gardens spring up; the hum of the mill is
constantly heard. Every visitor to Nauvoo
describes the prosperity of the place as
marvellous. The solid element of the religion
invented by Joseph Smith is, that it
inculcates work; hard, useful, wealth-creating
labour. The Prophet also incorporated into
his creed a thorough appreciation of relaxation.
That all work and no play makes a dull
boy of Jack, nobody knew better than Joe.
One does not like to speak with levity of a
prophet; but, perhaps, the exact adjective
for Joe's religion is— jolly! An air of jollity
attends the faith. It is a jovial heresy; a
heresy that " don't go home till morning!"
Thus, after some squabbling, a small tight
or two (not more intestine dissension than
falls to the lot of most new communities)
the two grand desiderata of this life were
realised— prosperity and ease. It was soon
spread abroad that one of the first things
realised in this good, substantial town of
Nauvoo, was plenty to eat and drink. In
consequence, Joe's disciples increased by the
thousand. All sorts of pleasant fellows who
loved an easy life flocked thitherward.

There was, travellers say, a healthy, happy
look about the place. Life rolled along there
in a clear, vigorous way; like the flood of the
Mississippi hard by. Joe himself is described
as a "cheerful, social companion." So very
social in his tastes, that there got about a
rumour that he had a tendency to make
"Nauvoo " into a kind of New World Oriental
Paradise, One of his apostles, Sidney Rigdon,
broached a doctrine concerning "spiritual
wives " which excited great scandal.

We have read one or two of Joe's published
letters; they show a shrewd, hard-headed
fellow. He writes to one man— "facts, like
diamonds, not only cut glass, but they are the
most precious diamonds on earth." There is
a sturdy self-assertion about him; and that
self- assertion is perpetuated; for the Mormons
seem to differ from other sects chiefly in believing
the continued inspiration of their
prophets. Their faith—with its materialism, its
rude hopes, its belief in the superiority of
their best teachers, its heartiness in physical
labour— is indeed a piece of genuine
Transatlantic life, likely to hold together long.
Their belief in their "Book of Mormon"
implies a rugged, ignorant belief in Holy
Writ, too. To speak seriously of our
prophet, Joe Smith, we should say that the
sturdy, illiterate, shrewd Yankee conceived
power in him to do a work; brooding over
the Bible in his youth, and seeing it through
the hazy eyes of his rude ignorance, such a
man, with a warm heart, might fancy many
strange things. Orthodoxy should consider
whose fault it is that Joe Smithism could
erect itself into a sect; orthodoxy should look
at the three hundred thousand souls, and
reflect on them. The ruling powers of the
world should stoop to learn lessons of these
things. Balaam learned something very
important from the speaking of his poor ass.
The ass saw the angel when respectable
Balaam could not. In Roman history, when
anything terrible was happening to the
republic, we find— bos locutus est! Things are
bad indeed when the very ox has to have
his say!

We now come to the close of Joe's earthly
career. The peace and prosperity of Nauvoo
were soon interrupted. The prophet's old
Missourian enemies kept harassing him with
litigation; and some bad sheep in his own
flock gave him great trouble. " At this time
he appears to have been quite as convinced
of the divinity of his mission, as the most
credulous of his disciples," says his latest
historian. No such thing: what good he
was destined to do, he had now done— and
for the bad he was about to pay. There were
dissenters from Joe's Church; heretics to his
heterodoxy; who looked on the prophet as a
humbug. These were not genuine believers;
but wretched cunning impostors, who were
never "deluded;" being far too bad for any
such innocent exercise of faith. These
committed acts of licentiousness (such as cannot
be proved against Joe), and he had to
excommunicate some of them. They started a
newspaper, called the "Nauvoo Expositor." In
this they calumniated Joseph so vilely that
his supporters rose; two hundred men
attacked the office of the journal armed with
muskets, swords, pistols, and axes, and reduced
it to ashes.

The proprietors, editors, reporters,
compositors, and pressmen of the journal fled
to the town of Carthage, and applied for
a warrant against Joseph, his brother Hiram,
and sixteen others. The warrant was served
on Joseph as Mayor, and he refused to
acknowledge its validity. Illinois instantly
made preparations for civil war. Mormons
gathered from all parts, and Anti-Mormons,
likewise. Governor Ford took the field:
Nauvoo was fortified. Everywhere resounded
the note of preparation for war.

Governor Ford issued a proclamation calling
on Joseph Smith and his brother to surrender,
pledging his word that they should be
protected. They agreed, accordingly, to stand
their trial; Joe, however, observing, with a
sad, calm heart, "I am going like a lamb to
the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's
morning!" (The tranquil, life-enjoying
prophet!) "I shall die innocent."

We now are to picture the brothers
in prison. Their assailants prowl uneasily
round the walls; there is a desperate hungry
uneasiness about the mob— they are afraid
Joe will escape. One can fancy their
murmuring reaching the prophet's ears— the low,
murderous humming, every now and then.

The evening of the 27th of June, 1844,
came:—it had been a warm summer day
in the Western country. The brothers were
standing chatting with two friends in an
up-stairs room of their house of detention.