OCR Text |
Show 253 attested is not a thing to be sneered at. True or false, a faith to which so many men and women prove their loyalty, by such sacrifices, is a force in the world. After this last demonstration of what fanaticism can do, we think it would be most unwise to treat Mormonism as a nuisance to be abated by a posse comitatus. It is no longer a social excresence to be cut off by the sword; it is a power to be combatted by the most skillful, political, and moral treatment. When people abandon their homes to plunge with women and children into a wilderness, to seek new settlements, they know not where, they give a higher proof of courage than if they fought for them.12 This was a part of the precise image that Brigham Young was trying to produce, and it was working. The Times also added: "An army was sent to chastise rebels before it was clearly ascertained whether or not there were any rebels to chastise." When the tide of opinion turned against the president, he moved to quash the Utah fiasco before it became a further embarrassment to him. In early April Buchanan appointed two "peace commissioners" to start for Utah and attempt the arrangement of a settlement before the effusion of blood. Lazarus W. Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben McCullocb, of Texas, were drafted by the War Department to carry the offer of peace to the Mormons. Powell was a U.S. senator-elect from his home state and had lately served as governor. McCulloch had gained some notoriety for his valiant service in the Texas Rebellion and the Mexican War. Luckily for the Mormons, neither of these men had any axes to grind with them, nor any political advantages to be gained by this assignment. The commissioners were supplied with a proclamation signed by President Buchanan. It was a lengthy document, and one that the Mormons found to be as insulting as it was long. Tbe president used most of the proclamation to jus- |