The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-04-09

gard.ess OF pecuDiary interest, and indiffer
ent to the destruction of their property
collected their children together, and ruinet
and penniless, fed from a country wher,
they had witnessed nothing during their So
Journ but scenes Of wild confusion, ant
frightful, uncontrolled, and lawless anar
chy.
The Anti.Mormon party had thoroughly
studied the peculiar tactics Of the Mormoni
in all their previous difficulties. They dis
covered that the most obnoxious and objec.
tionable of all the acts of the prescribed
sect had boen based on the assumption thai
they were the law and order party, and haG
been accomplished under the guise of lega
process. BY the abuse of judicial authority
they had rescued every felon from the ven.
geance of the law, and by the same insidi.
GUS policy; and under color of legal process
they had contrived to detain Anti -Mormon>
in close custody for weeks without trial
This false show of legal subordination or
the part Of the fanatics was the grand Sc.
cret Of their success. BY assuming to be
governed exclusively by the law, end inv ok.
ing its protection against the violence OF
their enemies, whom they denounced as
lawless mobbers and incendiaries, they had
won over to the support of their interests
the sympathy of the public and the press
generally throughout the State. The Anti
Mormoms were now determined to beat their
antagonists with the same weapons of chi
canery which had been used against them
selves with euch eminent success. They
were resolved to employ to their own ad-
vantage policy marked out to them by the
daring and unscrupulous career of Mormon
ism. They justly considered that if they in
voked the assistance of their friends in the
adjoining counties, for the avowed purpose
of lawlessly driving the Mormons from their
homes, that their whole project would prove
a complete failure; for in whatever light
their friends might regard the Mormons, and
however anxious they might be to rid the
State of their influence, they would hesitate
long before they would willingly encounter
the perlls and penalties incident to law
less expedition.
At this period fortune favored the Anti
Mormons with legal pretcxt to justify an
invasion of the Mormon city, of which they
determined to avail themselves. 1t will be
recollectcd that recently Capt. Picket, for
whom process had been issued, surround
ed by an armed mob, had openly braved a
legal officer in the streets of Nauvoo, who
sought to apprehend him by virtue of a war
rant for his body. This same Picket, still
relying on the protection extended to him
by some five or six hundred Mormons with
arms in their hands, continued to occupy
the same attitude of defiance. 1t was now
resolved, dead or alive, to take him. To
secure this arrest, it WAS necessary to call
upon force sufficient to carry Nauvoo by
storm, as no doubt was entertained that the
Mormons would resist to the last. Accord
ingly John CarIin, the same officer who first
attempted to serve the writ, now issued his
proclamation, which, after reciting the fail
ure of his previous attempt to secure the
arrest of William Picket, and the resistance
he encountered, commanded every able bod
led man in the county Of Hancock to rendez-
vous, at Carthage, on the 9th day of Au-
gust then next following, armed and equip
ped, and furnished with two days. provis.
ions, for the purpose Of aiding him in ar
resting William Picket. This proclamation
was distributed through every neighborhood
in the county. In many ins 4nces where
there was reason to doubt the devotion oil
IN individual to the Anti. Mormon cause, the
proclamation was personally serscd upor
him; and lest he might still prove refractory
he was cited to the provisions of the statute
made in such cases, BY which he was clearly
shown that he incurred heavy penaltie:
should he refuse obedience to the legal man.
date.
However much the Mormons may have
been surprised at this attempt of the Anti
Mormons to fight them with their own weap-
Ons, they had no sooner discovered theil
policy than they brought into active requisi.
tIon all their wisdom and ingenuity to secure
its defeat. TO this end writs were issued
by a Mormon justice of the pc zee; chargiTs1
the more distinguished and active of the
Anti-Mormon leaders with riots and sundry
other breaches of the peace. Precisely the
same policy was adopted iu all respects
which the Anti Mormons had previously y de-
vised, for the prosecution of their plans
Like their antagonists they had procured the
appointment of u special officer to execute
these writs, and this officer likewise issued
his proclamation, in which opprobrious
terms were heaped without stint upon the
Anti Mormons, and the power of the county
demanded to crush the lawless organization
Of mobbers, now being banded together foI
the most nefarious and barbarous designs,
1t will be seen that both parties We're anxious
to sh lt;r themselves under the protection OF
the law. To win over the appreciation OF
the observing public, and to secure ''mase-
rial aid" in the approaching conflict, each
party placed itself in false position, and
each based its quarrel on false and decep.
tive issue, Under the ostensible design o.
taking in custody the body Of William Pick
ct, the Anti Mormons were marshaling, Or
ganizing and drilling their forces for the ac-
tual purpose of storming the city of Nauvoo,
and driving the Mormons, including the
same person sought to be arrested, from
the limits of the State. The Mormons, in
summoning to their aid the power of the
county for the avowed design of arresting.
Sharp, Williams, and others of notoriety in
the Anti Mormon camp; and to preserve the
peace of their city and county, actually in
tended to make stand against their enemies.
and dispute with them every inch of ground.
for the purpose Of maintaining asuprenacy
which they had long labored permanently to
establish in the State Of Illinois. Not con.
tent with placing them elves under the lead.
ership of a constable duly appointed, the
Mormons were determined to invest their
proceedings with color Of higher authori-
ty. 1t was determined to invoke the
sanction of the Governor to all their move
ments.
A special commissioner was accordingly
appointed By the town council Of Nauvoo,
which, in addition to its ordina. j powers OF
opening, establishing, and repairing the
streets of the city, of making provisions fol
the support of paup'r, and # Furnishing
petty breaches of the peace, now by the oc.
currence of extraordinary events, the threat.
ened invason of their commonwealth, found
it necessary to assume the most extraordi-
nary powers-of declaring war, of negotia-
ting treaties, and voting supplies for the
public defense. The object Of this special
embassy was to secure the assistance of Gov.
Ford in putting the city in state of defense,
and maintaining it against the incursions Of
their enemies. 1t must be understood that
for all practical purposes Nauvoo was an
Independent State, fighting its own wars and
making its own treaties, and exercising the
most important acts of sovereignty. We
have seen that Gov. Ford collected force
in Hancock on one occasion, with the design
of reducing the refractory fanatics to ODE.
djence but being frightened off the ground
by the tragical death of the prophet, had ev.
ar ha oon1asi stIoa1 opthpri