120
WRITINGS ,OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
by unprovoked aggressions upon them; but the proper concilia- tory disposition soon won their regard and affection. What was the expense of all this? I am almost afraid to state it, for I fear it will not be credited when we see the enormous estimates now made for the expense of treaties with the Indians. Sir, every dollar given to the Executive of Texas to consummate these treaties, to feed the Indians, to make presents, was annually $10,000; and he rendered vouchers for the last cent. 3 For this sum peace was accomplished and maintained, the safety and pro- tection of our frontiers insured, and the Indians made peaceable and happy. When Texas was annexed to the United States, these Indians, on account of faith having been maintained with them by the then Executive of Texas, refused to meet and confer with the commissioners sent to them by the President of the United States, until they had the sanction of the Government of Texas; and the symbols of confidence were put in the hands of the commissioners before the Indians would treat with them. A treaty was then negotiated. What was the history of it? One of the commis- sioners-a noble and gallant gentleman, who afterward fell at Chapultepec, in Mexico, at the head of his regiment--was too much indisposed to render any assistance.• His co-commissioner assumed the whole business; and what did he do? He had the {ndians' names signed with a mark on a sheet of paper, had it attested, and brought it on here. He made large promises to the Indians; he assured them of an annuity of $14,000 to be paid annually, at a certain trading-house; but when he wrote his treaty (for he did not write it until he came here, when he ap- pended to it the sheet containing the signatures), it contained a provision that they should receive barely $14,000 as a full acquittance. It cost $60,000 to negotiate this treaty, as the rec- ords of the treasury show. This is a sum equal to the price of six years' peace between the Indians and the Government of Texas. Perhaps, however, the people of Texas were better then than now. Since that time they have been under the Government of the United States. I simply state facts. I leave the inference to others. Sir, if the agent 6 appointed by Mr. Polk, who has been restored by the present Executive-it is a bright spot in his Administra- tion, and I commend him for it--had never been removed, there would have been peace to this day on the borders of Texas; but as soon as the Indian agent 0 who was appointed to succeed him
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