Unknown, however, to the parties who were agitating these perplexing questions, a superior power had already intervened and solved the difficulty.  On the 6th of April, the President had signed a Proclamation, at Washington, rehearsing to the people of Utah Territory, at considerable length, their past offences, and particularly those which immediately preceded and followed the outbreak of the rebellion, and declaring them traitors; but, “in order to save the effusion of blood, and to avoid the indiscriminate punishment of a whole people for crimes of which it is not probable that all are equally guilty,” offering “a free and full pardon to all who will submit themselves to the authority of the Federal Government.”  This document was intrusted to two Commissioners for conveyance to the Territory;—­one of them, Mr. L.W.  Powell, lately Governor, and at the time Senator-elect, of the State of Kentucky; the other, Major Ben M’Culloch, of Texas, who had served with distinction in Mexico.  In their appointment, Mr. Buchanan imitated the example of President Washington, who designated a similar commission to convey his proclamation to the whiskey-insurgents in Pennsylvania.

The reinforcements and supply-trains for the army were at this time concentrating at Fort Leavenworth, Major-General Persifer F. Smith was assigned to the command-in-chief, and it was intended that the whole force, after concentration in Utah, should be divided into two brigades, one to be commanded by General Harney, the other by General Johnston.  Leaving the columns preparing to advance over the Plains, the Commissioners started from the Fort on the 25th of April.  On the same day, Lieutenant-Colonel Hoffmann advanced from Fort Laramie with several companies of infantry and cavalry, escorting the supply-trains which were parked there through the winter, and on the speedy arrival of which at Camp Scott the subsistence of General Johnston’s command depended, unless it should force its way into the Valley.  On the 1st of May, he had reached La Bonte, a tributary of the North Platte, fifty miles from the Fort.  There he encountered the severest storm that had occurred in that region for many years.  The snow fell breast-deep, and was followed by a pelting rain which killed his mules by scores.  He was forced to remain stationary more than a week, and when he renewed the march the trains were clogged by mud foot-deep.

The Commissioners reached Camp Scott on the 29th of May.  The President’s Proclamation had been received the day before.  With the exception of a few persons who were prepared for such a document by reflection on Mr. Kane’s mission, everybody was astonished at its purport.  It seemed incredible that a lenity should have been extended to the Mormon rebels which was refused to the Free-State men in Kansas, who were once indicted for treason and sedition,—­and equally incredible that all the advantages for the solution of the Utah problem which had been gained