place my friends will hereafter direct their communications to me;) and if the war must be carried to the knife, and the knife to the hilt, the sons of thunder will drive it through. The eyes of a Boggs will never slumber nor sleep, until the rod of Aaron divides the waters, and the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws is acknowledged in the land, and violence and misrule hide their hydra head; and I shall hold the rapier of justice in my right hand, and my left arm shall bear the shield of truth, until I bruise the Serpent's head.

DAUGHTER OF ZION.

Big

This is a secret society of many years' standing, and was first formed in Missouri: the great majority of the members are among the "huge paws" of the Mormons, and they compose as pretty a set of ruffians as can be found in Christendom or elsewhere. The society was instituted for the purpose of driving out from the Holy Land, their earthly paradise, in Missouri, all apostates or dissenters from the Mormon faith. It was, therefore, at first called the “ Fan," inasmuch as it fanned out the chaff from the wheat. This name, however, did not seem sufficiently dignified for so holy a body, and was soon set aside for a scriptural appellation; they were called the "Brother of Gideon;" but the rationale of this title I have never been able to discover. They are usually styled Danites, and sometimes Daughter of Zion, for the origin of which names, see Micah iv. 13; read the whole chapter; also Judges xvii. and xviii.

The following is the constitution of this society: —

"Whereas, in all bodies laws are necessary for the permanency, safety, and well-being of society, we, the members of the society of the Daughter of Zion, do agree to regulate ourselves under such laws as, in righteousness, shall be deemed necessary for the preservation of our holy religion, and of our most sacred rights, and of the rights of our wives and children. But to be explicit on the subject, it is especially our object to support and defend the rights conferred on us by our venerable sires, who purchased them with the pledges

of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And now, to prove ourselves worthy of the liberty conferred on us by them, in the providence of God, we do agree to be governed by such laws as shall perpetuate these high privileges, of which we know ourselves to be the rightful possessors, and of which privileges wicked and designing men have tried to deprive us, by all manner of evil, and that purely in consequence of the tenacity we have manifested in the discharge of our duty towards our God, who had given us those rights and privileges, and a right in common with others, to dwell on this land. But we, not having the privileges of others allowed unto us, have determined, like unto our fathers, to resist tyranny, whether it be in kings or in the people. It is all alike unto us. Our rights we must have, and our rights we shall have, in the name of Israel's God.

"Art. 1. All power belongs originally and legitimately to the people, and they have a right to dispose of it as they shall deem fit; but, as it is inconvenient and impossible to convene the people in all cases, the legislative powers have been given by them, from time to time, into the hands of a representation composed of delegates from the people themselves. This is and has been the law, both in civil and religious bodies, and is the true principle.

"Art. 2. The executive power shall be vested in the President of the whole Church, and his Councillors.

"Art. 3. The legislative powers shall reside in the President and his Councillors together, and with the Generals and Colonels of the society. By them all laws shall be made regulating the society.

"Art. 4. All offices shall be during life and good behavior, or to be regulated by the law of God.

"Art. 5. The society reserves the power of electing its own officers, with the exception of the Aids and Clerks which the officers may need in their various stations; the nomination to go from the Presidency to his second, and from the second to the third in rank, and so down through all the various grades. Each branch or department retains the power of electing its own particular officers.

"Art. 6. Punishment shall be administered to the guilty in accordance to the offence; and no member shall be punished without law, or by any others than those appointed by law for that purpose. The legislature shall have power to make laws regulating punishments, as, in their judgments, shall be wisdom and righteousness.

"Art. 7. There shall be a Secretary, whose business it shall be to keep all the legislative records of the society; also to keep a register of the names of every member of the society; also the rank of the officers. He shall also communicate the laws to the Generals, as directed by laws made for the regulation of such business by the legislature.

"Art. 8. All officers shall be subject to the commands of the Captain-General, given through the Secretary of War; and so all officers shall be subject to their superiors in rank, according to laws made for that purpose.'

The oath by which the Danites were bound in Missouri, is as follows:

"In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I do solemnly obligate myself ever to conceal, and never to reveal, the secret purposes of this society, called the Daughter of Zion. Should I ever do the same, I hold my life as the forfeiture."

This obligation was, however, subsequently altered, in a secret council of the Inquisition at Nauvoo, so as to read,

"In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I do solemnly obligate myself ever to regard the Prophet, and First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as the Supreme Head of the Church on Earth, and to obey them in all things the same as the Supreme God; that I will stand by my brethren in danger or difficulty, and will uphold the Presidency, right or wrong: and that I will ever conceal, and never reveal, the secret purposes of this society, called the Daughter of Zion. Should I ever do the same, I hold my life as the forfeiture, in a caldron of boiling oil."

Those who belonged to the society when under its old organization, but refused to take the new oath, were, together with those whose fidelity was doubtful, absolved from the Missouri obligation. But to the faithful of the band, and to about twelve hundred new members, the Nauvoo oath was administered by Joe Smith in person. While the candidate was yet kneeling before the altar, after having taken the oath, the Holy Prophet, assisted by Hyrum Smith, the Patriarch of the Church, and George Miller, the President of the High Priest's Quorum, approached, and said,

"In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, we, the First President, Patriarch, and High Priest, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, representing the First, Second, and Third Gods in Heaven,-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,- do now anoint you with holy, consecrated oil, and by the imposition of our hands, do ordain, consecrate, and set you apart, for the holy calling, whereunto you are called; that you may consecrate the riches of the Gentiles to the House of Israel, bring swift destruction upon apostate sinners, and execute the decrees of Heaven, without fear of what man can do unto you. So mote it be. Amen.'

It will be perceived from the above, that the Danites are solemnly bound, under penalty of forfeiting their lives in a horrid manner, to obey and execute the decrees of the Mormon leaders, whether the latter are right or wrong! No matter if they are commanded to commit treason, murder, arson, burglary, perjury, or any crime whatever; do it

they must, or violate their oath, and forfeit, in consequence, their life. And, in fact, all these crimes have been committed by them, in many instances, no doubt, under the impression that they were doing God service! So grossly has the Prophet deluded his miserable followers!

That they make no scruple whatever to commit perjury, when deemed requisite for the welfare of their Church, or of its priests and chief men, is abundantly proved, not only by the atrocious falsehoods they have propagated about me, falsehoods so gross as to be almost unworthy of notice or refutation, but by the testimony given before Judge King, of Missouri, and published in 1841, by order of the General Assembly of that State; which testimony affords ample proof, that the Mormons of the Danite Order had no hesitation in committing the most barefaced perjuries, when they could thereby advance the interests of their rulers. This is particularly shown in the testimony of Colonel George M. Hinkle, T. C. Burch, Esq., Fanny Brewer, and others, which I have copied into this work.

Now, what material difference is there between this Joseph Smith and the leader of a band of highway robbers, or the captain of a crew of pirates? Does not the Mormon deserve more utter condemnation than either the bandit or the buccaneer, inasmuch as his wickedness is upon a more extensive scale, and is perpetrated in the name of religion and of the Most High God, thus blaspheming and desecrating the holiest names and objects to the vilest and most atrocious purposes?

The number of Danites is now about two thousand, or two thousand five hundred, and, as I before observed, they are drawn from the "huge paws" of the Mormon Church.

DESTROYING ANGEL.

From the élite of the Danites, or Daughter of Zion, twelve men are selected, who are called Destructives, or Destroying Angel, and sometimes Flying Angel. Their

1