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WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1858
497
[Davis disclaimed any intent to depreciate Houston's edu- cation or his knowledge of Indians.] - Mr. Houston. I do not wish to have it said that I apply hard names to the Army; but I have a right to allude to the facts which are before the country. I do not care how ingenious may be the graduates of West Point, or what grasp of mind they may possess, I say experience is the great teacher and nature the schoolmaster. I remarked that I had been reared on the immediate border of the Indians, and in constant association with them. It was where the bold Tennessee gushes her waters through the great mountain of Chilhowwee; and I learned to scale its topmost peak realizing that perseverance and energy would master much. Indomitable will enabled me to reach its highest peak, and there stand and contemplate the valley below. Undismayed by difficulties, I will not yield a principle that I cherish in my heart. I cannot consent to give up my opposition to an increase of the regular Army. In such scenes I was reared to manhood; and when my duties called me to the Army, I was associated with the Indians, for they were in the army of Jackson, in the Creek Nation. After that, in 1817, when still a subaltern in the Army, I was appointed an Indian agent by the Government-the first sub-agent that ever was appointed, and for a twelvemonth I was again associated with them in the transaction of business, and renewed the old associa- tions of boyhood. After the duties of my agency were over, occa- sionally those associations were preserved; and when, in after life, reverses came upon me, and dark clouds fell upon my path- way, I spent an exile of four years with the Indians, with various tribes. Tell me I do not understand the Indians! Too well I under- stand his wrongs. Tell me that with all the advantages of educa- tion, and all the bright associations of the world, and in all the galas of fashion, you are to learn the Indian's character and disposition, and the history of his wrongs! No, sir, they are in tradition; they are not in history, and I have learned them. I know them. I know his disposition; I know it well, and better than any officer who is on the frontier of the United States. If I have not the experience which I have cited, this might be con- sidered boasting; but I feel that I only state the truth. I know that their character is as I have stated, for I have not failed to conciliate them wherever I have tried, and how? By even-handed justice. Hold the scales of justice suspended with a steady hand between yourself and the Indian, and you will have no danger from him, it will not be necessary to suspend the sword above his head, like the sword of Damocles.
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