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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
rapid improvement, proportioned to the facilities afforded to him, but that he has as high and generous impulses as ever swayed the human heart, or quickened life's vital current; and who, when their friendship is plighted, would give their life to redeem you from an adversary's blow. Yet these men are not worth legis-. lating for! Were their existence to terminate, and not to go beyond this earthly sphere, were there no eternity to receive the undying spirit of an Indian, humanity would bid us do justice to the red men. But they have an undying spirit, and if you inflict wrongs upon them and they are unredressed, the account- ability is beyond human power to tell; but the honor of this nation demands the maintenance of good faith toward them. Have we heard that any efforts have been made to redress the wrongs recently inflicted on the Delawares? No, sir, we have not heard that the military there have interposed and driven the offenders from their land. It is not neutral territory; it is their property; and the United States is pledged by treaty, and by honor, to protect them in its possession. They have delegated a trust to the United States to sell this land if they dispose of it for their benefits; but they have not given it to the aggressor. Will the Government permit the wrongs to go unredressed? Where is the military authority there, that they do not expel the aggressors, in obedience to the intercourse law-persons who are there without permission? Sir, the nation's honor grovels in the dust, its ermine is soiled, its glories are clouded. Mr. President, I am reluctant to detain the Senate; but I must take the liberty of making a suggestion, and it may be regarded in the character of prophecy or fancy, as may be most convenient and acceptable. Raise the three thousand troops, make a general war with the Indians, and it will take five years to terminate it. It will become a focus of excitement. It will virtually arrest emigration to California and Oregon. It will cost you fifty mil- lions of dollars, and you will then have to approach these Indians through the medium of pacification. Send your wise men, three commissioners, if you please, and send two or three hundred men, as discreet men might designate, and you will make peace with every man in the course of nine months, and give perfect security to your emigrant trains. You will not hear of bloodshed, unless it results from a spirit of retaliation provoked by the whites. This being done, you would have the blessed reflection that you have saved the effusion of human blood. The women and children of the Indians will be preserved. But if you call the attent,ion
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