| 758 I dispatched Captain Singleton with his company from Brown County, to Nauvoo, to guard the town; and I authorized him to take command of the legion. He reported to me afterwards that he called out the legion for inspection, and that upon two hours' notice two thousand of them assembled, all of them armed; and this after the public arms had been taken away from them. So it appears that they have a sufficiency of private arms for any reasonable purpose.
"After the Smiths had been arrested on the new charge of treason, the justice of the peace postponed the examination, because neither of the parties were prepared with their witnesses for trial. In the meantime he committed them to the jail of the county, for greater security.
"In all this matter the justice of the peace and constable, though humble in office, were acting in a high and independent capacity, far beyond any legal power in me to control. I considered that the executive power could only be called in to assist, and not to dictate or control their action; that in the humble sphere of their duties they were as independent, and clothed with as high authority by the law, as the Executive department; and that my province was, simply, to aid them with the force of the State. It is true, that so far as I could prevail on them by advice, I endeavored to do so. The prisoners were not in military custody, or prisoners of war; and I could no more legally control these officers than I could the superior courts of justice.
"Some persons have supposed that I ought to have had them sent to some more distant and friendly part of the State for confinement and trial, and that I ought to have searched them for concealed arms; but these surmises and suppositions are readily disposed of by the fact that they were not my prisoners, but were the prisoners of the constable and jailor [jailer], under the direction of the justice of the peace.
"The jail in which they were confined is a considerable stone building; containing a residence for the jailer, cells for the close and secure confinement of prisoners, and one larger room, not so strong, but more airy and comfortable than the cells. They were put into the cells by the jailer;
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