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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
of the warriors to war and battle, and to marauding, by way of retaliation, upon your trains, starvation will ensue for want of means of subsistence. Mark these words; pacific force will give peace and save millions of money; a hostile force will expend millions, waste human life and dishonor the nation. [After some remarks by Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, and Mr. Mallory, Mr. Houston said : 11 ] Mr. President, I hardly know what to say in reply to the honorable Senator from Iowa, for I hardly know what to think of his speech. [Laughter.] If I were to characterize his remarks in any way, I should say that they were, at least, very remarkable. In the first place, let me say to that honorable Senator, and to the honorable Senator from Florida, that they were talking about things of which I knew very little, for I was not in the United States when the occurrences to which they al- luded took place, and I was not, therefore, familiar with the history of those wars. If I am not mistaken, however, it was an outrage of a very delicate character 12 which brought on the Florida war. [Mr. Mallory. That is a mistake, sir.] Mr. Houston. Well, sir, that was the report that was brought to Texas. Whether it was true or not, I do not know; but that was the information which I received from people from that section of the country. As for the Black Hawk war, I know little or nothing about it; for in Texas, at that time, we had no mail communications with the United States, and we got but few papers from the States, so that I remained uninformed in rela- tion to those matters; but no doubt they were very exciting. The Senator from Iowa said the Black Hawk war was brought on by a council of the nation; but I have heard that an examination of the circumstances will show that the first outrage was com- mitted by an individual, not by the concurrence of the nation·, though they afterward became involved in the general war. In that statement, I believe, I am sustained by the history of the times. I have already stated that occasions occur where outlaws among the Indians commit acts of aggression on the whites, and the whites immediately retaliate on the Indian nations, and those nations, in self-defense, become involved in war; but I never knew a case where a treaty, which was made and carried out in good faith by the Government, was violated by the Indians. In Florida the Indians complained that they had been deceived in I i
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