The arbitrary acts of the people of IlHnois in forc- ing the departure of the saints, lays them open to the grave charge, among others, of a desire to possess their property for less than its value. Houses and lots, farms and merchandise, could not be turned into money, or even into wagons and live-stock, in a moment, except at a ruinous sacrifice. Granted that the hier- archy was opposed to American institutions, that the Mormons wished to gain possession of the United States and rule the world : no one feared the immediate consummation of their pretentious hopes. Granted that among them were adulterers, thieves, and mur- derers: the gentiles were the stronger, and had laws by which to punish the guilty. It was not a noble sentiment which had actuated the people of Missouri; it was not a noble sentiment which now actuated the people of Illinois, thus to continue their persecutions during the preparations for departure, and drive a whole cityful from their homes out upon the bleak prairie in the dead of winter.
In January 1846 the council ordered that a de- tachment should set forth at once, and that the re- mainder of the saints should follow as soon as possi- ble. "Beloved brethren," said their leader, it now remains to be proven whether those of our family and friends who are necessarily left behind for a season, to obtain an outfit through the sale of prop- erty, shall be mobbed, burned, and driven away by force. Does any American want the honor of doing it? or will any Americans suffer such acts to be done, and the disgrace of them to remain on their char- acter, under existing circumstances. If they will, let the world know it."
The world was soon to know it. Driven almost at the point of the sword, a large number of the saints, soon afterward followed by the president, the twelve, the high council, and other companies, gathered on the eastern bank of the Mississippi early in February.
There was but little money in circulation through-
