TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859 319 An effort is already being made for the peaceable removal of these Indians beyond the limits of the State. Your Representa- tives at Washington have been requested to bring the subject to the notice of the authorities, and urge upon them the neces- sity of prompt action. But my duty compels me to add that there are still weightier and graver reasons why you should desist from all further forcible steps against these Indians. The mandates of the law must be enforced against all offenders. Your good sense ought again to show you, that you cannot evade its penalties. It would be ·idle and indeed foolish to expect that the officers of the law will wink at such offences, or fail to use its strong arm for the protection of the peace and good order of society. In the step which you are about to take you will not only offend f~e laws of your own State, but those of the United States Gov- ernment, to which jurisdiction over the Reserves has been ceded. You cannot be ignorent of the fact, that when called on it will b"? the duty of the authorities of the State to aid with its whole force in bringing the offenders to justice. I hope these reflections will explain my motives in thus addressing you, and at the same time induce you to pause and reflect before you rush madly into measures so fraught with evil consequences not only to your- selves but to every citizen of the State, for they will not reach you alone. Have you reflected that by such acts of violence and lawlessness you will infl·ict an everlasting stain upon the char- acter of your people, and that this disgrace much attach to the reputation of the whole state? Or have you reflected that the State has now several hundred thousand dollars due her from the General Government expended for your protection, the re- turn of which your own lawless conduct will greatly embarrass, if 'it does not for~ver defeat? With the forcible breaking up of these reserves, your troubles and difficulties, will not cease, as demagogues and designing men would vainly induce you to be- lieve. They will only have begun; for, with such an additional number of savages thrown upon the frontier, who will be en- raged and exasperated by a sense of wrong, who can doubt the result? Will you then expect the State to expend as many more thousand in defending you from the consequences which your own rash and revolutionary action has brought on you, or will you expect protection from the Federal Government which has failed to give it to you under more auspicious circumstances? These are consideraticns which I pray you, may not be over-
Powered by FlippingBook