353
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1852
who was continued under the administration of Mr. Polk, re- mained there. 2 On the advent of the new Administration he was removed, and men incompetent, both physically and mentally, were placed in charge of the Indians. 3 The consequence was, that the Indians had now a friend to travel with them; one who had been associated with them in their hunts, and who had explored the route from Fredericksburg to El Paso, where the engineers had failed to establish a particular route for carrying conveniences of every kind. That individual was removed, and others were put in his place who were soon prostrated by sickness and disease. And what was the consequence? To this condition of things war ensued; and what did it cost us? For eight years you may calculate the expense of our military establishment in Mexico at not less than six millions a year; making a total of forty-eight millions. What would it have cost if you had paid this annuity to the Indians? It would have cost you $84,000. Compare 84,000 with forty-eight millions, and you will have an opportunity of judging what the advantage would have been to have given that annuity to the Comanches, so long as they expected it to be given, periodically. Had this been done, you would not have seen a hostile act because it was their interest to maintain peace, and they being the most powerful tribe, would have constrained the other tribes subordinate to them to keep peace also. But they have been deceived; they have been deluded by prom- ises; they have been defrauded by agents, and have been neg- lected by the Government itself. Now, go and ask Marcy's command; ask their friends what would reimburse them for their loss. Sir, until we do justice to the Indians-until we are truthful and righteous in our legislation in regard to them, we can expect nothing but that Heaven will cause retributive justice to fall, if not upon the offenders, upon the nation that despoils the · poor Indians. It is time for the nation to arise as one man and vindicate the national honor and keep the escutcheon clean, and maintain our faith with the Indians. Be truthful, be just, and you will have them as friends. They will then neither disgrace your country nor dishonor your flag, but they will defend it. But they have now assimilated us with the Mexicans, whose perfidy, from the time of Cortez, has been traditional with the . Indians, and has been revived through successive ages. We have to assume that these poor Indians have been deluded by the officers of the Government, who may not have been proved to
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