The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo. B. H. Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ unpopular withal, could not live in peace among their fellow-citizens of other faiths, and hence the exodus, not only from Nauvoo but from the entire State of Illinois and also from the United States. The Latter-day Saints, in a word, were expatriated from the United States,^[1] and sought an asylum in the wilderness, and among tribes of savages. From whence, after half a century, that same Church emerges, enlarged, prosperous, more firmly rooted in safety and in strength of faith than ever before—a greater enigma to the religious world than when it made its exodus from Illinois.

      All these things have a relation to Nauvoo, for The Church had a sort of second birth there, which makes the Rise and Fall of Nauvoo a theme of peculiar interest to those interested in what the world calls Mormonism, and who is not or should not be interested in a religious movement of such proportions, of such pretensions and of such achievements in the face of such opposition as it has met? * * * * * *

      Nauvoo, then, its rise and its fall, is to be the subject of my discourse. The word Nauvoo comes from the Hebrew, and signifies beautiful situation; "carrying with it also," says the prophet Joseph Smith, "the idea of rest." And, indeed, the location of the city is beautiful. No sooner does one come in view of it than he exclaims, "It is rightly named!" The city, or at least the marred remains of it, stands on a bold point around which sweeps the placid yet majestic "Father of Waters"—the Mississippi. The city is at least half encircled by that noble stream. From its banks the ground rises gradually for at least a mile where it reaches the common level of the prairie that stretches out to the eastward, farther than the eye can reach, in a beautifully undulating surface, once covered by a luxuriant growth of natural grasses and wild flowers, with here and there patches of timber; but now chequered with meadows, and, at the time of my visit, in 1885, with fields of waving corn.

      Opposite Nauvoo, on the west bank of the river, the bluffs rise rather abruptly, almost from the water's edge, and are covered, for the most part, with a fine growth of timber. Nestling at the foot of one of the highest of these bluffs, and immediately on the bank of the river, is the little village of Montrose, to which I shall have occasion to refer in these pages. Back of these bluffs before mentioned, roll off the alternate prairie and woodlands of Iowa. Between Montrose and Nauvoo, and perhaps two thirds of the distance across the river from the Illinois side, is an island, from three-fourths of a mile to a mile in length, and from fifty to one or two hundred yards in width, having its greatest extent north and south.

      Nauvoo is situated just at the head of what are usually called the Des Moines Rapids, about one hundred and ninety miles above St. Louis. These rapids were a serious obstacle to the navigation of the Mississippi at this point, in an early day, as in the season of low water they could not be passed by the steamboats plying the river. This difficulty of late, however, has been obviated by the general government building a fine canal, running parallel with the west bank of the river, from Keokuk to Montrose, a distance of twelve or fifteen miles. I was unable to learn the cost of the construction, but judge it must have required at least several millions of dollars.

      Such is the location of Nauvoo; such its immediate surroundings. It now remains for me to relate the events which led to the establishment of a thriving city on the site we have briefly described; how it was converted from a sickly wilderness to the most desirable section of the great State of Illinois; and then how, through acts of injustice and treachery, some of its principal founders were murdered and the rest of its inhabitants cruelly driven from the city by mob violence into the wilderness; and how the city sank from its prosperous condition, to become the semi-desolate place it is today; and, what is of more importance, to trace the development of that faith taught by Joseph Smith, which is destined to become, and indeed now is, one of the world's great religions.

      Footnotes

       Table of Contents

      1. When the Mormon Pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake valley, that whole intermountain region still belonged to the republic of Mexico.

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      THE RECEPTION OF THE EXILES IN ILLINOIS.

      IN what is properly a companion volume to this—"The Missouri Persecutions"—I have told how the Latter-day Saints were driven from Missouri under a threat of extermination from the executive of that State, Lilburn W. Boggs. When fleeing from Missouri, where they had suffered so much from mob violence, and from the State government officials, the Mormon exiles crossed the Mississippi into the State of Illinois, at the point near where the city of Quincy is located—in fact, at the Quincy Ferry. Their destitute condition, together with the injustice they had suffered in Missouri—the spectacle of a people in free America being driven from their homes and exiled from one of the States of the American Union because of religious beliefs—aroused the indignation and excited the sympathy of the people of Quincy and vicinity. A kind reception was given to the exiles by the people of this section of Illinois, one very similar to that given to many of the same people by the inhabitants of Clay County, when a cruel persecution had driven some twelve hundred of them from their homes in Jackson County, Missouri, five years before.^[1] The Democratic Association of Quincy was especially active in the interests of the exiles. In the month of February a meeting was called by this association to inquire into the situation of the Mormon exiles. At this first meeting all that was done was to pass a resolution, to the effect that the people called Latter-day Saints were in a situation requiring the aid of the people of Quincy. A committee of eight was appointed to call a general meeting of both citizens and Mormons, and to receive a statement from the latter of their condition, with a view to relieving their necessities. The committee was instructed to get the Congregational church in which to hold the next meeting, but the directors having in charge that building would not allow it to be used for that purpose. I speak of this to show the kind of charity existing in the breasts of some pretended followers of Him who taught that charity was the crowning virtue. Failing to secure the church, the second meeting was held in the courthouse.

      At this meeting the special committee appointed at the first meeting reported its labors. The committee had received statements from Sidney Rigdon and others in relation to the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri, and suggested a series of resolutions setting forth that the exiled strangers were entitled to the sympathy and aid of the people of Quincy;

      That a numerous committee, composed of individuals from every part of the town, be appointed to allay the prejudices of the misguided citizens of Quincy, and explain that it was not the design of the exiled Saints to lower the wages of the laboring classes, but to secure something to save them from starvation;

      That a standing committee be appointed to relieve, so far as in their power, the wants of the destitute and homeless; and to use their utmost endeavors to procure employment for those who were able and willing to labor.

      The report closed by saying:—

      We recommend to all the citizens of Quincy that in all their intercourse with the strangers, they use and observe a becoming decorum and delicacy, and be particularly careful not to indulge in any conversation or expression calculated to wound their feelings, or in any way to reflect upon those who, by every law of humanity, are entitled to our sympathy and commiseration.

      This good work begun by the Democratic Association was continued by them, and substantial assistance was given to the suffering Saints through their exertions. At a subsequent meeting of the association the following resolutions were adopted:

      That we regard the right of conscience as natural and inalienable, and the most sacredly guaranteed by the Constitution of our free government;

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