Tuesday, 5.—Went to the office at nine, a.m., with Mr. Hamilton, of Carthage, who had obtained a deed from the sheriff of the county for lot 2, block 103, in the city of Nauvoo, for taxes, although I had previously paid them; which is another specimen of the oppression, injustice, and rascality of Mr. Collector Bagby, who by such foul means robs me and other Saints, and abuses all who come unfortunately in his power.
I requested my clerk to make out a bill of fare for the "Mansion."
The ship Metoka sailed from Liverpool with a company of Saints on board.
Wednesday, 6.—I went to the recorder's about half past six, a.m., and found him in bed.
Held mayor's court in the case, "City versus Joseph Owen."
Anti-Mormon Meeting at Carthage, Seat of Hancock, County Illinois.[[4]]
Meeting convened pursuant to adjournment. The former chairman[[5]] not being present.
Edson Whitney, Esq., was called to the chair, and the meeting being organized, the following preamble and resolutions were submitted by the committee, and unanimously adopted:—
PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS.
This meeting having convened for the purpose of taking under advisement a subject of vital importance not only to this county, but to all the surrounding counties, regret that we are necessarily and irresistibly 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 maintaining 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 else 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 restraints 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 duties 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 those mock laws, from time to time, in such manner, that they have been compelled to 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 this 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 securing 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 judgments and costs of his cormorant officers.
Persons upon whom stolen property has been found in the city of Nauvoo, have been brought before this religio-political chief; and he, in the capacity of mayor of the city, has refused to convict, where the cases have been most clear and palpable.
We have had men of the most vicious and abominable habits imposed upon us to fill our most important county offices, 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 absolutely 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 these 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 country will be compelled to assert their rights in some way.
Resolved, 2nd. That while we would deprecate anything like 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, 3rd. 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 neighboring states to begin to take a firm and decided stand against the high pretension 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, adopt 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 authorities of the State of Missouri shall make another demand for the body 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 a posse, 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 too common for several years past for politicians of both political 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 regards to the lives of several of our citizens, we will, if failing to obtain speedy redress from the laws of the land, take summary and signal vengeance upon them as a people.
Resolved, 10th. That when the Government ceases to afford protection, the citizens of course fall back upon their original inherent right of self-defense.
In pursuance of the 7th resolution, the following gentlemen were appointed to act as a central corresponding committee at Carthage—namely, Captain Robert F. Smith, Major T. J. Bartlet, Harmon T. Wilson, Frank A. Worrel, and Walter Bagby.
On motion of Henry Stevens, it was ordered that committees, consisting of two persons, be appointed in each election precinct of this county, for the purpose of communicating with the central committee at Carthage; and that those two may add to their number at discretion.
On motion of Daniel Beaver, it was made the duty of the person whose name stands first on the list of each committee to act as chairman; and that all communications from the other committees, or from any other sources shall be added.
The following gentlemen were then appointed by the chair as committees in the several precincts, to wit:—
Green Plains—Edson Whitney and Levi Williams.
Bear Creek—William White and Andrew Moore.
Chili—Stephen Owen and Arthur Morgan.
Augusta—William D. Abernethy and Alexander Oliver.
Saint Mary's—William Darnell and Daniel Beaver.
Fountain Green—Thomas Geddis and S. H. Tyler.
La Harpe—Jesse Gilmer and Charles Comstock.
Camp Creek—James Graham and Thomas Harris.
Appanooce—John McCanley and John R. Atherton.
Montebello—Samuel Steel and Benjamin B. Gates.
Warsaw—Thomas C. Sharp and Mark Aldrich.
On motion of Levi Williams, Colonel Root, of McDonough county, was added to the central corresponding committee of Carthage.
On motion of Henry Newton, Esq.,
Resolved, That the central committee of correspondence act as a general committee of supervision; and, in case of a contingency occurring requiring aid, that they immediately call on the precinct committees and upon all others favorable to our cause to furnish such aid as the exigency of the case may require.
On the motion of Charles C. Stevens, the following supplementary resolutions were unanimously adopted:—
Resolved, That the president of this meeting be requested to communicate with the Governor of Missouri, and respectfully 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 his arrest and delivery to the proper officers of the state of Missouri, we offer our services to enforce said order, and pledge ourselves to sustain the supremacy of the laws at all hazards and under all circumstances.
Resolved, That a copy of the proceedings of this meeting be forwarded to the publisher of the Warsaw Message, Quincy Whig, and Quincy Herald, for publication, with a request to them to add a note, soliciting all editors friendly to our cause in this state, Missouri, and Iowa Territory, to copy.
It was then moved and seconded, That this meeting adjourn, subject to the call of the central corresponding committee.
Edson Whitney, Chairman.
W. D. Abernethy, Secretary.
Editors throughout Illinois, Missouri, Iowa Territory, friendly to the Anti-Mormon cause, are requested to publish the proceedings, in today's paper, of a meeting held at Carthage on the 6th instant.
Thursday, 7.—I took home the letter written to Harrisburg[[6]] for the Church History, a small fragment of which only has been preserved, and is as follows:—