Joseph then recounted the doings of the time at Nauvoo, and demonstrated that he and his brethren had been willing and were still as willing as ever to submit to the authority of law; that they had not transgressed the statutes; that the effort making against them was the device of Satan. He told them that a pretext had been sought by their enemies in order that a band of infuriated mob men might be congregated to fall upon Nauvoo, to murder, plunder, and ravish the innocent. He said:

We are American citizens. We live upon a soil, for the liberties of which our fathers periled their lives and spilt their blood upon the battle-field. Those rights, so dearly purchased, shall not be disgracefully trodden under foot by lawless marauders without at least a noble effort on our part to sustain our liberties.

Will you stand by me to the death, and sustain, at the peril of your lives, the laws of our country, and the liberties and privileges which our fathers have transmitted unto us, sealed with their sacred blood? ["Aye," shouted thousands.] It is well. If you have not done it, I would have gone out there, [pointing to the west], and would have raised up a mightier people.

I call all men, from Maine to the Rocky Mountains, and from Mexico to British America, whose hearts thrill with horror to behold the rights of free men trampled under foot, to come to the deliverance of this people from the cruel hand of oppression, cruelty, anarchy and misrule to which they have long been made subject. Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the oppressor's rod, loose the iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring to condign punishment all those who trample under foot the glorious principles of our Constitution and the people's rights [Drawing his sword and presenting it to heaven.] I call God and angels to witness that I have unsheathed my sword with a firm and unalterable determination that this people shall have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body consigned to the silent tomb. While I live, I will never tamely submit to the dominion of accursed mobocracy. I would welcome death rather than submit to this oppression; and it would be sweet, oh, sweet to rest in the grave, rather than submit to this oppression, confusion and alarm upon alarm, any longer.

* * * * *

Peace shall be taken from the land which permits these crimes against the Saints to go unavenged.

I call upon all friends of truth and liberty to come to our assistance; and may the thunders of the Almighty, and the forked lightnings of heaven, and pestilence, and war, and bloodshed come down on those ungodly men who seek to destroy my life and the lives of this innocent people.

I do not regard my own life. I am ready to be offered a sacrifice for this people; for what can our enemies do? Only kill the body, and their power is then at an end. Stand firm, my friends; never flinch. Do not seek to save your lives, for he that is afraid to die for the truth will lose eternal life. Hold out to the end, and we shall be resurrected, and become like Gods and reign in celestial kingdoms, principalities and eternal dominions, while this mob will sink to the portion of all those who shed innocent blood.

God has tried you. You are a good people; therefore I love you with all my heart. Greater love hath no man than that he should lay down his life for his friends. You have stood by me in the hour of trouble, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation.

May the Lord God of Israel bless you forever and ever. I say this in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and in the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which He hath conferred upon me.

And all the people cried Amen!

The vast assemblage had listened to his words with breathless attention, for he spoke with a power transcending anything that the Saints had ever before heard, even from him whose speech was always soul-touching. Had he expressed a wish to fight, his people would have followed him with joy to the contest. It is no wonder that his words sank deep into their hearts; it is no wonder that to their sight he appeared grander than mortal. It was the last time for many of them in the flesh that they were to listen to the music of his voice or to feel the spell of his mighty inspiration. It was his last public address! In a few short days that Godlike form, so perfect in its manly beauty, was to be locked in the embrace of the tomb; and that voice, whose angelic sweetness had comforted them in the hour of darkest woe, was to be hushed in death.

On the 20th of June he wrote to all the apostles who were absent on missions to come home immediately. Only two of the twelve were with him, Apostles John Taylor and Willard Richards. He had often stated to the twelve that upon them would devolve the work when he was gone, and he knew that their presence would soon be needed.

His consciousness of his impending fate and his fortitude were divine. His last deeds and his last thoughts were for the cause and the people whom he loved.

CHAPTER LXIII.

PONTIUS PILATE FORD'S ENTRANCE UPON THE SCENE AT CARTHAGE—THE OLD CRY OF "CRUCIFY!"—JOSEPH'S FINAL EFFORT TO AVERT DANGER FROM NAUVOO—LACK OF FAITH AND SUSPICIONS OF COWARDICE—FATAL BLINDNESS—LIKE A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER—THE ARMS DEFENDED—FAREWELL TO NAUVOO—AT CARTHAGE.

On the 21st day of June, 1844, Thomas Ford, governor of the state of Illinois, arrived at Carthage. What Pontius Pilate was to the divine atonement on Calvary, this man Ford was to the sealing martyrdom at Carthage.[[1]]

He was a politician, a friend to the masses, right or wrong. He submitted himself at Carthage to the direction of the mob leaders. From the moment of his arrival there until the deed was done, he interposed no hand to stay the awful deed. He could not have been so blind as to fail in seeing that murder impended for the Prophet and Patriarch; and that extermination threatened the Saints. A statesman and a true and brave patriot could have put forth his power and dissipated the evils at a stroke; but Ford was not of such mettle. He affected to view Joseph and his brethren as rebels and the mob as law-abiding citizens—at best, he classed them altogether. How he must have cringed when the Prophet asked him:

Sir, is it not an easy matter to distinguish between those who have pledged themselves to exterminate innocent men, women and children, and those who have only stood in their own defense, and in defense of their innocent families, and that, too, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the country as required by the oaths, and as good and law-abiding citizens?