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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
The nature of an Indian can be changed. He changes under ad- verse circumstances, and rises into the dignity of a civilized being. If you war against him, it takes a generation or two to regenerate his race, but it can be done. I would have fields around the trading-houses. I would encourage the Indians to cultivate them. Let them see how much it adds to their comfort; how it insures to their wives and children abundant subsistence, and then you win the Indian over to civilization; you charm him, and he becomes a civilized man. Sir, while people are seeking to civilize and Christianize men on the banks of the Ganges, or the Jordan, or the Brahmapootra, why should not the same philanthropic influence be extended through society, and be exerted in behalf of the American In- dians? Is not the soul of an American Indian, on the prairie, worth as much as the soul of a man on the Ganges, or in Jerusa- lem? Surely it is. Then let the American Government step forward; let it plant the standard of regeneration and civiliza- tion among the Indians, and it will command the co-operation of the citizens in their philanthropic efforts. I am willing to appeal to the venerable and distinguished Senator from Michi- gan, who knows what an Indian is, and what hi_s disposition is, perhaps more thoroughly than I do myself. To him would I defer, but to no other man, for a certain and intimate knowledge of the Indian character. There is another point in connection with the dealings of the Government with the Texas Indians to which I will advert. There are the Comanches of the woods, and the Comanches of the prairie. The Texas Indians do not receive their annuities in Texas, but they are brought into Kansas, a great distance from us, where they receive the munificence of the Government in their annuities, on the east of the Red River and the Arkansas. What is the consequence? They believe Texas is not their friend, or that the Federal Government, from· their crude notions of it, would pay them in Texas, and would not make them travel over rivers, and through trackless prairies, to receive their presents. They return to Texas, not with feelings of respect for the benefits they receive, but with contempt. This is bad policy. You should distribute your presents to the Texas Indians within the limits of Texas. Her territory is broad enough; her domain is fertile enough; her character is high enough to justify you in doing so. She has done much for herself-more than this Government has ever done for her.
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