued by the committee of invitation, which I inclose you. If that gives even the slightest color to any improper object, I have yet to learn the force of the English language. The fact in regard to the matter is this. It has become quite common in different parts of the Union to hold such military meetings, in order that men inhabiting different sections may exchange friendly greetings and improve their discipline. The right to do so I believe has not been questioned in other places; and we certainly thought it extended to us; but we may be mistaken. It will be seen from the circular that nothing is said of the Missourians; but if otherwise, what then? Why, perhaps say some, and among them our far seeing Executive, the Mormons may be disturbed, and that I cannot permit. The Mormons should feel thankful to Gov. Ford for his prompt interference to protect them from this impending danger which threatens to overwhelm them all in one common fate? Why, what think you, Messrs. Editors? -- There may be, perhaps, five hundred military at the encampment -- certainly not more -- and the Governor orders out 2500 to co-operate with as many Mormons to visit the anticipated aggressions of this redoubtable 500. Is this not preposterous? Is it not absurd to suppose, in the first place, that the troops about to assemble here are foolhardy enough to attack the Mormons? But our valiant and discreet Governor must be above suspicion -- above the appearance of evil. I do not wish to speak of him irrevently; but I mistake much if this measure alone does not subject him to the ridicule of the whole State.

There has been no design here to attack the Mormons; though it is well known, and is a fact which we do not wish to disguise, that we are exceedingly anxious to get [rid] of them, and believe we shall peaceably, [----- ----- ------ ----- ------] to sacrifice the innocent and helpless among them; nor will we, unless it becomes necessary to protect ourselves and our families. The Governor seems to have got hold of the idea, some how, that the Mormons are in imminent danger. It is a little strange that his fears are so active in their behalf, and that they could never be enlisted on the other side, only for the short time he was in the country after the death of the Smiths. Since his celebrated retreat, he can never be persuaded that there is any danger to the old citizens. I say it is strange. What makes the present movements still more ridiculous is the fact, that for the last day or so there has been much talk of postponing the encampment indefinitely on account of the general sickness in the county, and it had been agreed to publish notice to that effect to-morrow; but now I doubt if it will be done. It is considered too good a joke, and I thibk the thing will go off if there is not over 200 present.

Since writing the above the Quincy stage has come in, and we learn from the driver that 200 men are preparing, by order of the Governor, to march to protect Nauvoo immediately. He says they will start to-morrow. It must be a pleasant excursion to them, and fun, to spend a week among the saints, with no risk from powder or balls. Take the Governor's course since the death of the Smiths [----- ----- ------ ----- ------] was uncalled for and unjust. The [present] movement is alike uncalled for; and the only effect will be to run the State to a great expense, to secure the Mormon vote in November, and to make himself ridiculous in the eyes of all discerning men.

The Mormons are gradually leaving the county, and will, I think, continue to do so, if they are not encouraged to stay. The effect of the Governor's course is to encourage them. Whether that is his object, I leave his political brethren to judge. It is thought by some, that the coming occasion will be sought to make arrests. If that is attempted, you may expect to hear of serious trouble. In haste, yours, respectfully,   N.

---

GRAND MILITARY ENCAMPMENT.

A Military Encampment will be held in Warsaw; commencing the 27th inst., and ending the 2nd day of October next. It is expected that all Independent Companies in Hancock, and several from the adjoining counties in Illinois, will be present.

You are respectfully invited to attend with the forces under your command. All are requested to be on the ground early on the 27th provided with necessary Camp Equipage, and one week's provision.

Sept. 7th, 1844.     Resp'tfully yours,

Col. Levi Williams
Maj. M. Aldrich
Adjt. H. Stephens
Capt. H. P. Crawford
  "   J. C. Davis
Capt. R. F. Smith
  "           Dunn
  "   G. W. Thatcher
  "   W. N. Grover
Lieut. C. C. Stephens

---

STILL  LATER  FROM  WARSAW!!

We received on Saturday evening the following letter: --

                               Warsaw, Sept. 25, 1844.
G. T. M. DAVIS, Esq.

Dear Sir: -- I hasten to acquaint you with the fact that this morning the Deputy Sheriff came here with writs issued from Nauvoo, to arrest two of our citizens -- Mr. Sharp and Col. Williams -- for the murder of the Smiths. Mr. Sharp stated his willingness to pursue whatever course our citizens thought best; but they advised him not to go to Nauvoo. He immediately took a boat and left. Col. Williams also left this evening. * * * *

It is asserted here that the Governor was in Rushville on Monday last, with 300 men, bound for Carthage, from thence to Warsaw or Nauvoo. Murray McConnell has likewise been in Carthage for several days, issuing writs, as is supposed for the arrest of old citizens. Two companies from Quincy reached Nauvoo yesterday.
                                In haste, yours truly.

In addition to the above, we have received the following card of Thomas C. Sharp, Esq., taken from the Warsaw Signal of the same date as our letter. We can plainly see through this business of selecting out particular individuals for arrest. They are the very persons who had the most conversation with Gov. Ford previous to the death of the Smiths, and who could satisfactorily prove to the public the extent of the knowledge on the part of the Governor of what was about to be done. The Executive and his minions may succeed in hunting these men about the country like wild beasts; but neither he nor they can prevent the facts being spread before the public in regard to the knowledge of the Executive as to what was about to transpire. We have no doubt in our own mind, that the sole and only object the Governor had in ordering out a standing army of 2500 men, was to arrest the old citizens of Hancock, and not as [he] hypocritically pretended, to prevent disturbances between them and the Mormons. Another motive doubtless was to secure the Mormon vote for Polk and Dallas, and in which he will in all probability succeed.


Just as our paper was going to press this morning, a man came into our office, and said that he had a writ for me. Well, sir, let me see it. He produced the paper, which proved to be a warrant for the murder of Joe and Hirum Smith, issued by Aaron Johnston, Justice of the Peace in Nauvoo. After reading, I told the officer that if my friends said go, I would go; if not, I would stand fast. Accordingly, I went out, and conversed with the citizens, and unanimously they said don't go. I then told the officer that he could return and report progress, but I could not go with him, for I had no security for my safety; and, moreover, I was not to be singled out as the sole object of Mormon vengeance. Now, gentle reader, I did not help to kill Joe Smith, nor I did not go to the jail, with those who killed him. If my influence helped to produce the state of feeling that resulted in his death, why I am in common with some hundred others, guilty -- not of murder, but of an extra judicial execution. I have the most satisfactory proof that Joe Smith threatened my life, and sought to take it; if I had, therefore, killed him I should only have acted in self-defense. The writ only included Col. Williams and myself. -- Thus it will appear that it is not the guilty, but those most obnoxious to the Latter Day Saints, who are to be selected as victims. The officer, who is Deputy Sheriff, says that his orders are to arrest and return the prisoners to the Sheriff, in Carthage, from thence I suppose I am to be taken to Nauvoo; but I will not go to Nauvoo unless my fellow citizens say so. I did not resist the officer, but my friends advised me not to go, and the officer did not call on any of the citizens to aid him in taking me; after I told him I would not go, he troubled me no further.

Fellow-citizens, shall we submit?
                                        THOMAS C. SHARP.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  LATE  CAMPAIGN.

Since the disbanding of Gov. Ford's army, intelligence from Hancock county has ceased to be looked for with much interest. Messrs. Sharp and Williams, who had given themselves up, as stated in our last, were brought before Judge Thomas, on Thursday of last week, in conformity with the conditions of their surrender; but the Judge refused to take cognizance of the matter, and they were consequently permitted to return to their respective homes. The whole affair would be a laughable farce, were it not that it subjects the public authorities to ridicule, and the people to much unnecessary expense. Perfect tranquility prevailed in Hancock at the latest accounts.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  LATE  CAMPAIGN.

The Warsaw Signal of the 9th inst. gives an amusing "History of the latest Mormon War," from the pen of the Editor, T. C. Sharp, Esq., which occupies full six columns and in which the Governor of this State is made to cut a very ridiculous and contemplative figure. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the real facts of the case, to be able to decide whether this production should be viewed in the light of a true narrative, or as a caricature; but we are inclined to believe, from the nest information we possess, that the campaign of which it speaks was as silly in its conception, and as fruitless in its results, as the murder of the Smiths was offensive in the sight of God and man.


Notes: (forthcoming)

TO  THE  PUBLIC.

In the State Register of the 11th inst., an Editorial article, headed "The Mormon War," appears, in which is to be found the following extract:

Notwithstanding this plan to have the Governor murdered, these same treacherous scoundrels, for whom some of the Whigs feel so much sympathy, about the middle of August last, procured George T. M. Davis, Mayor of Alton, to write to the Governor a letter informing him distinctly, that if he encouraged prosecutions against the assassins, they intended to implicate him as a particips criminis. This information we get from the Governor himself. We further learn from him that he offered himself to submit to the law, if any persons had any accusation to make. He told the people of Hancock that he would take no advantage of the force he had with him, nor would he run away to Missouri to avoid inquiry.


Repugnant as it is to my feelings, to engage in a personal newspaper controversy, I cannot refrain from noticing the above attempt, on the part of Gov. Ford, to pervert an act of kindness towards him, and to unjustly accuse others on my account. I shrink from no responsibility whatever, growing out of any thing I have said or done in regard to the Mormon war; and desire that none should share that responsibility with me. While, therefore, I frankly concede that, about the 18th of August, I wrote Gov. Ford from Quincy a letter in regard to his rumored movements against the old citizens of Hancock, I, at the same time; pronounce it unqualifiedly false, that said letter was written either at the suggestion of any of the citizens of Hancock county, or any other person or persons whatsoever. My motives for writing that letter were simply these: During the period of the arrest, and the killing of the two Smiths, and for a few days thereafter, the most intense excitement existed in the public mind. The conduct of Gov. Ford was severely denounced on all hands. From a calm and personal observation of all that passed at Carthage, Warsaw, and Nauvoo, with the exception of the finale which resulted in the killing of the Smiths, I was satisfied in my own mind that the Governor had exercised the best judgment he possessed in all he did; and that his great desire was to prevent a conflict, and save the State from the disgrace of another mob. -- Gov. Ford and myself, for three years, had been enemies, growing out of the canvass for the Executive chair of this State, between him and Gov. Duncan -- I, as the unwavering friend of the latter, having done all in my power, editorially and personally, to secure his election. This difference between us went so far, that, notwithstanding we boarded at the same house in Springfield, for two sessions of the Legislature, most of the time, we never exchanged a word with each other. Believing. however, that notwithstanding our personal differences were so great, it was the duty of every citizen to sustain his chief Executive officer in the discharge of his public duties, when that officer did his duty, I determined, so far as my individual influence would go, to throw it in sustaining the conduct of Gov. Ford. Consequently, in public addresses before the troops, in going to Warsaw, on the Boreas, at large public meetings in the city of Quincy and other places, I took strong ground for the Governor. And if I was not deceived by his own political friends, I did as ,uch towards staying the torrent of abuse that was poured upon him as any other individual. For this, I gained the displeasure of many influential political friends, whose friendship and good opinions I most highly regarded. I was forewarned by them, that I was deceived in Gov. Ford's conduct; that I was doing for him what his own political friends dared not do; and that he would only in the end abuse me the more for the defense I was making in his behalf. I, however, persisted in my course; feeling confident, from what I had witnessed, that the Governor had done the best his feeble capacities admitted of.

This opinion I continued in, until the appearance of his last Warsaw missile, issued a few days previous to the August election. That step was denounced on all sides as a political ruse of the Governor's, to secure the Mormon vote, and that it had succeeded. On the evening of the day of election, I left Alton for Quincy, in obedience to a previous arrangement with P. van Bergen, Esq., the U. S. Deputy Marshal, to meet him at Quincy on the 8th of August, to levy and advertise sales under several large executions, if no satisfactory arrangement was made with the defendants in them for their settlement. When I reached Quincy, I found the tone of public feeling entirely changed towards Gov. Ford, from what it was when I had left it a month previous; and that, with scarcely a solitary exception, every Whig who had at first believed him honest in the course pursued by him at Carthage and Nauvoo, now denounced him, and expressed the belief that he had acted hypocritically, if not basely. I still took sides with the Governor, and refused to abandon him, until I had further evidence that his last Warsaw hand-bill was the production of a political maneuvre. This was insisted on all hands to have been the case; and circumstantial evidence of the strongest vharacter produced to sustain the charge. In addition to this, I was told that he had a long list of persons, said to have been concerned in the killing of the Smiths, whom he had determined should be prosecuted at all hazards, and that it was his determination to place himself in the relation of a public prosecutor before the people.

After ascertaining all the facts I could, and desirous, for the sake of consistency, still to sustain Gov. Ford, if possible, I determined to write him, which I did. That letter no one on earth knew I intended to write, until the act was done; and when it was written, I submitted it to a leading Democrat, and a personal friend of the Governor, as well as to a Whig in whom I had confidence and asked their opinion if there was any thing in it improper. With these two exceptions, no eye on earth has rested upon that letter save Gov. Ford's, unless he himself has shown it. No citizen of Hancock had any agency whatever in its being written; nor was it [indited] from any other motives than those of friendship towards the Executive -- I told him in it, that it was believed his last hand-bill was purely a political trick; and, if so, I could no longer sustain him; but if it was not so, I should continue to defend him as heretofore. I farther told him that there were in Quincy several of the citizens of Hancock county, who had learnt that he was determined to have them arrested and prosecuted; and that they, or some of them, had declared that if he did, they would show to the world his agency in the matter, so far as a [scienter] went. I further detailed to Gov. Ford the facts they relied upon to prove his knowledge of what had taken place, which was as follows: -- That they could show, by a respectable citizen of Warsaw, that on the morning the killing of the Smiths took place, in a conversation with that citizen, Gov. Ford had stated to him, that they must not do anything while he was there: and that this remark was made in answer to one from this citizen to the Governor, informing him the citizens had determined to take the matter into their own hands. Another fact, I stated they replied upon, was, that two other individuals had heard Gen. Deming, on that same morning, state to Gov. Ford, that an attempt to arrest the two Smiths out of jail that day was to be made; and that it was the Whigs who were going to do it. And another fact was, that one of the Governor's Aids had stated to a gentleman of Alton, that on their march to Nauvoo, he and the Governor had talked the matter over, of the probabilities of an attack being made upon the Smiths during their absence, and that, at his suggestion, the baggage-wagons, &c. were left three miles out of Nauvoo, to facilitate a retreat should one become necessary. I then submitted to Gov. Ford, whether any thing but renewed excitement and hostilities would grow out of his interference in the matter,

This was the substance of my letter referred to in the paragraph taken from the State Register; and for my own vindication, I demand of the Governor, as an act of justice, that he hand that letter to the Editor of the Sangamo Journal for publication. I have been unnecessarily dragged before the public; and intentionally, designedly, and maliciously, placed in a false attitude by Gov. Ford before them. If there is a spark of manhood, or honor, left in him, he will comply with my request. If he does not, I shall only be convinced of what his political friends, as well as foes, have always told me -- that he was as corrupt morally, as he was politically; and that any man, who either placed confidence in him, or befriended him, would assuredly be betrayed and sacrificed whenever it became necessary for his own political or personal purposes. If Gov. Ford desires a controversy with me, in this Mormon farce, he shall have it. I shrink from no responsibility whatever, and am prepared to meet him in any way, or before any tribunal that he may select. And if in the result he shall win any new laurels, to those already encircling his civic and military brow as Commander-in-Chief of the Mormon war, I will acknowledge that I have reckoned without my host.
                                   GEO. T. M. DAVIS.
    Alton, Oct. 16th, 1844.


Notes: (forthcoming)

                 Warsaw, Ill., Oct. 27, 1844.

To the Editors: The Circuit Court of Hancock County has been in session during the past week.

The Grand Jury have had a laborious duty to perform: They came into Court yesterday afternoon, with indictments against nine individuals for the killing of the Smiths, and against three others for being concerned in the destruction of the office of the "Nauvoo Expositor." Having no further business they were discharged.

The persons against whom bills were found, on the former charge, were Senator Davis, Mark Aldrich, Wm. M. Grover, Esq., Col. Williams, and J. C. Sharp, Esq., Editor of the Warsaw Signal, besides several others whose names I do not now recollect. The most of them demanded an immediate trial, which was opposed on the part of the prosecution, and refusal by the Judge; and they stand over to the next term of Court, to be held in May. The defendants, in the meantime, are at liberty.

The indictments were based upon the testimony of one or two Mormon witnesses, much of which is believed to be manifestly false; and the impression is very general, that not one of them can be convicted of any participation in the act -- however much some of them may have aided to produce the state of feeling which resulted in it.

All these men stand, and have ever stood, well before the community; and it was certainly due to them, that they should have had an immediate trial, that the charge and the vindication should have gone together to the world.

The trials for the destruction of the Press have been continued to the next term.

The indictments against Col. Williams and others, for kidnapping Avery, found at the last term have been quashed.

I learn that an indictment was found against William H. Backenstos, the late Jack Mormon Sheriff, for forgery.

The early part of the week was one of much excitement, many rumors had been put afloat, by the Mormons and their adherents, that the old citizens intended to interpose a force to prevent the action of the Grand Jury. Such a thing had never been thought of by them, however.

Judge Thomas has alluded to the report, in his charge to the Grand Jury; and expressed his high satisfaction to find all things appear so peaceable, and that no such intention was manifested. The charge of His Honor is highly spoken of.

It was early discovered that a Mormon encampment was forming near the timber, two or three miles north of Carthage, on the route to Nauvoo. Various surmises and rumors were afloat, as to the object of the encampment, and the number of persons composing it. Several gentlemen of influence, not citizens of the county, visited them, and reported the number at about 200 -- that no arms were visible, though they believed arms were secreted -- that extensive answers were given to their inquiries -- and that, in their opinion they were there for no god purpose! On consultation, it was deemed advisable to have at least an equal number of men in and about Carthage, to act in case of emergency; and steps were taken to carry this resolution into effect. Learning this, the encampment was broken up, and the men made tracks for Nauvoo in the night. Whether the object was to overcome the Court and Grand Jury, or to carry out some secret design, is a matter of conjecture. -- It is rumored, however, that threats were made, that if the Grand Jury failed to indict, the summary would be resorted to, to obtain vengeance.

Another fact added somewhat to the excitement. Some 40 or 50 Indians (men, women and children) have been prowling about the North part of the country for several days -- for what purpose is unknown. They are known to have some connection with the Saints; have been about Nauvoo -- carry papers signed by some of the Mormon leaders, the purport of which is, that the leaders are merely sojourning among their brethren, the Mormons, to hunt &c. That these people have been tampering with the Indians, is well known; and that they have several times induced parties of them yo come to this county, and prowl among us, is a fact, which I think, should be known by the Agents of the Government. Those now among us, say they are Potawotomies; -- and whence they came, or where they are going, none probably know, excepting themselves, and the leaders at Nauvoo.

The people here do not wish to make any acquaintance with them. White men, under the influence of Mormonism, are bad enough in all conscience: whether Indians are worse, we do not wish to be favored with the proof.

I shall, from time to time, inform you of events in this county.
                  Yours, &c.   G.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON NEWS. -- We learn that this trial of persons indicted by the grand jury of Hancock county for the murder of the Smiths, has been postponed by the desire of the prosecuting attorney, and, that those indicted have each had subpoenas issued for Gov. Ford. -- New Era.


Notes: (forthcoming)

                                  Warsaw, Ill., Nov. 29, 1844.

Gentlemen. -- The public have been advised that indictments were obtained at the October term of the Hancock Circuit Court, against several of our citizens, for the murder of the Smiths, that they were desirous to proceed immediately to their trials; and that the cases were continued at the instance of the attorneys for the prosecution, on the pretense that they could not procure their testimony at that term. As a sort of salvo to reconcile them to a continuance, it was agreed by Murray McConnell, the special agent of the Governor in conducting the prosecutions, that if the accused would not leave the state, but would voluntarily appear on the first day of next term, writs should not issue against them. True, this agreement was verbal and rested entirely upon the honor of the parties for its faithful performance; but the accused ratified it in good faith, and considered it no less binding than if executed under hand and seal. Confiding in this assurance of the authorities, the accused have gone about their usual pursuits. None have left their usual residence except Mr. Davis, our Senator, who has gone to Springfield in pursuance of his official duties. There has been no disturbance in the County to subject these individuals to further reprobation; in fact, nothing has been done by them or their friends to afford the least excuse for their arrest; yet writs have been ordered out, and are now in the officers hands.

It would seem that our sapient and honorable authorities, who have talked so long and so loud about the treachery of the citizens of Hancock, have but just succeeded in reasoning themselves into a belief of their baseless charges; and lest the accused might violate the confidence reposed in them by the authorities, in a moment of weakness or fear, they have resolved to cut off all opportunity by a direct violation of the stipulations on their part.

The Sheriff came to Warsaw yesterday, with some half dozen deputies, and fifteen or twenty Mormon allies, (whether volunteers or pressed men we do not know) to make arrests. The citizens had noticed a little in advance, by a gentleman from the East part of the country; and the individuals sought stepped widely out of the way. The officers, after making some inquiries as to their lurking-place, left, as was supposed, to collect a Mormon posse, and have not yet returned.

Undisturbed quiet reigns at present; but I cannot vouch for its long continuance. On the surface all is smooth and quiet, but beneath there is a deep and strong feeling. If much pains is taken by the authorities to arouse to action the suppressed indignation of the people, it may be difficult to predict the consequences. They are peaceably disposed; but feel deeply injured by this movement; and not the accused only, but all feel a warm personal interest in the result. The question arises. -- What can be the object of the Executive in urging these proceedings? If there is now any constitutional objection to these men running at large free of bail, did not the same objection exist with equal force the moment the bills were presented in Court? Has the Executive just discovered that it does not look well to treat persons charged with a high violation of law with such lenient consideration? Or, is it true, as is by many shrewdly suspected, that his Excellency is esceedingly anxious to get rid of Mr. Davis' troublesome company at the seat of Government? Which he can only do by having him thrown into prison.

There is much reason to believe that this is the chief inducement. The Governor has abused citizens notwithstanding his high declarations to the contrary -- that an investigation into his conduct, with reference to our troubles, will be made, and that Mr. Davies [sic] will have the manly independence to place the matter before the public in its true light. The Warsaw Signal is also a grevious eye-sore to his Excellency. His hatred of that press, and its independent Editor, is scarcely less than that manifested by the Mormons towards the ill-fated Expositor and its proprietors. He would silence our press, vacate the seat of our Senator, fill his place by some pliant time-server, and thus cut off the old citizens of the county from all efficient means of placing their cause fairly before the public.

Let the people consider the Governor's whole course in relation to the Mormons, from the time Joe Smith rescued himself from the custody of the Missouri agent, (Mr. Reynolds,) up to the present, and they will -- they must, see that he has either very weakly or very corruptly, lent his whole power and influence to sustain this incubus, Mormonism, which has nearly destroyed all the moral energy of the State, and will, if not soon removed, extinguish every principle of republican vitality. The direct tendency of his course, taken altogether, is to encourage in our midst, the growth of a power more unprincipled and despotic than ever disgraced the sail of Asia.

It is a subject in which every citizen of our State is deeply interested; and now, that the excitement in the Presidential contest is over, and an occasion is offered for the calm contemplation of matters which more nearly concerns us, I hope all will give it that careful consideration which its importance demands.
                                Respectfully, Yours,
                                       SENEX.


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Senate bill, repealing the charter of the city of Nauvoo, was taken up in its order, yesterday afternoon, read the second time, and referred to the committee on Banks and Corporations. No report, however, need be looked for from them until after the first of January.

---

                                              Springfield, Dec. 24, 1844.

On yesterday, the Governor laid before the House a communication, containing his special Message relative to the late Mormon difficulties in Hancock County; which was read, and twenty-five hundred copies ordered to be printed, for the use of the two Houses. From the rumors that had been afloat for some days, as to its general tone, I was prepared to hear a complete vindication of the Mormons, and as direct a censure cast upon the old citizens of Hancock county as insinuation and inuendo would accomplish. I was not, therefore, taken at all by surprise, when I heard the Message read. It sets forth the Governor's own conduct in as favorable light as possible; and pretends that a plot was in existence on the part of the old citizens to have him murdered -- which is a foul calumny, and in my judgment a cowardly attack upon the old citizens, unsupported by any testimony furnished or that can be furnished by Gov. Ford; and only calculated to renew the asperity of feeling heretofore existing between the Mormons and anti-Mormons. Throughout it is a complete Mormon document, and proves that those people exercise unlimited dominion over the Executive of the State. So soon as it is published, I will speak of some portions of it in the terms it merits. The expense he says, he knows nothing about, except the last trip he made there, which has cost the State, according to his statement, from eight to nine thousand dollars. None of the expenses of the first campaign have been reported, some little idea can be formed of the cost to which these pets of Gov. Ford have put the State of Illinois. Notwithstanding his publications to the people during the first Mormon difficulty, in which he proved that, by the abuse of powers under their charter, they had violated the Constitution in four different particulars, and had committed outrages which had even made Kings tremble on their thrones, yet he recommends that their charter be not entirely taken from them, but only purged of some of its obnoxious features. This recommends that all the abuses committed by the Mormons, have been under sections of their charter, such as is found in every city charter in the State; and not under the unconstitutional and arbitrary sections that he is in favor of taking from them. The truth is, constituted as they are, placing implicit confidence in a few leaders, and willing, at all hazards, to follow their advice, and obey their injunctions; and those leaders composed of depraved and unprincipled scoundrelsl there is no safety to the surrounding country or to the people at large, while they are clothed with any chartered privileges whatever. For, no matter how simple, those privileges are, which a Legislature may grant them, abuses the most flagrant will be committed by them against the right, the property, and the liberties of others. Their whole existence as a sect, has shown this to be the case beyond controversy.


Notes: (forthcoming)