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TEX.AS ST.ATE LIBRARY
professing friendship for us, they were holding dark Councils with th~ Mexicans. These suspicions are now reduced to absolute proof. The t~eachery and 1 the hostile _machinations of the Cherokees have been fully discovered. 'Ihey have listened to the forked tongue of the :Mexicans, who are always women in war, and wily serJ)f!nts in peace; and th[e]y have foolishly plighted their faith to the faithless. The Cherokees can no longer remain among us.-'l'hey must return to the land appropriated by their great father, the President of the United States for the permanent residence of their peopfo.-I hope they will go in peace, and return no more; for we have no wish to shed the blood of the red men.-Brothers ! You are not Cherokees; and we believe you have not participated in their crafty and treacherous devices, or mingled your voices in their wicked Councils.-Be admonished, and refrain from all collusion with them, and with their impotent advisers beyond the Rio Grande. The Mexicans can render them no aid.-They will fulfill no promise they may make to them or to you : for they are strong only in words.-But they are willing to see the white men and the red men employed in the mutual destruction of each other.-They are wolves who profit by the conflicts of nobler animals.-We are•much stronger now than when we conquered their best armies, headed by their greatest War Chief, and drove them from our soil.-Let not the Shaw- ness be deceived.-The Mexicans will never return in battle array to 'l'exas.-Small skulking pa.rties may wind their way, like snakes in the grass, along our unsettled frontier where the feet of our warriors seldom tread, and, if undetected, may reach your cabins in safety.-But they come with lying tongues to beguile the red men, and to seduce them into a war with us, which they dare not encounter themselves.-Brothers ~ Listen not to evil Council. Should the Cherokees refuse to leave our territory, force must be employed: for they must go.-'\Ve can no longer permit such viIJt!rs to remain amongst us.-But let the Shawnees be wise; and take no part in the controversy.-Remain at your homes: or pursue the game in peace.-Let not the white Man's blood sprinkle your path: or his property be the object of your prey.-And when the great Council of Texas shall assemble, about the time the leaves begin to fall and the grass become sear, 28 I will present your case to them, in the words of truth.-Then, I trust, an amicable arrangement may be effected which will be satisfactory both to you and to us and make smooth, and pleasant the paths of the Shawnees and of our people. . Brothers·! Confide in what I say to you.-I speak the language of truth and ~ave no hidden purpose to deceive. Houston Jurie 3d 1839. Mirabeau B. Lamar
"The copy in the Department of State Record Book has it "scarce" instead of "sear".
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