Letter to Henry Clay, 13 May 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons
Source Note
JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Lexington, Fayette Co., KY, 13 May 1844. Version published in “Correspondence between Gen Joseph Smith and the Hon. Henery Clay,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 544–548. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
when the mourning of the fatherless and the widow causes anguish in heaven; when the poor among all nations cry day and night for bread and a shelter from the heat and storm; and when the degraded black slave holds up his manacled hands to the great statesmen of the , and sings,
O, liberty, where are thy charms,
That sages have told me were sweet!
and when fifteen thousand free citizens of the high blooded of North America, are robbed and driven from one state to another without redress or redemption, it is not only time for a candidate for the presidency to pledge himself to execute judgment and justice in righteouness, law or no law, but it is his bounden duty, as a man, for the honor of a disgraced and for the salvation of a once virtuous people, to call for a union of all honest men, and appease the wrath of God, by acts of wisdom, holiness and virtue! The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Perhaps you may think, I go too far, with my strictures and inuendoes because in your concluding paragraph you say: “It is not inconsistant with your declarations to say, that you have viewed with a lively interest the progress of the , that you have sympathised in their sufferings, under injustice as it appeared to you, which has been inflicted upon them; and that you think, in common with all other religious communities they ought to enjoy the security and protection of the constitution and the laws.” If words were not wind, and imagination not a vapor, such ‘views’ ‘with a lively interest’ might coax out a few Mormon votes; such ‘sympathy’ for their suffering under injustice, might heal some of the sick, yet lingering amongst them; raise some of the dead, and recover some of their property, from ; and finally if thought was not a phantom, we might, in common with other religious communities, ‘you think’, enjoy the security and protection of the constitution and laws! But during ten years, while the Latter Day Saints have bled, been robbed, driven from their own lands, paid oceans of money into the Treasury to pay your renowned self and others for legislating and dealing out equal rights and priveleges to those in common with all other religious communities, they have waited and expected in vain! If you have possessed any patriotism, it has been vailed by your popularity for fear the saints would fall in love with its charms. Blind charity and dumb justice never do much towards alleviating the wants of the needy, but, straws show which way the wind blows. It is currently rumored that your dernier resort for the Latter day Saints, is, to emigrate to , or . Such cruel humanity; such noble injustice; such honorable cowardice; such foolish wisdom, and such vicious virtue, could only eminate from . After the saints have been plundered of three or four millions of land and property, by the people and powers of the sovereign state of ; after they have sought for redress and redemption from the County Court to Congress, and been denied through religious prejudice, and sacerdotal dignity; afier [after] they have builded a city and two temples at an immense expense of labor and treasure; after they have increased from hunereds [hundreds] to hundreds of thousands: and after they have sent missionaries to the various nations of the earth, to Israel according to the predictions of all the holy prophets since the world began, that great plenipotentiary; the renowned Secretary of State, the ignoble duelist, the gambling Senator; and Whig candidate for the presidency, : the wise Kentucky Lawyer, advises the Latter Day Saints to go to to obtain Justice and set up a government of their own; O ye crowned heads among all nations, is not a wise man, and very patriotic! why Great God! to transport 200,000 people through a vast prairie; over , to , a distance of nearly 2000 miles, would cost more than four millions! or should they go by Cape Horn, in ships to , the cost would be more than twenty millions! and all this to save the from inheriting the disgrace of , for murdering and robbing the saints with impunity! and , who make no secret to say, if they get into power, they will carry out ’ exterminating plan to rid the country of the Latter Day Saints, are
Little nipperkins of milk,
Compared to “’s” great aqua fortis jars.
Why, he is a real giant in humanity: send the Mormons to and free from debt and disgrace! Ah! sir, let this doctrine go to and fro throughout the whole earth, that we, as said, know your cause is just but the government can do nothing for you, because it has no power; you must go to , and get justice from the Indians!
I mourn for the depravity of the world; I despise the hypocrisy of christendom; I hate the imbecility of American statesmen; I detest the shrinkage of candidates for office, from pledges and responsiblity; I long for a day of righteousness, when he, “whose right it is to reign, shall judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth,” and I pray God, who hath given our fathers a promise of a [p. 547]