WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1830
190
the imputation! The committee say, that "They deem it unneces- sary at this time, to animadvert, on my, conduct and character, except so far as it may be inseparately connected with the inves- tig~tion" &c. Now sir, it is evident to me that this observation, was not only intended as a reflection upon my general character, but was designed to acquire for the committee, a reputation of manly forebearance, and modest magnamirnity; and thus decently dressed, the Report, and charges, were to insinuate their way into the world! In reply to these reflections, I do claim all sense of obligation to the committee, for their charitabb injustice; and the malignant forebearance of the insinuations- It is then alleged by the committee; "that they are informed, that I had. lately made a tour, through the middle states and that I had re- turned to Nashville, on my way to Arkansas, where they under- stood, I had located myself in the Cherokee Nation." Now I readily admit the correctness of this understanding; on the part of the committee, but I am really, at a loss to ascertain their object, in making this statement. I apprehend it has nothing to clo, with the subject of the investigation by the committee.- This surely is no ground of justification to others, nor will I admit it to be grounds of condemnation to me! But why was this really made a part of the Report? Did:it follow as a matter of course that because I had found an asylum among the Indians j that I was a savage, and deserved the doom of a reprobate? Or · was it because my presence in Tennessee was forbidden by law? Surely it was not supposed that I meditated injury to any mem- ber of society, No! The reason obviously was, that I ought·to be proscribed in society, and that others (than the party con- cerned) in the same ratio of my depression, might be enabled to exult, and triumph over the memory of an exiled man! The Report then proceeds to state, "And it has been suggested that public sympathy, has been much excited in his favor; and that a belief has obtained in many places abroad, that he was married to an unworthy woman" &c By whom were these suggestions made? how was the information acquired? Were my footsteps followed, or was my path watched? - that these facts should have been ascertained? Or rather were they only suggestions, made for the purpose of furnishing (indirectly) a ground for accusation against me? or a plausible pretext, for coming out with a publication at so late a period? or was it designed to convey the impression, that I had courted the "sympathy" of the
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