FATAL ASPIRATIONS. 169
The aspirations of the prophet, pretended or other- wise, to the highest office iu the repubhc, together with renewed, and at this juncture exceedingly dan- gerous, claims, pointing toward almost universal em- pire,^^ brought upon him afresh the rage of the surrounding gentile populace, and resulted in an awful tragedy, the circumstances of which I am now about to relate. "The great cause of popular fury," writes Governor Ford shorth'^ after the occurrence, " was that the Mormons at several preceding elections had cast their vote as a unit; thereby making the fact apparent that no one could aspire to the honors or offices of the country, within the sphere of their influence, without their approbation and votes."
Indeed, a myriad of evils about this time befell the church, all portending bloody destruction. There were
of the uational legislature. Pay them two dollars and their board per diem, except Sundays; that is more than the farmer gets, and he lives hon- estly. Curtail the offices of government in pay, number, and power, for the philistine lords have shorn our nation of its goodly locks in the lap of Delilah. Petition your state legislature to pardon every convict in their several i^enitentiaries, blessing them as they go, and saying to them in the name of the Lord, Go thy way and sin no more. . .Petition also, ye goodly in- habitants of the slave states, your legislators to abolish slavery by the year 18.50, or now, and save the abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame. Pray congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of congress. . .Give every man his con- stitioual freedom, and the president full power to send an army to suppress mobs; and the states authority to repeal and impugn that relic of folly which makes it necessary for the governor of a state to make the demand of the president for troops in cases of invasion or rebellion. The governor him- self may be a mobber, and instead of being punished as he should be for murder and treason, he may destroy the very lives, rights, and property he should protect. Like the good Samaritan, send every lawyer as soon as ho repents and obeys the ordinances of heaven, to preacli the gospel to the des- titute, without pui'se or scrip, pouring in the oil and the wine ... Were I the president of the United States, by the voice of a virtuous people, I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom; I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious patriots, who carried the ark of the gov- ernment upon their shoulders with an eye single to the glory of the people. . . When a neighboring realm petitioned to join the union of the sons of liberty, my voice would be, Come; yea, come Texas; come Mexico; come Canada; and come all the world — let us be brethren; let us be one great family; and let thei-e be imiversal peace. ' A full copy of the address is given in Times and Sea-wns, v. 5"2S-533; Mackays The Mormons, 141-51; liemy^s Jour, to O. S. L. City, 353-71.
- ^Two months after announcing himself a cardidate for the presidency,
Joseph again publicly declared that all America, from north to south, consti- tuted the Zion of the saints, theirs by right of heavenly inheritance.
