Let us now glance at the opposing account. In the year 1812, a written work, called the " Manuscript Found," was presented to Mr. Patterson, a bookseller of Pittsburg, Penna., by the author. Rev. Solomon Spaulding. This gentleman was born in Pennsylvania, was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and for many years a Presbyterian minister; he fell into bad health, left the ministry, and finally died of consumption. The "Manuscript Found" was written by Spaulding as a historical romance, to account for the settlement of America, and he proposed to Mr. Patterson to publish it with a preface, giving an imaginary account of its having been taken from plates dug up in Ohio; but the latter did not think the enterprise would pay, Sidney Rigdon was then at work in the office of Mr. Patterson; the latter died in 1826, and what became of that copy of the manuscript is not known. Mrs. Spaulding had another complete copy; but in the year 1825, while residing in Ontario Co., N. Y., next door to a man named Stroude, for whom Joe Smith was then digging a well, that copy also was lost. She thinks it was stolen from her trunk. Thus far all is clear, and there is no particular discrepancy between the two accounts; but when the " Book of Mormon " was published, the widow and brother of Solomon Spaulding, and several other persons who had heard him read his work, forthwith claimed that the new publication was nearly identical with the "Manuscript Found," varying only in certain interpolated texts on doctrinal points. This claim was circulated abroad, and caused Sidney Rigdon to write a highly slanderous and abusive letter to the press in regard to Mrs. Spaulding. Mormon historians say that Spaulding's book was a mere idolatrous romance, and that the whole story is the invention of Dr. Philastus Hurlbut, who seceded from the saints in Ohio, and '' persecuted " Joe Smith in various ways. The widow's and brother's statement is supported by the evidence of Mr. Joseph Miller, Sr., now of Washington Co., Penna.. who had often heard Spaulding read his work; by that of Mr. Redick McKee, who formerly- boarded with the Spaulding's, and by others who knew of the work. Space fails to set forth all the evidence presented in support of this view. Suffice it to say, that while it is of moral force sufficient to convince most minds, it is yet not such proof as would establish the fact beyond all doubt, or convict Smith and Rigdon of theft and forgery in a court of justice. If the proof were any less strong than it is, I would decide against the Spaulding claim, solely from the internal evidence of the book; for the style and matter are such as to raise a very strong presumption that it could not be the work of any man with intelligence enough for a minister, or of a graduate from Dartmouth College. But the true theory no doubt is, that the writing of Spaulding was taken by Smith, Rigdon, Cowdery and others, as the suggestion and idea of their work; but was greatly modified and interpolated by them, leaving sufficient characteristics to be recognized by the Spaulding witnesses, who were left solely to their memory for a comparison with the " Book of Mormon," recognizing what was in it, and forgetting much that was not included.