| 394 of arms, contrary to our national covenants; and as in vain we have sought redress by all constitutional, legal and honorable means, in her courts, her executive councils, and her legislative halls; and as we have petitioned Congress to take cognizance of our sufferings without effect; we have judged it wisdom to address you this communication, and solicit an immediate, specific and candid reply to What will be your rule of action, relative to us as a people, should fortune favor your ascension to the chief magistry?
Most respectfully, sir, your friend
And the friend of peace, good order,
And constitutional rights,
Joseph Smith,
In behalf of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Hon. John C. Calhoun, Fort Hill, S. C.
(Hon. J. C. Calhoun's reply.)
"Fort hill, 2d Dec. 1843
Sir,-You ask me what would be my rule of action, relative to the Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, should I be elected president, to which I answer; that if I should be elected, I would strive to administer the government according to the constitution and the laws of the union; and that as they make no distinction between citizens of different religious creeds, I should make none. As far as it depends on the executive department, all should have the full benefit of both, and none should be exempt from their operation.
But, as you refer to the case of Missouri, candour [candor] compels me to repeat, what I said to you at Washington; that according to my views the case does not come within the jurisdiction of the federal government, which is one of limited and specific powers.
With respect, I am &c. &c.
J. C. CALHOUN.
Mr. Joseph Smith."
Nauvoo, Illinois, Jan. 2, 1844
Sir:-Your reply to my letter of last November, concerning your rule of action towards the Latter Day Saints, if elected President, is at hand; and, that you and your friends of the same opinion, relative to the matter in question, may not be disappointed as to me, or my mind, upon so grave a subject, permit me, as a law abiding man; as a well wisher to the perpetuity of constitutional rights and liberty, and as a friend to the free worship of Almighty God, by all, according to the dictates of every persons conscience, to say I am surprised, that a man, or men, in the highest stations of public life, should have made such a fragile view of a case, than which there is not one on the face of the globe fraught with so much consequence to the happiness of men in this world, or the world to come. To be sure, the first paragraph of your letter appears very complacent, and fair on a white sheet of paper, and who, that is ambitious for greatness and power, would not have said the same thing? Your oath would bind you to support the constitution and laws, and as all creeds and religions are alike tolerated, they must, of course, all be justified or condemned, according to merit or demerit-but why, tell me why, are all the principle men, held up for public stations, so cautiously careful, not to publish to the world, that they will judge a righteous judgment-law or no law: for laws and opinions, like the vanes of steeples, change with the wind. One congress passes a law, and another repeals it, and one statesman says that the constitution means this, and another that; and who does not know that all may be wrong? The opinion and pledge, therefore, in the first paragraph of your reply to my question, like the forced steam from the engine of a steamboat, makes the show of as bright cloud at first, but when it comes in contact with a purer atmosphere, dissolves to common air again.
Your second paragraph leaves you naked before yourself, like a likeness in a mirror, when you say that 'according to your view, the federal government is one of limited and specific powers,' and has no jurisdiction in the case of the Mormons. So then, a state can at any time, expel any portion of her citizens with impunity, and in the language of Mr. Van Buren, frosted over with your gracious 'views of the case,' though the cause is ever so just, government can do nothing for them, because it has no power.
Go on, then, Missouri, after another set of inhabitants, (as the Latter Day Saints did) have entered some two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of land, and made extensive improvements thereon: go on, then I say, banish the occupants or owners, or kill them, as the mobbers did many of the Latter Day Saints, and take their lands and property as a spoil: and let the legislature, as in the case of the Mormons, appropriate a couple of hundred thousand dollars to pay the mob for doing the job; for the renown senator from South Carolina, Mr. J. C. Calhoun, says the powers of the federal government are so specific and limited that it has no jurisdiction of the case! Oh ye people who groan under the oppression of tyrants, ye exiled Poles, who have felt the iron
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