About a month after the petition was written, the governor's answer reached the Saints at Independence. He said that no citizens have a right to take the law into their own hands. "Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society and subverts the foundation on which it is based." But he said that he could not persuade himself that any portion of the citizens of Missouri needed force to teach them this. Governor Dunklin should have looked more closely at the written statements of the mob, which Elders Phelps and Hyde enclosed in the petition. The mob's words were: "Intending as we do to rid our society (of the Mormons), peaceably if we can, _forcibly if we must_, we deem it of the highest importance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment of our purpose." This same statement was repeated in other words. The governor advised the Saints to have their enemies arrested and tried by law in the ordinary way. He said that justices of the peace could issue warrants. But the trouble was that they would not. Throughout Governor Dunklin's term of office he filled his letters with patriotic words, but he did not restore the Saints to their homes and rights. He was perhaps sincere in his desire to do right, but he lacked vigor and strength and waited for extraordinary troubles to mend themselves in an ordinary way instead of doing his duty bravely and with determination. At least, Governor Dunklin was not the lawless brute that was Lilburn W. Boggs who became governor after him. CHAPTER XVII. 1833. THE MISSOURI SAINTS HIRE LAWYERS AND THE MOB FORMS--NIGHT ATTACK ON BIG BLUE BRANCH--TWO DAYS OF CRUELTY AND PLUNDER--THE BATTLE--SAINTS GIVE UP ARMS. The Saints in Jackson county, taking the advice of the governor, prepared to try by the common methods of law to gain their rights, and they relied on his promise to use force if these means failed. They hired four prominent lawyers and paid them one thousand dollars for their work. How glad we are that they did this! They showed that they loved peace and were seeking it by all means in their power. And this is one more testimony against Missouri. But at the time, this action of the Saints only made matters worse. Lawyers Wood, Reese, Doniphan and Atchison, wrote under date of October 30, 1833, agreeing to work for the Saints, and on the night of the following day, as soon as the news had spread, the mob came together. There was a branch of the Church on the west bank of the Big Blue river and this the mob chose to attack.