1844-06-29-The Change
The Prophet v1n7 29 June 1844, pg 2
The Change�We have this week taken the management of the prophet, and as many of the Saints have labored under the impression that the establishment of a paper in this city did not meet the sanction of the authorities of the Church, this impression may now give place to confidence. The Prophet is calculated to do much good in the east, and we would advise all true saints of God to take hold and sustain it�circulate it among your friends�place it in the reach of all honest men that they may see what we are contending for, let them see we know our rights as "free born sons of Columbia's soil," and that we contend for equal privileges without reference to religious or political opinions. We have suffered time after time the violence of mobs, our property has been destroyed, our women insulted, our people exiled and murdered in this enlightened age, in this republic, and for what? for contending for the faith once delivered to the saints or worshiping God according to the dictates of our consciences. Yes, if Missouri's blood-stained soil could speak, it would tell a tale of wrongs and outrages committed on American citizens, that would cause the blush of shame to mantle the cheek of the veriest savage of the Islands of the sea, not even the inquisition of Spain in its bloodiest age, could be fraught with more cruelty or injustice�15,000 souls, born as free as the free'st, expelled from their homes in the dead of winter, for attempting to enjoy the privilege fought and bled for by our forefathers�we were eye witness as well as a sufferer in this most unhallowed persecution, and have seen men, women and children, killed by a ruthless mob, who left them dead on the ground, after having robbed them while dying�all this true, yea, more, their bones were left to bleach upon the soiled prairies of the west, and their flesh to become food for the wolf, the raven, and the vulture, and why is this suffered? Why Congress tells us she has no power in our case�let us ask why? why will the ears of the "concentrated wisdom" of the land be closed to the cry of bleeding innocence?�is there no feeling, no justice there? no balm in Gilead?�and must the cries of thousands of American citizens, widows and orphans remain unheard? is it because we are not as numerous as some other societies? It is true Congress cannot restore to us our dead friends, that Missouri has slain; neither can she repair the many injuries done to our healths and constitutions, but she might make an appropriation that would in some measure remunerate us for our losses, if not redress our wrongs; we ask nought but what is our rights, and our own. As to selling our rights and liberties, or receiving any thing in exchange for them, from Congress or the State of Missouri, we do not ask it, neither will we receive it. Our political franchise, and religious rights we possess naturally as American citizens, and these rights we will have "by the gods," and if an American Congress will not protect us in them, or grant them to us we will appeal to the justice of High Heaven to give them to us, and revenge our wrongs.
