| 729 CHAPTER 32.
1844.
THE year 1844 opened with public feeling running high on the "Mormon" question. So numerous had the saints become that their favor was eagerly sought by both political parties; and while each party was ready to favor and praise them if by so doing their patronage could be secured, they were each equally ready to abuse, slander, and if possible expel them, if their support was not given; so that in any event they were sure to have pronounced and bitter enemies.
This had just been illustrated in the campaign of 1843, when Cyrus Walker, Whig candidate for Congress, was defeated by his Democratic opponent, Mr. Hoge; and it was determined by the returns that if the votes of Nauvoo, a large majority of which were cast for Hoge, had been cast for Walker, he would have been successful. The rage of the Whigs knew no bounds.
Governor Ford relates the circumstances truthfully, no doubt. He writes:-
"The next day Mr. Hoge received about three thousand votes in Nauvoo, and was elected to Congress by six or eight hundred majority. The result of the election struck the
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