The subjoined list shows a few of the publications for and against the Saints during the year.
Pro et con Mormonism, publications for the year 1843.
The Alton Telegraph published several very severe articles against the Church.
Edward Brotherton published a scurrilous pamphlet at Manchester, England, entitled "Mormonism—its Rise and Progress, and the Prophet Joseph Smith."
The Richmond Palladium published an amusing and favorable article on "Mormonism."
The Boston Bee published a series of articles favorable to the Saints, which had a beneficial effect in putting down prejudice and misrepresentation.
A favorable account of a visit to Nauvoo was published by Samuel A. Prior, Methodist minister.
The Morning Star, a Freewill Baptist paper, published a long and bitter article against the Latter-day Saints, entitled "Mormon Perversion."
A favorable article, entitled "Nauvoo and Mormonism," was published by a Traveler.
The Quincy Whig published several bitter articles against me.
The Warsaw Message, and subsequently the Warsaw Signal, published a continual tirade of abuse, misrepresentation, and lies against the Saints.
The New Haven (Con.) Herald published a favorable account of the "Mormons" in Nauvoo.
Footnotes:
[1]. There was also a Memorial prepared by the Prophet from the inhabitants of Hancock county generally to the same effect as the above, but it was never extensively signed or presented to Congress.
[2]. This man afterwards was discovered to be an adventurer and a most desperate character. Gregg in his Prophet of Palmyra, Chapter XXX, speaks of him as "an adventurer of fine appearance and gentlemanly manners, who appeared in the county (Hancock) during the troubles; went to Nauvoo, and became intimate with Smith and the leaders; afterwards turned against them—went to Warsaw and issued a pamphlet—claiming to be an expose of Mormonism and the evil purposes and practices of the Prophet * * * He was an entire stranger to the county and its people; no one knew whence he came or what became of him afterwards, when the excitement was all over. Hence it is just to say, that the equivocal position in which he stood very justly tended to lessen confidence of the public in his statements, and his little book made slight impression. The Mormons charged that he was an adventurer of the worst class—himself a counterfeiter, etc., and that he quarreled with the Prophet and the authorities because he was detected and exposed." Gregg also says that this "Expose was much of the same character as that of General Bennett's." (Ibid).
CHAPTER VII.
PRESIDENT SMITH'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH JOHN C. CALHOUN—CARTWRIGHT DROWNING CASE, ENGLAND—CITY GUARDS INCREASED—FEARS OF LAW AND MARKS—INVESTIGATION BY THE CITY COUNCIL—RESISTANCE OF OFFICERS AT CARTHAGE—ANTI-MORMON OBJECTIONS TO CITY ORDINANCES—THE PROPHET'S DIFFICULTIES WITH FRANCIS M. HIGBEE—REGULATIONS FOR THE SALE OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.
Monday, January 1, 1844.—A cold, blustering rainstorm ushered in the new year.
At sunrise, Thomas Miller, James Leach, James Bridges, and John Frodsham were brought before me by the police, charged with disorderly conduct. Fined Miller $5: the others were discharged.