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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 183S
Should an incursion of Indians, such as is contemplated, take place (and it will be an inevitable consequence without the prompt interference of your excellency), we most earnestly conceive, that it cannot be regarded as justified by an act of the Mexican gov- ernment, but must be referred to some other cause unknown to those who must fall the victim of foreign Indians, amalgamated with those who already surround the settlement of Texas. The immediate attention of your excellency to this subject is earnestly implored, by the unfortunate condition of Texas as well as by the duty and feelings which the undersigned owe to the present crisis. With great consideration, we have the honor to be your obedient servants, John Forbes, chairman Samuel Houston, Henry Raguet, D. A. Hoffman, S. R. Peck, Wm. G. Logan, G. Pollitt. 1 Niles Register, November 7, 1835, Vol. 49, 1836, pp. 160-161. 2 General Vicente Filisola was an Italian by birth, but went to Mexico while a young man and served in the Mexican army. He was second in command during the campaign into Texas in 1836, and he took command of the Mexican troops after Santa Anna was captured by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto. Prior to this, 1831, Filosola had obtained a coloniza- tion grant from the Mexican government to settle six hundred families in East Texas. His grant lay along the tributaries of the Trinity River, and extended down to Salinas Creek. He never made any efforts to carry out his contract and the Declaration of Independence by Texas, followed by the victory at San Jacinto, terminated it; otherwise he would have had until October, 1837, to carry it out. See the S01ithwestwn Historical Quarterly, XXXII, 21-22. 3 The thirty-third article of the Treaty of Amity, Navigation and Com- merce, made between the United States and Mexico, April 5, 1831, provided that "The two nations agree by all means in their power to maintain peace and harmony among the several Indian Nations who inhabit the lands adjacent to the lines and rivers which form boundaries between the two countries; and better to maintain this object both parties bind themselves expressly to restrain by force all hostilities and incursions on the part of the Indian Nations living within their respective bounds: so that the United States of America will not suffer their Indians to attack citizens of the United Mexican States, nor Indians inhabiting their territory; nor will the United Mexican States permit Indians residing within their tenitories to
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