"Each conference is requested to appoint one or more delegates to present them in the general conference, and to assist in such business as may be necessary for the general welfare and prosperity of the cause of truth. It is very desirable that a full representation should be made of all the conferences, branches, and members of this realm.
"P. P. PRATT, President.
"THOMAS WARD, Clerk."
In the Star for March, 1842, the following editorial introduces an extract of a letter from Elder Hyde in Jerusalem:
"We have lately received two lengthy and highly interesting letters from Elder Orson Hyde, dated at Trieste, January 1 and 18, containing a sketch of his voyages and travels in the East; his visit to Jerusalem; a description of ancient Zion; the pool of Siloam, and many other places in Holy Writ; with several illustrations of the manners and customs of the East as applicable to scripture texts; and several conversations held between himself and some of the Jewish missionaries, etc., in Jerusalem; together with a masterly description of a terrible tempest and thunder storm at sea, with a variety of miscellaneous reflections and remarks, all written in an easy, elegant and masterly style; partaking of the eloquent and sublime, and breathing a tone of that deep feeling, tenderness and affection so characteristic of his mission and the spirit of his holy and sacred office.
"Elder Hyde has, by the grace of God, been the first proclaimer of the fullness of the gospel both on the Continent and in far off Asia, among the nations of the East. In Germany, Turkey, Egypt and Jerusalem he has reared, as it were, the ensign of the Latter-day glory, and sounded the trump of truth; calling upon the people of those regions to awake from their thousand years slumber and to make ready for their returning Lord.
"In his travels he has suffered much, and has been exposed to toils and dangers; to hunger, pestilence and war. He has been in perils by land and sea, in perils among robbers, in perils among heathens, Turks, Arabs and Egyptians; but out of all these things the Lord has delivered him, and has restored him in safety to the shores of Europe, where he is tarrying for a little season for the purpose of publishing the truth in the German language—having already published it in French and English in the various countries of the East. And we humbly trust that his labors will be a lasting blessing to Jew and Gentile."
Being about to return to America, I published in the October number of the Star, 1842, my Farewell Address, from which I here give a few extracts:
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO OUR READERS AND PATRONS
Brethren and Friends:—As I am about to take leave of the STAR, and give it to the management of others, I feel it necessary to make a few remarks suited to the occasion.
This publication was undertaken two years and six months since. Since that time I have labored diligently, as far as a pressure of other duties would admit, to render it a useful and interesting periodical. I have published the principles of the Latter-day Saints, together with a choice selection of the most interesting items of news in relation to the progress of these principles among men.