For the Times and Seasons

Mr. Editor,-Having been a resident of your beautiful and flourishing city for a considerable length of time, and having therefore had abundant opportunities of cultivating the acquaintance and contemplating the character of the distinguished individual who is the leader of this people, and who now fills so large a space in the public eye, I have concluded to give you my "impressions" of him, and if you deem them worthy of a place in the columns of your interesting journal, you are at liberty to dispose of them in that way. General Joseph Smith is naturally a man of strong mental power, and is possessed of much energy and decision of character, great penetration, and a profound knowledge of human nature. He is a man of calm judgement [judgment], enlarged views, and imminently distinguished by his love of justice. He is easy, affable, and courteous in his manners; kind and obliging, generous and benevolent, sociable and cheerful, and sometimes even playful; yet he is possessed of a mind of a contemplative and reflective character; he is honest, frank fearless, and independent, and as free from dissimulation as any man I have ever seen. But it is in the gentle charities of domestic life, as the tender and affectionate husband and parent, the warm and sympathizing friend; the prominent traits of his character are revealed; and his heart is felt to be keenly alive to the kindest and softest emotions of which human nature is susceptible, and I feel assured that his family and friends formed one of the greatest consolations to him, while the vials of wrath were poured upon his head, while his footsteps were pursued by malice and envy, while the arrows of desolation were hurled at him, and reproach and slander were strewed in his path, as well as during his numerous and cruel persecutions, and severe and protracted sufferings in chains and loathsome prisons, for worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience. He is a true lover of his country, and a bright and shining example of integrity and moral excellence in all the relations of life. As a religious teacher, as well as a man he is greatly loved by the people. As a public speaker, he is generally impressive, and sometimes eloquent. Gen. Smith who is now before the country as a candidate for the highest honors in its gift, is eminently qualified for the exalted station; and he is not "a northern man with southern principles," but a Western man with American principles," and if elected will be the president, not over a clique or a party, but the President over the whole people of the United States.

A CONSTANT READER

Nauvoo, April 15,1844