Mormons. A Discourse Delivered before the Historical Society of

1850. KANE, Thomas L. The Mormons. A Discourse Delivered before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: March 26, 1850. Phila.: King & Baird, 1850. 2nd ed. 92pp. Orig. printed wrappers. Wrappers lightly chipped, rear wrapper lacking, else a very good copy. HOWES K-8. Flake 4524. Wagner-Camp 185:2. Streeter 2289. Kane, approached by the Mormon leaders for aide, accompanied them on the trek west. Later he was sent by President Buchanan to persuade them to accept federal control over the Utah Territory. "Kane provided the most sympathetic appraisal of the Mormon migration. His account...is unusual well-written. It opens with a vivid account of his arrival in the recently abandoned city of Nauvoo. Repeatedly Kane contrasts the orderly beauty that the Mormons had created with the destruction perpetrated by the patriotic rabble who routed them from their homes. He depicts in particular the mysteriously beautiful temple which the mobe had 'as a matter of duty sedulously defiled and deface'"--Flake.