before I sleep; but I must pass over the order of the day, & numerical force of this mighty host, till I am better informd, & fill my sheet with I have heard a great deal said about the Mormon’s being a warlike people, &, surely, present appearancs indicate the truth of the remark; but ’tis not a sure sign that a man is a murderer <​merely​> becaues he was seen to rush <​go​> out of a house, where a murder had been committed, with a bloody knife in his hand; he might have been a butcher or a Larderer a[nd] blooded his knife lawfully; in total ignerance of the household Slaughter. Thus it may be with the mormons for aught I know, though they appear to take the liveliest interst in military affirs of any people in the west, yet they say they “will not fight and except it be for peace,” and that every body has a right to do, for self <​presrvation​> defence is the first law of nature.