Brethren, Sisters, and FriendsWe are a people believing in the providences of God, and acknowledging His hand in His dealings with us from day to day.

We are a people whose rise and progress from the beginning, has been the work of God our Heavenly Father, which in His wisdom He has seen proper to commence for the re-establishment of His kingdom upon the

earth.

Still further we believe that the Lord has been preparing that, when He should bring forth His work, that, when the set time should fully come, there might be a place upon His footstool where sufficient liberty of conscience should exist, that His Saints might dwell in peace under the broad panoply of constitutional law and equal rights. In this view we consider that the men in the Revolution were inspired, by the Almighty, to throw off the shackles of the mother government, with her established religion. For this cause were Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, and a host of others inspired to deeds of resistance to the acts of the King of Great Britain, who might also have been led to those aggressive acts, for aught we know, to bring to pass the purposes of God, in thus establishing a new government upon a principle of greater freedom, a basis of selfgovernment allowing the free exercise of religious worship.

It was the voice of the Lord inspiring all those worthy men who bore influence in those trying times, not only to go forth in battle, but to exercise wisdom in council, fortitude, courage, and endurance in the tented field, as well as subsequently to form and adopt those wise and efficient measures which secured to themselves and suceeding generations, the blessing of a free and independent govern

ment.

This government, so formed, has been blessed by the Almighty until she spreads her sails in every sea, and her power is felt in every land.

The American Government is second to none in the world in influence and power, and far before all others in liberal and free institutions. Under its benign influence the poor, down trodden masses of the old world can find an asylum where they can enjoy the blessings of peace and freedom, no matter to what caste or religious sect they belong, or are disposed to favor, or whether they are disposed to favor any or none at all. It was in this government, formed by men inspired of God, although at the time they knew it not, after it was firmly established in the seat of power and influence, where liberty of conscience, and the free exercise of religious worship were a fundamental principle guaranteed in the Constitution, and interwoven with all the feelings, traditions, and sympathies of the people,

that the Lord sent forth His angel to reveal the truths of heaven as in times past, even as in ancient days. This should have been hailed as the greatest blessing which could have been bestowed upon any nation, kindred, tongue, or people. It should have been received with hearts of gratitude and gladness, praise and thanks giving.

But as it was in the days of our Savior, so was it in the advent of this new dispensation. It was not in accordance with the notions, traditions, and pre-conceived ideas of the American people. The messenger did not come to an eminent divine of any of the so-called orthodoxy, he did not adopt their interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven, in power and great glory, nor send His messengers panoplied with aught else than the truth of heaven, to communicate to the meek, the lowly, the youth of humble origin, the sincere enquirer after the knowlege of God. But He did send His angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith jun., who afterwards became a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and informed him that he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they were all wrong; that they were following the precepts of men instead of the Lord Jesus; that He had a work for him to perform, inasmuch as he should prove faithful before Him.

No sooner was this made known, and published abroad, and people began to listen and obey the heavenly summons, than opposition began to rage, and the people, even in this favored land, began to persecute their neighbors and friends for entertaining religious opinions differing from their own.

I pause now to ask, had not Joseph Smith a right to promulgate and establish a different, a new religion and form of worship in this government?

This

Every one must admit he had. right was always held sacred, for upon it was based the religious liberty of every citizen of the Republic. It was a privilege held sacred in the bosom of every class of people; no Judge dared invade its holy precincts? No Legislator nor Governor ventured to obstruct the free exercise thereof. How then should it be esteemed an object worthy of persecution that Joseph Smith, the man called of God to perform a work in restoring the Gospel of salvation unto the children of men, and his followers, true believers in his divine mission, should attempt to exercise the same privilege held sacred by all others, of every name, nature, and description, and equally so by them? Why should he and his followers be debarred the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of their consciences? Legally they cannot, and I will further state, that legally they have not. No! whenever the iron hand of oppression and persecution has fallen upon this people, our opposers have broken their own laws, set at defiance and trampled under foot every principle of equal rights, justice, and liberty found written in that rich legacy of our fathers, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Whenever popular fury has been directed against us, no power in the government has been found potent enough to afford protection, and what is still more astonishing, honorable enough to yield redress, nor has any effort succeeded in bringing to justice those individuals who had perpetrated such fearful crimes. No! The murderer, the assassin, the midday plunderer, and highwag robber roam unmolested, and mingle unquestioned in the society of the rulers of the land; they pass and re-pass as current coin, producing no jar in the sensibilities of refinement, no odium in the atmosphere in which they move.

permitted to remain undisturbed in their guilt.

As in the case of the Indians upon the frontier, this also was a false conclusion, for if ever a people would have been justified in redressing their own wrongs, and could have done so with impunity, it was at the time of this horrible murder. But they proved to the world, by their quiet and peaceable demeanor, that they had no such intention, but this was forgotten, and in less than a year and a half we were again assailed, our houses and grain stacks burned, and our brethren shot down in the glare of the light thereof, while attempting to save a pittance to drive starvation not from the doors nor the tents, for there were none of either, but from the famishing hearts of their social circle-of their wives and children.

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And again was the aid of the Government invoked to quell the socalled Mormon disturbances," and still we see the newspapers teeming with these and the like epithets "Turbulent Mormons." What shall be done with these turbulent Mormons?" is the cry from one end of the Union to the other. In the name of Heaven what have we done to excite the fears of any People or Government, that the sound of war and blood must eternally be kept ringing in our ears? I answer, nothing. It is the same as before, in the case of tampering with the slaves and Indians, a certain fearfulness that if we are not looked to, driven, plundered of our homes and possessions, slain, and massacred as before, we may do something, they have not yet, to my knowledge, defined precisely what.

Have not this people invariably evinced their friendly feelings, disposition, and patriotism towards the government by every act and proof which can be given by any people?

Permit me to draw your attention, for a moment, to a few facts in relation

to raising the Battalion for the Mexican war. When the storm cloud of persecution lowered down upon us on every side, when every avenue was closed against us, our Leaders treacherously betrayed and slain by the authorities of the Government in which we lived, and no hope of relief could penetrate through the thick darkness and gloom which surrounded us on every side, no voice was raised in our behalf, and the General Government was silent to our appeals. When we had been insulted and abused all the day long, by those in authority requiring us to give up our arms, and by every other act of insult and abuse which the prolific imagination of our enemies could devise to test, as they said, our patriotism, which requisitions, be it known, were always complied with on our part; and when we were finally compelled to flee, for the preservation of our lives and the lives of our wives and children, to the wilderness; I ask, had we not reason to feel that our enemies were in the ascendant? that even the Government, by their silent acquiesence, were also in favor of our destruction? Had we not, I ask, some reason to consider them all, both the people and the Government, alike our enemies?

And when, in addition to all this. and while fleeing from our enemies, another test of fidelity and patriotism was contrived by them for our destruction, and acquiesced in by the Government, (through the agency of a distinguished politician who evidently sought, and thought he had planned, our overthrow and total annihilation,) consisting of a requisition from the War Department, to furnish a Battalion of five hundred men to fight under their officers, and for them, in the war then existing with Mexico, I ask again, could we refrain from considering both people and Government our most deadly foes? Look a moment at our situation, and the circumstances