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Source: Church History Vol. 2 Chapter 17 Page: 344 (~1839)

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344 Bancroft's version is as follows:-

"There was no help for them; they must leave the State or be killed; of this they were assured on all sides, publicly and privately.

"And now begins another painful march-painful in the thought of it, painful in the telling of it. It is midwinter; whither can they go, and how? They have homes, but they may not enjoy them; land which they have bought, houses which they have built, and barns and cattle and food, but hereabout they are hunted to death. Is it Russia or Tartary or Hindostan, that people are thus forced to fly for opinion's sake? True, the people of the United States do not like such opinions; they do not like a religious sect that votes solid, or a class of men whom they look upon as fools and fanatics talking about taking the country, claimed as theirs by divine right; but in any event this was no way to settle the difficulty. Here are men who have been stripped in a moment of the results of years of toil-all that they have in the world gone; here are women weighed down with work and care, some whose husbands are in prison, and who are thus left to bear the heavy burden of this infliction alone; here are little children, some comfortably clad, others obliged to encounter the wind and frozen ground with bare heads and bleeding feet.

"Whither can they go? There is a small following of the prophet at Quincy, Illinois; some propose to go there, some start for other places. But what if they are not welcome at Quincy, and what can they do with such a multitude? There is no help for it, however, no other spot where the outcasts can hope for refuge at the moment. Some have horses and cattle and wagons; some have none. Some have tents and bedding; some have none. But the start is made,

to an excess, which leads them, however, not to emulate a rival's exertions, but to envy his success and hate his person. They have, however a grasping disposition, which stimulates them to acquire; but not industry and enterprise enough to lead them to acquire honestly. They prefer plunder to fair means, if they can only conceal the knowledge of their foul play; because rapine gratifies their propensities to force, indolence, and acquisition. They are bold, crafty, and when inspired by revenge, energetic and persevering beyond almost any other race of men. . . .-Persecution of the Saints, pp. 144-147.

(page 344)

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