TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1825-1843
151
friend; he does not talk to them with a forked tongue. He telJs you to listen to the words of h·is Commissioners. We will not dt!ceive you, or give you a crooked Talk. -------- We know that the red men have sometimes been badly treated by the people of Texas, and we know too that our people have sometimes been badly treated by the red ·man. But we call the Great Spirit to witness that we want peace with our red brothers-and we invoke his displeasure and his wrath if we tell you a lie. Our purpose is to bury the tomahawk forever with our red brethren. We want to make a peace as firm as the ground on which we stand; one that will last between our people as long as the sun rises in th~ East and sets in the West. --- We do not seek this peace because Texas is afraid of war. The people of Texas have never been afraid of war; but it is because we believe that peace is better than war for ourselves, our women, and our children; we believe it is better for our red brothers also. The war between us has lasted a long time. I would ask our red brothers whether in all this time, they have made anything by this war? I would ask them to reflect if they hhve not lost a warrior for every horse they have taken from our people? We think the life of one good man is worth more than all the horses in Texas. -- -- -- -- Before the war commenced with us the r::d men had good homes. They could stay at home and plant their corn and culti- vate their fields in peace; they could pursue the buffalo over the prairie without the fear of molestation. Now they are driven from their habitations; they are forced to wander with their w~men and children, over the prairies like beasts of the forest in Search of food; when they go out to war, their wives, their mothers, and their sisters are under alarm and apprehension all the time, lest they should have to mourn the loss of husbands, fathers, and brothers. If they make peace with us they may have their homes, and live with us as before. They may build their wigwams, and their women and children cultivate their corn in peace and safety. They will no longer be under constant dread that they will have to leave their homes and fly to the woods for safety; nor when their young men go out will they be undP.r apprehension that they will mourn their loss. They can build houses and live at home contented and happy. --- We know that we have had bad men amongst us; our red brothers have bad men amongst them also. We must make peace on such terms that these bad men, when they do wrong, and
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