Under these circumstances the city council met and took under consideration the _Expositor_ and the necessity of destroying it. As their charter conferred upon the city the right to remove nuisances, the city council declared the _Expositor_ press a nuisance and directed the Mayor to have it destroyed, which he did by giving an order to that effect, and it was destroyed without riot or tumult. The legality of the action of the Mayor and City Council was, of course, questionable, though some sought to defend it on legal grounds; but it must be conceded that neither proof nor argument for legality are convincing. On the grounds of expediency or necessity the action is more defensible. The existence of the city, the preservation of the Latter-day Saints until provision could be made for a retreat from Illinois--which retreat was even then being provided for by the Prophet in the projected movement of the Church to the west--demanded the cessation of the publication of the _Expositor_. By proceeding at least under the forms of law, the city council, though they might be conscious of the illegality of their action, avoided the necessity of the people resorting to mob action for self-preservation, and made it possible for the legality of their course to be determined in the courts, and the parties injured to recover compensation for the press and damages by civil process. Meantime the libelous press with its mission of destruction of the Saints at Nauvoo was silenced; and had events taken the course which the action of the city council provided, a respite would have been gained from impending violence, during which arrangements for the retreat of the Saints from Illinois could have been completed and a goal of safety won for them. Under a plea, then, of absolute necessity to self-preservation of a community, and to achieve the retreat here alluded to, and with the certainty that those injured in property by the _Expositor's_ destruction would be fully compensated {XXXIX} in civil action before the courts--the action of the mayor and city council of Nauvoo is defensible, even if not on the ground of the legality of their procedure. [26] _XVI. The Appeal to the Mob Spirit._