Dear ,

I expected to have Seen you & your Amiable before you started for the , but if you have arrived Safe & have not as yet lost a leg or an Eye in the Mormon War you will no doubt be well pleased to take thing as you find them. I hope the Mormon people will Never Consent to give up the Prophet to be Sacrafised in . I Consider the Writ as having no foundation in Law & therefore all proceeding under it as illegal & unconstitutional & I feel persuaded that this would be the decision of the Supreme Court of the were the question brought before it. But it will not do to risk this & let Joseph [Smith, Jr.] into the hands of the Philistians— If you do his fate is Sealed & then where is the remedy?

I must Confess that were I on the Spot I should resist face to face viewing the matter as a Mob proceeding & with what friends might be Called in from the States, neither nor , nor both togeth[er] Could make much headway against 10,000 faithful fellows that Could be got together. These [illegible] would [illegible] Some before they would undertake to beard the lion, altho yet young, in his den. With a brave, resolute, talented, experienced Chief at your head it would cost them more to Conquer the Mormons than it did to Conquer the [p. [1]]