_The Questions of "Currency" and Blood Atonement, in the Nauvoo City Council_. Prayer by George A. Smith, when a bill regulating the currency was read; and, as the Legislature of Illinois have long been trying to repeal the charter of Nauvoo, I made some remarks (as I had frequently done on former occasions), to show the council and others that the legislature can not constitutionally repeal a charter where there is no repealing clause. After which, I read a letter from James Arlington Bennett, dated February 1, 1843, which confirms my decision. In debate, George A. Smith said imprisonment was better than hanging. I replied, I was opposed to hanging, even if a man kill another, I will shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God; and if ever I have the privilege of making a law on that subject, I will have it so. In reply to some of the councilors, who thought it impolitic to stop circulating bank notes as currency _at once_, I replied, I would use a figure, and talk like some foolish fathers do to their children. If you want to kill a serpent, don't cut off his head, for fear he will bite you; {297} but cut off his tail, piece by piece, and perhaps you won't get bit. It is the same with this bill. I say, if paper currency is an evil, put it down _at once_. When councilors get up here, I want them to speak sense. Great God, where is common sense and reason? Is there none on the earth? Why have the canker remaining any longer to sap our life? If you get hold of a $5 bill, you can get nothing with it. There is no one who dares to touch it, fearing it to be a counterfeit, or the note of a broken bank. I wish you had my soul long enough to know how good it feels. I say it is expedient when you strike at an enemy, to strike the most deadly blow possible. Councilor Hyde asked me what an editor should do. I told him, advertise in your next paper to your agents to send you gold and silver, as paper will no longer be taken as pay. [A] [Footnote A: These remarks and the passage of the ordinance making gold and silver alone Legal Tender in Nauvoo is further evidence that the Prophet regarded Nauvoo under her charter as a "city state"--see the subject discussed in _Introduction_ to Vol. IV of this HISTORY, pp. xxii-xxv.] The ordinance regulating currency in the city passed by a unanimous vote, as follows:-- ORDINANCE. Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Nauvoo, that, from and after the passage of this bill, gold and silver coin only can be received a lawful tender in payment of city taxes and of debts, and also of fines imposed under the ordinances of the city.