The Prophet saw a grand city of Nauvoo to rise in the near future; and his vision and hope were fulfilled.
Ascending the upper Mississippi in the autumn, when its waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of the Rapids. * * * My eye wearied to see everywhere sordid, vagabond and idle settlers, and a country marred, without being improved, by their careless hands. I was descending the last hillside upon my journey when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun; its bright, new dwellings, set in cool green gardens, ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was covered by a noble marble edifice, whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city appeared to cover several miles; and beyond it, in the back-ground, there rolled off a fair country, chequered by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise and educated wealth everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty.
This is what Colonel, afterwards Major-General, Thomas L. Kane thought of Nauvoo when his eyes rested upon it from a distance in 1846, only seven years after the purchase by the Saints of the marshy ground upon which the city stood. It partially shows how well the Prophet and his fellow-laborers had been able to fulfill his high hopes of the city's destiny. For the Prophet did have a definite and exalted plan for Nauvoo. It was his purpose, under the direction of the Almighty, to make this a fit abiding place for the Saints of the Most High; not only a place where they might receive spiritual guidance, but a place where the arts and sciences might be taught and where all the benefits of civilization might be enjoyed. The Prophet understood the gospel which he proclaimed—that it comprehended the material betterment of all mankind; and he aspired to establish in Nauvoo such social conditions as would show the efficacy of gospel teachings in the daily life of the community. He wanted to demonstrate in Nauvoo to the gaze of all the world how nearly perfect community life might become in a free republic, when all men were animated by the same motives of pure religion and unselfish association; how much they might be prospered and how easily they might be governed.
On the 16th day of December, 1840, the charter of the city of Nauvoo, with charters of the Nauvoo Legion and the University of the City of Nauvoo, were signed by Governor Thomas Carlin, having previously passed both houses of the Legislative Assembly of the state of Illinois. Under the terms of these charters it would be possible for the Prophet to demonstrate his social problem; but he was not permitted to do it without molestation.
It had been held out to the world by shrewd observers that all the charges made in the state of Missouri against the Prophet and his companions were false and would not bear fair judicial scrutiny; because, after the escape of the brethren, they lived openly at Nauvoo and no effort was made to secure them by the officers of the adjoining state. It seemed very clear that the men who had murdered and plundered the Saints did not want to have their acts reviewed, even though the Prophet's liberty was the price of their inaction. But they were taunted by some of their prominent fellow-citizens with this fact, and they decided to answer this disagreeable clamor by renewing the persecutions against the Prophet. The old mob element was determined to have vengeance for this logical exposure of its unjust deeds.
On the 15th day of September, 1840, after a silence of a year and a half, Governor Boggs of Missouri made a demand upon Governor Carlin of Illinois for Joseph Smith, Jr., Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin and Alanson Brown, as fugitives from justice. Governor Carlin complied with the requisition by issuing an order for the apprehension of these men. When the officer went to serve the papers, the brethren were away from home; and, learning of the movement, they determined to evade the process—not that they feared any righteous inquiry into their conduct, but, having once escaped from Missouri murderers, they declined to give themselves up again to be assassinated.
A leading article from the Quincy, Illinois, Whig of that period—written by the editor, who was only an acquaintance of the Prophet and not in affiliation with the Church—presents the situation so clearly that it should be preserved for all time to come:
We repeat, Smith and Rigdon should not be given up. The law requiring the governor of our state to deliver up fugitives from justice is a salutary and a wise one, and should not in ordinary circumstances be disregarded; but as there are occasions when it is not only the privilege but the duty of the governor of the state to refuse to surrender the citizens of his state upon the requisition of the executive of another,—and this we consider is the case of Smith and Rigdon.
The law is made to secure the punishment of the guilty, and not to sacrifice the innocent, and the governor whose paramount duty it is to protect the citizens of his state from lawless violence, whenever he knows that to comply with such requisition he could be delivering the citizens into the hands of a mob as a victim to appease the thirst of the infuriate multitude for blood, without trial and against justice: under such circumstances, we repeat, the governor is bound by the highest of all human laws, to refuse to comply with the requisition; and will Governor Carlin pretend to say that the present is not a case of this kind?
The history of the Mormon difficulties in Missouri, is of too recent an origin not to be well known to the governor. A few years since, when they had settled in the Far West, and had gathered around them the comforts and conveniences of life, and were beginning to reap the just reward of their industry and enterprise, a mob attempted to drive them from their homes; as peaceable citizens, enjoying all the rights guaranteed to them by a republican Constitution, they had a right, and did call on the governor of Missouri for protection. Did he, in obedience to the oath which he had taken to support the constitution of the state, respond to the call as a governor should? No! and forever will a stain rest upon the name of Lilburn W. Boggs, and the state of Missouri. Mr. Boggs told the Mormons that they must take care of themselves—in fact denying them the protection of the constitution under whose broad folds they had taken shelter. Thus denied the protection of the state, they prepared to defend their homes, wives and children. Did Mr. Boggs, as the controversy proceeded, remain a neutral spectator, as his first intimation had given the Mormons to understand? Oh, no! when the mob was forced to fly for safety—like cowards as they were—then this wise and oath-bound executive, called on the militia of the state, to aid in expelling—or rather, to use one of the expressions of Mr. Boggs—in "exterminating" the Mormons. Which is as much as to say, if the Mormons cannot be driven from their homes, their possessions, and all else that they hold dear, peaceably, why then, kill, murder, burn, destroy, anything so the Mormons are "exterminated" from the state! Most just, humane, wise, and patriotic Governor Boggs!
Many of them were barbarously butchered, and all shamefully unsettled and cruelly driven from their comfortable firesides at an inclement season of the year; those who escaped secret murder, were inhumanly and savagely treated, their females violated, and their property confiscated and plundered, by the barbarous vandals who were persecuting them even unto death! and to such men and to such people, would Governor Carlin deliver up two of our Mormon citizens for a sacrifice! We oppose this barter and trade in blood, upon higher grounds than the mere forms of law upon which the Argus justifies the governor. If we believe that Smith and Rigdon had been guilty of criminal acts in Missouri, and could have a fair trial for such acts, under the laws of that state, we should be among the first to advocate the surrender of those gentlemen. It is not the laws of Missouri, of which we complain, it is of the officers who are appointed to execute and carry out those laws. Their conduct must be forever reprobated—it is a lasting disgrace to the state.
The Mormons have resided in our state since they were driven out of Missouri—behaving as good citizens. Smith and Rigdon in particular, have resided ever since within the limits of our state, undoubtedly with the full knowledge of the authorities of Missouri, but no demand is made till the citizens of Missouri, pursuing them in their new homes in this state, with the same disregard of law that marked their previous conduct, a call is made upon the governor of that state to deliver them over to our authorities to be tried for violating our laws, then the very vigilant governor of Missouri calls for the apprehension of Smith and Rigdon!
It may be that Governors Carlin and Boggs had a private understanding—that a cartel, an exchange of prisoners, may be agreed on between them. If it is so, the governor is trifling with the lives of our citizens—with the lives of those whom he is sworn to protect. Reason, justice and humanity, cry out against the proceeding.
We repeat, that compliance on the part of Governor Carlin, would be to deliver them not to be tried for crime, but to be punished without crime; and that under those circumstances, they had a right to claim protection as citizens of this state.
This was the beginning of a trouble which lasted during the few remaining years of the Prophet's life. While he was upon one hand building up Nauvoo into a beautiful city and spreading abroad the glory of the gospel; upon the other hand, he was himself harassed and driven day and night by the relentless efforts of vindictive enemies incited by bigotry which failed to comprehend the grandeur of his work and the purity of his soul.
From this time on, though his labor was constantly expanding, he himself was being hedged in. And as the events of the remaining four years crowd each other with lightning rapidity, this is the proper time to pause and look at length upon his matured person and character, just as he is about to rise to the zenith of his career and just at the hour when all the forces of the adversary are being united in a movement to drag him down and destroy the cause entrusted to his care.