1839-40.
JOSEPH AND COMPANIONS DEPART FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL--THE
PROPHET'S ACT OF HEROISM--VISITS PRESIDENT VAN BUREN--THE LATTER'S
COWARDICE--APOSTLE HYDE'S MISSION TO JERUSALEM--BOGGS' DEMAND FOR
THE PROPHET AND HIS BRETHREN--DEATH OF THE PROPHET'S FATHER--NAUVOO
CHARTERED AS A CITY--NAUVOO UNIVERSITY AND LEGION.
When the government of the United States was founded, the idea of the
inspired fathers of the nation was to make it possible for all men to
enjoy liberty and justice. Each state had its government but above the
states was the national government, which was to give justice when
it could not be obtained in the states. This was the idea Joseph the
Prophet had of our government, and he determined that since Missouri
would not right the great wrong done to the Saints, he would carry
their cause to the United States and there seek justice. You know
something of what they suffered. They lost their lands, houses, cattle
and almost all that they had, and worse than this, they were robbed of
their rights as American citizens to worship God as they saw fit and to
live peacefully wherever they chose to live.
In the fall of 1839, in company with Elias Higbee and Sidney Rigdon,
Joseph went east to Washington to lay the matter before the President
and Congress, and to ask that claims against Missouri for about one
and a half million dollars' worth of property be paid. While they
were traveling by stage in the mountains between Philadelphia and
Washington, the driver left his seat to get a drink of grog. The horses
became frightened and began to run. The road led down a hill and the
pace soon became terrific. The passengers were beside themselves with
fear.
Joseph's presence of mind and cool bravery were at once seen. He calmed
his fellow-travelers as well as possible but had to hold one excited
woman from throwing her baby out of the window. He then opened the door
and securing a hold on the side of the coach, although the horses were
running at full speed, drew himself by main strength up to the driver's
seat. Gathering up the reins, he soon had the horses under control.
The passengers felt that they owed him their lives, and seemed very
grateful. They praised his bravery, as it of course deserved, in the
highest terms, and some of them who were members of Congress, said that
they would speak of the act before that body, feeling sure that mention
would be made of their deliverer. They asked his name, but when he told
them he was Joseph Smith, all their gratitude and praise ceased at
once, and nothing more was said.
Sidney had been left sick at Philadelphia, but Joseph and Judge Higbee,
on the twenty-ninth of November, the day following their arrival at
Washington, visited President Van Buren and gave him their letters of
introduction. He read one, and looking up with a frown on his face
said: "What can I do? I can do nothing for you. If I do anything I
shall come in contact with the whole state of Missouri." Joseph was
not frightened by such cowardly words and thought the man a fool for
judging before he had heard their cause. He told the President boldly
of how Missouri had over-ridden the Constitution and of the horrible
crimes that resulted. Van Buren was moved to pity and promised to
reconsider what he had said.
Joseph and his companion prepared a long petition to place before
Congress. They met a committee of the representatives and senators from
Illinois and other friendly congressmen and laid their cause plainly
before them. They again visited President Van Buren, but he had now
turned against them and at this time spoke those cowardly, traitorous
words: "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you. If I take up
for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri."
The committee appointed by Congress to consider the petition reported
against it also. For their own political reasons, like the President,
they did not wish to favor the Mormons, and besides this they probably
feared to touch the great question of State's Rights, which was not
settled until the Civil War.
Joseph's mission to Washington seemed to be in vain. Yet it was not
entirely a failure. He preached a number of public sermons and he did
much to spread the truth, and gained many friends. He also had a chance
to become acquainted with those who were in high places in the nation,
and measure his strength and intelligence with theirs.
At the April conference of 1840, Apostle Orson Hyde, who had not gone
with the other members of the Twelve to England, was called on a
mission to Jerusalem. Apostle John E. Page was appointed to go with
him, but this he refused to do. Elder Hyde left Nauvoo nine days later,
traveled to the Holy Land and there offered a prayer of dedication on
the Mount of Olives, that the Jews might gather home. He then went to
Europe, and in Germany published a pamphlet telling of the rise and
doctrines of the Church. His mission lasted over two years.
In midsummer of the year 1840, a circumstance happened which showed
that the old spirit had not died out in Missouri. A party of men
from that state came to Nauvoo and took away by force--actually
kidnapped--four of the brethren. These were James Allred, Alanson
Brown, Noah Rogers and Benjamin Boyce, and before they escaped they
were nearly killed by the cruelties of the Missourians. Two or three
months later, on the fifteenth of September, Governor Boggs asked
Governor Carlin of Illinois to have Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman
Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Caleb Baldwin and Alanson Brown arrested for
having fled from the Missouri prisons.
Although Governor Carlin must have known that the object of Boggs was
murder, yet he issued an order for their arrest, and the sheriff was
sent with it to Nauvoo. Joseph and the others who were there went into
hiding, because they knew that if they were taken back to Missouri it
meant foul play. The sheriff, therefore, returned the order to Governor
Carlin. The danger was past and Joseph again came out among the people.
On the day before the order for the Prophet's arrest was made, Joseph
Smith, Sen., the first Patriarch of the Church, died on account of the
hardships he had endured in fleeing from Missouri. He was faithful
to the last and died a martyr. On the twenty-fourth of January,
1841, Hyrum was appointed Patriarch, and William Law was made second
counselor to Joseph in Hyrum's place.
Nauvoo had now grown, as if by magic, into a town of considerable size.
Hundreds of comfortable houses had taken the place of the half dozen
huts found in the marsh, a year and a half before. The citizens now
asked the legislature that it be made into a city. Joseph and others
wrote out a charter, and in December it was accepted by the legislature
and signed by the governor. This charter, as Joseph said, made it
possible for any honest man to live secure, whatever his religion or
party. It provided for a mayor, aldermen and councilors; also for a
university and body of soldiers called the Nauvoo Legion.
An election was held on the first of February, and John C. Bennett,
an educated man who had shortly before joined the Church, was
elected mayor. Joseph was one of the councilors. At the first city
council meeting the Prophet presented a bill for the organizing of a
university, and he was elected one of the trustees. When the Legion
was formed with six companies, Joseph was made lieutenant general. So
you see that the first President of the Church, as all the others have
been, was a practical man, and was willing to do his part as a citizen.
He accepted the office of councilor, a somewhat humble position,
because he wished to aid in giving the young city good government. At
one of the first meetings he introduced a bill to prevent the sale
of liquor, and this made drunkenness almost unknown. He accepted the
position of trustee of the university because he was a great friend
to education and wished to make the school thrive. He accepted the
position of lieutenant general in the Legion because it was a duty of
the citizens to have a military organization; and he was willing to do
his part to make it a worthy one.