PUBLIC MEETING AT NAUVOO.

At a meeting of the citizens of Nauvoo, held near the Temple, on the 7th day of December, 1843, Alpheus Cutler was called to the chair, and Willard Richards appointed secretary; whereupon, after the object of the meeting was stated, a committee of three—namely, W. W. Phelps, Reynolds Cahoon, and Hosea Stout, were appointed to draft a preamble and resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the people of the city of Nauvoo relative to the repeated unlawful demands by the State of Missouri for the body of General Joseph Smith, as well as the common, cruel practice of kidnapping citizens of Illinois, and forcing them across the Mississippi river, and then incarcerating them in the dungeons or prisons of Missouri. And after a few minutes' absence they returned with the following:—

RESOLUTIONS.

Whereas, the State of Missouri, with the Governor at the head, continues to make demands upon the executive of Illinois for the body of General Joseph Smith, as we verily believe, to keep up a system of persecution against the Church of Latter-day Saints, for the purpose of justifying the said State of Missouri in her diabolical, unheard of, cruel and unconstitutional warfare against said Church of Latter-day Saints, and which she has practiced during the last twelve years, whereby many have been murdered, mobbed and ravished, and the whole community expelled from the State:

And also to heave dust in the eyes of the nation and the world, while she, as a State, with the Government to back her, continues to slip over the river to steal the property of the Latter-day Saints, and kidnap the members of said Church to glut her vengeance, malice, revenge, and avarice, and to make slaves of the said captives or murder them: Therefore,

Resolved unanimously: As we do know that Joseph Smith is not guilty of any charge made against him by the said State of Missouri, but is a good, industrious, well-meaning, and worthy citizen of Illinois, and an officer that does faithfully and impartially administer the laws of the State, that we as citizens of Illinois, crave the protection of the Constitution and laws of the country as an aegis to shield him, the said General Joseph Smith, from such cruel persecutions, beseeching the Governor of Illinois not to issue any more writs against the said General Joseph Smith, or other Latter-day Saints (unless they are guilty), but to let the Latter-day Saints "breathe awhile like other men," and enjoy the liberty guaranteed to every honest citizen by the Magna Charta of our common country.

Resolved, That as citizens of the State of Illinois, we solicit the attention of the Governor and officers generally of the State to take some lawful means and measures to regain the citizens that have been kidnapped by the Missourians, and to prevent the said Missourians and government from committing further violence upon the citizens of Illinois.

Resolved, as the sense of this meeting, That, according to the true meaning of the law, those citizens of any section of country who do not rise up as virtuous freemen (when any portion of inhabitants congregate or combine to injure, slander, or deprive another portion of their rights,) and magnify the law, to clear themselves from such unhallowed attempts to subvert order and law, that they by their silence make themselves accessories of the crime of such unlawful assemblage or outrageous individuals.

Resolved, unanimously, That we solicit the Governor by all honorable means to grant us peace, for we will have it.

ALPHEUS CUTLER, Chairman.

WILLARD RICHARDS, Secretary.

In the afternoon, Lucien Woodworth started with the papers to the Governor, and the petition from Goodwin and others, and Delmore Chapman's affidavit.

Provision for German Meetings.

The German brethren met at the assembly room at six p.m., and choose Bishop Daniel Garn as their Presiding Elder, and organized to have preaching in their native language.

Directed copies of my Appeal to the various authorities of Vermont and the United States.

Precautionary Steps against Missouri Invasion

Friday, 8.—At eleven a.m. I went to my office and gave instructions to my clerk for the drawing of a draft of a dam on the Mississippi river, an directed that the city council be called at four this afternoon to make preparations for any invasion from Missouri.

Willard Richards and Philip B. Lewis made an affidavit, which I insert:—

Richards' and Lewis' Affidavit.

STATE OF ILLINOIS,

CITY OF NAUVOO. ss.

On the 8th day of December, 1843, came Willard Richards and Philip B. Lewis before me, Joseph Smith, Mayor of said city, and after being duly sworn, depose and say that they have been informed that two men have been kidnapped recently by the Missourians, in connection with some of the lawless inhabitants of the county of Hancock, and that rumors are now afloat that it is the intention of said lawless persons, in connection with the aforesaid Missourians, to kidnap some of the citizens of this city; and further your affiants would state that they are of opinion, to prevent difficulties of such a vexatious nature, that something should be done to secure the peace of this city from being disturbed. And further your affiants say not.

WILLARD RICHARDS,

PHILIP B. LEWIS.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 8th day of December, 1843.

W. W. PHELPS, Clerk.

Whereupon I issued the following notification;—