Chapter XXXIV: The Projected Movement to the West

AS an evidence that the Prophet entertained no thought of success in his candidacy for the office of Chief Executive, we may mention the fact that, during the time that vigorous preparations were being made for the presidential canvass, he was setting on foot a scheme for taking the body of The Church into the west to settle Oregon. On the twentieth of February, 1844, the Prophet in his journal says:

"I instructed the Twelve Apostles to send out a delegation, and
investigate the location of California and Oregon, and hunt out
a good location, where we can remove to, after the temple is
completed, and where we can build a city in a day, and have a
government of our own, get up into the mountains, where the devil
cannot dig us out, and live in a healthy climate, where we can live
as old as we have a mind too."

In accordance with that instruction, the Twelve called the council on the twenty-first, and Jonathan Dunham, Phinehas H. Young and David Fullmer volunteered to go; and Alphonzo Young, James Emmett, George D. Watt, and Daniel Spencer were called to go.

Subsequently a memorial was drawn up by the Prophet, asking Congress to pass an enactment, authorizing him to raise a company for the purpose of establishing colonies in that vast, unsettled section of the country in the far West, known under the general name of Oregon. At that time there was no particular government existing in the region to which the names Oregon and California were loosely given. Nor was it certain whether that country would fall into the possession of England or the United States, as the northern boundary line question was then unsettled, and England and the United States held the country by a treaty of joint occupancy. As the Prophet preferred having an assurance of protection from the government on his enterprise, he asked Congress to pass the act before alluded to.

Orson Pratt and John E. Page, two of the Twelve, went to Washington in the interest of this scheme, and urged its consideration among the Congressmen. Subsequently, in April, 1844, Orson Hyde was sent to Washington in the interest of the same great project; and through the influence of Mr. Hoge, Representative to Congress from the district in which Nauvoo was included. Mr. Hardin, and Stephen A. Douglass, succeeded in approaching a number of members of Congress on the subject but received small encouragement, as Congressmen then, as now, were extremely cautions in engaging in anything affecting their reputation and prospects for political preferment for the future. But however much these men objected to advocating anything which looked like favoring openly the scheme of the Prophet, they all concurred in affirming that he had the right to lead his people to Oregon to settle, and the government would protect them. Stephen A. Douglass remarked, that if he could command the following that Mr. Smith could, he would resign his seat in Congress, to go to the West. On this subject Orson Hyde made two exhaustive reports to the Prophet in letters from Washington, which I here insert:

WASHINGTON, April 25th, 1844.

HON. SIR,--I take the liberty to transmit through you to the
council of our Church the result of my labors thus far. I
arrived in this place on the 23rd instant, by way of Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia, and New Jersey.

I found Elder Orson Pratt here, Elder Page having been called home
to Pittsburgh on account of his wife's ill health. Elder O. Pratt
has been indefatigable in his exertions in prosecuting the business
entrusted to his charge. His business has been before the Senate,
and referred to the committee on the judiciary; and the report of
said committee is not yet rendered, which is the cause of his delay
in writing to you.

Yesterday we conversed with Messrs. Hoge, Hardin, Douglass, and
Wentworth, and last evening we spent several hours with the
Hon. Mr. Semple They all appear deeply interested in the Oregon
question, and received us with every demonstration of respect that
we could desire. Mr. Hoge thought that the bill would not pass,
from the fact that there already exists between England and America
a treaty for the joint occupancy of Oregon, and that any act of our
Government authorizing an armed force to be raised, and destined
for that country, would be regarded by England as an infraction of
that treaty, and a cause of her commencing hostilities against us.

But my reply was, These volunteers are not to be considered any
part or portion of the army of the United States, neither acting
under the direction or authority of the United States; and, said I,
for men to go there and settle in the character of emigrants cannot
be regarded by our Government as deviating in the least degree from
her plighted faith, unless she intends to tamely submit to British
monopoly in that country.

Mr. H., said he would present the memorial, if we desired it. I
thanked him for his kind offer, but observed that I was not yet
prepared for the bill to be submitted, but wished to elicit all the
facts relative to the condition of Oregon, and also advise with
many other members relative to the matter; and we could better
determine then how the bill should be introduced. We do not want it
presented and referred to a standing committee, and stuck away with
five or ten cords of petitions, and that be the last of it; but we
want the memorial read, a move made to suspend the rules of the
house, and the bill printed, etc.

Mr. Wentworth said--"I am for Oregon anyhow. You may set me down on
your list, and I will go for you if you will go for Oregon."

Judge Douglass has been quite ill, but is just recovered; he will
help all he can; Mr. Hardin likewise. But Major Semple says that
he does not believe anything will be done about Texas or Oregon
this session, for it might have a very important effect upon the
presidential election; and politicians are slow to move when such
doubtful and important matters are likely to be affected by it.
He says that there are already two bills before the house for
establishing a territorial government in Oregon, and to protect the
emigrants there; and now he says, Were your bill to be introduced,
it might be looked upon that you claimed the sole right of
emigrating to and settling that new country to the exclusion of
others. He was in favor of the Oregon being settled, and he thought
the bills already before the house would extend equal protection to
us; and equal protection to every class of citizens was what the
government could rightly do; but particular privileges to any one
class they could not rightly do.

I observed that the bill asked for no exclusive rights. It asks not
for exclusive rights in Oregon, neither do we wish it. Other people
might make a move to Oregon, and no prejudices bar their way, and
their motives would not be misinterpreted.

But, said I, Missouri knows her guilt; and should we attempt to
march to Oregon without the government throwing a protective shield
over us, Missouri's crimes would lead her first to misinterpret
our intentions, to fan the flame of popular excitement against
us, and scatter the firebrands of a misguided zeal among the
combustible materials of other places, creating a flame too hot
for us to encounter--too desolating for us to indulge the hope of
successfully prosecuting the grand and benevolent enterprise we
have conceived. We have been compelled to relinquish our rights
in Missouri. We have been forcibly driven from our homes, leaving
our property and inheritances as spoil to the oppressor; and more
or less in Illinois we have been subject to the whims and chimeras
of illiberal men, and to threats, to vexatious prosecutions, and
lawsuits.

Our government professes to have no power to help us, or to redress
the wrongs which we have suffered; and we now ask the government
to protect us while raising our volunteers. And when we get into
Oregon we will protect ourselves and all others who wish our
protection. And after subduing a new country, encountering all
its difficulties and hardships, and sustaining the just claims
of our nation to its soil, we believe that the generosity of
our government towards us will be equal to our enterprise and
patriotism, and that they will allow us a grant or territory of
land, which will be both honorable in them and satisfactory to us.

This, he says, is all very just and reasonable. But still he thinks
that Congress will take no step in relation to Oregon, from the
fact that his resolution requesting the President of the United
States to give notice to the British government for the abolition
of the treaty of joint occupation was voted down; and while that
treaty is in force, our government dare do nothing in relation to
that country. This resolution was introduced by Mr. Semple to pave
the way for the passage of those bills in relation to a territorial
government in Oregon.

All our members join in the acknowledgement that you have an
undoubted right to go to Oregon with all the emigrants you can
raise. They say the existing laws protect you as much as law can
protect you; and should Congress pass an additional law, it would
not prevent wicked men from shooting you down as they did in
Missouri. All the Oregon men in Congress would be glad if we would
go to that country and settle it.

I will now give you my opinion in relation to this matter. It
is made up from the spirit of the times in a hasty manner,
nevertheless I think time will prove it correct:--That Congress
will pass not act in relation to Texas or Oregon at present. She
is afraid of England, afraid of Mexico, afraid the presidential
election will be twisted by it. The members all appear like
unskillful players at checkers--afraid to move, for they see not
which way to move advantageously. All are figuring and playing
round the grand and important questions. In the days of our Lord
the people neglected the weightier matters of the law, but tithed
mint, rue, anise, and cummin; but I think here in Washington they
do little else than tithe the _mint_.

A member of Congress is in no enviable situation: if he will boldly
advocate true principles, he loses his influence and becomes
unpopular; and whoever is committed and has lost his influence has
no power to benefit his constituents, so that all go to figuring
and playing round the great points.

Mr. Semple said that Mr. Smith could not constitutionally be
constituted a member of the army by law; and this, if nothing
else, would prevent its passage. I observed that I would in that
case strike out that clause. Perhaps I took an unwarrantable
responsibility upon myself; but where I get into a straight place,
I can do no better than act according to what appears most correct.

I do not intend the opinion that I have hastily given shall abate
my zeal to drive the matter through, but I have given the opinion
for your benefit, that your indulgence of the hope that Congress
will do something for us may not cause you to delay any important
action.

There is already a government established in Oregon to some extent;
magistrates have been chosen by the people, &c. This is on the
south of the Columbia. North of that river the Hudson Bay Company
occupy. There is some good country in Oregon, but a great deal of
sandy, barren desert. I have seen a gentleman who has been there,
and also in California.

The most of the settlers in Oregon and Texas are our old enemies,
the mobocrats of Missouri. If, however, the settlement of Oregon
and Texas be determined upon, the sooner the move is made the
better; and I would not advise any delay for the action of our
government, for there is such a jealousy of our rising power
already, that government will do nothing to favor us. If the Saints
possess the kingdom, I think they will have to take it; and the
sooner it is done the more easily it is accomplished.

Your superior wisdom must determine whether to go to Oregon, to
Texas, or to remain within these United States, and send forth the
most efficient men to build up churches, and let them remain for
the time being; and in the meantime send some _wise_ men among the
Indians, and teach them civilization and religion, to cultivate
the soil, to live in peace with one another and with all men. But
whatever you do, don't be deluded with the hope that government
will foster us, and thus delay an action which the present is the
most proper time that ever will be [in which to accomplish it.--R.]

Oregon is becoming a popular question; the fever of emigration
begins to rage. If the Mormons become the early majority, others
will not come; if the Mormons do not become an early majority, the
others will not allow us to come.

Elder Pratt is faithful, useful, and true; he has got the run of
matters here very well, and is with me in all my deliberations,
visitings, &c.

Major Semple goes with us this evening to introduce us to the
President, and to view the White House.

My heart and hand are with you. May heaven bless you and me. As
ever, I am

ORSON HYDE.

To the council of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Also the following letter:--

WASHINGTON, April 26, 1844.

DEAR SIR,--Today I trouble you with another communication, which
you will please have the goodness to lay before our council.

We were last evening introduced to the President at the White
House by the politeness of Major Semple, where we spent an hour
very agreeably. The President is a very plain, homespun, familiar,
farmer-like man. He spoke of our troubles in Missouri, and
regretted that we had met with such treatment. He asked us how we
were getting along in Illinois. I told him that we were contending
with the difficulties of a new country, and laboring under the
disadvantageous consequences of being driven from our property and
homes in Missouri.

We have this day had a long conversation with Judge Douglass. He
is ripe for Oregon and the California. He said he would resign
his seat in Congress if he could command the force that Mr. Smith
could, and would be on the march to that country in a month.

I learn that the eyes of many aspiring politicians in this place
are now upon that country, and that there is so much jealousy
between them that they will probably pass no bill in relation to
it. Now all these politicians rely upon the arm of our government
to protect them there; and if government were to pass an act
establishing a territorial government west of the Rocky Mountains
there would be at once a tremendous rush of emigration; but if
government pass no act in relation to it, these men have not
stamina or sufficient confidence in themselves and their own
resources to hazard the enterprise.

The northern Whig members are almost to a man against Texas and
Oregon; but should the present administration succeed in annexing
Texas, then all the Whigs would turn round in favor of Oregon; for
if Texas be admitted, slavery is extended to the south; then free
States must be added to the west to keep up a balance of power
between the slave and the free States.

Should Texas be admitted, war with Mexico is looked upon as
inevitable. The Senate have been in secret session on the
ratification of the treaty of annexation; but what they did we
cannot say. General Gaines, who was boarding at the same house
with Judge Douglass, was secretly ordered to repair to the Texan
frontier four days ago, and left immediately. I asked Judge D. if
he did not speak loud for annexation. He says, no. Santa Anna,
being a jealous, hot-headed pate, might be suspicious the treaty
would be ratified by the Senate, and upon mere suspicion might
attempt some hostilities, and Gaines had been ordered there to be
on the alert and ready for action if necessary. Probably our navy
will in a few days be mostly in the Gulf of Mexico.

There are many powerful checks upon our government, preventing her
from moving in any of these important matters; and for aught I
know, these checks are permitted, to prevent our government from
extending her jurisdiction over that territory which God designs to
give to His Saints. Judge Douglass says he would equally as soon go
to that country without an act of Congress as with; 'and that in
five years a noble State might be formed; and then, if they would
not receive us into the Union, we would have a government of our
own.' He is decidedly of the opinion that congress will pass no act
in favor of any particular man going there; but he says if any man
will go, and desires that privilege, and has confidence in his own
ability to perform it he already has the right, and the sooner he
is off the better for his scheme.

It is the opinion here among politicians that it will be extremely
difficult to have any bill pass in relation to the encouragement of
emigration to Oregon; but much more difficult to get a bill passed
designating any particular man to go. But all concur in the opinion
that we are authorized already.

In case of a removal to that country, Nauvoo is the place of
general rendezvous. Our course from thence would be westward
through Iowa, bearing a little north until we came to the Missouri
river, leaving the State of Missouri on the left, thence onward
till we come to the Platte, thence up the north fork of the Platte
to the mouth of Sweetwater river in longitude 107 45' W., and
thence up said Sweetwater river to the South Pass of the Rocky
Mountains, about eleven hundred miles from Nauvoo; and from said
South Pass in latitude 42 28' north to the Umpaque and Klamet
valleys in Oregon, bordering on California, is about 600 miles,
making the distance from Nauvoo to the best portions of Oregon
1,700 miles.

There is no government established there; and it is so near
California that when a government shall be established there, it
may readily embrace that country likewise. There is much barren
country, rocks, and mountains, in Oregon; but the valleys are very
fertile. I am persuaded that Congress will pass no act in relation
to that country, from the fact that the resolution requesting
the President to give notice to the British government for the
discontinuance of the treaty of joint occupation of Oregon was
voted down with a rush; and this notice must be given before any
action can be had, unless Congress violates the treaty; at least so
say the politicians here.

Judge Douglass has given me a map of Oregon, and also a report on
an exploration of the country lying between the Missouri river and
the Rocky Mountains on the line of the Kansas and Great Platte
rivers, by Lieutenant J. C. Fremont, of the corps of topographical
engineers. On receiving it I expressed a wish that Mr. Smith could
see it. Judge D. says it is a public document, and I will frank it
to him. I accepted his offer, and the book will be forthcoming to
him. The people are so eager for it here that they have even stolen
it out of the library. The author is Mr. Benton's son-in-law.
Judge D. borrowed it of Mr. B. I was not to tell anyone in this
city where I got it. The book is a most valuable document to any
one contemplating a journey to Oregon. The directions which I have
given may not be exactly correct, but the book will tell correctly.
Judge D. says he can direct Mr. Smith to several gentlemen in
California who will be able to give him any information on the
state of affairs in that country; and when he returns to Illinois,
he will visit Mr. Smith.

Brother Pratt and myself drafted a bill this morning, and handed
it in to the committee on the judiciary from the Senate, asking
an appropriation of two million dollars for the relief of the
sufferers among our people in Missouri in 1836-9, to be deposited
in the hands of the city council of Nauvoo, and by them dealt out
to the sufferers in proportion to their loss. We intend to tease
them until we either provoke them or get them to do something
for us. I have learned this much--that if we want Congress to do
anything for us in drawing up our memorial, we must not ask what
is right in the matter, but we must ask what kind of a thing will
Congress pass? Will it suit the politics of the majority? Will
it be popular or unpopular? For you might as well drive a musket
ball through a cotton bag, or the Gospel of Christ through the
heart of a priest, case-hardened by sectarianism, bigotry, and
superstition, or a camel through the eye of a needle, as to drive
anything through Congress that will operate against the popularity
of politicians.

I shall probably leave here in a few days, and Brother Pratt will
remain. I go to get money to sustain ourselves with.

I shall write again soon, and let you know what restrictions, if
any, are laid upon our citizens in relation to passing through the
Indian territories. I shall communicate everything I think will
benefit. In the meantime if the council have any instructions to
us, we shall be happy to receive them here or at Philadelphia.

John Ross is here; we intend to see him. It is uncertain when
Congress rises. It will be a long pull in my opinion. As ever, I am,

Yours sincerely,
ORSON HYDE.

Elder Pratt's best respects to the brethren.

An event soon afterwards took place in the House of Representatives before the Prophet's petition was introduced, which put at rest all hopes of Congress doing anything at that time in relation to the Oregon territory. A resolution was introduced giving Great Britain notice that the treaty of joint occupancy of that country was at an end, but it was promptly voted down. That virtually served public notice that the Oregon question was not to be reopened by Congress, at least not until the conclusion of the presidential election.

Sufficient may be gathered from what is set down in the above, to prove that the mind of the Prophet Joseph was bent on establishing his people in the West--somewhere in the Rocky Mountains--so soon as they could complete the temple. The subject began to take possession of his mind wholly. Some eighteen months before his formal appeal to Congress, for the privilege of settling with his people in the far West, under the protecting aegis of the general government, _viz_., on the sixth of August, 1842, he prophesied, that his people would continue to suffer much persecution, and at last be driven to the Rocky Mountains. This is the prophecy as it stands in the Prophet's journal:

Saturday, sixth, [August]. Passed over the river to Montrose,
Iowa, in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer, and others,
and witnessed the installation of the officers of the Rising Sun
Lodge, of Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by General James Adams,
Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the Deputy Grand Master was
engaged in giving the requisite instruction to the Master elect, I
had a conversation with a number of brethren in the shade of the
building on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri, and the
constant annoyance which has followed us since we were driven from
that State. I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer
much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains, many
would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors,
or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, and some
of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and build
cities, and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of
the Rocky Mountains. [1]--_Millennial Star, Vol. xix, page 630_.

As persecution in Illinois grew more relentless, and mobocrats more bold, until the whole horizon appeared black, and threatening with hatred toward the citizens of Nauvoo, the Prophet told them repeatedly it was "light in the west."

Footnotes

1. See the author's work, "Succession in the Presidency," where the subject is more exhaustively considered.