RLDS Church History Search

Chapter Context

RLDS History Context Results

Source: Church History Vol. 3 Chapter 34 Page: 674 (~1872)

Read Previous Page / Next Page

674 We have met none of the men engaged in the publication of that paper, with the exception of Mr. Wilson Law, and we have only rumor to assert for our supposition of his connection with it; and Mr. Law we met but for a moment in an eating house in Nauvoo, and had no conversation with him in reference to that affair. Whether the opinion that the destruction of that press and its fixtures was an 'unwise, impolitic, and illegal measure,' subjects us to so unkind a judgment or otherwise, such is our conviction. We believe it to have been an error and a signal infraction of the 'liberty of the press.'

"That political influence was fostered by municipal charter, the history of the procuring of the charter of the city of Nauvoo, and its extraordinary provisions, no legal mind can doubt. Where the idea of incorporation first originated, we are not prepared to say; but one of the prime movers in it, and the delegate to Springfield to urge the passage of the incorporating bill appointed by the conference, was John C. Bennett. We believe that the incorporation of the city of Nauvoo as a municipal city, with its extraordinary privileges, including its municipal court, was an error fraught with dangerous consequences, one of which we believe to have been the passage of a resolution declaring the Expositor office a 'nuisance,' and ordering it 'abated.' That the municipal court of the city may have done a good deed when it took cognizance of the arrest of Joseph Smith by H. T. Wilson, and insured him a trial, we admit; but the possession of the power by which such a thing could be done was a dangerous possession; and though right uses of such a power might always be made, it was possible, as we have seen, for one branch of that municipal government to err.

"We implicate no one else in this statement of our belief respecting these measures being errors. We write only our own sentiments, and we have a purpose in so doing.

"As a natural result of the adoption of the city charter, a mayor of the city was elected. This was a necessary feature of a city government; but it was not essential that high spiritual authorities should be made chief municipal

(page 674)

Read Previous Page / Next Page

Amazing Testimony: When a NON-Christian finds the Book of Mormon..

RLDS Church History Search