Letter to John Henry Smith, 18 December 1888
Salt Lake City, Utah, .
Elder John Henry Smith,
Salt Lake City.
Dear Brother: Our attention has been repeatedly called to the
apathy and indifference of our people in regard to their political rights,
while, on the other hand, our enemies were never before so well organized, so
thorough and united, nor more determined in their opposition than now.
The experiences we have had in the "irrepressible conflict" between
the Church and Kingdom of God and the world, from the days of Ohio, Missouri, and
Illinois, down to the recent experiences of our disfranchised people in Idaho,
prove beyond doubt that the "price of liberty," to us, "is eternal vigilance"
and implicit reliance upon the protection and mercy of Almighty God.
The malignant animus and the wicked purposes of our relentless foes
were not more apparent in the mobbings and drivings from Missouri, or in the
martyrdom of our Prophets and the expulsion of the Saints from Illinois, than
they are in the infamous propositions embodied in the Edmunds and Edmunds-Tucker
laws, the appointment of the Utah Commission, and other Territorial and local
officers, to rule over us, the confiscation of our property, and many other
