This somewhat checked his insolence. I then told him that I _would_ have counsel to consult, and eventually I obtained my wish. The lawyers came to me and I got a writ of _habeas corpus_ for myself, and also a writ against Reynolds and Wilson for unlawful proceedings and cruel treatment towards me. Thanks to the good citizens of Dixon, who nobly took their stand against such unwarrantable and unlawful oppression, my persecutors could not get out of the town that night, although, when they first arrived, they swore I should not remain in Dixon five minutes, and I found they had ordered horses accordingly to proceed to Rock Island. I pledged my honor to my counsel that the Nauvoo city charter conferred jurisdiction to investigate the subject; so we came to Nauvoo, where I am now a prisoner in the custody of a higher tribunal than the circuit court. The charter says that "the city council shall have power and authority to make, ordain, establish and execute such ordinances not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State, as they may deem necessary, for the peace, benefit, and safety of the inhabitants of said city." And also that "the municipal court shall have power to grant writs of _habeas corpus_ in all cases arising under the ordinances of the city council." The city council have passed an ordinance "that no citizen of this city shall be taken out of this city by any writ, without the privilege of a writ of _habeas corpus_." There is nothing but what we have power over, except where restricted by the Constitution of the United States. "But," says the mob, "what dangerous powers!" Yes--dangerous, because they will protect the innocent and put down mobocrats. The Constitution of the United States declares that the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_ shall not be denied. Deny me the writ of _habeas corpus_, and I will fight with gun, sword, cannon, whirlwind, and thunder, until they are used up like the Kilkenny cats. We have more power than most charters confer, because we have power to go behind the writ and try the merits of the case. If these powers are dangerous, then the Constitution of the United States and of this State are dangerous; but they are not dangerous to good men: they are only so to bad men who are breakers of the laws. So with the laws of the country, and so with the ordinances of Nauvoo: they are dangerous to mobs, but not to good men who wish to keep the laws.