Dear Sir:--Yours of the 11th instant was received yesterday. I perceive that it had been written before your brethren visited my house. I had also written to Mr. Barlow before I received yours, and which is herewith also sent. I wish here to remark that about ten or fifteen houses or cabins can be had in this neighborhood, and several farms may be rented here, on the half breed lands. I think that more than {266} fifty families can be accommodated with places to dwell in, but not a great quantity of cultivated land, as the improvements on that tract are generally new; there are, however, several farms which can also be rented. Since writing to Mr. Barlow, I have conversed with a friend of mine, who has also conversed with Governor Lucas, of Iowa territory, in relation to your Church and people. Governor Lucas says that the people called Mormons were good citizens in the state of Ohio, and that he respects them now as good and virtuous citizens, and feels disposed to treat them as such. I wish also to say, through you, to your people, that Isaac Van Allen, Esq., the attorney-general of Iowa territory, is a personal and tried friend of mine; and I feel fully authorized, from a conversation which I have had with him on the subject, to say that I can assure you of his utmost endeavors to protect you from insult or violence. I will here repeat what I have written to Mr. Barlow, that I do believe that under a territorial form of government which is directly connected with the general government of the United States, your Church will be better secured against the capriciousness of public opinion, than under a state government, where murder, rapine and robbery are admirable (!) traits in the character of a demagogue; and where the greatest villains often reach the highest offices. I have written to Governor Lucas on the subject; and when I receive his answer, I will communicate it to your Church.