To the inhabitants of Milton and Palmyra, Portage county Ohio:

Having learned from a respectable source that rumors were afloat and had gained some credence in your towns, that were derogatory to the characters of Joseph smith Jr. and the family of Sidney Rigdon We therefore deemed it our duty to say in defence of injured innocence, that we have the best of reasons for saying, that the reports to which we have alluded, are without any foundation in truth. Since our acquaintance with J. Smith Jr. there has been the strongest ties of friendship existing between himself and S. Rigdon. And we hazard nothing in saying, were those reports true that must have originated in your vicinity, the bonds of friendship would have been severed forever, between them. We are fully sensible, and are willing, as far as the character of J. Smith Jr. is concerned, (his enemies themselves in this place being judges) to pronounce the whole a sheer fabrication.

Relative to the family of Sidney Rigdon, we have to say, that it is large, consisting mostly of females, young innocent, unsuspecting, without reproach and for out we know, about suspicion.—Ed.