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Show Page 109 Hyde wrote back and advised against waiting for the government to take 16 action. He also added that he and Pratt had been introduced by Senator Semple to President John Tyler at the White House. Hyde's impression of the President of the United States probably reflects Orson Pratt's opinion as well. They spent a very agreeable hour at the White House, and found Tyler "a very plain, homespun, familiar, farmer-like man. He spoke of our troubles in Missouri, and regretted that we had met with such treatment." But it was clear that no government sanction, nor protection, would be extended to the Saints if they attempted to settle the West, "for you might as well drive a musket ball through a cotton bag, or the Gospel of Christ through the heart of a priest, case-hardened by sectarianism, bigotry and superstition... as to drive anything through Congress that will operate 17 against the popularity of politicians." Mormon disgust with the indifference of federal authorities, including a number of presidential aspirants to whom Joseph Smith had addressed pleas for help, grew so strong that they held a May "convention" to nominate Smith himself for the presidency. Orson Pratt, then in Washington, was designated to attend the Democratic party convention in Baltimore, to be held in July, in order to represent the candidacy of General Joseph Smith and his running mate, Sidney Rigdon. Except for his lobbying duties, Orson spent his time preparing calculations for an almanac to be published at Washington. The little book he entitled "The Prophetic Almanack for 1845": "It was calculated for the latitude and meridian of Nauvoo, and some other principal towns in the United States. This was the first that I ever calculated and published." 18 |
