Friday, August 3.—Made great progress in the turnpike, and the desponding spirits of some began to revive, for laboring had looked to some to be rather a hard way to procure means to prosecute our journey, though but few complained. Some new cases of sickness, but many of those who were unwell the day before were recovering fast. The men and boys in camp were called together in the evening and instructed by the Council as the Spirit of the Lord manifested unto them concerning cleanliness and decency and the importance of being industrious in laboring with their hands to procure means to go on our way. The covenant to put our strength, our properties and monies together for the purpose of going together in the camp to Zion, and of delivering the poor from their poverty and oppression in the land of Kirtland was adverted to by Elders Pulsipher and Foster, and all exhorted and entreated to give heed to it if they wished to enjoy the blessings of the Lord.
An Assistant Council Appointed.
The Council at a meeting held in the afternoon had taken into consideration the propriety of appointing three men to sit as councilors or judges [known as an Assistant Council, see p. 128] to settle matters and difficulties between brethren, that the Council might be relieved in some measure from the arduous duties of settling controversies and have more time to devote to other things that devolved upon them as Presidents of the camp. Duncan McArthur, Gordon Snow and George Stringham were nominated, and the subject was laid before the meeting in the evening to receive the unanimous approbation of all present. The many blessings conferred on us by our Heavenly Father since He first made known His will unto the Council of Seventies, that it was His will that the Seventies should go to Zion in a camp together, were recapitulated and our hearts were made glad and we rejoiced in the Rock of our salvation whose mercies had been extended unto us, notwithstanding our murmurings against Him and slowness of heart to believe His words, and the many promises which He had made unto us. At the close of the meeting our united prayers ascended to God in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, for the recovery of Elder Jacob Chapman's family who resided near the city of Dayton, and had sent unto us for some of the Elders to go and lay hands on them in the name of the Lord, as they were sorely afflicted with disease, and for the recovery of the sick in our own camp, and that the destroyer might cease to make inroads among us.
Saturday, August 4.—Our circumstances about the same as on the day previous. A heavy shower towards evening cooled the air and greatly revived the vegetation which was suffering for want of rain in the country round about. In the evening the camp was called together again and the names of those who had absented themselves from labor were read over and those who had no excuse for their absence were severely reprimanded, and the overseers of tents instructed by the Council to withhold the usual rations allotted from such individuals as could but would not labor, that the idler should not eat the bread of the laborer, according to the commandments of the Lord.—Doctrine and Covenants, sec. xlii.
Footnotes
[1]. This chapter and the one following contain the uninterrupted history of Kirtland camp promised at p. 42, and is taken from the camp's daily journal, kept by the late Judge Elias Smith.
[2]. See page 90.
[3]. By typographical error this name, in the list of those who signed the camp's constitution (p 92), is given as E. B. Gayland.
[4]. The war rumors here mentioned have reference to what is known in Canadian history as the "Canadian Rebellion." It was the culmination of agitation begun as early as 1831, on the part of the people of Canada, under popular leaders, such as Papineau, Brown, Nielson, McKenzie and others, for enlarged measures of home rule for the Dominion. The popular leaders marshaled their forces against the government during the winter of 1837-8, and a number of skirmishes took place. Canadian independence was much talked of, and the people in the United States along the Canadian border were much excited, and volunteers began to flock in considerable numbers to aid the cause of the "patriots," as the insurgents were called. "But," to quote a Canadian historian, "the American President, Mr. VanBuren, issued two successive proclamations warning the people of the penalties to which they would expose themselves by engaging in hostilities with a friendly power, and also appointed General Scott to take command of the disturbed frontier and enforce a strict neutrality." After the arrival of General Scott on the frontiers, effective measures were taken to prevent further supplies and recruits from reaching the "patriots," and the militia ordered out by the Canadian government, after some severe fighting, dispersed the insurgents, many of whom fled to the United States. The British parliament subsequently granted some of the legislative reforms demanded by the people.