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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1839
They could come from the Rio Grande in four days; they had cause to hate the white people, and he would not be surprised if they should do it. The friendly Cherokees, who have formed a barrier between the people of the east and the wild Indians, and protected them, had been driven from their homes. They were equal to the Americans, man to man; they could meet and fight them; and the blood of a Bowl was still unburied!! And they are now in danger of the tomahawk and scalping knife of the wild Indians. The protection on which they relied, had been forced away; and squalid looks, and the horrors of war, are now to be met with upon their border. But they have a right to be heard~ as much as those who located their hundred leagues of land around Austin. If the rights of the people had been more regarded, they would have more confidence in their representatives. It was to be ex- pected that the people who settled here, would feel much interest on the subject; but he hoped they would feel as he did. He said he was partial; but it was only to impartiality!! Refer the ques:. tion to the people, and they would do right. In this house, they voted by counties; and it was not right for the seven people of San Patricio to have as much weight as in one of the populous counties of the east. 0 The gentleman from Matagorda· had said that the rapid settle- ment of this country, occasioned by location of the seat of gov- ernment at this point, would be a protection to the frontier, and quoted as a motto, "Hang your banner on the outward wall." He would continue the quotation from Shakespeare, "They corne!'' He had never heard of the seat of government of any country being made an outpost; and this he contended would be one for fifty years. In travelling to the Red River, or to the Rio Grande~ we should encounter the Indian's hut. The place was more ex- posed than any other; and the friends of this city should be as anxious as its enemies, to have the question speedily settled. On the motion of Mr. Jack, the House adjourned till to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. · Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1839. MR. HOUSTON 8 remarked, that he had been very reluctant to participate in this debate in the first instance, and was equally reluctant to again address them upon the subject. But his rea- marks of yesterday had been misunderstood; he did not intend to reflect upon the motives of last congress, nor accuse them of
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