TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1825-1843
72
No. 39 LETTER FROM M. B. LAMAR TO COLLUTA [Ju]y 9, 1839] To Co1luta, Counce11or of the Coushatta. I have received the talk which you sent me by Capt. Ross, and this is my answer. I am sorry that your people and the white men living near you have been quarreling and fighting. This is bad-very bad. The white men say it is the fault of your people who steal their horses; and you say it is the fault of the whitemen who accuse you wrongfu1ly. I am afraid that both parties are to blame; your people in running off the property of the whites; and the white men in resenting the injury with too much violence. To prevent the recurrence of such disturbances, I have written to my people to abstain for the future from interrupting the In- dians in their neighborhood without first making known to me their cause of complaint and I shall expect on the part of your people that they conduct themselves with honesty and propriety and to refrain from all acts calculated to provoke the hostility of the whites. I have also appointed Col [Joseph Lindley] as Indian Agent, whose duty it will be to act as mediator between the red and the whitemen. He will be instructed to hear the complaints of both parties-enquire into all the causes of dis- content and quarrel-see which party is in the right and which in the wrong, and to report the same to this Govt that impartial justice may be administered and peace be preserved. If any of your bad men shall steal from the citizens of this government, they must be apprehended punished and the property stolen must be placed in the possession of the Agent that it may be returned to the rightful owner; and if any of the bad men among the whites shall encroach upon the rights of your people, the wrong must be referred to the said Agent, who will be empow- ered to give you all the protection which the Jaws of the land extend to its own citizens. By this arrangment it is sincerely hoped that all future difficu1ties between the Coushatta and the whites may be avoided, and the friendship which has existed between them for so many years may experience no further in- terruption. Your friend [Endorsed] Letter from the President to Colluta, the Coushatta Coun- selor-July 9th 1839
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