| 67 upon civil war, we take this opportunity to present to you, though strangers, and through you, if you wish, to the people of Clay County, our heartfelt gratitude for every kindness rendered our friends in affliction, when driven from their peaceful homes, and to yourselves also for the prudent course in the present excited state of your community. But, in doing this, justice to ourselves, as communicants of that church to which our friends belong, and duty towards them as acquaintances and former fellow citizens, require us to say something to exonerate them from the foul charges brought against them to deprive them of their constitutional privileges and drive them from the face of society.
"They have been charged, in consequence of the whims and vain notions of some few uninformed, with claiming that upper country, and that ere long they were to possess it at all hazards, and in defiance of all consequences. This is unjust and far from a foundation, in truth; a thing not expected, not looked for, not desired by this society as a people, and where the idea could have originated is unknown to us. We do not, neither did we ever insinuate a thing of this kind, or hear it from the leading men of the society now in your country. There is nothing in all our religious faith to warrant it, but on the contrary the most strict injunctions to live in obedience to the laws and follow peace with all men. And we doubt not but a recurrence to the Jackson County difficulties, with our friends, will fully satisfy you that at least, heretofore, such has been the course followed by them. That instead of fighting for their own rights they have sacrificed them for a season, to wait the redress guaranteed in the law, and so anxiously looked for at a time distant from this. We have been, and are still, clearly under the conviction that had our friends been disposed they might have maintained their possessions in Jackson County. They might have resorted to the same barbarous means with their neighbors, throwing down dwellings, threatening lives, driving innocent women and children from their homes, and thereby have annoyed their enemies equally, at least, but this to their credit, and which must ever remain upon the pages of time to their honor, they did not. They had possessions,
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