Friday, 20.—Charges having been preferred against Robert D. Foster, by Samuel H. Smith before a special council, for abusive language towards Samuel H. Smith; also for abusing the marshal of the city, I spent the day in council, and such was the proof against Foster, I had considerable labor to get him clear, even after his confession, which I desired to do, hoping he would amend.
Saturday, 21.—I spent the day with the High Council of Nauvoo, investigating the case of Robert D. Foster, Chauncey L. Higbee and others.
Sunday, 22.—I spent the day mostly at home. In looking at the papers, I discovered the following in the Quincy Whig:
ASSASSINATION OF EX-GOVERNOR BOGGS OF MISSOURI.
Lilburn W. Boggs, late governor of Missouri, was assassinated at his residence in Independence, Missouri, by an unknown hand, on the 6th instant. He was sitting in a room by himself, when some person discharged a pistol loaded with buckshot, through an adjoining window, three of the shots took effect in his head, one of which penetrated the brain. His son, a boy, hearing the report of the pistol, ran into the room in which his father was seated, and found him in a helpless situation, upon which he gave the alarm. Footprints were found beneath the window, and the pistol which gave the fatal shot. The governor was alive on the seventh, but no hopes are entertained of his recovery. A man was suspected, and is probably arrested before this. There are several rumors in circulation in regard to the horrid affair; one of which throws the crime upon the Mormons, from the fact, we suppose, that Mr. Boggs was governor at the time, and in no small degree instrumental in driving them from the state. Smith, too, the Mormon Prophet, as we understand, prophesied, a year or so ago, his death by violent means. Hence, there is plenty of foundation for rumor. The citizens of Independence had offered a reward of $500 for the murderer.
I went to the editor's office, and inserted the following in the Wasp:
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS, MAY 22, 1842.
Mr. Bartlett:
DEAR SIR:—In your paper (the Quincy Whig) of the 21st instant, you have done me manifest injustice in ascribing to me a prediction of the demise of Lilburn W. Boggs, Esq., ex-governor of Missouri, by violent hands. Boggs was a candidate for the state senate, and, I presume, fell by the hand of a political opponent, with "his hands and face yet dripping with the blood of murder;" but he died not through my instrumentality. My hands are clean, and my heart pure, from the blood of all men. I am tired of the misrepresentation, calumny and detraction, heaped upon me by wicked men; and desire and claim, only those principles guaranteed to all men by the Constitution and laws of the United States and of Illinois. Will you do me the justice to publish this communication? and oblige,
Yours respectfully,
[Signed] JOSEPH SMITH.
An Epistle of the High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, to the Saints scattered abroad, Greeting:
DEAR BRETHREN:—Inasmuch as the Lord hath spoken, and the commandment hath gone forth for the gathering together of His people from Babylon, that "they partake not of her sins, and receive not of her plagues;" it seemeth, "good unto us, and also to the Holy Ghost" to write somewhat for your instruction, in obeying that commandment. That you have no need that we exhort you to the observance of this commandment, is evident; for you yourselves know that this is that which was spoken by the Lord, in the parable of the tares of the field, who promised, that in the harvest he would say to the servant "gather the wheat into my barn;" the signs of the times proclaim this—the end of the world; and thus admonish us to the performance of this duty. "Yet notwithstanding the Spirit testifieth of these things, and you desire with great anxiety to gather with the Saints; yet are many of you hindered even to this day;" so that to will to obey the commandment is present; but how to perform, you find not. Feeling, therefore, the responsibility binding on you to observe the statutes and commandments of the Lord, and living in the midst of a generation that are ignorant of what the mind of the Lord is concerning His people, and of the things that belong to their peace; we are well aware of the embarrassments under which many of you labor in endeavoring to obey the laws pertaining to your salvation. It is then no marvel that in this day when darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people, that this generation who know not the day of their visitation, nor the dispensation of the fullness of times in which they live, should mock at the gathering together of the Saints for salvation, as did the antediluvians at the mighty work of righteous Noah, in building an ark in the midst of the land, for the salvation of his home by water; seeing then that such "blindness hath happened to the Gentile world, which to them is an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation," and that of God, think it not strange that you should have to pass through the like afflictions which all your brethren the saints in all ages have done before you; to be reviled, persecuted, and hated of all men, for the name of Christ and the Gospel's sake, is the portion which all saints have had to partake, who have gone before you. You then can expect no better things than that there be men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the truth, who will evil entreat you, and unjustly despoil you of your property and embarrass you in pecuniary matters, and render it the more difficult to obey the command to gather with the Saints; pretending to do God's service, "whose judgment now lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
But, brethren, with all these considerations before you, in relation to your afflictions, we think it expedient to admonish you, that you bear, and forbear, as becometh Saints, and having done all that is lawful and right, to obtain justice of those that injure you, wherein you come short of obtaining it, commit the residue to the just judgment of God, and shake off the dust of your feet as a testimony of having done so.
Finally, brethren, as it is reported unto us, that there be some who have not done that which is lawful and right, but have designedly done injury to their neighbor or creditor by fraud, or otherwise, thinking to find protection with us in such iniquity; let all such be warned and certified, that with them we have no fellowship, when known to be such, until all reasonable measures are taken to make just restitution to those unjustly injured. Now, therefore, let this epistle be read in all the branches of the Church, as testimony, that as representatives thereof, we have taken righteousness for the girdle of our loins, and faithfulness for the girdle of our reins, "and that for Zion's sake we will not rest; and for Jerusalem's sake we will not hold our peace, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof, as a lamp that burneth."
Your brethren and servants in the kingdom and patience of Jesus.
WILLIAM MARKS,
AUSTIN COWLES,
CHARLES C. RICH, Presidents.
JAMES ALLRED,
ELIAS HIGBEE,
GEORGE W. HARRIS,
AARON JOHNSON,
WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, SEN.,
HENRY G. SHERWOOD,
SAMUEL E. BENT,
LEWIS D. WILSON,
DAVID FULLMER,
THOMAS GROVER,
NEWEL KNIGHT,
LEONARD SOBY.
Attest: HOSEA STOUT, Clerk.
May 22, 1842.