Chapter LVIII

GROWTH OF NAUVOO--THE MANSION--SIDNEY RIGDON'S RECREANCY--MOBOCRATIC CONVENTIONS AT CARTHAGE--INCITING THE MISSOURIANS TO KIDNAP--THE PROPHET CHECKS A BOMBASTIC POLITICIAN--APPEALS FOR REDRESS--JOY ON A CHRISTMAS DAY--ORRIN PORTER ROCKWELL BACK FROM MISSOURI.

When the Prophet once more saw one hour of security in Nauvoo, he recorded the fact that he had been subjected in his time to thirty-eight suits against his person and property. Not one of these was just. They were all incited for the purpose of vexing and despoiling him, and by the satanic power that had sought to shed the blood of prophets and holy men through all ages.

But he was compensated and filled with joy to see the progress of Nauvoo. From the states in this country and from the lands across the sea, faithful Saints were gathering by tens, and hundreds, and thousands. Homes were being built and factories were projected; the walls of the temple were rising in grandeur, uplifting the souls of the Saints with hope that they would soon minister in the holy ordinances for their living and their dead; and all that was wanted to insure the dominion of peace was the cessation of the wicked assaults upon the Prophet and his friends.

On the last of August Joseph and his family moved into the Nauvoo Mansion. It was his intention to support this place as a home for all visitors who should come up to Zion seeking to know the glory of God. Such hospitality was no new thing for the Prophet to bestow. His home, whenever he had one, had always been open to Saints and to strangers. It had been a resting place for thousands; and many times his family had gone without food, after giving their last morsel to the poor wayfarers. The mansion was a place in which such hospitality as the Prophet loved could well be extended. With these facilities to entertain company, Joseph soon found his resources exhausted. But for the persecutions and robberies which he had suffered he might have continued to dispense his bounties with generous hand; but now he was compelled to have the mansion opened as a hotel, at first under his own direction, but a little later it was leased for that purpose to Ebenezer Robinson, the Prophet only retaining two or three rooms for his personal use. Joseph's mother lived with him at this time.

Among the saddest afflictions of the Prophet's closing hours was the recreancy of Sidney Rigdon. As early as August, 1843, Joseph had solemnly withdrawn his fellowship from Sidney, and had refused to acknowledge him longer as a counselor--unless the charge could satisfactorily be refuted that he was in league with the Prophet's enemies to betray him and give him up to death in Missouri. This was not the only ground for complaint. Sidney was charged with an alliance with dishonest persons to deal fraudulently against the innocent and unwary. At a special conference begun in Nauvoo on the 6th of October, examination was made of the statements against President Rigdon. The Prophet recalled the many times that he had borne with Sidney's failings, having forgiven him again and again; and that now Sidney had ceased altogether to be useful and devoted, and Joseph lacked entire confidence in his integrity. Filled with mercy, Hyrum desired that one more trial should be given to Elder Rigdon, and upon his motion Sidney was sustained. The Prophet arose and said:

I have thrown him off my shoulders, and you have again put him on me. You may carry him, but I will not.

Subsequent events clearly showed how truly the Prophet had judged of the man who was once his friend and counselor, but had now lost faith and power in the gospel.

Assaults from without were threatened, with violence constantly augmenting. In August some of the brethren who were elected to county offices went to Carthage to give bonds and take the official oath. While these men were before the court, a rabble consisting of Constable Harmon T. Wilson and about fifteen others came in armed with hickory clubs, knives and pistols, and swore that the bonds should not be approved nor the men from Nauvoo inducted into office; if they were, blood would be spilled; and the mob pledged their words, honor and reputation, not only to keep these men out of office, but to put down the "Mormons." After some delay, the rabble withdrew to convene a mob meeting, and the bonds were approved by the court. This mob secured a convention at the courthouse on the 19th of August and appointed a committee to draft resolutions concerning the Saints; and at an adjourned meeting held on the 6th of September, 1843, a most vindictive tirade, filled with lies and threats, was presented and accepted under the name of preamble and resolutions. These mobocrats pledged themselves in the most determined manner to give aid in the capture of Joseph if he were demanded again, and threatened signal and summary vengeance upon the Saints in case of a collision. All the office-seekers were warned that the influence of the mobocrats would be withdrawn from them if they sought support at Nauvoo.

This action was designed to comfort the Missourians and to incite them to further efforts; and also to warn the office-holders and office-seekers of the state of Illinois not to extend any help to Joseph and his people in case of an attack upon them. The sole causes of the movements, in addition to the falsehoods of Reynolds and Wilson, who felt chagrined at their failure to drag the Prophet to his death as they had threatened, was that the people were increasing, Nauvoo was becoming a beautiful city, and Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God and head of the community, was the object of sectarian and apostate jealousy and political hate. Joseph wrote to the governor concerning the threatened movements against the Saints, but received no satisfaction.

The promise of the Hancock County mob and the quiescence of the governor of Illinois gave license and promise of support to the people of Missouri in the commission of further outrages. In November, Daniel Avery and his son Philander were kidnapped from Hancock County, by a company of Missourians, and imprisoned and threatened with death for the purpose of extorting false statements from them upon which prosecutions could be based against the citizens of Nauvoo. A man named Elliot of Carthage, who had assisted the kidnappers, was arrested and brought before a court at Nauvoo for examination. No attempt was made to inflict punishment upon him; the evidence clearly showed his guilt, and he was bound over to the circuit court at Carthage. This same Elliot had sworn to have the Prophet's life, and complaint was lodged against him for threatening to kill. Elliot was alone and defenseless; and when the Prophet saw the man's fear and helplessness, he obtained a withdrawal of the charge, paid the costs himself, and invited Elliot to his own home to be fed and lodged.

Writs for the other persons engaged in the Avery kidnapping were issued, but an armed mob congregated to prevent the service of process. A party of the mob went to the house of David Holman near Ramus, and in his absence plundered it of provisions and then burned it to the ground, leaving himself and family shelterless in the bleak winter.

An attack was threatened upon Nauvoo by gathering mobs from Missouri and Illinois; and in view of this danger the Nauvoo Legion was ordered to be kept in readiness to repel unlawful assaults.

The vindictive and lawless character of the mob which menaced the city is shown by the statement of Amos Chase, who heard the following conversation between a spectator and the rabble:

"What will you do if the governor refuses to sanction your course?"

"Damn the governor! If he opens his head we will punch a hole through him! He dare not speak! We will serve him the same sauce we will the Mormons."

And their cowardly character is shown by the experience of Nelson Judd. A man called on Brother Judd at Nauvoo and said he wanted to sell him some wood at a little distance down the river. Nelson went with the man and when they came into the woods two men on horseback attempted to kidnap him. He avoided them and they drew their pistols and fired, but without effect. Judd then coolly said: "Now it is my turn."

Putting his hand into his pocket as though to draw a pistol, he looked fiercely at the bandits, and they fled shrieking with terror. Nelson had no weapon with him except his bravery and innocence, and he walked home laughing at the ruffians.

At a meeting of the city council in December, 1843, the subject of the menace to the city and the mayor was under consideration, and Joseph said among other things:

I am exposed to far greater danger from traitors among ourselves
than from enemies without, although my life has been sought for
many years by the civil and military authorities, priests and
people of Missouri; and if I can escape from the ungrateful
treachery of assassins, I can live as _Caesar might have lived,
were it not for a right-hand Brutus_. I have had pretended friends
betray me. All the enemies upon the face of the earth may roar
and exert all their power to bring about my death, but they can
accomplish nothing, unless some who are among us, who have enjoyed
our society, have been with us in our councils, participated in our
confidence, taken us by the hand, called us brother, saluted us
with a kiss, join with our enemies, turn our virtues into faults,
and, by falsehood and deceit, stir up their wrath and indignation
against us, and bring their united vengeance upon our heads. All
the hue and cry of the chief priests and elders against the Savior
could not bring down the wrath of the Jewish nation upon his head,
and thereby cause the crucifixion of the Son of God, until Judas
said unto them: "Whomsoever I shall kiss he is the man: hold him
fast." Judas was one of the Twelve Apostles, even their treasurer,
and dipped with their Master in the dish, and through his treachery
the crucifixion was brought about; and _we have a Judas in our
midst_.

James Arlington Bennett, a lawyer, journalist and politician of New York, had been attracted by the Prophet's fame and character. Mr. Bennett had ambition to run for office in the state of Illinois, and he wrote a very complimentary letter to Joseph, in which he spoke of the boldness of the Prophet's plans and measures; and that he, Bennett, would yet run for high office in Illinois, and would give the Prophet his best services; intimated that he would like to become Joseph's right-hand man, since "Mahomet had his right-hand man"; and he declared that his mind was of so mathematical and philosophical a cast that divinity made an impression upon him.

To this bombastic letter the Prophet replied with such incisive vigor that must have taught Mr. Bennett a lesson:

You say, "The boldness of my plans and measures, together with
their unparalleled success so far, are calculated to throw a charm
over my whole being, and to point me out as the most extraordinary
man of the present age."_The boldness of my plans and measures_
can readily be tested by the touchstone of all schemes, systems,
projects and adventures--_truth_, for truth is a matter of fact;
and the fact is, that by the power of God I translated the Book of
Mormon from hieroglyphics, the knowledge of which was lost to the
world; in which wonderful event I stood alone, an unlearned youth,
to combat the worldly wisdom and multiplied ignorance of eighteen
centuries with a new revelation, which (if they would receive the
everlasting Gospel) would open the eyes of more than eight hundred
millions of people, and make "plain the old paths," wherein, if a
man walk in all the ordinances of God blameless, he shall inherit
eternal life; and Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come,
has borne me safely over every snare and plan, laid in secret or
openly, through priestly hypocrisy, sectarian prejudice, popular
philosophy, executive power, or law-defying mobocracy, to destroy
me.

If, then, the hand of God, in all these things that I have
accomplished towards the salvation of a priest-ridden generation,
in the short space of twelve years through the boldness of the plan
of preaching the Gospel, and the boldness of the means of declaring
repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and a reception
of the Holy Ghost, by laying on of the hands, agreeably to the
authority of the Priesthood, and the still more bold measures of
receiving direct revelation from God, through the Comforter, as
promised, and by which means all holy men, from ancient times
till now, have spoken and revealed the will of God to men, with
the consequent "success" of the gathering of the Saints, throws
any "charm" around my being, and "points me out as the most
extraordinary man of the age," it demonstrates the fact, that
truth is mighty, and must prevail; and that one man empowered from
Jehovah has more influence with the children of the kingdom than
eight hundred millions led by the precepts of men. God exalts the
humble and debases the haughty.

* * * * *

The summit of your future fame seems to be hid in the political
policy of a "mathematical problem" for the chief magistracy of this
state, which, I suppose, might be solved by "double position,"
where the _errors_ of the _supposition_ are used to produce a true
answer.

But, sir, when I leave the dignity and honor I received from heaven
to hoist a man into power through the aid of my friends where the
evil and designing, after the object has been accomplished, can
look up the clemency intended as a reciprocation for such favors,
and where the wicked and unprincipled, as a matter of course, would
seize the opportunity to flintify the hearts of the nation against
me for dabbling at a sly game in politics; verily, I say, when I
leave the dignity and honor of heaven to gratify the ambition and
vanity of man or men, may my power cease, like the strength of
Samson, when he was shorn of his locks, while asleep in the lap of
Delilah! Truly said the Savior, "Cast not your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you."

Shall I, who have witnessed the visions of eternity, and beheld the
glories of the mansions of bliss, and the regions and misery of the
damned, shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I, who have heard the
voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake, as moved by the
Holy Ghost, for the renewal of the everlasting covenant and for the
gathering of Israel in the last days, shall I worm myself into a
political hypocrite? Shall I who hold the keys of the last kingdom,
in which is the dispensation of the fulness of all things spoken by
the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began, under
the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood--shall I stoop from
the sublime authority of Almighty God to be handled as a monkey's
catspaw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of
political demagoguery? No, verily no! The whole earth shall bear me
witness, that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean,
which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves for
centuries, _am impregnable_, and am a faithful friend to virtue,
and a fearless foe to vice; no odds, whether the former was sold as
a pearl in Asia or hid as a gem in America, and the latter dazzles
in palaces or glitters among the tombs.

I combat the errors of ages; I meet the violence of mobs; I cope
with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the
Gordian knot of powers; and I solve mathematical problems of
universities _with truth--diamond truth; and God is my "right-hand
man."_

In December memorials were prepared and sent to Congress supplicating for a redress of the wrongs inflicted upon the Saints in Missouri and for protection against further plundering. This seemed necessary, for the governor of Illinois had practically confessed the helplessness of the state to prevent the infliction of additional wrongs upon this longsuffering people. The memorials were signed by the citizens of Hancock County and the city council of Nauvoo; they were truthful and eloquent; and they were of as little avail as other appeals for justice made by the people of God in this and other ages. Several of the elders wrote addresses to their native states, setting forth with the vigor of truth the wrongs and oppressions which had been inflicted upon them by Missouri. Joseph wrote a stirring appeal to the people--the Green Mountain boys--of his native state of Vermont. After sketching the great wrongs which the people had endured, the Prophet says:

Must we, because we believe in the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, the administration of angels and the communion of the
Holy Ghost, like the prophets and apostles of old,--must we be
mobbed with impunity, be exiled from our habitations and property
without remedy, murdered without mercy, and government find the
weapons and pay the vagabonds for doing the jobs, and give them the
plunder into the bargain? Must we, because we believe in enjoying
the constitutional privilege and right of worshiping Almighty God
according to the dictates of our own consciences, and because we
believe in repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, the
gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, the resurrection
of the dead, the millennium, the day of judgment and the Book of
Mormon as the history of the aborigines of this continent,--must
we be expelled from the institutions of our country, the rights of
citizenship, and the graves of our friends and brethren, and the
government lock the gate of humanity and shut the door of redress
against us? If so, farewell freedom! adieu to personal safety! and
let the red hot wrath of an offended God purify the nation of such
sinks of corruption; for that realm is hurrying to ruin where vice
has the power to expel virtue.

My father, who stood several times in the battles of the American
Revolution, till his companions in arms had been shot dead at his
feet, was forced from his home in Far West, Missouri, by those
civilized or satanized savages, in the dreary season of winter,
to seek a shelter in another state; and the vicissitudes and
sufferings consequent to his flight brought his honored gray head
to the grave a few months after.

* * * * * * * * *

I appeal to the "Green Mountain Boys" of my native state to rise in
the majesty of virtuous freemen, and by all honorable means help
to bring Missouri to the bar of justice. If there is one whisper
from the spirit of an Ethan Allen, or a gleam from the shade of a
General Stark, let it mingle with our sense of honor and fire our
bosoms for the cause of suffering innocence, for the reputation
of our disgraced country, and for the glory of God; and may all
the earth bear me witness, if Missouri--blood-stained Missouri,
escapes the due demerit of her crimes--the vengeance she so justly
deserves, that Vermont is a hypocrite, a _coward_, and this nation
the hot-bed of political demagogues.

I make this appeal to the sons of liberty of my native state for
help to frustrate the wicked designs of sinful men. I make it to
hush the violence of mobs. I make it to cope with the unhallowed
influence of wicked men in high places. I make it to resent the
insult and injury made to an innocent, unoffending people, by a
lawless ruffian state. I make it to obtain justice where law is
put at defiance. I make it to wipe off the stain of blood from our
nation's escutcheon. I make it to show presidents, governors and
rulers prudence. I make it to fill honorable men with discretion.
I make it to teach senators wisdom. I make it to teach judges
justice. I make it to point clergymen to the path of virtue. And
I make it to turn the hearts of this nation to the truth and
realities of pure and undefiled religion, that they may escape the
perdition of ungodly men: and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my
great counselor.

On Christmas morning, 1843, Joseph and Hyrum were roused from their slumbers by the hymn of a choir singing, "Mortals, Awake! with Angels Join." The choir was composed of a widow named Lettice Rushton and her children and neighbors; and their sweet voices and the noble sentiments of the hymn thrilled the souls of the Prophet and Patriarch into gladness and thanksgiving. Joseph blessed the singers and thanked his Heavenly Father for the visit. Hyrum said that he thought at first that a cohort of angels had descended, for the music had such a heavenly effect upon his soul. It was the last Christmas carol that Joseph and Hyrum heard in this life. Before another year had passed these two grand mortals had passed into the slumber of death, to awake with immortality upon them and to join with the choir invisible.

On the night of the same day another joy came to Joseph. He was entertaining a company of friends at his house when the festivities were interrupted by a man who came unbidden to the feast. His hair was long and fell over his face and upon his shoulders. He seemed a stranger to all and yet acted boldly and confidently as if at home. The company thought he was a Missourian and he would have been ejected, but the Prophet came and looked him fairly in the face and discovered to his great joy that it was his long-tried and persecuted friend Orrin Porter Rockwell who, in fulfillment of the prediction of Joseph, had come away honorably from Missouri.

Orrin was gladly welcomed then to the banquet, and the Prophet listened to the recital of his adventures. After going to the east in 1842 and remaining some months, Rockwell determined to return to his home in Nauvoo, not desiring perpetual exile. At St. Louis he was captured and thrown into jail. Iron hobbles and manacles were fastened upon him and he was carried to Independence. He was dragged from place to place, from court to court, tortured, threatened, starved, and all without any legal or just charge against him. Not the remotest connection could be traced between him and the attempt upon Boggs' life. He had not been seen in the entire state of Missouri during the year in which that event took place. No court from very shame could hold him on this monstrous charge, but when it failed others were concocted; and in the meantime several mob parties attempted to take his life as he was dragged to and fro in custody. After repeated solicitations he induced Joseph Reynolds, the sheriff of Jackson, to write to Bishop Whitney at Nauvoo, and this is the communication which that officer of law forwarded:

Independence, Missouri

April 7th, 1843

Sir:--At the request of Orrin Porter Rockwell, who is now confined
in our jail, I write you a few lines concerning his affairs. He is
held to bail in the sum of $5,000, and wishes some of his friends
to bail him out. He also wishes some friend to bring his clothes
to him. He is in good health and pretty good spirits. My own
opinion is, after conversing with several persons here, that it
would not be safe for any of Mr. Rockwell's friends to come here,
notwithstanding I have written the above at his request; neither do
I think bail would be taken (unless it was some responsible person
well known here as a resident of this state). Any letter to Mr.
Rockwell, (post paid) with authority expressed on the back for me
to open it, will be handed to him without delay. In the meantime he
will be humanely treated and dealt with kindly, until discharged by
due course of law.

Yours, etc.,

J. H. Reynolds

From Orrin's own narrative of his experience the following paragraphs are taken:

When I was put in Independence jail, I was again ironed hand and
foot, and put in the dungeon, in which condition I remained about
two months. During this time, Joseph H. Reynolds, the sheriff,
told me he was going to arrest Joseph Smith, and they had received
letters from Nauvoo which satisfied them that Joseph Smith had
unlimited confidence in me, that I was capable of toling him in a
carriage or on horseback anywhere that I pleased; and if I would
only tole him out by riding or any other way, so that they could
apprehend him, I might please myself whether I stayed in Illinois
or came back to Missouri; they would protect me, and any pile
that I would name the citizens of Jackson County would donate,
club together and raise, and that I should never suffer for want
afterwards: "you only deliver Joe Smith into our hands, and name
your pile." I replied--"I will see you all damned first, and then I
won't."

About the time that Joseph was arrested by Reynolds at Dixon, I
knowing that they were after him, and no means under heaven of
giving him any information, my anxiety became so intense upon the
subject, knowing their determination to kill him, that my flesh
twitched on my bones. I could not help it; twitch it would. While
undergoing this sensation, I heard a dove alight on the window in
the upper room of the jail, and commence cooing, and then went
off. In a short time he came back to the window, where a pane was
broken; he crept through the bars of iron, which were about two and
a half inches apart. I saw it fly round the trapdoor several times;
it did not alight, but continued cooing until it crept through the
bars again, and flew out through the broken window.

I relate this, as it was the only occurrence of the kind that
happened during my long and weary imprisonment; but it proved
a comfort to me; the twitching of my flesh ceased, and I was
fully satisfied from that moment that they would not get Joseph
into Missouri and that I should regain my freedom. From the best
estimates that can be made, it was at the time when Joseph was in
the custody of Reynolds.

In a few days afterwards Sheriff Reynolds came into the jail and
told me that he had made a failure in the arrest of Joseph.

At last, finding that no charge could be maintained against the prisoner, and that he could not be bribed or cajoled, or driven into a traitorous act, he was turned loose to find his way on foot across the state of Missouri, which swarmed with enemies. He was marvelously preserved from dangers which encompassed his path, and reached Nauvoo as much to Joseph's joy as to his own.

The Prophet must have compared the fidelity of this unpretending but loyal man with the selfish and traitorous action of some men upon whom benefits and confidences had been showered.