180
WRITINGS OF S.nr HOUSTON, 1855
To G. F. H. PROCK[E]TT 1
Independence, 2nd May 1855 My Dear Brother, Your note has reached me, and I would be happy if I could render you more aid in your enterprize than I will have in my power. I send you my two last speeches on the subject of the army and the Indians. I have on some occasions in the Senate (spoken on the subject of the Indians] but have retained no copies of my speeches. I presume that the Hon. G. W. Jones of your town can furnish you the Globe, for your perusal, and in it you will find all that I have said, & much that I think on the subject of Indians. You will doubtless find also, in his Library, Schoolcrafts 2 work on the Indians, in which, I think you will find important matter for your work. You ought, by all means, to see that Book, or Books, for they amount, I think to a series on that subject. I sincerely hope, my Dear Brother, that you may be fortunate in obtaining all the information· you desire. And bear in mind that all Histories from the Rock of Plymouth, and Jamestown to the present time, have been made by white men, and a man who tells his own story, is always right until the adve1·sary's tale is told. Fraternally Thine Sam Houston Revd. G. F. H. Prock[e]tt, Fo(?]ville, Tenn. 1 From the original in Mrs. Madge W. Hearne's Collection of Houston materials. 2 H. R. Schoolcraft, Histcn-ical and Statistical lnf01•mati.on Respecting the History, Condition. and Prospects of the Indian T1·ibes in the United Sta.tes, 2 volumes, 1851 and 1857. A SYNOPSIS OF A SPEECH AT NACOGDOCHES, MAY 11, 1855 1 General Houston after a very felicitous allusion to the speech of his colleague, proceeded to endorse the views he had expressed upon the Texas debt question. He denied that the United States Congress has usurped any power. Texas gave it the power to interfere in the matter when she gave her assent to the boundary act. Nor is it an invasion of the rights of Texas. It is a boon. I say it as a Texian, and if Texas refuses to receive it, she does so to her own injury. The day is not written in the Calendar, when the United States will relinquish the five millions, and it
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