*Pratt's "Autobiography," p. 100, The outcome of all the deliberations at Kirtland was the sending of W. W. Phelps and Orson Hyde to Jefferson City with a long petition to Governor Dunklin, setting forth the charges of the Missourians against the Mormons, and the action of the two meetings at Independence, and making a direct appeal to him for assistance, asking him to employ troops in their defence, in order that they might sue for damages, "and, if advisable, try for treason against the government." The governor sent them a written reply under date of October 19, in which, after expressing sympathy with them in their troubles, he said: "I should think myself unworthy the confidence with which I have been honored by my fellow citizens did I not promptly employ all the means which the constitution and laws have placed at my disposal to avert the calamities with which you are threatened.... No citizen, or number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society." He advised the Mormons to invoke the laws in their behalf; to secure a warrant from a justice of the peace, and so test the question "whether the law can be peaceably executed or not"; if not, it would be his duty to take steps to execute it. The Mormons and their neighbors were thus brought face to face in a manner which admitted of no compromise. The situation naturally seemed rather a simple one to the governor, who was probably ignorant of the intentions and ambition of the Mormons. If he had understood the nature and weight of the objections to them, he would have understood also that he could protect them in their possessions only by maintaining a military force. His letter gave the Mormons of Jackson County new courage. They had been maintaining a waiting attitude since the meeting of July 23, but now they resumed their occupations, and began to erect more houses, and to improve their places as if for a permanent stay, and meanwhile there was no cessation of the immigration of new members from the East. Their leaders consulted four lawyers in Clay County, and arranged with them to look after their legal interests.