When we hear the history of the rise of this kingdom from one who has been with it from its infancy--from the lips of our venerable friend who has taken an active part in all the history of the Church, can we {294} be surprised if he should feel animated, and that his soul should burn with heavenly zeal? We see in him a man of God who can contemplate the glories of heaven, the visions of eternity, and yet who looks forward to the opening glories which the great Elohim has manifested to him pertaining to righteousness and peace--a man who now beholds the things roll on which he has long since beheld in prophetic vision. Most men have established themselves in authority by laying desolate other kingdoms and the destruction of other powers. Their kingdoms have been founded in blood, and supported in tyranny and oppression. The greatest chieftains of the earth have obtained their glory--if glory it can be called--by blood, carnage and ruin. One nation has been built up at the expense and ruin of another, and one man has been made at the expense of another; and yet these great men were called honorable for their inglorious deeds of rapine. They have slain their thousands, and caused the orphans to weep and the widows to mourn. Men did these things because they could do it--because they had power to desolate nations, and spread terror and desolation. They have made themselves immortal as great men. The patriots of this country had indeed a laudable object in view--a plausible excuse for the course they took. They stood in defense of their rights, liberty and freedom. But where are now those principles of freedom? Where are the laws that protect all men in their religious opinions? Where the laws that say, "A man shall worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience?" What say ye, ye Saints--ye who are exiles in the land of liberty? How came you here? Can you in this land of equal right return in safety to your possessions in Missouri? No. You are exiles from thence, and there is no power, no voice, no arm to redress your grievance. Is this the gracious boon for which your fathers fought and struggled and died? Shades of the venerable dead, could you but gaze upon this scene, and witness tens of thousands of Americans in exile on Columbia's soil--if pity could touch your bosoms, how you would mourn for the oppressed! If indignation, how would you curse the heartless wretches that have so desecrated and polluted the temple of liberty? "How has the gold become dim, and the fine gold, how has it changed." Let it not be told among the monarchs of Europe, lest they laugh and say, "Ha; so would we have it."