| 440 calling, to base and unworthy purposes; if he makes use of the power which the people have placed in his hands for their interests, to gratify his ambition, for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, or pecuniary interest; if he meanly panders with demagogues, looses sight of the interests of the nation, and sacrifices the union on the altar of sectional interests or party views, he renders himself unworthy of the dignified trust reposed in him, debases the nation in the eyes of the civilized world, and produces misery and confusion at home. 'When the wicked rule, the people mourn.'
There is perhaps no body of people in the United States who are at the present time more interested about the issue of the presidential contest, than are the Latter Day Saints. And our situation in regard to the two political parties, is a most novel one. It is a fact well understood, that we have suffered great injustice from the State of Missouri, that we have petitioned to the authorities of that state for redress in vain; that we have also memoralized [memorialized] congress, under the late administration, and have obtained the heartless reply that 'congress has no power to redress your grievances.' After having taken all the legal, and constitutional steps that we can, we are still groaning under accumulated wrongs. Is there no power anywhere to redress our grievances? Missouri lacks the disposition, and congress both lacks the disposition, and power (?) and thus fifteen thousand inhabitants of these United States, can with impunity be dispossessed of their property, have their houses burned, their property confiscated, many of their numbers murdered, and the remainder driven from their homes, and left to wander as exiles in this boasted land of freedom and equal rights, and after appealing again and again, to the legally constituted authorities of our land for redress, we are cooly [coolly] told by our highest tribunals, 'we can do nothing for you? We have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into the coffers of congress for their lands, and they stand virtually pledged to defend us in our rights, but they have not done it. If a man steals a dollar from his neighbor, or steals a horse or a hog, he can obtain redress; but we have been robbed by wholesale, the most daring murders have been committed, and we are cooly [coolly] told that we can obtain no redress. If a steam boat is set on fire, on our coast by foreigners, even when she is engaged in aiding and abetting the enemies of that power, it becomes a matter of national interference, and legislation; or if a foreigner, as in the case of McLeod, is taken on our land and tried for supposed crimes committed by him against our citizens, his nation interferes, and it becomes a matter of negotiation and legislation; but our authorities can calmly look on and see the citizens of a county butchered with impunity;-they can see two counties dispossessed of their inhabitants, their houses burned and their property confiscated, and when the cries of fifteen thousand men, women and children salute their ears, they deliberately tell us we can obtain no redress. Hear it therefore ye mobbers! proclaim it to all the scoundrels in the Union! let a standard be erected around which shall rally all the renegadoes [renegades] of the land; assemble yourselves, and rob at pleasure; murder till you are satiated with blood, drive men women and children from their homes, there is no law to protect them, and congress has no power to redress their grievances, and the great father of the Union (the President) has not got an ear to listen to their complaints.
What shall we do under this state of things? In the event of either of the prominent candidates, Van Buren or Clay, obtaining the presidential chair, we should not be placed in any better situation. In speaking of Mr. Clay, his politics are diametrically opposed to ours; he inclines strongly to the old school of federalists, and as a matter of course, would not favor our cause, neither could we conscientiously vote for him. And we have yet stronger objections to Mr. Van Buren, on other grounds. He has sung the old song of congress-'congress has no power to redress your grievances.' But did the matter rest here it would not be so bad. He was in the presidential chair at the time of our former difficulties. We appealed to him on that occasion, but we appealed in vain, and his sentiments are yet unchanged. But all these things are tolerable in comparison to what we have to state. We have been informed from a respectable source, that there is an understanding between Mr. Benton of Missouri; and Mr. Van Buren, and a conditional compact entered into, that if Mr. Benton will use his influence to get Mr. Van Buren elected, that Van Buren when elected, shall use his executive influence to wipe away the stain from Missouri, by a further persecution of the Mormons, and wreaking out vengeance on their heads, either by extermination, or by some other summary process. We could scarcely credit the statement, and we hope yet for the sake of humanity, that the suggestion is false; but we have too good reason to believe that we are correctly informed.
If then this is the case can we conscientiously vote for a man of this description, and put the weapons in his hands to cut our throat with? we cannot; and however much we might
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