[FIGURE] June 30^th 1843 Early in the morning I went
to the court room assisted Dr Richards to
arange the seats to prepare the room for
the arival of Gen Smith & the company at
about 1 oclock PM the citizens of Nauvoo
went out on foot, horsback & in many carriages
to meet the Prophet viz Gen Smith & when they
did meet their was a seen of Great Joy & with a
band of music & a great multitude they followed
him to his own house, & Reynolds of Missouri
& Wilson of Carthage who had illegally taken
Joseph Smith at the force of arms looked
as though they had had the ague they had
treated Joseph Smith shamfully deprived
him of the wright of Hebeas Corpus & of speaking
to any friend & intended to run him into Missouri
as soon as possible But the Lord raised him

up friends & deliverd him from their hands
or in other words brought them all together to
Nauvloo Nauvoo & it was truly a regoiceing
time to the Saints to see him again Reynolds &
Wilson were both taken with a writ for
fals imprisionment though their intention
was to have taken Joseph Smith's life by taken
him to Missouri to be destroyed yet Joseph
Smith heaped cowles [coals] of fire upon their head
by treating them well setting them to the
head of his table & giving them the best
he had served unto them by his own wife
the vary woman they had refused to see
her husband as he was taken from her by
the force of Arms unlawfully after dining
they all repaired to the court room whare
the Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo
sat & Joseph Smith was deliverd into their
hands for trial & as for Reynolds &
Wilson they scertainly did look sheepish
for they were guilty & had done wrong.
President Smith got onto a waggon &
said to the multitude (before he went to
court) I am out of the hands of the
Missourians thank God, & thanked the
people for their kindness & love to him
& said I will again address you at the
grove near the temple at 4 oclock. after
introducing the subject to the court he said
he had an appointment to speak to the
people & he wish the privilege. The court
adjourned untill next morning at 8 oclok
President Joseph Smith then went to
the grove took the stand in the midst
of about seven thousand Saints the
resu[l]t is as follows

The following is a synopsis of the address
deliverd by President Joseph Smith to the
citizens of Nauvoo June 30^th 1843

I repuire attention. I discoverd what
the emotions of the people were on my arival
to this city, & I have come here to say, how
do you do to all parties & I do now say How do
you do at this time. I meet you with a heart
full of gratitude to Almighty God & I presume
you all feel the same I hardly know how to
express my feelings I feel as strong as a
Gient I pulled sticks with the men coming
along & I pulled up the strongest man
theire was on the road with one hand &
two could not pull me up & I continued
to pull untill I pulled them to Nauvoo I will
pass from that subject then. There has been
great excitement in the country & since
those men took me I have been cool &
dispassionate through the whole: thank God I
am now in the hands of the Municipal
Court of Nauvoo & not in the hands of
Missourians. It has been discussed by
the great & wise men Layif lawyiers &c
O your Powers & legal tribunals are not
to be sanctioned & here we will [not] make it
lawful to drag away inocent men from
their families & friends & have them unla-
wfully put to death by ungodly men for ther
religion. Relative to our charter, courts
right of Hebeas Corpus &c we have all
power: And if any man from this time
forth says any thing contrary; cast

it into his teeth. Their is a secret in
this; if their is not power in our charter,
and courts, then there is not power in
the state of Illinois, nor in the Congress
^or Constitution^ of the United States for the United States
gave unto Illinois her constitution & charter
& Illinois gave unto Nauvoo her charters
which have ceded unto unto us our vested
rights & has no right or power to take them
from us all the power their was in the Illinois
she gave to Nauvoo And any man that says
to the contrary is a fool. I want you to learn
O Israel what is for the happiness & peace of this
city & people. If, our enemies are determined to
oppress us & deprive us of our rights & privileges
as they have done & if the Authorities that be
on the earth will not assist us in our rights nor
give us that protection which the Laws & Constitu-
tion of the United States & of thi[s] state garre-
ntees unto us: then we will claim them from
higher power from heaven & from God
Almighty & the Constitution &c I SWEAR
I will not deal so mildly with them again
for the time has come when forbearance is no
longer a virtue, And if you are again taken
unlawfully asyou are at liberty to give loose to
Blood and Thunder But act with Almighty Power.
But good luck for me as it always has been in evry
time of trouble friends though strangers were
raised up unto me & assisted me. The time has
come when the veil is torn of[f] from the state of
Illinois & they have deliverd me from the state
of Missouri: friends that were raised up unto me
would have spilt their Blood for me to have delive-
red me then I told them not I would be delivered

By the power of God & Generalship & I have
brought them to Nauvoo & treated them kindly
I have had the privilege of rewarding them
good for evil, they took me unlawfully treated
me rigorously, strove to deprive me of my
rights & would have run me to Missouri to have
been murdered if providence had not inter-
posed: but now they are in my hands, I took
them into my house set them at the head
of my table & set the best before them my
house afforded & they were waited upon by
my wife whome they deprived of seeing
me when I was taken. I shall be discharged
by the Municipal Court of Nauvoo, were I
before any good tribunal I should be
discharged. But Befor I will bear this
unhallowed persecution any longer I will
spill my Blood their is a time when bearing
it longer is a sin. I will not bear it longer
I will spil the last drop of Blood I have and
all that will not bear it longer say AH And
the cry of AH rung throughout the congrega-
tion we must stop paying the lawyiers money
for I have learned they dont know any thing
for I know more than they all. Whosoever
believeth that there is power in the charters
of Nauvoo shall be saved he that believeth not
shall not come here. If a lawyer shall say
their is more power in other places & charters
than in Nauvoo believeth it not I have converted
this canditate for Congres Mr Walker I
suppose when I see him converted I will
vote for him & not before I have been with
these lawyers & they have treated me well
But I am here in Nauvoo & the Missourian to

& when they will get out I dont know perhaps
when some others may. However you may
feel about the high hand of oppression, I wish
you to restrain your hand from violence.
^against these men who arestd me^
My word is at stake a hair of their heads shall
not be harmed. My life is pledged to carry out this
great work. I know how readily you are to do right
you have done great things & manifested your love
in flying to my assistance on this occasion. I
could not have done better myself, And I Bless
you in the name of the Lord with all Blessings
may you not have to suffer as you have here-
tofore. I know the Almighty will bless all good men
he will bless you: and the time has come when
their shall be such a flocking to the Standard
of Liberty as never has been, Nor never shal be
hereafter. what an erie of things has commenced
Shall the Prophecys be esstablished by the swords
Shall we allways bear, No. Will not the state
of Missouri stay her hand in her unhallowed
persecutions against the Saints; if not, I
restrain you not any longer, I say in the name
of Jesus Christ I this day turn the key that
opens the heavens to restrain you no longer from
this time forth. I will lead you to battle & if
you are not afraid to die & feel disposed to spill
your Blood in your own defence you will not
offend me. Be not the aggressor bear untill they
strike on the one cheek offer the other & they
will be sure to strike that [Matthew 5:39], then defend yourselves
& God shall bear you off. Will any part of
Illinois say we shall not have our rights treat them
as strangers & not friends & let them go to Hell
Say some we will mob you, mob & be damed. if
I [am] under the necssity of giving up our charted

rights, privileges & freedom which our fathers
fought bled & died for & which the Constitution
of the United States & & this State garrentee
unto us, I will do it at the point of the
Bayonet & sword. Many Lawyiers contend
for those thing which are against the rights of
men & I can ownly excuse them because of their
ignorance. Go forth & Advocate the laws &
rights of the people ye lawyiers if not dont get
into my hands or under the lash of my tongue
Lawyiers say the powers of the Nauvoo charters
are dangerous, But I ask is the Constitution of
the United States or of this state dangerous, No
neither isare the charters granted unto Nauvoo
by the legislator of Illinois dangerous, & those that
say they are are fools. We have not our
rights, those which the Constitution of the
U. S. A grant, & which our charters grant
we have not enjoyed unmolested, Missouri
& all wicked men will raise the hugh & cry
against us and are not satisfyed. But how
are you going to help yourselves what will
mobocrats do in the midst of this people, If
mobs come upon you any more here, dung
your gardings with them. But says one you
will get up excitement we will get up no excitement
except what we can find an escape from
We will rise up Washington like & break of[f]
the wait that bears us down & we will not
be mobed.

To give you an account
of my Journey, I will give you an anecdote that
may be pleasing. A few days before I was taken
I rode with my wife through a Neighborhood to
visit some friends & I said to Mrs Smith here
is a good people I felt this by the spirit of God

the next day I was in their hands a prisioner
with Wilson who said as he drove up
ha, ha ha By God we have got the prophet, he
gloried much in it, But he is now our prisioner
When Reynolds of Missouri & Wilson of Carthage
came to take me the first salutation was (instead
of taping me on the sho^u^lder & saying you are my prision
er) with two cocked pistols to my head God damn
you I will shoot you I will shoot you God damn you
I will shoot you nearly 50 times first & last I asked
them what they wanted to shoot me for, if you
make any resistance. O vary well says I I
have no resistance to make they then dragged
me away & while on the road I asked them by
what authority they did these things they said
by a writ from the Govornors of Missouri & Illinois
I then told them I wanted a writ o[f] Habeas
Corpus, the reply was God damn you you shant
have it; I told a man to Go to Dixon & get me a
writ of Habeas Corpus the reply was by
Willson God dam you you shant have it I will
shoot you. I sent for a lawyier to come one
came & Reynolds shut the door in his face & would
not let me speak to him & said again God damn
you I will shoot you I turned to him opened my
bosom & told him to shoot away & I did it freeq-
uently, I told Mr Reynolds that I would have
council to speak to & the Lawyers came to me
& I got a writ of Habeas Corpus for mysel[f] & got
a writ for Reynolds & Wilson for unlawful
procedings towards me & cruel treatment they
could not get out of town that night, I pleged my
honor to my counci[l] that the Nauvoo charter had
power to investigate the subject & we came to
Nauvoo by common consent & I am now

June 30
a prisioner of higher authority yes higher
Authority before yourselves. The charter
expressly says that the city council shall have
power to enact all laws for the benefit &
convenience of said city not contrary to
the Constitutions of the United States or
of this state & the city ordinance says the
Municipal Court shall have power to give writs
of Habeas Corpus arising under the ordinances
of the city; Their is nothing but what we
have power over excepted restricted by
the Constitution of the United States or
of this state. It is in accordance with the
Constitution of the U. S. A But says the mob
what dangerous powers, But the Constitution
of the United nor of this state is not danger
ous against good men, but bad men the
breakers of the law so with the laws of the
country & so with the laws of Nauvoo they
are dangerous to mobs but not good men that
wish to keep the law. We do not go out of
Nauvoo to disturb any body or any city towon
or place why need they be troubled about
us let them not meddle with our affairs but
let us alone. After we have been deprived
of our rights & privileges as citizenship driven
from town to town place to place state
to state, with the sacrifice of our homes &
lands & our Blood been shed & many murde
red & all this becaus of our religion, because
we worship Almighty God according to the
dictates of our own consience [##Articles of Faith 1:11#] shall we longer
bear these cruelties which have been heaped
upon us for the last ten years in the face
of heaven & in open open violation of

the Constitution & laws of these United States
& of this state. May God forbid, I will not bear
it, if they take away my rights I will fights,
for my rights, manfully & righteously untill
I am used up with Blood & thunder sword &
pistol. We have done nothing against law or right
As touching our city charter & laws their is a
secret in it, what is it our laws go behind
the writ & investigate the subject ie of Habeas
Corpus while other laws do not go behind the
writ you speak of Lawyiers, I am a Lawyier
to But the Almighty God has taught me the prin-
ciple of law & the true meaning of the writ of Habes
Corpus is to defend the Innocent & investigat the
subject go behind the writ & if the form of a writ
is wright that is issued against an innocent
man He should not be dragged to another
state & there put to death or in jeaperdy life
or limb because of prejudice when he is innocent
the benefits of the Constitution & law is for all
alike & the great [E]loheem God has given me the
privilege of having the benefits of the Constitution
& the writ of Habeas Corpus & I am bold to ask
for this privilege this day & to ask you to carry
out this privilege principle And all who are in
favor of carrying out this great principle
make it manifest by raising the right hand
& their was a sea of hands a universal vote, here
is truly the committy of the whole

In speaking
of my Journaley to Nauvoo I will relate a circums-
tance when Mr Cyrus Walker first came to me they
said I should not speak to any man & they would
shoot any man that should speak to me An old
man came up & said I should have council &
said he was not afraid of their pistols & they took

me from him, & I had an opportunity to have
killed him but I had no temptation to do it to
him nor any other man, my worst enemy not
even Boggs in fact he would have more hell
to live in the reflection of his past life than to
die. My freedom commenced from the time
the old man came to me & would talk to me
we came direct from Papa grove to Nauvoo
we got our writ directed to the nearest
court having authority to try try the case &
we came to Nauvoo. It did my soul good to
see your feelings & love manifest towards me
I thank God that I have the honor to lead so
virtuous & honest a people to be your leader &
lawyier as Moses to the children of Israel
Hosannah Hosannah Hosannah Hosannah
to the name of the Most High God I commend
you to his grace & may the Blessings of heaven
rest upon you in the name of Jesus Christ Amen

Furthermore if Missouri continues her warfare
& continues to Issue her writs against me & this peopl
unlawfully & unjustly as they have done & our
rights are trampled upon & they under take to take
away my wrights I swaire with uplifted hands to
Heaven I will spill my Blood in its defence they
shall not take away our rights, & if they dont
stop leading me by the nose I will lead them by
the nose & if they dont let me alone I will turn
up the world I will make war, when we shake
our own bushes we want to ketch our own fruit
The Lawyiers themselves acknowledge that we
have all power granted us in our charters that we
could ask for, that we had more power than
any other court in the state for all other courts were restricted

while ours was not & I thank God Almighty for
it & I will not be rode down to Hell by the
Missourians any longer, & it is my privilege to
speak in my own defence & appeal to your honor [FIGURES]

After this interesting & decisive address was deliverd
in the presence of about seven or eight thousand the
multitude dispersed & went to their homes