Page:History of Utah.djvu/242



190 THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

and the fury of the citizens allayed by addresses from Judge Phelps, Colonel Buckmaster, the governor's aid, and others. In the afternoon the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum arrived in wagons guarded by three men. They were met by the city council, the prophet's staff, the officers of the legion, and a vast procession of citizens, crying out ''amid the most solemn lamentations and wailings that ever ascended into the ears of the Lord of hosts to be avenged of their enemies." Arriving at the Nauvoo House, the assemblage, numbering ten thousand persons, was again addressed, and " with one united voice resolved to trust to the law for a remedy of such a high-handed assassination, and when that failed, to call upon God to avenge them of their wrongs. Oh! widows and orphans! Oh Americans! weep, for the glory of free- dom has departed!"

Meanwhile the governor, fearing that the Mormons would rise in a body to execute vengeance, issued an address to the people of Illinois, in which he attempted to explain his conduct,^^ and again called out the militia. Two officers were despatched to Nauvoo, with orders to ascertain the disposition of the citizens, and to proceed thence to Warsaw, where were the headquarters of the anti-Mormon militia, and forbid violent measures in the name of the state. On arriv- ing at the former place they laid their instructions before the members of the municipality. A meeting of the council was summoned, and it was resolved that the saints rigidly sustain the laws and the governor, so long as they are themselves sustained in their constitutional rights; that they discountenance ven- geance on the assassins of Joseph and Hyrum Smith; that instead of an appeal to arms, they appeal to the majesty of the law, and, should the law fail, they

General Deming, telling them to remain quiet, that the assassination would be condenmed by three fourths of the people of Illinois, but that they were in danger of attack from Missouri, and 'prudence might obviate material destruction.' Times and Seasons, v. 561.

3* Copies of it will be found in /(/., v. 564-5; Mackay's The Mormom, 178- 9; and ISmucker's Hist. Mor., 186-7.