WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1838
301
previous to the location of the Cherokees within the territory des- ignated were declared null and void, and directed to be cancelled, the Executive has been assured, that upwards of 300 leagues have been located in said territory. Notwithstanding these facts, the Indians relying upon the faith of the Government, and the pledges of the Executive, that justice should be done them, have remained peaceable, and now the line having been run, if the measures of the Government are nO'w sustained by Congress, the friendship of the Indians will be confirmed. If they should not be sustained, the President will feel himself perfectly vindicated in the assurance, that he has pursued and recommended that policy which alone can save Eastern Texas from ruin, and the country generally from imminent danger. It may be rendering information to the honorable Congress, to present them the ac- companying letter from Mr. Solicitor Hudson, in relation to the killing of several individuals on the waters of the Brazos by the Iconies. Many disasters of similar character have occurred with- in the present year. The facts contained in the letter show clearly that the causes leading to these unhappy circumstances are assignable. The great anxiety of our citizens to acquire land, induced them to adventure into the Indians' hunting grounds, in numbers not sufficient for self-protection, and in as much as they met with no serious oppo- sition in the commencement of their surveying, they were thrown off their vigilance, which afforded the Indians an opportunity of taking them by surprise, and hence they became victims to their own indiscretion and temerity. The Executive anticipating the consequences that would result from penetrating into the Indian hunting grounds, to a distance where they could not possibly be aided from the settlements, used every endeavor within his power to prevent such a course. His personal remonstrances were in- sufficient to control the determination of those whose opinions set at nought admonitions that could not be legally enforced. The Indians by gaining partial advantages, were induced to form more numerous associations, that have rendered them formidable, and occasionally acquiring spoil, have since then been induced to advance upon the settlements in marauding parties, whilst the circumstances of continuing to survey within their hunting grounds, so much exasperated their feelings, that their invasions have become formidable on our frontiers. It is not confined to any particular section of it, but is carried on more or less from the Rio Frio to the Red River. For the
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