The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-02-22
MIR. JOSEPH SMITH. y
NAUvoo, Ill. JAM . 1874.

NAUvoo, Ill. Jan. 1874.
SIR: Your reply to my letter of last No
vember, concerning your rule of action to-
wards the Latter Day Saints, if elected pres
iden,, is at hand; and, that you and your
friends are of the same opinion, relative 10
the matterin question, may not be dsappoint-
ed as TO me, or my mind, upon so grave
subject, permit me, as alaw-ablding man, as
well wisher to the perpetuity OF consiitu-
tionaI rights. AID liberty. and as friend to
the free worship of Almighty God, by ali,ac-
cordng te the dictates of every persons con-
science, TO say Tam surprised, that manor
men in the highest stations of public life,
should have made up such fragile svieW2
Of a case, than which there is no one on
the face of the earth fraught with SO much
consequence to the happiness ofmen IN this
lworld. or the world to come. Tosbe sure,
1.-THE first paragraph of your letter appears
/ .,.s.1--,-,az az a -ssIs.fes sl1sss.i
Iof paper, and who. that is ambitious for great
ness and power, would not have said the same
thingl You oath would bind you tosuppcFt
the constitution and laws, and as all creeds
and religions are alike tolerated, they must,
of course, all be justified or combined, ac-
cording 10 merit or demert-but why, tell
me why, are all the principal men, held up
for public stations, SO cautiously careful, not
to publish TO the world, that they ,riH Judge
a righteous .judgmeat--law or no law; tor
laws and opinions, like the vanes ofsteeples,
change with the wind, One congress passes
law, and another repeats it, and one states
man says that the constitution means this, &
another that; and who does not know that
all may be wrong? The opinion and pledge,
therefore, in the first paragraph Of your reply
to my question, like the forced steam from
the engine of steam boat, make the show
of bright cloud at first, but when il comes
in contact with purer atmosphere, dissolves
TO common air again.
Your second paragraph leaves you naked
before youaself, like likeness in mirror,
when you say that "according to your VIEWS
the federal government is one of limited and
specific powers" and has no jurisdiction in
the case of the Mormons. So then. state
can at any time, expel any portion other cit
izens with IMMUNITY, and in the language of
MIR. Van Buren,, frosted over with your gra-
cious s'vIEws of the CASE" though the cause
is ever SO just, government can do nothing
for them, because it has no power.
Go on then, Missouri, after another set
Of inhabitants, (as the Latter Day Saints did)
have entered some two or three thousand
dollars worth of land, and made extensive
Improvements thereon: go on, then say,
Danish the occupants or owners, or kill them,
as the mobbers did many of the Latter Day
Saints, and take their lands and property as
a spoil: and let the legislature,a as in the case
of the Mormons, appropriate couple ofhun-
dred thousand dollars to pay the mob for
doing the Job, for the renowned senator
from South Carolina, Mr.. ]. c. Calhoun,
says the powers of the federal government
are so specific and limited ttct it has no .ju-
risdiction Of tie case! Oh ye people who
groan under the oppression OF iyrants, We ex-
| lie Poles.who have felt the iron hand of Rus
sian grasp: We poor and unfortunate among
all nations, come to the tsasylum of the OPP
pressed buy We lands of the gen.
erai government, pay IN your money to the
treasury TO strengthen the army and navy ;wor-
ship God according TO the dictates Of your
own consciences; pay in your taxes TO sup
port the grea, heads of glorious nation; ID ut
remember sovereign siaem is so much
more powerful than the u. States. the parent
government, that it can exile you at pleasure,
mob you with immunity; conGscate your lands
and property; have the legislature sanction
it, yea, even murder you, as an edct of an
emperor, aud il does no wrong, for the noble
senator of South Carolina, says the power
of the federal government is so limited and
specific that il has no jurisdiction of the case!
What think We of imperiwm in imperio.
Ye spirits ofthe blessed of all ages, bark !!
/ We shades of departed statesmen, listeni-.
Abraham, Moses, Homes, Socrates, Scion,