| 74 fill all the calls; the harvest is truly great and the laborers but few.
Yours in the bond of of the everlasting covenant. M. SIRRINE.
TIMES AND SEASONS
COMMERCE, ILL. MARCH, 1840.
APOLOGY-We are sorry to say that this number has been delayed beyond its usual time, but the circumstances have been unavoidable; our paper, (although purchased last fall at Cincinnatti, [Cincinnati] did not arrive until the last of the present month, which has been a great disappointment to us, as well as our patrons.
IMPORTANT FROM WASHINGTON
Below will be found a report from the committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the memorial presented by a delegation of brethren sent from this place, last fall, to Washington, to petition Congress for redress for the wrongs we have sustained by the mob in Missouri.
The memorial was accompanied by a large number of documents seting [setting] forth the true situation of the case, and plainly showing that the petitioners had made application to all the constituted authorities of Missouri for redress, in vain; and that the Governor, instead of granting them protection, as citizens, had issued his order to have them all EXTERMINATED,-an order, which this committee very well knows, was in open violation of the constitution of the United States, and a violation of all law, either human or Divine, still they did not feel themselves authorized to interpose in the matter, because it transpired in the SOVREIGN [sovereign] State of Missouri.-No! they could not heed the cries of helpless widows and orphans, made so by the execution of the most unhallowed order ever issued by man. The cries of bleeding innocence could have no impression upon their minds,-constitutional rights, cruelly wrested from upwards of one hundred thousand American citizens, could not induce this magnanimous committee to put forth the helping hand, for a moment, to their relief: but at the very first call from the greatest forgerer in America, William P. Rathbone, they were ready to report a bill for his relief-which they did do, at the same time, this report was offered; this is a fair specimen of the notions of Justice, cherished in the bosom of the wise men and rulers of the nation. Oh Liberty! whether hast thou fled? Oh Patriotism! whether hast thou gone? surely the balances are fallen from the hands of Justice; the wreath no longer encircles the head of Liberty; and Republicanism has bowed at the shrine of despotism and tyrany [tyranny].
Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the memorial of a delegation of Latter Day Saints, commonly called Mormons:
The petition of the memorialists sets forth, in substance, that a portion of their sect commenced a settlement in the county of Jackson, in the State of Missouri, in the summer of 1831: that they bought lands, built houses, erected churches, and established their homes, and engaged in all the various occupations of life: that they were expelled from that county in 1833, by a mob, under circumstances of great outrage, cruelty, and oppression, and against all law, and without any offence [offense] committed on their part, and to the destruction of property to the amount of $120,000: that the society thus expelled amount to about 1,200 souls, that no compensation was ever made for the destruction of their property in Jackson: that after their expulsion from Jackson county, they settled
(page 74) |
