| 280 although given by the legislature and sanctioned by the executive, that our judicial acts would not stand good in law. Whatever men's notions may have been in relation to this mat- [matter] they will find that we are not so imbecile, but that we know the difference between a solemn legislative enactment, and the caprice of a man; and that if we possess rights we shall maintain them inviolate, and by all legal means sustain the innocent, protect the defenceless [defenseless], and do justice to all; without being governed by the caprice of meddling demagogues, or the superstition of religious bigots. Our municipal authority in this case have been sustained and our rights preserved, and it speaks much for the legal knowledge, and the bold, fearless and intrepid spirit of CYRUS WALKER, ESQ.
We would remind our correspondents that we have not forgotten their communications, they shall come forward in their time; they have been deferred for the purpose of giving way for the trial. A great many elders have gone forth into all parts, and the work of the Lord is rolling forth in every direction.
COMMUNICATIONS.
BROTHER TAYLOR:
SIR-Having just returned from a mission in the east, according to appointment, as I feel anxious while absent to hear from the elders abroad, I judged that others possess similar feelings to myself, and that they would be pleased to read a few lines from my pen, altho' little known to the Saints in general, yet well known to some who would rejoice to hear of my prosperity and success the past winter.
I left Nauvoo on the nineteenth of September last, in company with elders T. Billings, N. Packard and D. Allen, without money "purse or script," and with the intention of spending the winter in holding forth the principles of our religion in New England. Accordingly we journeyed east to the east line of this State, where we found some brethren, baptized by myself two years before, and the prospect of others embracing the truth, led us to hold two meetings, when it was thought wisdom that brother Packard should tarry and preach to them, while we continued our journey east.-Accordingly we continued our journey to Kirtland Ohio. There we left Brother Allen, and brother Billings and myself pursued our journey alone, and in forty-eight days from the time we left Nauvoo we stopped in Hampshire county Massachusetts, a distance of thirteen hundred miles. Here we found, as we expected, ourselves surrounded by men of learning, upon whom no money or pains had been spared to make them polished statesmen, or to give them pre-eminence in the arts and sciences so extensively cultivated in the New England states: yet many of them are filled with superstition and religious bigotry-professing to live in the full blaze of gospel light and revelation; overflowing with wisdom and intelligence-while at the same time a veil of darkness covers their minds, and when we speak of the pure principles of the gospel, or the testimony of Jesus, we find them ignorant and unlearned as to the plan of salvation, as taught by the Apostles.
No persons but an elder of like experience can imagine the feelings of my heart when contemplating upon the scene before me, standing in the midst of a people as above described, and being alone, (elder Billings having left me to visit his friends,) unlearned as to the manners and customs of the east, having been raised in the western states, and having but a small education when compared with those around me of like profession, and knowing them to be filled with prejudice, without any knowledge of our religion, but what they have read in the newspapers of the day, which are calculated to increase instead of lessening prejudice, having never heard the everlasting gospel preached. No Latter Day Saint had travelled [traveled] there to instruct them in those principles that God has revealed in these last days. However the news soon spread that a Mormon elder was there, and I soon received an invitation to preach, which I gladly accepted; and the first discourse I delivered, was in the town where I was born, to a large congregation, who listened with great anxiety, and after meeting was dismissed, a number of persons invited me to leave another appointment, feeling anxious to hear more of this strange doctrine. But a few of the most leading men, and those best skilled in sectarian tactics, said they thought it not best for me to hold another meeting at present, as it was the time of a revival there, and they were afraid it would trouble the minds of some of the young converts. I thought it would trouble their minds too, and having received a very polite invitation to forbear preaching there at the present, I left there and troubled them no more, having invitations to preach in other places, where people were not afraid of their minds being disturbed, but were persons of strong minds and not afraid to investigate the principles of eternal truth, and when convinced, were honest enough to obey the commands of God. As I began to lift my voice on the mountains in proclaiming our principles, the news went from mount to mount, and from hill to hill. The people soon began to be alarmed that Mormonism
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