Calhoun was admonished to read the eighth section of article one of the federal constitution, after which "God, who cooled the heat of a Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, or shut the mouths of lions for the honor of a Daniel, will raise your mind above the narrow notion that the general government has no power, to the sublime idea that Congress, with the President as executor, is as almighty in its sphere as Jehovah is in his." 1 *For this correspondence in full, see Times and Seasons, January 1, and June 1, 1844, or Mackay's "The Mormons," p. 143. Smith's next step was to have judge Phelps read to a public meeting in Nauvoo on February 7, 1844, a very long address by the prophet, setting forth his views on national politics.* He declared that "no honest man can doubt for a moment but the glory of American liberty is on the wane, and that calamity and confusion will sooner or later destroy the peace of the people," while "the motto hangs on the nation's escutcheon, `every man has his price.'" * For its text, see Times and Seasons, May 15,1844, or Mackay's "The Mormons," p.133. Smith proposed an abundance of remedies for these evils: Reduce the members of Congress at least one-half; pay them $2 a day and board; petition the legislature to pardon every convict, and make the punishment for any felony working on the roads or some other place where the culprit can be taught wisdom and virtue, murder alone to be cause for confinement or death; petition for the abolition of slavery by the year 1850, the slaves to be paid for out of the surplus from the sale of public lands, and the money saved by reducing the pay of Congress; establish a national bank, with branches in every state and territory, "whose officers shall be elected yearly by the people, with wages of $2 a day for services," the currency to be limited to "the amount of capital stock in her vaults, and interest"; "and the bills shall be par throughout the nation, which will mercifully cure that fatal disorder known in cities as brokery, and leave the people's money in their own pockets"; give the President full power to send an army to suppress mobs; "send every lawyer, as soon as he repents and obeys the ordinances of heaven, to preach the Gospel to the destitute, without purse or scrip"; "spread the federal jurisdiction to the west sea, when the red men give their consent"; and give the right hand of fellowship to Texas, Canada, and Mexico. He closed with this declaration: "I would, as the universal friend of man, open the prisons, open the eyes, open the ears, and open the hearts of all people to behold and enjoy freedom, unadulterated freedom; and God, who once cleansed the violence of the earth with a flood, whose Son laid down his life for the salvation of all his father gave him out of the world, and who has promised that he will come and purify the world again with fire in the last days, should be supplicated by me for the good of all people. With the highest