Show 1 2C Standard-Examin- Ogden Saturday June 2 1984 er ffiled eariv LB By CRAIG V NELSON Standard-Examine- A r NON-MORMO- correspondent Thomas N L Kane was probably the most influential person in peacefully resolving a conflict that' threatened most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of the 1800s This is the opinion of Dr Richard D Poll a retired professor of history from Western Illi- f nois University and eminent scholarly historian of western and Utah history He spoke on “Quixotic Mediator: Thomas L Kane and the Utah War” at the Weber State V Mr5 ' " T I i&M s a V s - &yr College Dello G Dayton Memorial Lecture Series rt'ram® The series is sponsored by the Special Collections and Howell Library department of the college He told the audience recent information collected by Kane’s grandson illustrates the promi- nent part Kane had in what has been termed the “Mormon Conflict” of 1857-5- 8 Poll said the Utah war oc- curred because newly-electe- d US President James Buchanan decided that Brigham Young should be replaced as governor of Utah Territory by a non-Morm- An on artist s view of what Salt Lake City looked like and that the change would letter made the front page of require a show of military pow- many eastern newspapers and Buchanan decided that the time er had come for action The decision came Poll said The president chose Alfred because of reports from disgruntled federal office-holdein Cumming a Georgian serving as Utah who found they were unsuperintendent of Indian Affairs on the Upper Missouri as the able or unwilling to get along with Brigham Young and the new governor and sent him Mormon Church hierarchy In along with a unit of 2500 infanaddition ambitious contract try soldiers under command of seekers resented the grant of the Col Albert Sidney Johnston to Missouri-to-Uta- h mail contract Utah The army left Poll said but a to Brigham Young company found opposition when they HE NEWLY formed Republineared the Salt Lake Valley as can party was also against polyg- the Nauvoo Legion employed rs I amy which the Mormons practiced and Buchanan received many reports that the people of Utah “marched to a different drum” An angry letter from Justice WW Drummond of the Terri- torial Supreme Court declared that Utah was in rebellion The & tactics of burning buildings and scorching the hit-and-r- un earth before the advancing army “The increasing belligerence of the frustrated troops and their commanders became a factor to be reckoned with even though hardly a shot was fired in Th E COMING in themselves” Nona Horsley the teacher gave the commencement address at ceremonies in St Joseph’s Church honoring 36 se- niors She congratulated the graduates’ ts saying they were “your first for the energy expended to get teachers u our here Students realize tonight your p8rents’ love they prayed for you Se par-Aien- 1853 six years after Mormon pioneers arrived WINTER forced the army to stop near the burned ruins of Fort Bridger and gave Kane a long-tim- e friend of both the Mormons and the government officials a chance to convince Buchanan to let him attempt a peaceful settlement of the situation by offering amnesty to Mormons if they would accept the new governor He was given permission but no official title and soon arrived in Salt Lake City “In six busy weeks” Poll said “he (Kane) persuaded the Mormon leaders to accept Cumming provided he came without troops then persuade Cumming to go to Great Salt Lake City without troops and finally persuade Young and company to accept the troops” Kane stood four feet six inches weighed 130 pounds and Tell parents you love An ENGLISH teacher told graduates of St Joseph’s High School that “the greatest gift to give others is not to share gifts but to lead them to the gifts in niors before you graduate tell your parents you love them” Graduates must realize she said they can control their lives and have the freedom to “choose our way and our attitudes “All last year I told you that time is precious Paradoxically tonight I’m telling you to take time to know yourselves — to be alone to pray Remember to go off by yourselves By changing inner at- titudes the outside life may change You are the hope of the world” The graduates were presented by the was 35 years old when he began his expedition to Utah A phi- lanthropist he had assisted the Mormons during their persecutions in Missouri and Illinois said and was designed to make it appear that it was his adminis- tration During the time that Kane was in Utah he was out of touch with government officials and Buchanan appointed two official peace commissioners to settle the dispute that by then was already over The appointment of the peace commissioenrs was a political move on Buchanan’s part Poll quired privately about ‘our friend Kane’ but withheld public comment” Poll said Kane met with Buchanan after his return from Salt Lake city and found the president complimentary of his actions in Utah but noncommittal about possible future government positions in relation to the territory them’ OP principal and the diplomas by the Most Rev William K Wiegand bishop of the DioRev Vincent Lopez cese of Salt Lake which had received much criticism for previous policy decisions was responsible for and was well liked by Young the settlement Though Kane convinced The move was felt doubly by Young to receive Cumming as Kane due to the fact that he had well as the Army the citizens of left his job as a legal clerk by goSalt Lake City had begun a masto Utah sive relocation to Parowan and ing Trapped between factions in the LDS Church headquarters his administration that were inwere moved to that location bein reinforcing the terested fore the army came into the valarmy and those who favored the peace ley policy Buchanan sometimes in- City Wiegand said the graduates should be able to sift through the “nonsense” in today’s culture He cited a talk given by Alexander Solzhenitsyn who repeated an old Russian proverb to explain the troubles of his country: “Man has forgotten God this is why it happened” The Russian author at first the bishop said thought the old proverb was merely another superstition but later he believed the calamity came because says people did forget God The bishop quoted Solzhenitsyn who said The Russians have a pagan philosophy but we in the West have drifted in the same way” “We live in difficult times” Weigand said “It’s important to know that God is with us” Shawn Jenkins cantor and organist for St Joseph’s Church played the music including the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” for the graduates’ procession A reception followed the program in the the church Social Center |