This outrage was not avenged by the citizens of Nauvoo, though their means of doing so were ample. They laid the matter before the authorities and there let it rest. Meantime the mob was making similar assaults on all the out-lying settlements. Houses and stacks of grain were burned, the sick and helpless driven from their homes to the open prairie. Mr. Backenstos, sheriff of Hancock County, called for a posse of the law-abiding citizens outside to put down mob violence. He thought it best to call upon citizens outside of Nauvoo to quell the disturbance lest the operations of a posse from Nauvoo should be made a pretext for the opening of civil war. There was no response to the sheriff's call, and house-burning and other acts of violence went on unchecked. In the midst of these exciting scenes a mass meeting in Quincy resolved that the only hope for peace was in the removal of the Mormons from the state, and they appointed a committee to wait upon the Church authorities to lay these conclusions before them, and request them to leave. Weary with being continually harassed with illegal prosecutions and mob violence, the Saints agreed to leave the state in the spring, providing the citizens in Hancock and surrounding counties would use their influence in assisting them to rent or sell their property, that they might have means with which to remove; and further that they would cease vexatious lawsuits against them, as they had violated no law. This proposition was accepted by the people of Quincy and also by the anti-Mormons in Hancock County. The civil authorities were largely superceded by the military, Major Warren being sent into Hancock County with a company of militia to keep the peace. These events occurred in the fall of 1845; and the Saints the winter following began extensive and active preparations for their departure in the spring. Meantime the anti-Mormons were breaking their part of the treaty almost daily. Illegal writs were issued for the arrest of the Twelve, and efforts made to serve them. House-burning and even murder went right on under the very eyes of Major Warren. At last, being exasperated beyond endurance, Elder Taylor declared he would submit no longer to the injustice being heaped upon himself and the people. President Young made a similar declaration. This led Major Warren to seek an interview with the authorities in which he upbraided them for their declared "resistance to law." In the course of that interview Elder Taylor made the following answer to the remarks of the major: