Elder Woodruff always availed himself of every opportunity to visit historic places which he describes at great length in detail.
From Warwick Castle Elder Woodruff went with his counselor, Hedlock, to Birmingham. Here they were received with great demonstration, and preparations were made for a joyous reception for the President of the Mission. Five hundred Saints awaited Elder Woodruff and his companions as they entered the door, and round after round of applause went up to greet them. There was such clapping of hands and stamping of feet that the room in which they were gathered trembled. All wished to shake the hand of their President and it was with great difficulty that he reached the stand upon entering the room. He talked to the people at some length. The manifestation of love for him, however, was not confined to Birmingham. He enjoyed the affection and enthusiasm of the Saints wherever he went.
While all this enthusiasm was manifested by the Saints in the British Mission, their brethren and sisters over the sea in the city of Nauvoo were filled with deep anxiety and fear. Mobs were gathering against the Saints and the enemy were pressing in upon them with the spirit of hatred that brought depression and sorrow to the hearts of the people in the beautiful city of Nauvoo, which was fast reaching its doom.
He called a meeting of his counselors and the leading men before whom he laid the spiritual and temporal conditions of the Church in England and gave them some idea of conditions at home. Soon thereafter he received word from President Young that the mob was growing in numbers and in violence, { 244} that the only terms of peace they would accept from the Saints was their exile from the state. This condition of affairs Elder Woodruff characterizes in his journal as unjust, tyrannical, and un-American. Such news naturally depressed his spirit greatly and made his continuance in the British Mission so uncertain that he looked forward for an early release. He at once called a special conference to be held in Manchester December 14, 1845. According to the statistics he gives, there were during the eight months previous 1573 baptized. The total membership of the Church in the British Isles had now reached 11,032 exclusive of those in the Staffordshire conference which were not reported at that time. There were reported in the priesthood one Apostle, eight high priests, 392 elders, 590 priests, 311 teachers, and 188 deacons. This would make, including those of the Staffordshire conference something like 1,500 men in the mission bearing the priesthood. Those were days of marvelous activity in proselyting. Within eight years the Church had grown in that land to large proportions, and the people were constantly emigrating to America.