On the 8th of October Elders Phelps and Hyde had presented the petition of the Saints in Jackson county to the Governor of Missouri, who at that time gave them for an answer that the Attorney-General of the State was absent, but promised that on his return he would inform them of his conclusions by mail, addressed at Independence, whither the brethren immediately returned. About the 28th of October, in pursuance of Governor Dunklin's promise, the brethren in Zion received the following communication from him in reply to their petition of September 28:

City of Jefferson, Executive Department,

October 19, 1833.

To Edward Partridge, W. W. Phelps, Isaac Morley, John Corrill, A. S. Gilbert, John Whitmer and others:

Your memorial, soliciting my interposition against violence threatened you, and redress for injuries received by a portion of the citizens of Jackson county, has been received, and its contents duly considered. I should think myself unworthy the confidence with which I have been honored by my fellow-citizens, did I not promptly employ all the means which the constitution and laws have placed at my disposal, to avert the calamities with which you are threatened.

Ours is a government of laws; to them we owe all obedience; and their faithful administration is the best guarantee for the enjoyment of our rights.

No citizen, nor number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society, and subverts the foundation on which it is based. Not being willing to persuade myself that any portion of the citizens of the state of Missouri are so lost to a sense of these truths as to require the exercise of force, in order to ensure a respect for them, after advising with the Attorney-General, and exercising my best judgment, I would advise you to make a trial of the efficacy of the laws. The judge of your circuit is a conservator of the peace; if an affidavit is made before him by any of you, that your lives are threatened, and you believe them in danger, it would be his duty to have the offenders apprehended and bind them to keep the peace. Justices of the peace in their respective counties, have the same authority, and it is made their duty to exercise it. Take, then, this course:—obtain a warrant, let it be placed in the hands of the proper officer, and the experiment will be tested, whether the laws can be peaceably executed or not. In the event they cannot be, and that fact is officially notified to me, my duty will require me to take such steps as will enforce a faithful execution of them.

With regard to the injuries you have sustained by destruction of property, etc., the law is open to redress; I cannot permit myself to doubt that the courts will be open to you, nor [believe] that you will find difficulty in procuring legal advocates to sue for damages therein.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

Daniel Dunklin.

W. W. Phelps, Esq., Independence, Jackson County, Mo.

Preparation for Asserting Rights.

Immediately on receipt of the Governor's letter, the members of the Church generally, (though they had lain idle since the outrage in July), began to labor as usual, and build and set in order their houses, gardens, etc. The brethren in Zion were also busily engaged in devising means of redress for their grievances; and having consulted with four lawyers from Clay county, then attending court in Independence, they received from them the following letter on the day written; which I will copy entire, that the principles by which the lawyers of this generation are actuated may be recorded, as well as the difficulties the Saints had to encounter in following the Governor's instructions:

Independence, Oct. 30, 1833.

Gentlemen:—The first thing necessary to be done, under circumstances like ours, is to ascertain and fix upon the amount of fee to be paid, and to secure the payment thereof by the necessary papers: and then the responsibility of advising falls upon us. We are now laboring under all the disadvantages of an engagement without any of its advantages; it therefore becomes us to know whether we can agree as to the fee or not; and that we should be paid, too, according to the situation in which we place ourselves. We have been doing a practice here among these people, to a considerable extent, and by this engagement we must expect to lose the greatest part of it, which will be to all of us a considerable loss; besides that, the amount involved must be very considerable, and the amount involved must be generally the criterion of the fee. Taking all these matters into consideration we propose to you to bring all the suits you may want brought, and attend to them jointly throughout, for the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars each, making for all four of us, the sum of one thousand dollars.

This may seem to be a large sum for a fee for lawyers in this country, but the circumstances here involved make it necessary. This matter must be attended to in the first place, and then such advice, for the present, as may seem to be dictated by wisdom, and be necessary we will give you; and in the proper time we will bring the suits. If this proposal suits, you will please execute notes, and send them to us; and if not agreed to, apprise us by letter immediately, for we can be engaged on the opposite side in all probability. We prefer to bring your suits, as we have been threatened by the mob, we wish to show them we disregard their empty bravadoes.

(Signed)

Wood,

Reese,

Doniphan,

Atchison.

Counsel Employed.

As a dernier ressort, the brethren accepted the foregoing proposition, and Brothers Phelps and Partridge gave their note of one thousand dollars, endorsed by Gilbert & Whitney. No sooner had this news spread among the mob, than they began to congregate and prepare for battle.

Footnotes.

[1]. Freeman Nickerson was born in South Dennis, Barnstable county, Massachusetts, February 5, 1778. His Father's name was Eleazer Nickerson, his mother's Thankful Chase Nickerson. Her father was a seaman. In 1800 Freeman emigrated to Vermont, and settled in Windsor county; and here he married Huldah Chapman, daughter of Eliphalet and Abigail Chase Chapman, on January 10, 1801. He served in the war of 1812 and was commissioned a lieutenant. He received the Gospel at Dayton, Cattaraugus county, New York, in April, 1833, being baptized by Elder Zerubbabel Snow, and was soon after ordained a Deacon. Brother Nickerson performed a mission among the Saints in Kirtland and vicinity in the early fall of 1833, and on the 5th of October started for Canada in company with the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, taking them on this journey with his own team and conveyance.—"Obituary Record," (Ms.), page 45.

[2]. Ashtabula is in Ashtabula county, Ohio, some forty miles northeast of Kirtland.