| 572 I am your most obedient servant,
EMMA SMITH.
To His Excellency, Thomas Carlin, Governor of the State of Illinois.
P. S. Sir-You will please tender my best respects and considerations to your wife and family, and tell them I greatly desire to see them, with yourself, in our place as soon as can be convenient. E. S.
Quincy, September 7th, 1842.
Dear Madam:-Your letter of the 27th ult. was delivered to me on Monday the 5th inst.; and I have not had time to answer it until this evening, and I now appropriate a few moments to the difficult task of replying satisfactorily to its contents, every word which evinces your devotedness to the interest of your husband and pouring forth the effusions of a heart wholly his. I am thus admonished that I can say nothing that does not subserve his interest that can possibly be satisfactory to you; and before I proceed I will here repeat, my great regret that I have been officially called upon to act in reference to Mr. Smith, in any manner whatever. I doubt not, your candor, when you say, you do not desire me, "to swerve from my duty as executive in the least," and all you ask is to be allowed the privileges, and advantages guaranteed to you by the constitution and laws. You then refer me to the section of the charter of the city of Nauvoo, and claim for Mr. Smith, the right to be heard by the municipal court of said city, under a writ of Habeas Corpus emmanating [emanating] from said court; when he was held in custody under an executive warrant. The charter of the city of Nauvoo, is not before me at this time, but I have examined both the charters, and city ordinances upon the subject, and must express my surprise at the extraordinary assumption of power by the board of Aldermen as contained in said ordinance; from my recollection of the charter it authorises [authorizes] the Municipal Court to issue writs of Habeas Corpus in all cases of imprisonment, or custody, arising from the authority of the ordinances of said city, but that the power was granted, or intended to be granted, to release persons held in custody under the authority of writs issued by the courts, or the executive of the State, is most absurd and ridiculous; and an attempt to exercise it, is a gross usurpation of power, that cannot be tolerated. I have always expected, and desired, that Mr. Smith, should avail himself of the benefits of the laws of this State, and of course he would be entitled to a writ of Habeas Corpus issued by the Circuit Court, and entitled to a hearing before said court, but to claim the right of a hearing before the Municipal Court of the city of Nauvoo, is a burlesque upon the charter itself. As to Mr. Smith's guilt, or innocence of the crime charged upon him, it is not my province to investigate or determine, nor has any court on earth jurisdiction of his case, but the courts of the state of Missouri; and as stated in my former letter, the constitution and laws presume that each and every State in this Union, are competent to do justice to all who may be charged with crime committed in said State.
Your information of twelve men from Jackson County Mo. were lying in wait for Mr. Smith, between Nauvoo and Warsaw, for the purpose of taking him out of the hands of the officers who might have him in custody, and murdering him, is like many other marvellous [marvelous] stories that you hear in reference to him not one word of it true, but I doubt not that your mind has been continually harrowed up with fears produced by that, and other equally groundless stories, that: that statement is true is next to impossible, and your own judgment if you will but give it scope will soon set you right in reference to it, if any of the citizens of Jackson had designed to murder Mr. Smith, they would not have been so simple as to perpetrate the crime in Illinois, when he would necessarily be required to pass through the interior of the state of Missouri, where the opportunity would have been so much better, and the prospect of escape much more certain; that it is like the statement made by Mr. Smith's first messenger after his arrest to Messrs. Ralston and Warren, saying, that I had stated, that Mr. Smith should be surrendered to the authorities of Mo. dead or alive-not one word of which was true. I have not the most distant thought that any person in Illinois, or Missouri, contemplated personal injury to Mr. Smith, by violence in any manner whatever. I regret that I did not see Gen. Law, when last at Quincy, a previous engagement upon business that could not be dispensed with prevented and occupied my attention that evening until dark, at half past one o'clock p.m., I came home and learned that the Gen. had called to see me, but the hurry of business only allowed me about ten minutes time to eat my dinner, and presnming [presuming] that if he had business of any importance that he would remain in the city until I returned. It may be proper here in order to afford you all the satisfaction in my power, to reply to a question propounded to my wife by Gen. Law, in reference to Mr. Smith, viz. whether any additional demand had been made upon me by the governor of Mo. for the surrender of Mr. Smith, I answer none, no charge whatever has been made in the proceedings.
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