Nothing could be more admirable than the candor and gentleness of this letter. While Joseph's heart was bleeding for his injured brethren in the west, his sense of justice was so exalted that he could recognize every honest purpose among the men who felt forced to make the edict of expatriation. The Prophet also sent a letter of comfort to the Elders in Clay, counseling peace and yet advising the protection at any cost of wives and little children.
No delay had been granted in which to receive such communication from Kirtland, and the leading brethren in Clay assembled on July 1, 1835, the second day following the mass meeting, and considered the proposition. William W. Phelps was chairman, and John Corrill was secretary. A committee consisting of twelve—E. Partridge, I. Morley, L. Wight, T. B. Marsh, E. Higbee, C. Beebee, I. Hitchcock, I. Higbee, S. Bent, T. Billings, J. Emmett and R. Evans—was appointed to report a preamble with resolutions. These were presented and unanimously adopted as follows:
That we (the "Mormons" so called) are grateful for the kindness which has been shown to us by the citizens of Clay, since we have resided with them, and being desirous for peace and wishing the good rather than the ill will of mankind, will use all honorable means to allay the excitement, and, so far as we can, remove any foundations for jealousies against us as a people. We are aware that many rumors prejudicial to us as a society are afloat, and time only can prove their falsity to the world at large. We deny having claim to this or any other county or country further than we purchase with money, or more than the constitution and laws allow us as free American citizens. We have taken no part for or against slavery, but are opposed to the abolitionists, and consider that men have a right to hold slaves or not according to law. We believe it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn the righteous to save themselves from the corruptions of the world; but we do not believe it right to interfere with bondservants, nor preach the gospel to, nor meddle with, or influence them in the least to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situation in life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men. Such interference we believe to be unlawful and unjust, and dangerous to the peace of every government allowing human beings to be held in servitude. We deny holding any communications with the Indians, and mean to hold ourselves as ready to defend our country against their barbarous ravages as any other people. We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly. It is needless to enter into a further detail of our faith or mention our sufferings:—
Therefore Resolved, For the sake of friendship, and to be in a covenant of peace with the citizens of Clay County, and the citizens of Clay County to be in a covenant of peace with us, notwithstanding the necessary loss of property and expense we incur in moving, we comply with the requisitions of their resolutions in leaving the county of Clay, as explained by the preamble accompanying the same; and that we will use our exertions to have the Church do the same; and that we will also exert ourselves to stop the tide of emigration of our people to this county.
Resolved, That we accept of the friendly offer verbally tendered to us by the committee yesterday, to assist us in selecting a location and removing to it.
The dread decree was met and accepted. The Saints were fully alive to the kindness of the people of Clay and were willing to sacrifice what little comforts they had been able to accumulate since their banishment from Jackson and to take up their sick and their helpless ones and journey—but whither? Nobly did they repay the charity which had been extended to them. If their presence was a menace to the well-being of men who had in the hour of affliction offered the hand of help, they would brave death in the wilderness rather than have it so any longer. It was an awful hour, but the alternative was exile or dishonor to their pledge. Let their choice speak for them throughout all the ages.
A home in civilization was denied to these afflicted Saints. The old mob organization in Jackson was still maintained. Only a few weeks previous to this time a committee of officials in Jackson had formulated recommendations to their fellow-ruffians in case the Saints should attempt to come back to form a new settlement or to repossess their own property. The chief executive of the state, Daniel Dunklin, under date of July 18th, made a miserable confession of his utter inability to help or protect them. And the settled counties adjoining Clay had already refused to permit them to live and labor within their borders.
But when the citizens of Clay witnessed the nobility of the long-suffering Saints, they adopted a resolution urging the keeping of "the peace towards the Mormons as good faith, justice, morality and religion require." Committees were appointed by these citizens to aid the people in their removal. And before adjourning, the meeting adopted the following resolution:
That this meeting recommend the Mormons to the good treatment of the citizens of the adjoining counties. We also recommend the inhabitants of the neighboring counties to assist the Mormons in selecting some abiding place for their people, where they will be in a measure the only occupants and where none will be anxious to molest them.
In less than three months the Saints began their work of removal from Clay County into the wilderness. They had few of the facilities for extensive travel or for the establishment of comfortable settlements. To the north and east of Clay was Ray County, the upper part of which was almost entirely unoccupied. But seven men lived there, and these were bee-hunters who, having exhausted the honey of that region, were about to desert the place. The timber was poor and the land unattractive to ordinary settlers. Into this place, known as the Shoal Creek region, the Saints journeyed. They bought out the few possessions of the bee-hunters and began to make homes. The natural poverty of the county rendered it for a time a place of safe refuge. But it was then, as it has been since, the case, that the Latter-day Saints are left in undisputed possession of a desert or a wilderness, until they have redeemed it from physical chaos and made it a delightful habitation for man—then their expulsion or oppression begins. Their industry and thrift are a temptation to the idle and dissolute.
With the simple hope of enjoying the life, liberty, and religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution, the Saints immigrated into northern Ray in considerable numbers. In December, 1836, they petitioned the legislature of the state of Missouri to incorporate the Shoal Creek region and surrounding lands, which were almost entirely unoccupied except by them, as a new county. The prayer was granted in that month, and the county was organized under the name of Caldwell. The city of Far West was laid out during the winter, and in the spring of 1837 preparations were made for the erection of a house of the Lord in that place.