| 442 together they were blessed of God, when they began to work wickedness, and build the Tower of Babel, their language was confounded, and they were scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth, as a curse, that they might be prevented from combining together, to frustrate the purposes of God.
When the Lord pronounced blessings and cursings upon the children for obedience or disobedience, according to Deut. XXVIII, one of the greatest blessings was that they should dwell in peace in their land: "The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee, in thy storehouse, and in all that thou sittest thy hand unto ; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself:"-Verses 8 and 9. And on the contrary, if they should disobey the commandments of God, the Lord should curse them by scattering them.-"And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you, to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought [naught], and ye shall be plucked from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other:" Verses 63 and 64. Ezekiel speaking on the same subject says, "and I will scatter toward every wind, all that are about him, to help him and all his band, and I will draw out the sword after them, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries."
(To be continued.)
PACIFIC INNUENDO.
The very candid, pacific, and highly creditable advice which Governor Ford has done himself the honor to address to "the citizens of Hancock county, "Mormons and all," and which appears in the "Warsaw Signal," of the 14th inst. is, like the balm of Gilead, well calculated to ease the pain, which has troubled the heads and hearts of the Carthagenians [Carthaginians], Warsawvains, [Warsawvians] and other over jealous bodies for weal and wo. It certainly must be admitted, on all hands, that governor Ford has exalted himself as a mediator, patriot, lawyer, Governor, peace maker, and friend of all; not only to magnify the law and make it honorable, but also in pointing out the path of peace. Such is what the Latter Day Saints have ever sought at the hands of those in authority; and with an approving conscience, clear as the crystal spring: and with a laudible [laudable] intention, warm as the summer zephyr; with a charitable prayer, mellow as the morning dew, it is now our highest consolation to hope that all difficulties will cease: and will give way to reason, sense, peace and good will. The saints if they will be humble and wise, can now practice what they preach and soften by good examples, rather than harden by a course of conduct, the hearts of the people.
For general information it may be well to say that there has never been any cause for alarm as to the Latter Day Saints. The legislature of Illinois granted a liberal charter for the city of Nauvoo; and, let every honest man in the Union, who has any knowledge of her, say whether she has not flourished beyond the most saguine [sanguine] anticipations of all; and while they witness her growing glory: let them solemnly testify whether Nauvoo has willfully injured the country, county, or a single individual one cent: With the strictest scrutiny publish the facts whether a particle of law has been evaded or broken: virtue and innocence need no artificial covering: Political views and party distinctions, never should disturb the harmony of society; and when the whole truth comes before a virtuous people: we are willing to abide the issue.
We will here refer to the three late dismissals, upon writs of habaes [habeas] corpus, of Joseph Smith, when arrested under the requisitions of Missouri. The first in June 1841, was tried at Monmouth, before Judge Douglass, of the fifth Judicial Circuit, and as no exceptions have been taken to that decision, by this State or Missouri, but Missouri had previously entered a nolle prosequi on all the old indictments against the Mormons in the difficulties of 1838, it is taken and granted that that decision was just! The second, in December, 1842, was tried at Springfield before Judge Pope in the U. S. District Court, and from that honorable discharge, as no exceptions from any source have been made to those proceedings, it follows as a matter of course, that that decision was just!! and the third, in July 1843, was tried at the city of Nauvoo, before the Municipal Court of said city; and as no exceptions to that discharge, have been taken, and as the Governor says there is "evidence on the other side to shew [show] that the Sheriff of Lee county voluntarily carried Mr. Reynolds (who had Mr. Smith in custody,) to the city of Nauvoo, without any coercion on the part of anyone," it must be admitted that the decision was just!!!
But is any man still unconvinced of the justness of these strictures relative to the two last cases, let the astounding fact go forth, that, Orin Porter Rockwell, who, Boggs swore, was the principal in his assassination, and, as accessary [accessory]
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