| 66 When the authorities of the church in Kirtland read of this threatened disturbance, they wrote to the citizens of Clay County, and also to their own brethren. We here reproduce both these letters in full, and recommend for them a careful reading:-
"KIRTLAND, Geauga County, Ohio, July 25,1836.
"To John Thornton, Esq., Peter Rogers, Esq., Andrew Robertson, Esq., James T. V. Thompson, Esq., Col. William T. Wood. Doct. Woodson J. Moss, James M. Hughs, Esq., David R. Atchison, Esq., and A. W. Doniphan, Esq.; Gentlemen:-
"We have just perused with feelings of deep interest an article in the Far West, printed at Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, containing the proceedings of a public meeting of the citizens of said county upon the subject of an excitement now prevailing among you, occasioned either from false reports against the church of Latter Day Saints, or from the fact that said church is dangerous to the welfare of your country, and will, if suffered among you, cause the ties of peace and friendship, so desirable among all men, to be burst asunder, and bring war and desolation upon your now pleasant homes.
"Under existing circumstances while rumor is afloat with her accustomed cunning, and while public opinion is fast setting like a flood tide against the members of said church, we cannot but admire the candor with which your preamble and resolutions were clothed, as presented to the meeting of the citizens of Clay County on the 29th of June last. Though, as you expressed in your report to said meeting, 'We do not contend that we have the least right, under the Constitution and laws of the country, to expel them by force,' yet communities may be, at times, unexpectedly thrown into a situation when wisdom, prudence, and that first item in nature's law, self defense, would dictate that the responsible and influential part should step forward and guide the public mind in a course to save difficulty, preserve rights, and spare the innocent blood from staining that soil so dearly purchased with the fortunes and lives of our fathers. And as you have come forward as 'mediators'' to prevent the effusion of blood, and save disasters consequent
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