** Colonel Albert G. Brown, Jr., in his account of the Utah
Expedition in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1859, said: "To the shame
of the administration these gigantic contracts, involving an amount of
more than $6,000,000, were distributed with a view to influence votes in
the House of Representatives upon the Lecompton Bill. Some of the lesser
ones, such as those for furnishing mules, dragoon horses, and forage,
were granted arbitrarily to relatives or friends of members who were
wavering upon that question."
The principal contract, that for the transportation of all the supplies, involving for the year 1858 the amount of $4,500,000, was granted, without advertisement or subdivision, to a firm in Western Missouri, whose members had distinguished themselves in the effort to make Kansas a slave state, and now contributed liberally to defray the election expenses of the Democratic party."
CHAPTER XIV. — COLONEL KANE'S MISSION
When Major Van Vliet returned from Utah to Washington with Young's defiant ultimatum, he was accompanied by J. M. Bernhisel, the territorial Delegate to Congress, who was allowed to retain his seat during the entire "war," a motion for his expulsion, introduced soon after Congress met, being referred to a committee which never reported on it, the debate that arose only giving further proof of the ignorance of the lawmakers about Mormon history, Mormon government, and Mormon ambition.
In Washington Bernhisel was soon in conference with Colonel T. L. Kane, that efficient ally of the Mormons, who had succeeded so well in deceiving President Fillmore. In his characteristically wily manner, Kane proposed himself to the President as a mediator between the federal authorities and the Mormon leaders.* At that early date Buchanan was not so ready for a compromise as he soon became, and the Cabinet did not entertain Kane's proposition with any enthusiasm. But Kane secured from the President two letters, dated December 3.** The first stated, in regard to Kane, "You furnish the strongest evidence of your desire to serve the Mormons by undertaking so laborious a trip," and that "nothing but pure philanthropy, and a strong desire to serve the Mormon people, could have dictated a course so much at war with your private interests." If Kane presented this credential to Young on his arrival in Salt Lake City, what a glorious laugh the two conspirators must have had over it! The President went on to reiterate the views set forth in his last annual message, and to say: "I would not at the present moment, in view of the hostile attitude they have assumed against the United States, send any agent to visit them on behalf of the government." The second letter stated that Kane visited Utah from his own sense of duty, and commended him to all officers of the United States whom he might meet.
* H. H. Bancroft ("History of Utah," p. 529) accepts the
ridiculous Mormon assertion that Buchanan was compelled to change his
policy toward the Mormons by unfavorable comments "throughout the United
States and throughout Europe." Stenhouse says ("Rocky Mountain Saints,"
p. 386): "That the initiatory steps for the settlement of the Utah
difficulties were made by the government, as is so constantly repeated
by the Saints, is not true. The author, at the time of Colonel Kane's
departure from New York for Utah, was on the staff of the New
York Herald, and was conversant with the facts, and confidentially
communicated them to Frederick Hudson, Esq., the distinguished manager
of that great journal."
** Sen. Doc., 2d Session. 35th Congress, Vol. II, pp. 162-163.
Kane's method of procedure was, throughout, characteristic of the secret agent of such an organization as the Mormon church. He sailed from New York for San Francisco the first week in January, 1858, under the name of Dr. Osborn. As soon as he landed, he hurried to Southern California, and, joining the Mormons who had been called in from San Bernardino, he made the trip to Utah with them, arriving in Salt Lake City in February. On the evening of the day of his arrival he met the Presidency and the Twelve, and began an address to them as follows: "I come as ambassador from the Chief Executive of our nation, and am prepared and duly authorized to lay before you, most fully and definitely, the feelings and views of the citizens of our common country and of the Executive toward you, relative to the present position of this territory, and relative to the army of the United States now upon your borders." This is the report of Kane's words made by Tullidge in his "Life of Brigham Young." How the statement agrees with Kane's letters from the President is apparent on its face. The only explanation in Kane's favor is that he had secret instructions which contradicted those that were written and published. Kane told the church officers that he wished to "enlist their sympathies for the poor soldiers who are now suffering in the cold and snow of the mountains!" An interview of half an hour with Young followed—too private in its character to be participated in even by the other heads of the church. An informal discussion ensued, the following extracts from which, on Mormon authority, illustrate Kane's sympathies and purpose:—
"Did Dr. Bernhisel take his seat?"