We learn here that Zeniff is only a member of the party, not its leader. When he argues for making a treaty, rather than a conquest, he pits himself against the “austere and… blood-thirsty” leader. Naturally, this is Zeniff’s perspective, but it sheds light on the nature of their conflict. Mosiah1’s people probably hated those who had driven them from their homeland, thus supporting the “blood-thirsty” idea that the expedition was also one of vengeance. “Austere” is more puzzling; although it suggests that he was unswayed by the possibility of acquiring riches by less dangerous means than military conquest. It also suggests that he had no sympathy or fellow feeling for the “goodness” that Zeniff saw among the inhabitants. Zeniff’s proposal of a treaty would have achieved most of the same goals as military conquest but also had the advantage of leaving social connections intact, and hence continuing the Lamanite lifestyle of the inhabitants. The choice for the rest of the expedition was thus between bloody vengeance and living peaceably in the land of their fathers.
At the end of a small civil war, Zeniff and the other like-minded survivors returned to Zarahemla to mount another venture, this time one that would return to the land of Nephi with a proposal of a treaty, not a military contest.