Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"Smith, Joseph Fielding
History
Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"
Smith, Joseph Fielding
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History
"I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial
robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was
suspended on a breath, in the courts of England; I have witnessed a
Congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to
conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of
emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and
majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight,
in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri."[5]
General Clark at Far West
In the meantime (November 4), General Clark arrived at Far West with
1600 men, and 500 more on the outskirts of the city. He ordered General
Lucas to send to Adam-ondi-Ahman and there take all the "Mormon" men
prisoners and secure their property, till the best means could be
adopted for paying damages due to the mob troubles. On the 5th, Clark
ordered all the men at Far West to form in line, when the names of
fifty-six were called and they were made prisoners to await trial for
something which was not defined. On the 6th, he again gathered the male
portion of the population and read to them a written address which he
had prepared.
His Harangue
Feeling safe in the presence of so many helpless men, and flanked by
his troops, he made bold to impress upon the brethren the enormity of
their crimes. He read to them a number of stipulations to which they
must comply. The first, second and third, to the effect that they must
surrender their leading men, deliver their arms, and sign over their
properties to defray expenses of the "war." This, he said, they had
done. The fourth is here repeated:
"Another article yet remains for you to comply with, and that
is, that you leave the state forthwith; and whatever may be your
feelings concerning this, or whatever your innocence, it is nothing
to me; General Lucas, who is equal in authority with me, has made
this treaty with you--I approve of it--I should have done the same
had I been here. I am therefore determined to see it fulfilled. The
character of this state has suffered almost beyond redemption, from
the character, conduct and influence that you have exerted, and we
deem it an act of justice to restore her character to its former
standing among the states, by every proper means.
"The orders of the governor to me were that you should be
exterminated, and not allowed to remain in the state, and had your
leaders not been given up, and the terms of the treaty complied
with, before this, you and your families would have been destroyed
and your houses in ashes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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