THE LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH

Delivered Before the Nauvoo Legion, June 18, 1844


The following synopsis of this Address was compiled by Geo. A. Smith from the 
verbal reports of Joseph G. Hovey, William G. Sterrett, Robert Campbell and 
many others who heard the Prophet on this occasion.

It is thought by some that our enemies would be satisfied with my 
destruction; but I tell you that as soon as they have shed my blood, they 
will thirst for the blood of every man in whose heart dwells a single spark 
of the spirit of the fulness of the gospel.  The opposition of these men is 
moved by the spirit of the adversary of all righteousness.  It is not only to 
destroy me, but every man and woman who dares believe the doctrines that God 
hath inspired me to teach to this generation.

We have never violated the laws of our country.  We have every right to live 
under their protection, and are entitled to all the privileges guaranteed by 
our State and national Constitutions.  We have turned the barren, bleak 
prairies and swamps of this State into beautiful towns, farms, and cities, by 
our industry; and the men who seek our destruction and cry thief, treason, 
riot, etc., are those who themselves violate the laws, steal and plunder from 
their neighbors, and seek to destroy the innocent, heralding forth lies to 
screen themselves from the just punishment of their crimes by bringing 
destruction upon this innocent people.  I call God, angels, and all men to 
witness that we are innocent of the charges which are hearlded forth through 
the public prints against us by our enemies; and while they assemble together 
in unlawful mobs to take away our rights and destroy our lives, they think to 
shield themselves under the refuge of the lies which they have thus wickedly 
fabricated.

We have forwarded a particular account of all our doings to the Governor.  We 
are ready to obey his commands, and we expect that protection at his hands 
which we know to be our just due.

We have taken the counsel of Judge Thomas, and have been tried before a civil 
magistrate on the charge of riot -- not that the law required it, but because 
the judge advised it as a precautionary measure, to allay all possible 
pretexts for excitement.  We are legally acquitted by Esquire Wells, who is a 
good judge of law.  Had we been before the Circuit, the Supreme, or any other 
court of law in this State or nation, we should have been acquitted, for we 
have broken no law.

Constable Bettisworth comes here with a writ requiring us to go before Mr. 
Morrison, “or some other justice of the peace of the county,” to answer to 
the charge of riot.  We acknowledged ourselves his prisoners, and were ready 
to go before any magistrate in any precinct in this part of the County, or 
anywhere else where our lives could be protected from the mob who have 
published the resolutions for our extermination which you have just heard 
read.  This is a privilege the law guarantees to us, and which the writ 
itself allows.  He breaks the law, and refuses us this privilege, declaring 
that we shall go before Morrison in Carthage, and no one else, when he knew 
that a numerous mob was collected there who are publicly pledged to destroy 
our lives.

It was under these circumstances that we availed ourselves of the legal right 
of the ancient, high, and constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas 
corpus, and were brought before the Municipal Court of this city, and 
discharged from illegal detention under which we were held by Constable 
Bettisworth.  All mob-men, priests, thieves, and bogus makers, apostates, and 
adulterers, who combined to destroy this people, now raise the hue and cry 
throughout the State that we resist the law, in order to raise a pretext for 
calling together thousands more of infuriated mob-men to murder, destroy, 
plunder and ravish the innocent.

We are American citizens.  We live upon a soil for the liberties of which our 
fathers periled their lives and spilt their blood upon the battle-field.  
Those rights, so dearly purchased, shall not be disgracefully trodden under 
foot by lawless marauders without at least a noble effort on our part to 
sustain our liberties.

Will you all stand by me to the death, and sustain, at the peril of your 
lives, the laws of our country, and the liberties and privileges which our 
fathers have transmitted unto us, sealed with their sacred blood?  (“Aye,” 
shouted thousands.)  He then said -- “It is well.  If you had not done it, I 
would have gone out there, (pointing to the west,) and would have raised up a 
mightier people.

I call upon all men, from Maine to the Rocky Mountains, and from Mexico to 
British America, whose hearts thrill with horror to behold the rights of 
freemen trampled under foot, to come to the deliverance of this people from 
the cruel hand of oppression, cruelty, anarchy and misrule to which they have 
been long made subject.  Come, all ye lovers of liberty, break the 
oppressor’s rod, loose the iron grasp of mobocracy, and bring to condign 
punishment all those who trample under foot the principles of our glorious 
constitution and the people’s rights.  (Drawing his sword, and presenting it 
to heaven, he said) -- I call God and angels to witness that I have 
unsheathed my sword with a firm and unalterable determination that this 
people shall have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or 
my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body consigned to 
the silent tomb.  While I live, I will never tamely submit to the dominion of 
a cursed mobocracy.  I would welcome death rather than submit to this 
oppression; and it would be sweet, oh, sweet to rest in the grave, rather 
than submit to this oppression, agitation, annoyance, confusion, and alarm 
upon alarm, any longer.

I call upon all friends of truth and liberty to come to our assistance; and 
may the thunders of the Almighty, and the forked lightnings of heaven, and 
pestilence, and war, and bloodshed come down upon those ungodly men who seek 
to destroy my life and the lives of this innocent people.

I do not regard my life.  I am ready to be offered a sacrifice for this 
people; for what can our enemies do?  Only kill the body, and their power is 
then at an end.  Stand firm, my friends; never flinch.  Do not seek to save 
your lives, for he that is afraid to die for the truth will lose eternal 
life.  Hold out to the end, and we shall be resurrected, and become like 
Gods, and reign in celestial kingdoms, principalities, and eternal dominions, 
while this cursed mob will sink to hell, the portion of all those who shed 
innocent blood.

God has tried you.  You are a good people; therefore I love you with all my 
heart.  Greater love hath no man than that he should lay down his life for 
his friends.  You have stood by me in the hour of trouble, and I am willing 
to sacrifice my life for your preservation.

May the Lord God of Israel bless you forever and ever.  I say it in the name 
of Jesus of Nazareth, and in the authority of the Holy Priesthood, which He 
hath conferred upon me.

The people said “Amen.”

This item was compiled by Geo. A. Smith, from several verbal accounts by many 
who heard the address.  This address was given in front of the Nauvoo Legion.  
It was probably compiled sometime in the 1880s or 1890s and published by J. 
H. Parry & Co., Printers, in Springville, Utah.