| 145 comes under the shadow of law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it in both ways), we shall then be charged with treason, and suffer the penalty; and if we continue passive and non-resistant, we must certainly expect to perish; for our enemies have sworn it.
"And here, sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith during his short life was arraigned at the bar of his country about fifty times, charged with criminal offenses, but was acquitted every time by his country; his enemies, or rather his religious opponents, almost invariably being his judges. And we further testify, that as a people we are lawabiding, peaceable, and without crime; and we challenge the world to prove to the contrary; and while other less cities in Illinois have had special courts instituted to try their criminals, we have been stripped of every source of arraigning marauders and murderers who are prowling around to destroy us, except the common magistracy.
"With these facts before you, sir, will you write to us, without delay, as a father and friend, and advise us what to do. We are members of the same great Confederacy. Our fathers, yea, some of us, have fought and bled for our country, and we love her Constitution dearly.
"In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ties of country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our favor. Will it be too much for us to ask you to convene a special session of Congress, and furnish us an asylum where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and of religion unmolested? Or, will you, in a special message to that body when it is convened, recommend a remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and expatriation as this people have continued to receive from the States of Missouri and Illinois? Or will you favor us by your personal influence and by your official rank? Or will you express your views concerning what is called the 'Great Western Measure' of colonizing the Latter Day Saints in Oregon, the Northwestern Territory, or some location remote from the States, where the hand of oppression shall not crush every noble principle and extinguish every patriotic feeling?
"And now, honored sir, having reached out our imploring
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