WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON,. 1855
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be given to the emigrants. Thus, if our citizens would make the venture, they would have an escort and a protection capable of resisting all the Indian power which might come upon them. Sir, in the course of my remarks I have said some things which might seem to bear upon the officers of the army as a class. My partialities for military men, and for gentlemen of the army, are of a character not to be .doubted. I know their high-toned feeling, their honorable bearing, and their chivalry; and when I commented upon some of them, I only spoke of such as brought themselves within the purview of my remarks by impropriety of conduct, deserving the reprobation of every man who appreciates honorable feelings, integrity, and truthfulness. As a class, how- ever, I admire and respect them. I have experienced their hos- pitalities. Once I enjoyed their association with pleasure; and my recollections of early habits, formed in their companionship, always mark a verdant spot in memory's waste. It is only the guilty and culpable that I condemn. Sir, I believe the honorable chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs has withdrawn that portion of the amendment relating to the appointment of three commissioners to treat with the Indians. But, Mr. President, if we wish to do good to the Indians, we have it in our power; if we wish to destroy them, we can starve them out. If we intend to save them, we can do it by appealing to their best feelings. There is one pathway to an Indian's heart. If you show him that comforts and benefits are to result to his wife and children, you may command him absolutely, and he yields implicitly. He has no opposing_thought to their interest. I have always seen that if you could impress an Indian with the conviction that comfort and security would inure to his squaw and pappooses, from the adoption of a par- ticular policy, he would submit to it. My colleague [Mr. Rusk] knows that this is the way to the heart of an Indian. The proud- est warrior is humiliated at the thought of his wife and little ones being in the least uncomfortable. Whenever an Indian intends to conciliate the whites, he brings his family and settles as near as he can to a fort or agency, and says, "Here are the hostages I give you for my fidelity to you; if I do wrong, I know they will suffer; they are dearer to me than my life." The Indians can be brought around trading-houses. I have lost all hope of the stations in Texas doing any good. I would not have more than twenty-five men at a trading-house
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