| 206 as such has served the county well; his name is John B. Risse. We likewise received minutes of meetings held at Carthage, Basco, Montebello, and Pontoosuc, all in the county, containing similar resolutions, in one of which is expressed the determination of a part of the citizens of the county to the effect that "no Mormon should be permitted to preach or pray in the county." . . .
On the 18th of, December, 1877, we received by express, a petition of which the following is a copy, addressed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:
"We, the undersigned citizens of Nauvoo, and surrounding country, most cordially invite the head or leaders of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to establish the headquarters of their church in said city of Nauvoo.
"We believe that the odium rightfully attached to the Brighamite Mormons in the infamous practice of polygamy is detached from the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints; we believe you will receive a cordial welcome and reception from all philanthropic people of our county, and we further believe by establishing the headquarters of your church in the aforesaid city of Nauvoo, with our united efforts we can build, or make it one of the most populous cities in the military district." (Signed.)
This petition is followed by a list of signers three and a half yards long, some portion of its length signed in double columns, comprising the names of nearly all the leading business, professional, and laboring men of the city and its immediate vicinity. We are pleased to note the names of many citizens whom we knew while residing at Nauvoo, whom we respected, and with whom we labored for the good and quiet of the town. They were not compromised by the spirit of intolerance that presumed to say that we should not "preach nor pray" as a Latter Day Saint in the county; but stood faithfully by the liberty of speech and conscience. Many of them are of those who were called "new citizens" when the Saints left the city; and many are of those who have moved into the city long since then; but are now numbered among the foremost men of the place.-The Saints' Herald, vol. 25, p. 8.
The Herald for January 15 contained an account of President Smith's visit to Nauvoo, which contains items of importance in connection with the citizens' invitation for the church to return to Nauvoo:
On the last day of our stay in St. Louis, we spoke in the Saints' hall again, to full house. . . .
We left Monday, the last day of the year, and reached Nauvoo on the first day of the new year, and spent the day with "Sister Emma," our most excellent mother. She has been quite ill, but is improving slowly.
While at Nauvoo, in a stay of two days, we heard much about the return of the Saints to Nauvoo, and everybody seemed to be of the
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