| 417 "I am pressing upon you the necessity of placing ourselves in a condition of complete defence [defense], and exact the fulfilment [fulfillment] of duties towards us. The people ought not to indulge a persuasion contrary to the order of human events. There is a rank due to the nation, which will be withheld if not lost, by the known weakness and absolute neglect to improve our system of defence [defense]. If we desire to avoid insult we must be ready to repel it."
-> The Circuit Court of Hancock County, commenced it sitings [sittings] on the 3rd inst. Judge Douglass presiding.-All parties bear testimony, that he is eminently qualified for the station he occupies. A large number of suits have already been disposed of.
Canada
From our exchange papers, we learn that the recents [recent] elections held in the Canadas, have been attended with unparalleled riots and loss of life. Party spirit rages to an alarming extent.
-> It is ascertained, that the recent murder and incendiarism, at St Louis, were perpetrated by some free negroes. The officer of justice are in active pursuit, and have succeeded in arresting two of the offenders.
Nauvoo Legion.
Head-Quarters, Nauvoo Legion, }
City of Nauvoo Ill, May 4, A. D. 1841}
General Orders.
Pursuant to an act of the Court Martial, the troops attached or belonging to the Legion, will parade at the place of general rendezvous, in the City of Nauvoo, for drill, review, and inspection, on Saturday, the 3rd day of July proximo, at half past 9 o'clock, A. M. armed and equipped according to law.
At 10 o'clock the line will be formed, and the general officers conducted to their posts, under a fire of artillery.
The commandants of the 1st and 2nd companies, 2nd Battallion [Battalion] , 1st Regiment, 2nd Cohort, are directed to enroll every man residing within the bounds of their respective commands, and not attached to any other company of the Legion, between the ages of 18 and 45 years, and notify them of their attachment to the service, and their legal liabilities.
As will be seen by the following legal opinion of Judge Douglass, of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, than whom no man stands more deservedly high in the public estimation, as an able and profound jurist, politician, and statesman; the officers and privates, belonging to the Legion are exempt from all military duty not required by the legally constituted authorities thereof; they are therefore expressly inhibited from performing any military services not ordered by the general officers, or directed by the Court Martial.
City of Nauvoo, Ill.,}
May 3rd, A. D. 1841}
General Bennett:-
Dear Sir: In reply to your request, I have examined so much of the Nauvoo City Charter, and legislative acts, as relate to the "Nauvoo Legion," and am clearly of opinion that "any citizen of Hancock County who may attach himself to the 'Nauvoo Legion,' has all the privileges which appertain to that independent military body," and is "exempt from all other military duty," as provided in the 25th section of the City-charter; and cannot, therefore, be fined by any military or civil court, for neglecting or refusing to parade with any other military body, or under the command of any officers who are not attached to said Legion. The language of the laws upon this subject is so plain and specific as to admit of no doubt at to its true meaning and intent. I do not consider it necessary, therefore, to enter into an argument to prove a position which is evident from an inspection of the laws themselves.
I am, very respectfully,
your friend,
S. A. Douglass.
The Legion is not, as has been falsely represented by its enemies, exclusively a Mormon military association, but a body of citizen-soldiers organized (without regard to political preferences or religious sentiments) for the public defence [defense], the general good, and the preservation of law and order‚ to save the innocent, unoffending citizen from the iron grasp of the oppressor, and perpetuate and sustain our free institutions against misrule, anarchy, and mob
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