TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
293
Executive Office Austin July 7th 1858.
Sir,
I have just met with Maj R. S. Neighbors Supervising Agent Texas Indians, and consulted with him freely in regard to the Coushatta Indians, and the propriety of their removal to the Indian Reserves on the frontier, he gives me the most satisfac- tory assurance that the Res_erves are the best possible places for their location, as it respects the welfare of the Indians them- selves, he authorizes me to offer every assurance for the pro- tection of the individual rights of the tribe, that every necessary guaranty for life and property will be maintained, and gives it as his opinion that so far from any apprehension of unfriendli- ness being well founded from those already there, if a deputa- tion should conclude to visit the Reserves before removal, they will be met with joy and satisfaction, by their kindred breathern of the border. He assures me furthermore, that the Government has an abundance of land, of good quality for their permanent settle- ment without charge, and free from all price to the Indians, which will be assigned them on obtaining their consent to emi- grate to it; you will also inform them that when settled there, their support will be provided by the General Government with- out expense to the Indians, each and every one of them being entitled to his regular allowance, the same as those already settled on the Reserves ; You will say to the Chiefs in my name, as Chief Executive Officer of this State, that I earnestly recom- mend them not to permit so favorable an opportunity to pass, for securing the permanent welfare and good of their people; That their Great Father (the President of the United States) out of his goodness and his love for them, has established these Asylums for the Indian, to which he can now go with every assurance, which the great arm of his Government can afford, as securing him peace and protection, in pursuit of all the arts of civilization and industry; If accepted by the Indians it can- not fail to result in the elevation and improvement of the race, the sad history of wnich is briefly told; in that decline tending but too fast to obliteration from the face of the earth. That if they would amelioriate their condition, and aspire to a better destiny, they should not hesitate when an opportunity is offered, to visit that land to them of hope and promise, when
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