years from this time, the prophet slept in a bloody grave, and his family and followers were driven from the place which he and his seed, from generation to generation, were to occupy "forever and ever."

Under the influence of fanaticism, fiercely stimulated by persecution, the gathering Saints were active in all departments of industry, and soon became a thriving community. Buildings were erected, farms cultivated, the tavern was built, the temple progressed apace, and Nauvoo rapidly increased. The free people of Illinois, indignant that so peaceable, industrious, and virtuous a community should have been persecuted and driven into exile by the slaveholders of Missouri, extended to them a friendly and fostering hand. Nauvoo received from the Legislature a charter with extraordinary privileges, among which was the power to organize a military force, armed by the state, and under the command of the prophet as lieutenantgeneral. A formidable band, amounting, ultimately, to 4000 men, called the Nauvoo Legion, was organized, armed, and drilled, ready for any emergency, however desperate, to which the ambition or necessities of their leader might give rise.

Reviews were held from time to time, and flags presented, and Joseph appeared on all those occasions with a splendid staff, in all the pomp and circumstance of a full-blown military commander. The singular spectacle was presented of an independent military power growing and perfecting itself within the state, and rendered fierce and dangerous by religious fanaticism, and the recollections of persecutions suffered. This legion is described by an officer of the U. S.

army, in September, 1842, as approximating, in regard to appointments and discipline, "very closely to our regular forces." The Mormons at this time, in the United States and Great Britain, were supposed to number about one hundred and fifty thousand, and were on the increase; and this standing army was capable of an indefinite increase. Why was the military organization necessary? The idea of playing the part of Mohammed, and marching back in triumph to the Mecca of the Saints in Jackson county, which had already floated through the brain of the prophet, had probably never been abandoned. Joseph, as the mouthpiece of the Mormon Deity, had predicted, that unless justice were speedily done to his persecuted followers, "the Lord God himself would arise and come forth out of his hiding-place, and in his fury vex the nation ;” and the idea of being the executioner of the celestial vengeance may furnish a reason for the organization of so formidable a band. But, fortunately, he was too much engaged in pandering to his animal propensities to be capable of using efficiently the means of mischief within his grasp. To organize and conduct a violent and treasonable revolution in this country requires a larger reach of intellect, greater self-denial, and more determined energy than belonged to the Mormon chief.

Joseph was a skillful tactician. Among the ways and means by which he and his community became favorably known to the world was that of newspaper correspondence, which forms so large a portion of the journals of the day. Strangers would suddenly appear at Nauvoo, and the columns of the widely-circu

lated New York dailies were often garnished with glowing accounts of the prosperity of the city, the fascinations of the society, and, above all, the extraordinary character of the prophet and his nobility. One, a correspondent of the New York Herald, tells us that "Joseph Smith, the President of the Church, prophet, seer, and revelator, is thirty-six years of age, six feet high in his pumps, weighing two hundred and twelve pounds. He is a man of the highest talent, and great independence of character, firm in his integrity, and devoted to his religion; in a word, he is a per se, as President Tyler would say. As a speaker, he is bold, powerful, and convincing, possessing both the suaviter in modo and the fortiter in re; as a leader, wise and prudent, yet fearless; as a military commander, brave and determined; as a citizen, worthy, affable, and kind-bland in his manners, and of noble bearing."

Hyrum Smith and other lions in the Nauvoo menagerie are described in equally flattering terms.

Another says: "Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, is a singular character; he lives at the 'Nauvoo Mansion House,' which is, I understand, intended to become a home for the stranger and traveler. The prophet is a kind, cheerful, sociable companion; and as I saw the prophet and his brother Hyrum conversing together one day, I thought I beheld two of the greatest men of the nineteenth century."

These were the palmy days of Mormondom. Missionaries had been sent into all accessible parts of the world, and their zealous efforts were drawing multitudes of credulous people within the Latter-day vortex. Joseph seemed to be in the full tide of prosper