Blame for this political subserviency and misleading political and legal advice, may not be charged on one party more than another. If Cyrus Walker, a Whig candidate for congress, assented to the doctrine as understood by Nauvoo's leading men, that the municipal court of Nauvoo held the power under _habeas corpus_ procedure to arrest execution of process of the state courts, as he did, [15] so, too, did Joseph P. Hoge, Democratic nominee; and even Governor Ford, when requested to call out the militia to rearrest Joseph Smith after he had been liberated from the custody of Sheriff Reynolds, agent of Missouri, under _habeas corpus_ proceedings, took refuge behind the _habeas corpus_ proceedings of the Municipal Court at Nauvoo. In that case the court not only inquired into the sufficiency of the writ of requisition from Missouri, and granted by Governor Ford himself, but also went back of the writ and tried the case _exparte_ on its merits, and finally discharged the prisoner, both "for want of substance in the warrant, * * * as well as upon the merits of the case." [16] When answering the request of Missouri to rearrest Joseph Smith, Governor Ford, I say, at least took refuge behind the aforesaid proceedings of the Municipal Court to the extent of saying, in the face of that procedure, that "no process, officer or authority of Illinois had been resisted or interfered with," [17] and therefore refused to call out the militia to rearrest President Smith. It is but fair to Governor Ford, however, to say that in his inaugural speech of December 8th, 1842, he pointed out what he regarded as objectionable features in the Nauvoo charter, and recommended its modification, [18] and later censured the lawyers for misleading the Nauvoo city authorities in this matter, in the following passage from a letter to the Mayor and City Council of Nauvoo, under date of June 22nd, 1844. You have also assumed to yourselves more power than you are entitled to in relation to_ habeas corpus_ under your charter. I know that you have been told by lawyers, for the purpose of gaining your favor, {XXXII} that you have this power to any extent. In this they have deceived you for their own base purposes. Your charter supposes that you may pass ordinances, a breach of which will result in the imprisonment of the offender. For the purpose of giving more speedy relief to such persons authority was given to the Municipal Court to issue writs of _habeas corpus_ in all cases arising under the ordinances of the city. It was never supposed by the Legislature, nor can the language of your charter be tortured to mean that a jurisdiction was intended to be conferred which would apply to all cases of imprisonment under the general laws of the state or of the United States, as well as the city ordinances. To which President Smith replied: