what we have power over, except where restricted by the Constitution of the United States. * * * If these powers are dangerous, then the Constitution of the United States, and of this State are dangerous; but they are not dangerous to good men; they are only so to bad men who are breakers of the laws. * * * The lawyers themselves acknowledge that we have all power granted us in our charters, that we could ask for--that we had more power than any other court in the State; for all other courts were restricted while ours was not." Such views in relation to an ordinary municipal government would unquestionably be stamped as preposterous. No such powers as are here claimed are accorded to ordinary city governments in Illinois or any other of the states of the American Union. What then may be said of the Prophet's claims in respect to the municipal powers of Nauvoo? Nothing in way of defense, except that Nauvoo was _not_ an ordinary municipality; that Joseph Smith had sought for extraordinary grants of power for the city of Nauvoo and had obtained them; that his personal experiences and the experiences of his people, both in Ohio and Missouri, had taught him the necessity of having officers charged with the duty of administering government wherein his people were concerned, who were friendly disposed and whose interests were largely identical with those of the Saints: that the things which both the Prophet and his people had suffered justified both him and them in seeking for and obtaining such power as had been conferred by charters upon the city of Nauvoo; that the Prophet was wholly within the lines of right conduct when he invoked the municipal powers in his own protection {XXIV} against the aggressions of his old enemies in Missouri and his new betrayers in Illinois. But whether the legislature of Illinois was fully aware of the extraordinary powers they were conferring upon the city of Nauvoo, or being aware of the import of their action the party in control of the legislature was willing to grant the extraordinary powers in the hope of currying political favor with the Saints, may not now be determined; but in any event these extraordinary powers were granted; and wittingly or unwittingly a "city-state" had practically been established within the state of Illinois. Nothing short of this descriptive term can adequately set forth the municipal government of Nauvoo. It seems to be an unconscious reversion. In an incipient way, to the "city-states" or "city-republics" of the old Greek confederations; or the "free-towns" of medieval times, when the cities were more potent than nations in commerce and even in politics. Whether or not the state courts of Illinois and United States courts would have sustained the Nauvoo charters if the matter of their validity had been referred to them for adjudication, may not be determined; but one can scarcely suppress the thought that the likelihood is that they would