I have yet to learn by what rule of right I was arrested to be transported to Missouri for a trial of the kind stated. "An accessory to an assault with intent to kill," does not come under the provision of the _fugitive_ act, when the person charged has not been out of Illinois, &c. An accessory before the fact to manslaughter is something of an anomaly. The isolated affidavit of ex-Governor Boggs is no more than any other man's, and the constitution says, "that no person shall be liable to be transported out of the state, for an offense committed within the same." The whole is another Missouri farce. In fact, implied power, and constructive guilt, as a _dernier resort_, may answer the purpose of despotic governments, but are beneath the dignity of the Sons of Liberty, and would be a blot on our judicial escutcheon. I received a letter from the postoffice, which had been broken open, and I was grieved at the meanness of its contents. The city council passed the following "Ordinance regulating the mode of proceeding in cases of habeas corpus before the municipal court:" _Ordinance on Habeas Corpus Procedure_. Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Nauvoo, that in all cases where any person or persons, shall at any time hereafter, be arrested or under arrest in this city, under any writ or process, and {88} shall be brought before the municipal court of this city, by virtue of a writ of habeas corpus, the court shall in every such case have power and authority, and are hereby required to examine into the origin, validity and legality of the writ of process, under which such arrest was made, and if it shall appear to the court, upon sufficient testimony that said writ or process was illegal, or not legally issued, or did not proceed from proper authority, then the court shall discharge the prisoner from under said arrest; but if it shall appear to the court that said writ or process had issued from proper authority, and was a legal process, the court shall then proceed and fully hear the merits of the case, upon which said arrest was made, upon such evidence as may be produced and sworn before said court, and shall have power to adjourn the hearing, and also issue process from time to time, in their discretion, in order to procure the attendance of witnesses, so that a fair and impartial trial and decision may be obtained in every such case.