THE DESERET WEEKLY. President Wilford Woodruff next addressed the assemblage, the following being the substance of what he said: It was his duty as a leader of this Church, as a Prophet, Seer and Reve- lator as he was called, to bear his tes- timony to what President Cannon had just said; for he had told the truth. He himself realized the delicate position which any of them were placed in when they touched upon political mat- ters; at the same time he was very glad that Brother Cannon had touched upon that subject so far. There were the Twelve Apostles. One part of their number—he did not know how many—were Democrats, the other Republicans; and it was so with every quorum in this Church and kingdom. He confessed that the spirit which he had seen manifested towards some of the Twelve, and that by other men of high standing in the Church had pained him ex- ceedingly. It might be asked in what way? In the first place, every man had as much right—Prophets, Apostles, Saints and sinners—to his political convictions as he had to his religious opinions. There was no necessity for quarreling one with an- other, but there had prevailed a spirit, since the political division, among the Latter-day Saints which was greatly to be deplored. As Brother Cannon had said, that spirit would lead them to ruin, to sorrow and affliction, unless a different course was taken. He had seen some good men in the Church come together on these politi- cal matters and display a spirit that they had no business to. A good deal had been said about Brother John Henry Smith, and why he was a Republican. He took it up, and gave his views to the public. The question arose and was put straight out, "Is he going to apostatize? because a man cannot be a Latter-day Saint and a Republican!" That was the feeling. Others might think that a man could not be a Latter-day Saint and a Democrat as well. Now, a man could be both, and if we behaved our- selves and did what was right as Latter-day Saints they would not have any trouble. He, however, wanted to say to the congregation before him that all the devils in hell and on earth were united together to destroy this Church and Kingdom. Whether it was one in- dividual or a hundred, they labored to that end, and the Saints had to be careful to watch their position in these things. There was an election held recently in the North—the town of Logan—where the Republicans were victorious. They (the Presidency) were accused of guiding, directing and ordering, as it were, the operation of this; but such was untrue. He himself had sons who were both Republicans and Democrats, but he had never once in his life told either of them how to vote. God knew he had allowed them to do as they liked. He wanted the Apostles to do as they liked, also every other man in Israel; "but for God's sake don't quarrel; don't throw filth and dirt and non- sense at one another, because of any difference on political matters." Let all present give heed to this. Let them go about their business and attend to their political affairs as they pleased; but do not quarrel. If there were any people on the face of this earth that ought to be full of unity, of faith, of the Holy Ghost and the revelations of heaven it was the congregation before him today. He thanked God from the bottom of his heart that he had lived to see this day—to see such a vast congregation as this in the valleys of these moun- tains. He had grown up and lived with the Church almost from its organ- ization, and when he remembered how few were now living in the flesh of those whom he knew in Kirtland or even Nauvoo, and who associated with the Prophet Joseph, he marveled that his own life had been preserved so long. When they passed behind the