It seemed impossible for any man to speak with greater power and demonstration of the Spirit. He referred the Saints to the labors of Brother George Q. Cannon, and the first Elders who brought them the gospel.
He reminded them of facts with which the older Saints were well acquainted—the great disadvantage the Elders labored under, and the privations they suffered in first preaching the gospel on the islands. How they slept in their then miserable huts, and lived as they lived; how they traveled on foot, in storms, and in bad weather, from village to village, and from house to house, exposing health and life; how they went destitute of clothing, and what they had been in the habit of considering the necessaries of life, to bring them the blessings of the gospel, without money and without price.
He asked by what right Mr. Gibson called himself the father of the people, and the Elders who faithfully labored to establish them in the gospel strangers.
The spirit and power that accompanied Brother Smith's remarks astonished the Saints and opened their eyes. They began to see how they had been imposed upon. Every word he spoke found a response in their hearts, as was plainly manifest by their eager looks and animated countenances.
There was another meeting in the afternoon, in which Apostles Benson and Snow addressed the Saints. Their remarks were interpreted by Elder Joseph F. Smith.
On the 7th, there was a meeting in the forenoon. A Priesthood meeting was appointed for the evening, and the conference adjourned sine die.
The meeting of the Priesthood in the evening was well attended, as it was understood that Mr. Gibson's course would be investigated. The complaints that were made by the native Elders, in the communication that led to our present mission, were read, and Mr. Gibson was called on to make answer to the charges.
In addition to nearly a repetition of his harangue at the meeting on the day previous, his reply consisted of a bombastic display of some letters of appointment, and recommendations from President Young, to which he attached large seals, bedecked with a variety of colored ribbons, to give them an air of importance, and official significance, in the eyes of the unsophisticated natives.
These papers he held up before the people, and, pointing to them said, with great emphasis, "Here is my authority, which I received direct from President Brigham Young. I don't hold myself accountable to these men!" meaning the Apostles and those who came with them.
Had there been no other proof of the wrong course of Mr. Gibson, that remark was sufficient to satisfy the brethren what their plain duty was, and they acted promptly in the matter.