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Show 67 It is tempting to conclude that Brigham Young was acting as a crass land-grabber. One must reflect upon the actualities, however. Indeed, Brigham was blunt. But anything other than blunt honesty would have provoked even more heated response later. While the above remarks contain the attitudes of the conqueror, they were honest! Few who dealt with the Indian were either as blunt or as honest. All of the viable alternatives were exhausted a'nd he knew it; 'he said so. Irish, too, was blunt, and the "Council Proceedings" form a study in Indian-white relations. He thought that the petulant and defeated San Pitch was guilty of slighting him, and his brow-beating of the old man is a demonstration of his arrogance. Irish and Young negotiated from a position of strength and they knew it. What the negotiators did not know was that they were working in vain. The treaty-so realistic for the situation-was never ratified, i It is very likely that the conflict between the Mormons and the federal government interfered, but it is also true that Congress failed to ratify other treaties as well. The Mormons had "sat out" the Civil War. Less than two score of the Saints from Utah served in that conflict, and those who did serve did so against the advice of the Mormon leaders. Congress could notfc-easily forget that while the nation was in a death struggle some of their citizens were a drain on Federal resources rather than a help. Congress was ill-disposed |