“As a soft breeze in a hot day mellows the air, so does the simple truth calm the feelings of the irritated; and so we proceed to give the proceedings of the city council relating to the removal of the Nauvoo Expositor as a nuisance. We have been robbed, mobbed, and plundered with impunity some two or three times, and as every heart is more apt to know its own sorrows, the people of had ample reason, when such characters as the proprietors and abettors of the Nauvoo Expositor proved to be before the city council, to be alarmed for their safety. The men who got up the press were constantly engaged in resisting the authority or threatening something. If they were fined an appeal was taken, but the slander went out <​on​>; and when the paper came, the course and the plan to destroy the was marked out. The destruction of the city charter and the ruin of the saints, was the all commanding topic. Our lives, our , our charter, and our characters, are just as sacred, just as dear and just as good as other people’s; and while no friendly arm has been extended from the demolition of our in , Missouri, without law to this present day, the city council with all the law of nuisance, from Blackstone down to the charter, knowing that if they exceeded the law of the land, a higher court could regulate the proceedings— abated the Nauvoo Expositor.

“The proceedings of the council show, as sketched, that there was cause of alarm. The people when they reflect will at once say that the feelings and rights of men ought to be respected. All persons otherwise, who, without recourse to justice, mercy, or humanity, come out with inflamatory publications, destructive resolutions, or more especially extermination, show a want of feeling, and a want of respect, and a want of religious toleration, that honorable men will deprecate among Americans, as they would the pestilence, famine, or horrors of war. It cannot be that the people are so lost to virtue as to coolly go to murdering men, women, and children. No— candor and common sense forbid it.”

“From the newspapers around us, and the current reports as brought in from the surrounding country, I have good reason to fear that a mob is organizing to come upon this , and plunder and destroy said , as well as murder the citizens; and by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor, and to preserve the and lives of the citizens, I do hereby declare declare the said , within the limits of its incorporation, under martial law. The officers, therefore, of the Nauvoo Legion, the police, as well as all others will strictly see that no persons [p. 116]