| 393 a dam, upwards of a mile long, across the Mississippi, to commence some distance below the Nauvoo House, and intersect with an island above; so as not to interfere with the main channel of the river. This work when completed, will not only form one of the best harbors on the Mississippi river, making the whole of our shore accessible at all times to the largest class of boats; but it will at the same time afford the best mill privileges in the western country.
Nor have our farmers been idle. Very great improvements have been made during the last year, in agricultural pursuits. Extensive farms are beginning to spread themselves for miles in every direction from our city, on the bosom of the great prairie, as far as the eye can reach; fencing, ploughing [plowing] and building, seems to be the order of the day. 'The wilderness is' indeed being 'made glad, and the desert blossoms as the rose.'
Many branches of mechanism are going on; brick makers, carpenters, brick layers, masons, plaisterers [plasterers], black smiths, and many other branches of business have found abundance of employ. There is however one thing which we would respectfully call the attention of our brethren to; that is, the business of manufacturing.
There is perhaps no place in the western country, where cotton, woolen, silk, iron and earthen-ware could be manufactured to better advantage than they could in Nauvoo. There is not a branch in any of the above trades, from making the machinery, to completing the most delicate fabrics, or wares, but what we have artisans and mechanics that are fully competent to the task, having followed those several branches of manufactures, either in the eastern states, or in the old world: and when the above named dam shall be erected, it will afford greater facilities for manufacturing purposes, and better prospects for the capitalists to invest their money than anything that has come under our notice for a long time
Our relations with the state of Missouri, and with all our enemies, are placed on a very different footing to what they ever were before. That state has used all her ingenuity to entrap, persecute and destroy us, but she has failed in the attempt; she has not yet a pretext left for even an illegal prosecution. The Governor of this state has declared himself in favor of law, and there is not the least shadow of a pretext for issuing any process for Joseph Smith, and there is little prospect of any requisition being complied with. The old charge of 'burglary, arson, treason, murder, &c, is worn so thread bare, that nobody will pay and [any] attention to it.
Orin P. Rockwell has also been acquitted, before even a Missouri court; not the slightest evidence of his guilt having been adduced even by his most bitter enemies; and as he was falsely charged with being the principal in the attempted murder of Ex-Governor Boggs, there can no further charges be made against Joseph Smith as 'accessary [accessory] before the fact.'
Brother Avery and his son have also been aquatinted, and there is not one person belonging to our church that the state of Missouri can institute the least shadow of charge against.-We are informed also that Governor Ford has ordered the sheriff of this county, to take those persons who assisted the Missourians in kidnapping in this state; and to hold them in recognizances to appear at the county court; thus relieving us from the unpleasant task of enforcing the law. Most of the persons engaged in the mobocratic meetings in Carthage and elsewhere, are heartily tired and ashamed of their company, having found out that they have been gulled by the misrepresentations and falsehoods of designing demagogues, to seek to overthrow an innocent and law-abiding people
Throughout the whole region of country around us those bitter and acrimonious feelings which have so long been engendered by many are dying away, and a more friendly, amicable and peaceable spirit has taken its place.
Our influence abroad is also an [on] the increase, truth and innocence is triumphing over falsehood and malace [malice], and the most honorable and intelligent of all classes, are beginning to gaze with admiration upon, and to investigate and admire those glorious principles which God has revealed in these last days for the salvation of the human family. The prophesies of sacred writ are fast fulfilling, intelligence is rolling forth in majesty. The power of God is being made manifest; and soon every kindred, people and tongue shall listen to the voice of eternal truth, and all nations see the salvation of God.
CORRESPONDENCE OF GEN. JOSEPH SMITH AND HON. J. C. CALHOUN.
Hon. John C. Calhoun,-Dear Sir,-As we understand you are a candidate for the presidency at the next election; and as the Latter Day Saints (sometimes called Mormons, who now constitute a numerous class in the school politic of this vast republic), have been robbed of an immense amount of property, and endured nameless sufferings by the state of Missouri, and from her borders have been driven by force
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