DEAR AND MUCH ESTEEMED BRETHREN,--I hasten to inform you of my arrival in Liverpool on the 30th day of September, in company with Elders John Cairns, James Sloan and wife, James Houston, and William G. Jermon. We left six of the Twelve in the city of New York, the 2nd day of September, and came on board of the ship _Columbus_. Our passage money was five dollars. We had a very hard passage. We were very much crowded in the steerage. There were 236 persons--Dutch, Irish, English and Scotch, and as dirty as any I ever saw. We were not much sick; the weather was cold. Had it been otherwise, we should have suffered more. A steamer leaves for New York today, and I thought I would announce to you my arrival by this opportunity, and such information as I was in possession of up to this date. There is a ship to sail on the 14th instant, by which I shall write you again.
I found Elders Hyrum Clark, Thomas Ward, and Amos Fielding in Liverpool, and they were well; and as far as I was informed by them, the Church is in a good state and on the increase; it numbers somewhere between eight and nine thousand members. There is a great want of laborers in the vineyard. Many of the first Elders have left this for Nauvoo, leaving their places vacant. I presented to the Presidency here your decision relative to the printing. Elders Ward and Fielding received it, and manifested a desire to abide by it. Elder Fielding wept when I showed him your decision concerning him and his coming to Nauvoo by the first ship to see you face to face. The brethren say here that he has been too hasty in some things, and has given some an offense; but I do not as yet know anything derogatory to his character that I could say aught against him. I shall write you all the particulars as fast as I come in possession of them. As regards the printing in this land, we shall stop it after the next number is published. In it we wish to publish the news from Nauvoo for the benefit of the Saints, and to announce our arrival in this country.
Permit me here to give you my opinion as regards the printing in this land, and I will cheerfully abide your advice notwithstanding. After we stop the _Star_, we shall have during the shipping season to advertise { 45} and give general information in the emigration business to the Saints scattered abroad. I think it would be best to republish the _Times and Seasons_ for the benefit of the Church. The duties on books are £2-10s. per hundredweight; and there are now 1,600 _Stars_ circulated here at the present, and the demands of our publications are on the increase. The duties would almost reprint the _Times and Seasons,_ and then we could do our advertising on the last page, if thought advisable. We could afford it as cheap as the present _Star_, and pay you something for the privilege of publishing, as well as to pay it to the crown. I have not yet learned the amount of funds remaining here subject to your order. I have not had much time as yet to inquire into those matters, in consequence of the multitude of business in unloading our freight from shipboard.