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what position the truth holds between the extremes of the conflicting accounts above given, he will probably
come to the conclusion that there was much of wrong on both sides,
Never before was our country witness to such scenes; may she never behold their repetition.
CHAPTER XI.
Escape to Illinois -- Sufferings -- Persecution defeats itself -- Injustice -- Sympathies of the community --
Isaac Galland -- Magnificent enterprise -- Place of gathering -- Missions to England -- J. C. Bennett --
Revenge -- New revelation, corresponding to Galland's advice -- Charters for a city -- University and legion.
AFTER the occurrences related in the foregoing chapter, the Mormon people, numbering
several thousand, made their way, as speedily as possible, out of a state in which they were convinced they could
no longer enjoy the privileges of citizens. They had to pass through a community excited, and highly exasperated
against them. They had been stripped of their property, and deprived of most of the conveniences of travelling.
The season was the most inclement of the year, All these circumstances, and many others, combined to render the
sufferings attending their removal intense in the extreme. Several women and children perished in their dreary
flight, too feeble to sustain such cruel exposure.
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To enter into a minute detail of teh events connected with the Mormon difficulties in Missouri, and their final
expulsion from that state, would transcend our present limits. Our task will be accomplished when we shall have
faithfully exposed the artifices made use of in these modern attempts to found a false religion. But we cannot
excuse ourselves from rebuking, with equal fidelity, an infatuation less pitiable than Mormonism, which led its
opponents to light up the fires of persecution, and to offer sacrifices in the temple of discord.
We have no respect whatever for the pretended fears of the Missourians lest the Mormons "should rise up and
destroy them." Even though the latter had wished and intended to obtain what they were taught to believe was
their "eternal inheritance," by the shedding of blood, yet the idea that they could accomplish such a design
was preposterous, and deserved no place in the mind of a sober man. This pretended alarm, however, was a capital
pretext for the many who wished to turn the tables upon the poor Mormons, and to get to themselves, by dint of
club law, or of mob law, the possession of lands paid for and cultivated by others. Most successfully was it
thus used; and just so far as Missouri has refused to indemnify such robberies, and to punish their authors, she
has favoured injustice, and legalized oppression. Suppose treason and murder could have been proved against a
score of individuals, that was no reason why a community
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should be injured, or why the innocent should be punished with the guilty. If violence be suffered to usurp the
place of law in any country, with what propriety can that be called the asylum of either civil or religious
liberty?
Moreover, illegal opposition, in the nature of things, tends to promote the very interest against which it is
directed. Before the Missouri war, the adherents of Smith were wasting their energies in internal contention,
which resulting, as it did, in multiplying dissenters, would soon have destroyed the sect. Mr. Corrill remarks:
"My opinion is, that if the Mormons had been let alone by the citizens, they would have divided and sub-divided,
so as to have completely destroyed themselves and their power, as a people, in a short time." Composed, as their
community was, of the heterogeneous materials drawn together, on the one hand, by views of interest, and on the
other by fanaticism personified, their greatest desideratum was some rallying point around which all could gather,
-- some excitement so great as to merge their disappointments, their returning sobriety, and their past mistakes,
in a common oblivion; and, at the same time, furnish them a new bond of union in which all could be true yoke-fellows.
Unhappily for them, and for mankind, this was furnished in their expulsion from Missouri.
To the credit of the state and its citizens, the Mormons were kindly received in Illinois. Public meetings were
held on their arrival at Quincy, to express sympathy for their sufferings
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and to provide means for alleviating their distress.
Public attention was now called to them as an injured people, and from this period dates the era of their greatest prosperity. The recital of their persecutions was found to excite sympathy from every quarter, and zealously was it employed as a means of securing influence and respect. A correspondence was kept up with Smith and the other head men who were retained in jail, until in the course of a few months they were able personally to co-operate with their followers. The following account of their treatment while thus retained, and the manner of their escape, is in the language of Mr. Rigdon: --
"After we were cast into prison we heard nothing but threatenings, that if any judge or jury, or court of any kind, should clear any of us, that we should never get out of the state alive. This soon determined our course, and that was to escape out of their hands as soon as we could, and by any means we could. After we had been some length of time in prison, we demanded a habeas corpus of Judge Turnham, one of the county judges, which, with some considerable reluctance, was granted. Great threatenings were made at this time by the mob, that if any of us were liberated we should never get out of the county alive. After the investigation, one of our number was released from prison by the decision of the judge; the remainder were committed to jail. He also returned with them
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until a favourable opportunity offered, which,
through the friendship of the sheriff, Mr. Samuel Hadley, and the jailer, Mr. Samuel Tillery, he was let out of the jail secretly in the night; and being solemnly warned by them to be out of the state with as little delay as possible, he made his escape. Being pursued by a body of armed men, it was through the direction of a kind Providence that he escaped out of their hands and safely arrived in Quincy, Illinois. This was in February, A. D. 1839.
"In the May following, the remainder that were in the Liberty jail were taken to Davies county to be tried by a grand jury of the principal mobbers, in order to see if a bill of indictment could be found as could be expected from the characters of the jury. Bills were found, and they obtained a change of venue to Boon county; accordingly, the sheriff of Davies county, with guards, started to take them from Davies to Boon county. On their way, after journeying a day or two, one evening the guard got drunk, they left them, and also made their escape to Quincy, Illinois."
At the time of their greatest extremity the Mormons found a friend in Isaac Galland, a gentleman holding extensive landed interests in Illinois, and also a disputed title to an immense tract in Iowa, called the half-breed lands. To him the acquisition of one or two thousand industrious settlers upon his lands must at any time have been no small object. It was especially so in view of the complicated
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litigation in which the half-breed tract was involved; that being likely to terminate in favour of the actual possessor.
Some have supposed these facts sufficient to account for his course, without crediting so much to his magnanimity as others have done. At any rate, his proposals for disposing of the half-breed lands to the Mormons were accepted by and with the advice of Joseph Smith, before the latter escaped from confinement. Subsequently, Galland sold to the Mormons the site of the present town of Nauvoo, where he resided, together with large portions of adjoining territory. He granted them a long credit, and afterward accepted in payment their titles to land in Missouri. These arrangements were no doubt highly advantageous to both parties. It becomes interesting, however, to observe the objects and the spirit with which they were entered into by Dr. Galland.
He had previously been noted as any thing rather than a religious man. Whether this new enterprise presented to him more attractions as a pecuniary speculation, a means of acquiring political influence, or as a grand infidel agency for the purpose of "revolutionizing the dogmas of powerful religious denominations," we will not attempt to decide. That each of these considerations had weight with him appears from the following letter, published in the Times and Seasons, by the person to whom it was addressed. J. Galland is indicated to be its author, not only by the number of stars
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which represent his usual signature; but also by expressions in it which no one else could have used. The reader is requested to observe carefully the suggestions contained therein, so that he may apprehend the true origin of some of Smith's subsequent revelations.
"Dear Sir, -- It was my intention to have addressed you before this, but a multiplicity of engagements have hitherto prevented, and I am only enabled now to spare a few moments for that purpose.
"You are of course aware that an attempt to promulgate new doctrinal tenets in religion, is an enterprise of momentous magnitude, and it is an undertaking, which, in order to succeed, will require great reflection, a perfect knowledge of the human character, and determined perseverance. Tact, energy, and talents, are indispensable, and will accomplish much; yet they alone cannot prevail, without encouraging virtue, and discountenancing vice; -- general industry and moral conduct must exist in every community, or that community will totter and be dispersed. A systematic arrangement is also necessary in forming a plan for a new colony -- taste in laying out the streets and squares, and skill in the architecture of the buildings are important.
"Now, as regards your tenets, so far as I have had an opportunity of examining them, there appears nothing objectionable, but much to approve; at any rate, some explanations made by you when I had the pleasure of seeing
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you, aroused my faculties to an extent not often experienced by me, and I am constrained to say, that your views appeared novel, very curious, and extremely plausible: I am not able to discover, why they are not based upon a foundation of truth: and if it be truth itself, what a tremendous moral power can be exerted by the denomination of Latter-day Saints, particularly, if a large number possessing fine talents of good cultivation co-operate with each other, all acting in unison, applying and concentrating religion, intellect, and science, to the attainment of one grand object -- should this take place, as I think it assuredly will, how noble will be the results -- what an increase of numbers -- what an accession of political influence -- what accumulations of wealth; and above all, what a broad and glorious foundation will be laid for building the triumphant church of the Latter-day Saints. There is no estimating the deep, spreading, immense power, of such an engine as religion: it goes on rising, enlarging, and subduing, conquering and to conquer. Ambition itself can hardly grasp in imagination the almost omnipotent force of such an agent as religion. The Project of establishing a new religion, or rather extraordinary religious doctrines, being magnificent in its character, will of course require means adapted to the end, and preparations commensurate with the splendour of the plan. In the first place, you want a suitable rallying ground; perhaps Nauvoo is as good as any, -- it being a capital steam-boat
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landing, it is in that respect preferable to any that I know. You then want a TEMPLE that for size, proportions, and style, shall attract, surprise, and dazzle all beholders -- it should be entirely unique, externally; and in the interior, peculiar, imposing, and grand. Then you want clergymen of the highest mental superiority -- men of education -- men of profound research, subtle, ready logical reasoners, with easy manners, and powerful voices -- then you should. have such a choir of singers as was never before organized. Thus arranged, you would see immediately, nearly every person, within a circle of fifty miles, attending your church, and doubtless many of them become converts. School-houses should be built directly, and school the children young, for 'as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.' Other sects are acquiring great strength by acting upon the young, through the medium of Sunday schools, and other juvenile institutions. Your missionary arrangements are good, and should be pushed vigorously. Let those of intelligence, prudence, and pure piety, be employed in this service. If funds for a COLLEGE could be collected, nothing could be more valuable to you, as through it you would soon have, and send forth to the world, clergymen skilled in science, and calculated to strike conviction into the high and wealthy classes of society.
"You will say that I have been sketching schemes for mere worldly advantage, without contemplating the much more sublime spectacle,
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of a multitude of redeemed souls, prepared through your doctrines for an entrance into paradise. I have already said, that as yet no sufficient time has presented itself, for me to analyze very fully your tenets, but this I can say in great sincerity, that should these doctrines promote the happiness of mankind here, and secure their salvation hereafter, no person could feel the enjoyment more intensely; and I probably feel some degree of pride and vanity, as I shall claim to have selected the spot where a concentration of moral power will exist, which shall revolutionize the dogmas of very powerful religious denominations, and teach them to know, that many discoveries are yet to be made in theological science. Your obedient servant,
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(Pages 165-182 are under construction)
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