The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-03-05
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themselves lully as much entitled to possess the
| Iand as this motley band of queer and aues
tlonable strangers And it only needed charge,
OF actual misconduct, such as tampering with
the slaves, making free with property which did moi
belong to them, and the odious suspicion of poly
gamous and adulterous practices, which then began
to be bruied, but stoutly and pertinacously de-
MED, to intiame the popular Indignation to a pitch
which brought matters to decisive issue. A pub.
lie meeting was held in April, 1888, at Independ.
ence, in which the pithy and pointed resolution was
passed unanimously y,-"That the Noraaopq sbouJ3 he
removed ont Of their diggiags." A few months af
terwards general mass meeting of the citizens Of
Jackson county was convened, in which series of
stringent resolutions were passed. looking to the i'm
mediate removal of the Mormons, and CONCLUDING
with the following sarcastic and significant SEN
tence:
''That those who fail to comply with the above re-
QUESTIONS be referred to those of their brethren
who bear the gifts of divination and of unknown
tongues to inform them of the lot that awaits
them"
1t would be out Of place in this outline sketch to
enter into minute detail of the struggles between
the Mormons and the ''border ruffians,' which, af
ter series of years marked with angry controver-
sy, mutual outrage and retaliation, sometimes pro-
ceeding to actual battle and bloodshed finally re-
suited in the complete extrpation of the Saints from
their chosen Zion and their expulsion from the
limits of Missouri. 1t was during these dark days
of trial and disaster that Smith established the pc
culiar military organization among his people
which afterwards perfected in the "Nauvoo Lee
gion." During this period, too was organized the
"Danite Band or Omitted Brothers of Gideon
bound by all the horrid oaths of legazed assassi-
nation and sanctified revenge which have made in
famous the secret political clubs of Italv,-analo-
gous, in fact, both in theory and practice, to the
sect of AssasSinS in the middle ages or the more
modern Thugs of India and the same organization
which, under the name Of '"Destroying Angels" and
leadership of the notorious Hill Hickman. has re-
Gently been the terror of the overland emigrant,
and has even dared to arrest and destroy laroe
train of supplies for the United States Army
1t is due, however, to the Mormons to say, that
they did not resort to these desperate measures of
defence and revenge, until after they had been baf
fled in all their attempts to procure redress by the
ordinary and peaceful legal means Earnest and
pathetic were the repeated appeals of Joseph and
his brethren to the courts, the Governor and the
Legislature and even to Congress and the President
for protection in the enjoyment of their rights un
y
cial revelation which Smith produced to comfort
the saints in their affction, admonishes them "to
importune at the feet of the Judge; and if he did
not heed, to mportune at the feet of the Governors
and if the Governor did not heed to importune at
the feet of the President of the United States: and
If the President did not heed, then the Lord God
himself would arise and forth out of his hiding
place, and in His fury vex the nation
No assistance came however, but on the contrary
increased violence and persecution. They were
driven from one county to another, from jackson
to Clay, from Clay to Ray, Davies and Caldwell
till, like hunted beast at bay, they gnashed their
teeth in anguish and rage, defed legal process and
made themselves amenable to that law whose pro-
lection they had vainly solicited.
This was the signal for a general and formidable
movement. Governor Boggs issued his proclama-
ton, the Legislature passed stringent resolves and
an overwhelming military demonstration under
Generals Atchison and Doniphan, convinced them
that all idea of further resistance was HOPELESS In
the depth of the winter of 1889, the Nor
mons, with their women and children, their sick,
wounded and aged, made precpitate flight across
the river into Illinois, leaving the fourishing settle
ments which had been their pride and their boast,
together with the property which they had indus
triously accumulated, prey to their hated Gentle
foes
From the county jail in Liberty, Mo-, where Joe
Smith, his brother Hyrum, and several Of the faith
full, were at this time incarcerated, but from which
they were subsequently released, the modern pro-
phet indited epistle after the manner of the
Apostle Paul, sin bonds" to "BishOp Partridge,
and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints in Quincy, Illinois, and to those scattered
abroad throughout all the regions round about"
brief extract from this manifesto will illustrate
better than any comment, the undaunted spirit,
Operative energy, unwavering faith and inherent
vitality, which have distinguished the Mormons
throughout all the vicisstudes and reverses of their
astonishing career, and which, considered in cOnnec-
ton with their present attitude in relation to the
General Government, multiplied, concentrated and
entrenched as they now beyond the Rocky
Mountains, admonish us that the Mormon question,
so far from being of mere secondary and subor-
dinate interest, public men seem generally
inclined to regard it, is in reality problem of par
amount Importance and of portentous and appall-
ing significance. But listen to Joseph in the dun
geon -
"What power can stay the heavens? As we'll
might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the
mighty Missouri river in its course, as to hinder
the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from
heaven upon the heads of the Latter Day Saints
What are the Governor and his murderous party
but willows on the shores to stop the waters in their
progress? No, they may rage with all the powers
of hell, and pour forth their wrath indignation and
cruelty, like the burning lava of Mount Vesuvius
YET SHALL MoRMoNIsM STAND! Truth is Mormon
ism and God is its author by Him we received
our birth, by Him called to dispensation
of his Gospel, in the beginning of the funess of
times; it was by Him received the Book of Nor
mon; by Him we remain unto this day, and shall
continue to remain, if it be his glory; we are de
termined to endure tribulation, as good soldiers
unto the end. When you read this YOU will learn
that prison walls, iron doors, screechng hinges,
guards ard jailors have not DESTROYED our conf
dence, but say, and that from experience.
that they are calculated in their very nature
to make the soul of an honest man feel stronger
than the powers of hell.
We are, dear brethren, your fellow sufferers
and prisoners of Jesus Christ for the Gospels sake
and for the hope of glory which is in us. Amen"
We now leave the Mormons, at the crisis of their
history homeless, prosecuted, banished scattered.
The sequel will show that the disasters which seem
to threaten their utter extinction as a sect and
nation, in fact the very elements which contrib
ute to their more rapid development and that the
gloomy and desperate days of the Missouri Exodus
are the harbingers of a career of brilliant and un-
precedented success.
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The Governor of ofPennsylvania has issued his war