Chapter XVII

THE STATE PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION AT NAUVOO--THE STATES REPRESENTED--SPEECH OF JOHN S. REID, ESQ.--EARLY DAYS WITH THE PROPHET.

_Friday, May 17, 1844.--_The State Convention met in the assembly room. I copy the minutes.

_State Convention at Nauvoo_.

Convention met according to appointment, and was organized
by appointing General Uriah Brown to the chair, and Dr. F.
Merryweather secretary.

Dr. G. W. Goforth presented the following letter, and took his
seat in the convention. Several letters of the same character were
presented by other gentlemen, but we have not room to insert them.

MUSCOUTAH, ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILL., May 4th, 1844.

_Mr. G. W. Goforth_:

Sir,--At various meetings held in this county, where I had the
honor of attending, and the interesting topic of the selection of
a suitable person for the high station of President of the United
States being at this time the most important to Americans, and with
the names that are now before the people, Joseph Smith of Nauvoo
is recognized respectfully as a candidate, declarative in the
principles of Jeffersonianism, or Jefferson democracy, free trade,
and sailor's rights, and the protection of person and property.

A convention being about to be held in the City of Nauvoo on the
17th of this month (May), your name has been on every occasion
given as a delegate to said convention, and through me the message
to be imparted you, asking you to represent our expressions in the
case.

Please say for us, as Americans, that we will support General
Joseph Smith in preference to any other man that has given, or
suffered his name to come before us as a candidate. And at the
great Baltimore Convention, to be held on the 13th of July, our
delegation to said convention be authorized to proclaim for us
submission to the nominee as may be by them brought before the
people, in case of a failure to {387} nominate Joseph Smith (our
choice), and unite approbatively for his support.

Respectfully, sir, this communication and authority usward is
forwarded you as your voucher at said convention, with our hearty
prayers for the success of him whose special name is given in the
important affairs.

HENRY B. JACOBS.

Agent for the friends of General Joseph Smith.

Mr. Clay's letter to General Joseph Smith was then read by Mr.
Phelps, and also General Joseph Smith's rejoinder, which was
applauded by three cheers.

It was moved and seconded that the following gentlemen be appointed
a committee to draft resolutions for the adoption of this
convention:--

Dr. G. W. Goforth, John Taylor, Wm. W. Phelps, William Smith, and
Lucian R. Foster.

It was moved and seconded that he correspondence of the Central
Committee for Government Reform of New York be read by W. W.
Phelps, also General Joseph Smith's answer to the same.

NEW YORK, April 20, 1844.

_Joseph Smith, Esq_.,

SIR,--The subscribers, the Central Committee of the National
Reform Association, in accordance with a duty prescribed by their
constitution, respectively solicit an expression of your views as
a candidate for public office, on a subject that, as they think,
vitally affects the rights and interests of their constituents.

We see this singular condition of affairs, and while wealth in
our country is rapidly accumulating, while internal improvements
of every description are fast increasing, and while machinery has
multiplied the power of production to an immense extent, yet with
all these national advantages, the compensation for useful labor is
getting less and less.

We seek the cause of this anomaly, and we trace it to the monopoly
of the land, which places labor at the mercy of capital. We
therefore desire to abolish the monopoly, not by interfering with
the conventional fights of persons now in possession of the land,
but by arresting the further sale of all lands not yet appropriated
as private property, and by allowing these lands hereafter to be
freely occupied by those who may choose to settle on them.

We propose that the public lands hereafter shall not be owned, but
occupied only, the occupant having the right to sell or otherwise
dispose of improvements to any one not in possession of other land;
so that, by preventing any individual from becoming possessed of
more than a limited quantity, every one may enjoy the right.

This measure, we think, would gradually establish an equilibrium
{388} between the agricultural and other useful occupations, that
would ensure to all full employment and fair compensation for their
labor, on the lands now held as private property, and to each
individual on the public lands the right to work for himself on his
own premises, or for another, at his option.

An answer, as soon as convenient, will much oblige your
fellow-citizens.

John Windt, Egbert S. Manning, James Maxwell, Lewis Masquerier,
Daniel Witter, Geore H. Evans, Ellis Smalley.

NAUVOO, ILL., May 16th, 1844.

_To John Windt, Egbert S. Manning, James Maxwell, Lewis Masquerier,
Daniel Witter, George H. Evans, and Ellis Smalley, Esqrs_.

GENTLEMEN:--

Your communication of April 20th, soliciting my views relative
to the public lands, is before me; and I answer, that as soon as
the greater national evils could be remedied by the consolidated
efforts of a virtuous people and the judicious legislation of wise
men, so that slavery could not occupy one-half of the United States
for speculation, competition, prodigality, and fleshy capital, and
so that enormous salaries, stipends, fees, perquisites, patronage,
and the wages of spiritual wickedness in ermine and lace could not
swallow up forty or fifty millions of public revenue, I would use
all honorable means to bring the wages of mechanics and farmers
up, and salaries of public servants down, increase labor and money
by a judicious tariff, and advise the people--who are only the
sovereigns of the soil--to petition Congress to pass a uniform land
law! that the air, the water, and the land, of the asylum of the
oppressed, might be free to free men!

With consideration of the highest regard for unadulterated freedom
I have the honor to be your obedient servant.

JOSEPH SMITH.

After which, the meeting adjourned for one hour.

It was moved and seconded that the following gentlemen be
constituted a committee to appoint electors for this State:--

Dr. G. W. Goforth, L. Robinson, L. N. Scoville, Peter Hawes, and
John S. Reid.

It was moved and seconded that the following gentlemen be
constituted a central committee of correspondence, having power to
increase their number:--

{389} Dr. Willard Richards, Dr. J. M. Bernhisel, W. W. Phelps, and
Lucian R. Foster.

The following delegates from the different states of the Union were
then received by vote:--

It was moved, seconded, and carried by acclamation, that General
Joseph Smith, of Illinois, be the choice of this convention for
President of the United States.

It was moved, seconded, and carried by acclamation, that Sidney
Rigdon, Esq., of Pennsylvania, be the choice of the Convention for
Vice-President of the United States.

The nine following resolutions were then adopted, the fifth of
which was carried by acclamation.

_Resolutions_.

1._ Resolved,_ that from all the facts and appearances that are now
{391} visible in the United States, we believe that much imbecility
and fraud is practiced by the officers of Government; and that to
remedy these evils it is highly necessary that a virtuous people
should arise in the panoply of their might, and with one heart and
one mind correct these abuses by electing wise and honorable men to
fill the various offices of Government.

2. _Resolved,_ that as union is power, the permanency and
continuance of our political institutions depend upon the
correction of the abuses.

3. _Resolved,_ that as all political parties of the present day
have degraded themselves by adhering more or less to corrupt
principles and practices, by fomenting discord and division among
the people, being swallowed in the vortex of party spirit and
sectional prejudices, until they have become insensible to the
welfare of the people and the general good of the country; and
knowing that there are good men among all parties, in whose bosoms
burn the fire of pure patriotism, we invite they, by the love of
liberty, by the sacred honor of freemen, by the patriotism of
the illustrious fathers of our freedom, by the glorious love of
country, and by the holy principles of '76, to come over and help
us to reform the Government.

4. _Resolved,_ that to redress all wrongs, the government of the
United States, with the President at its head, is as powerful in
its sphere as Jehovah is in His.

5. _Resolved,_ that the better to carry out the principles of
liberty and equal rights, Jeffersonian democracy, free trade, and
sailor's rights, and the protection of person and property, we will
support General Joseph Smith, of Illinois, for the President of the
United States at the ensuing election.

6._ Resolved,_ that we will support Sidney Rigdon, Esq., of
Pennsylvania, for the Vice-Presidency.

7._ Resolved,_ that we will hold a National Convention at Baltimore
on Saturday, the 13th day of July.

8. _Resolved,_ that we call upon the honest men of all parties in
each state to send their delegates to said convention.

9._ Resolved,_ that all honest editors throughout the United States
are requested to publish the above resolutions.

10. _Resolved,_ that those gentlemen who stand at the head of
the list, who have gone to the several states to take charge of
our political interests, be requested to use every exertion to
appoint electors in the several electoral districts of the States
which they represent, and also to send delegates to the Baltimore
Convention.

11. _Resolved,_ that Dr. Goforth and John S. Reid, Esq., be
requested to furnish a copy of their speeches for publication.

{392} 12. _Resolved,_ that the electors be instructed to make stump
speeches in their different districts.

13. _Resolved,_ that the thanks of this meeting be given to Mr.
Hancock for his patriotic song.

It was moved and seconded that Orson Hyde, Heber C. Kimball,
David S. Hollister, Orson Pratt, and Lyman Wight represent this
convention at the convention to be held in Baltimore on the 13th of
July next.

Sidney Rigdon, Esq., then addressed the meeting, and was succeeded
by the following gentlemen:--Gen. Joseph Smith, Dr. G. W. Goforth,
Lyman Wight, W. W. Phelps, John Taylor, Hyrum Smith, and John S.
Reid, Esq.

It was moved, seconded, and carried, that the thanks of this
meeting be given to the chairman and secretary.

The Convention was addressed in an eloquent speech by Sidney
Rigdon, Esq., showing the political dishonesty of both Henry Clay
and Martin Van Buren, and stating his views, and the present
condition of the country.

Dr. Goforth rose and addressed the convention. [Dr. Goforth dealt
chiefly with the past glories of the republic, and the wrongs
suffered by the Latter-day Saints in Missouri].

_Synopsis of the Remarks of Hon. John S. Reid_. [2]

_Mr. Chairman_:

I cannot leave this subject and do justice to my own feelings and
the character of Gen. Smith, without giving a short history of the
first persecution that came upon him in the counties of Chenango
and Broome, in the State of New York, commenced by that class of
people calling themselves Christians.

The first acquaintance I had with Gen. Smith was about the year
1833. He came into my neighborhood, being then about eighteen years
of age, and resided there two years; during which time I became
intimately acquainted with him. I do know that his character was
irreproachable; that he was well known for truth and uprightness;
that he moved in the first circles of the community, and he was
often spoken of as a young man of intelligence and good morals,
and possessing a mind susceptible of the highest intellectual
attainments.

I early discovered that his mind was constantly in search of truth,
expressing an anxious desire to know the will of God concerning
His children here below, often speaking of those things which
professed Christians believe in. I have often observed to my best
informed friends {393} (those that were free from superstition
and bigotry) that I thought Joseph was predestinated by his God
from all eternity to be an instrument in the hands of the great
Dispenser of all good to do a great work. What it was I knew not.
After living in that neighborhood about three years, enjoying the
good feelings of his acquaintance as a worthy youth, he told his
particular friends that he had had a revelation from God to go to
the west about eighty miles to his father's, in which neighborhood
he should find hid in the earth an old history written on golden
plates, which would give great light and knowledge concerning
the will of God towards His people in this generation, unfolding
the destiny of all nations, kindreds and tongues. He said that
he distinctly heard the voice of him that spake. Joseph Knight,
one of the fathers of your Church, a worthy man, and my intimate
friend, went with him. When I reflect upon our former friendship,
Mr. Chairman, and upon the scenes that he had passed through in
consequence of mal-administration, mobocracy and cruelty, I feel
to lift up my voice to high heaven, and pray God to bless the aged
veteran, and that his silver locks may go down to the grave in
peace, like a shock of corn fully ripe. In a few days his friends
[Joseph Smith's] returned with the glad news that Joseph had
found the plates and had gone down to his father-in-law's for the
purpose of translating them. I believe he remained there until he
finished the translation. After the book was published, he came
to live in the neighborhood of Father Knight's, about four miles
from me, and began to preach the Gospel; and many were pricked in
their hearts, believed, and were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. He soon formed a Church at Colesville; his meetings were
numerously attended, and the eyes of all people were upon him with
astonishment. Oh, Mr. Chairman, the world was turned upside down
at once, and the devil,--always ready to assist and help along in
all difficulties that arise among men--personified in some of the
religionists, began to prick up his ears and jump, and kick and
run about, like Jim Crow, calling for rotten eggs to help in the
wake. You would have thought, sir, that Gog and Magog were let
loose on the young man. He called upon the world's people (as they
are called) but got no help; he then flew about in the sectarian
churches, like lightning, and they immediately came to his aid,
and uniting their efforts, roared against him like the thunders of
Mount Sinai. When those fiery bigots were let loose, they united
in pouring the red hot vials of their wrath upon his head. Their
cry of "False Prophet! False Prophet!" was sounded from village to
village, and every foul epithet that malice and wicked ingenuity
could invent were heaped upon him. Yes, sir; the same spirit that
influenced the Presbyterians of Massachusetts about one hundred and
fifty years ago, in their persecution of the Quakers, when they
first began to preach their doctrines in that state, was fully
manifested by those religious bigots, {394} who were afraid if they
let them alone, their own doctrines would come to naught. What was
the result of the persecution in Massachusetts? Why, sir, warrants
were made out by those churches having authority, and the Quakers
were tried for heresy. But what was the result of those trials. The
sentence of death was passed upon the Quakers for heresy by those
religious fanatics, and three of them were hanged by the neck on
Bloody Hill, in Boston, to make expiation for that unpardonable
crime. "Tell it not in Gath," nor publish it not on the tops of
the mountains in this boasted land of freedom, that the Puritans
of New England, who had fled from the Old World in consequence
of religious intolerance, that they might enjoy the sweets of
liberty, so soon became persecutors themselves, and shed innocent
blood, which still cries aloud from the dust for vengeance upon
their heads. Let shame cover our faces when we mention the name of
freedom in our grand republic.

O my God! when in one portion of our country blood is flowing from
the crime of worshiping our Creator according to the dictates of
conscience, or as the Spirit directs, and in the other are great
rejoicings in consequence thereof, where, I ask, is the boasted
freedom for which our fathers fought and bled?

O Thou who holdest the destinies of all things in Thine hands
here below, return these blessings unto us, that we may keep
them as precious jewels till time is no more. But, Mr. Chairman,
I am wandering too far from the subject. I will return to the
persecutions which followed General Smith, when his cheeks
blossomed with the beauty of youth, and his eyes sparkled with
innocence.

These bigots soon made up a false accusation against him, and had
him arraigned before Joseph Chamberlain, a justice of the peace, a
man who was always ready to deal out justice to all, and a man of
great discernment of mind.

The case came up about 10 o'clock a.m. I was called upon to defend
the prisoner, the prosecutors employed the best counsel they could
get, and ransacked the town of Bainbridge and county of Chenango
for witnesses that would swear hard enough to convict the prisoner;
but they entirely failed. Yes, sir; let me say to you that not one
blemish nor spot was found against his character. He came from that
trial, notwithstanding the mighty efforts that were made to convict
him of crime by his vigilant persecutors, with his character
unstained by even the appearance of guilt.

The trial closed about twelve o'clock at night. After a few
moments' deliberation, the court pronounced the words, "Not
guilty," and the prisoner was discharged. But, alas! the devil, not
satisfied with his defeat, stirred up a man not unlike himself, who
was more fit to dwell {395} among the fiends of hell than to belong
to the human family, to go to Colesville and get another writ and
take him to Broome county for another trial. They were sure they
could send that boy to hell or to Texas, they did not care which;
and in half an hour after he was discharged by the court, he was
arrested again, and on the way to Colesville for another trial.

I was again called upon by his friends to defend him against his
malignant persecutors, and clear him from the false charges they
had preferred against him. I made every reasonable excuse I could,
as I was nearly worn down through fatigue and want of sleep, as I
had been engaged in lawsuits for two days and nearly the whole of
two nights. But I saw the persecution was great against him; and
here let me say, Mr. Chairman, singular as it may seem, while Mr.
Knight was pleading with me to go, a peculiar impression or thought
struck my mind that I must go and defend him, for he was the Lord's
anointed. I did not know what it meant, but thought I must go and
clear the Lord's anointed. I said I would go, and started with as
much faith as the Apostles had when they could remove mountains,
accompanied by Father Knight, who was like the old patriarch that
followed the ark of God to the city of David.

We rode on till we came to the house of Hezekiah Peck, where a
number of Mormon women were assembled, as I was informed, for the
purpose of praying for the deliverance of the Prophet of the Lord.
The women came out to our wagon, and Mrs. Smith among the rest.

O my God, sir, what were my feeling when I saw that woman who
had but a few days before given herself, heart and hand, to be
a consort for life, and that so soon her crimson cheeks must be
wet with tears that came streaming from her eyes! Yes, sir; it
seemed that her very heart strings would be broken with grief. My
feelings, sir, were moved with pity and sorrow for the afflicted,
and on the other hand they were wrought up to the highest pitch of
indignation against those fiends of hell who had thus caused the
innocent to suffer.

The next morning about ten o'clock, the court was organized. The
prisoner was to be tried by three justices of the peace, that his
departure out of the county might be made sure. Neither talents nor
money were wanting to ensure them success. They employed the ablest
lawyer in that county, and introduced twenty witnesses before dark,
but proved nothing.

They sent out runners and ransacked the hills and vales, grog-shops
and ditches, gathered together a company that looked as if they
had come from hell, and had been whipped by the soot-boy thereof,
which they brought forward to testify one after another, but with
no better success. Although they wrung and twisted into every
shape, in trying {396} to tell something that would criminate the
prisoner, nothing was proven against him whatever.

Having got through with the examination of their witnesses about
two o'clock in the morning, the case was argued about two hours.
There was not one particle of testimony against the prisoner. No,
sir; he came out like the three children from the fiery furnace,
without the smell of fire upon his garments.

The court deliberated upon the case for half an hour with closed
doors, and then we were called in. The court arraigned the prisoner
and said--"Mr. Smith, we have had your case under consideration,
examined the testimony, and find nothing to condemn you; and
therefore you are discharged."

They then proceeded to reprimand him severely--not because anything
derogatory to his character in any shape had been proven against
him by the host of witnesses that had testified during the trial,
but merely to please those fiends in human shape who were engaged
in the unhallowed persecution of an innocent man, sheerly on
account of his religious opinions.

After they had got through, I arose and said--"This court puts
me in mind of a certain trial held before Felix of old, when the
enemies of Paul arraigned him before that venerable judge for some
alleged crime, and nothing was found in him worthy of death or
bonds. Yet, to please the Jews who were his accusers, he was left
bound, contrary to law, and the court had served Mr. Smith in the
same way, by their unlawful and uncalled for reprimand after his
discharge to please his accusers."

We got him away that night from the midst of three hundred people
without his receiving any injury; but I am well aware that we were
assisted by some higher power than man; for to look back on the
scene, I cannot tell how we succeeded in getting him away. I take
no glory to myself: it was the Lord's work, and marvelous in our
eyes.

This, Mr. Chairman, is a true history of the first persecution that
came upon General Smith in his youth among professed Christians,
and in a country heralded to the ends of the earth as a land of
freedom, where all men have the constitutional right to worship as
they please and believe what they please, without molestation, so
long as they do not interfere with the rights and privileges of
others--yes, sir; a persecution got up through the influence of
religious bigotry by as vile a set of men as ever disgraced the
family of man. But their devices against him were brought to naught
by the Overruling Power that controls all things and brings to
naught the counsels of the wicked.

Mr. Chairman, little did I think that I was defending a boy that
would rise to eminence like this man--a man whom God delights to
honor as a {397} Prophet and leader of His people--one to whom He
has given the keys of heaven and earth, and the power of David,
and said to him, Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. And
may he live to put his foot upon the neck of his enemies in love
and meekness! I know, sir, that God has made him a leader of many
thousands of people; and may he teach them in meekness and with
that wisdom and judgment that God shall direct.

I add no more.

The Convention adjourned _sine die_

URIAH BROWN, President,

F. MERRYWEATHER, Secretary.

I rode out in the afternoon.

About 6 p.m., a caucus was held; but, Emma being sick, I could not attend. At night a large assemblage burned a barrel of tar in the street. I went out to see what was the matter, and found they were giving toasts; and as soon as they became aware of my presence; they carried me on their shoulders twice round the fire, and escorted me to the Mansion by a band of music.

Elders Franklin D. Richards and Joseph A. Stratton were ordained High Priests and set apart to go on a mission to England by Elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards.

Footnotes:

1. It is to be observed that these delegates named from the various states were now, and for some time past had been, residents of Nauvoo, Ill.

2. This was the "former lawyer" who defended the Prophet in his first prosecution in the State of New York, before local justices of the peace in Chenango and Broome counties, 1830; See this HISTORY, vol. I, ch. XX.

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