"The committee therefore reports, that they recommend the passage of the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the committee on the Judiciary be discharged from the further consideration of the memorial in this case; and that the memorialists have leave to withdraw the papers which accompany their memorial."
The action of the general government on this momentous subject, establishes the precedent that there is no power in the government to carry out the principles of its own Constitution. Fifteen thousand citizens of the United States can be murdered, robbed, plundered, driven from their lands, or disinherited, while the Constitution guarantees to them liberty and protection, and yet there is no power to protect or reinstate them. Congress only mocks them by referring them to their murderers for redress. It seems almost superfluous to say that the Saints appealed to a higher tribunal—even the throne of God, where the case is yet pending; and that the Congress of the United States is charged with being accessory to these highest crimes known to the laws of God and man. They hold in fellowship this guilty partner—Missouri—after knowing her to be a wholesale murderer and land pirate.
As the case is yet pending before the court of Heaven, we will drop the subject and proceed with our own history.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
General Conference at Manchester:—Ordinations and Appointments:—Return to New York:—Meet with my Family:—Visit to the State of Maine:—A Dream and its Fulfilment:—Embark Again for England:—Consequence of Looking Back:—Safe Arrival in England:—Resume the Editorial Duties:—Reflections.
On the 6th of July, 1840, a general conference was convened at Manchester, in the "Carpenter's Hall," a building which would seat near five thousand people.
There were present of the Twelve Apostles: Brigham Young, H. C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, Willard Richards, George A. Smith and myself. Of other officers: High Priests, 5; Elders, 19; Priests, 15; Teachers, 11; and Deacons, 3.
At this conference Parley P. Pratt was unanimously chosen President; and William Clayton, Clerk.
Two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven members were represented, including 254 officers.