"Resolved, that G. D. Watt preside over the Edinburgh Conference; that Thomas Ward preside over the Clithero Conference; that Lorenzo Snow preside over the London Conference; that J. Gaily preside over the Macclesfield Conference; that A. Cordon preside over the Staffordshire Conference; that J. Riley be ordained a High Priest and preside over the Birmingham Conference; that J. McAuley preside over the Glasgow Conference; that Thomas Richardson preside over the Gadfield Elm Conference; that Wm. Kay preside over the Froomes Hill Conference; that Levi Richards have the superintendence of the Garway Conference; that P. Melling, Patriarch, continue to preside over the Preston Conference, and that J. Sanders preside over the Brampton Conference."
The above resolutions were adopted unanimously. Elder J. Albertson was then given a patriarchal blessing, under the hands of Father Melling, after which he was himself ordained a Patriarch by the Apostles.
During the meeting a very richly ornamented cake, a present from New York, from a Sister Adams to the Twelve, was exhibited and then divided among the congregation. While the distribution was going on, several appropriate hymns were sung, and a powerful and general feeling of delight pervaded the meeting. Under the inspiration of the moment, Elder Parley P. Pratt composed the following lines and handed them to the clerk who read them to the congregation:
"When in far distant regions
As strangers we roam,
Far away from our country,
Our friends and our home;
When sinking in sorrow,
Fresh courage we'll take,
As we think on our friends,
And remember the cake."
Several discourses were then delivered, and this memorable and happy meeting—the first and last at which so many members of the early Twelve met together in a foreign land, came to a close.
The Apostles next issued their first general epistle to the Saints in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man. It was a well-worded, even eloquent document, full of wise counsel and timely instruction. Having now set in order the affairs of the Church throughout the mission, the Apostles, all save Orson Hyde, who was bound for Palestine, and Parley P. Pratt, who was left to preside over the British mission, prepared to return to America.
A great work had been accomplished by these faithful and devoted men of God, during the past year. The mission founded by Heber C. Kimball and his brethren in 1837, was now established upon a broad and permanent basis, and the mighty stream of Israel's emigration from foreign shores set in motion.
CHAPTER XLV.
THE APOSTLES SAIL FOR HOME—ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK—HEBER'S LETTER TO THE "MILLENNIAL STAR"—HAPPY MEETING WITH THE PROPHET AND THE SAINTS AT NAUVOO—LABORS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL—HEBER'S PHRENOLOGICAL CHART.
On the 20th day of April, 1841, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith and Willard Richards, with a company of Saints, sailed from Liverpool on board the ship Rochester, bound for New York. They landed there on the 20th of May, having been just one month upon the water, and remained in that city until the 4th of June.