But the surrender of some of their rights as citizens of the United States was not the only difficulty involved in the settlement of the Jackson troubles by the saints selling their possessions. God had revealed it to them that Jackson County was the place where is to be built the Zion of their God. For them to sell their lands then, and agree never after to make a settlement there, collectively or individually, would be a denial of their faith and bring upon them the displeasure of their God. For them to sell their lands was entirely out of the question. But the mob offered not only to buy, but to sell upon the same conditions that they proposed to buy. Why did not the saints accept this offer? Simply because they could not, and the citizens of Jackson knew very well they could not. The old settlers of Jackson owned many times more the amount of land than was possessed by the saints, say thirty acres to one. The saints were not wealthy to begin with; and now, after they had been driven from their homes, robbed of their goods, their cattle driven away, their houses, stables, and stacks of grain burned, they are asked to buy nearly the whole of Jackson County, for which they must pay double price, because they were to add _one hundred per cent_ to the appraised value--in _thirty days!_ I don't believe the people of Jackson County were sincere in making the proposition. They knew the saints could not sell their lands without surrendering many of their rights as free men and citizens of the United States; and without being untrue to their God, by virtually denying their faith in the revelations he had given regarding the building up of Zion in Jackson County. This the old settlers knew the Mormons would not do. They had tried to whip and frighten too many of them into a denial of their religious convictions, to think for one moment that money would be any inducement for them to deny that faith. On the other hand, they determined to put the price of their own land beyond the possibility of the saints purchasing it. The whole scheme was concocted with a view of covering up their outrages against the people of God, under an appearance of fairness. "In the corrupted currents of this world, where Offense's gilded hand may shove by justice," where hypocrisy is often mistaken for piety, and cunning for fairness, the subterfuge may have served its purpose; but when the wretches who would have murdered the saints and plundered them of their goods shall stand before the bar of God where there is "no shuffling," but where the actions of men "lie in their true light," they will find their refuge of deceit will not shield them from the justice of Him who has declared, "vengeance is mine, I will repay!" The saints refused to accept the terms of settlement made by the people of Jackson, but they themselves proposed terms of adjustment, as follows: